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Michelle Phan and L'Oréal USA have ended their partnership after a little over two years, WWD reports. The pair created a massive line of beauty products that never met the high expectations L'Oréal dreamed of when it first inked Phan to a deal. Now, L'Oréal is selling the Em Michelle Phan line to Ipsy, a subscription-based company co-founded by the YouTube star.
"I'm grateful that L'Oréal believed in me and helped me bring my dream of creating a beauty brand to life," Phan told WWD. "I'm excited to be working with Ipsy to bring Em home to my community, the original inspiration for the brand." Carol Hamilton, president of L'Oréal's Luxe division, added, "We are proud to have worked with Michelle to help bring her vision to life."
However, sources report that L'Oréal wasn't able to do much beyond bringing the vision to life. A WWD source told the publication that the beauty line never made it out of the "start-up" phase, partially because the line was too expensive for Phan's young Internet-savvy fans. Ironically, one of the main reasons L'Oréal partnered with Phan was to expand its presence on the web. "We think it's a huge opportunity to understand the power of building up a whole line online," the company said upon making the deal with Phan official in August 2013.
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