Lindsey Rowley makeup tutorials are captivating millions online

Lindsey Rowley sits down to do her makeup for the day in the bedroom of her home near Canandaigua in mid-June.

It’s three days before she marries her long-time partner and she’s going for a vibrant pop of color on the eye and a darker pink-toned nude lip.

One eyelid’s already adorned with a perfectly blended ombré of a light seafoam green into a deeper coral and a soft yellow edge. Before she starts in on the second eye, she presses record and begins talking to her over 700,000 followers on Instagram and 2.6 million followers on TikTok.

“Fact of the matter is, I’m going through a little bit of a rough patch with my mental health so I care more about stuff I don’t normally care about,” Rowley said in the Instagram post.

Opening up to millions of strangers while she creates elaborate designs on her eyelids is not out of the ordinary for Rowley. In fact, it’s part of the 23-year-old’s brand.

Rowley’s a social media influencer — a term she’s not in love with but accepts because of how it has helped support her family — and her quick rise in popularity has both challenged and boosted her self esteem along the way.

Lindsey Rowley’s explosive rise to social media fame

Rowley dove head first into the world of makeup at 11 years old after being captivated by a rainbow-themed makeup tutorial on YouTube. She soon launched her own since-deleted YouTube channel back in middle school, solely to post makeup hauls of the products she bought herself using money she got for Christmas.

Several years later, Rowley realized she once again wanted to combine her love of the internet and makeup — but this time, she was going to take it seriously. And she remembers the exact moment.

“It was 2019, I was standing in my bedroom … and I looked at my (now) husband and I was like, ‘you know what?’ … I want you to remember this moment because I’m gonna get really good at my makeup,” Rowley said.

That night, she did her makeup, had her then-boyfriend Louis take a picture of her eye and posted it to Instagram and as they say, the rest was history. Well, sort of.

Up until just over a year ago, the audience growth generated by her Instagram channel, linsmakeuplooks, was somewhat slow-moving. Views were inconsistent.

Rowley had no idea how much her life was about to change.

She started creating videos she felt were more true to herself in the beginning of 2023, which showcased more original content, and people fell in love with her. His following ballooned from 500,000 followers on TikTok to 2.6 million, and 7,000 followers on Instagram a year ago to over 700,000 now.

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“I literally blew up overnight at the beginning of last year,” Rowley said. “I don’t know what to do with this information.”

She’s even started a second account with Louis called lindseynlouis that has garnered 52,600 followers on Instagram and over 465,000 followers on TikTok since her first post in mid-May.

How Rowley handles the negative side of social media

But it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for the Ontario County native.

Rowley knows negativity comes with the territory of having a prominent presence on social media. Still, it got to her. In fact, she says the best thing she’s ever done is filter out specific words from her comments section, but she can’t control the firestorm of judgment from people unfamiliar with her when she’s featured on other platforms.

She’s found commenters on TikTok to be nicer than those on Facebook.

“I sometimes feel like I’m being selfish by caring about what one or two people say when there’s like two million people that love me and go out of their way to be nice to me,” Rowley says. “But I feel like it’s just human nature.”

When the online vitriol gets to her, she allows herself to be upset and leans heavily on Louis and her support system — which often includes her millions of followers and a good, old-fashioned makeup tutorial vent session.

Positively impacting the lives of her fans has made it all worth it

A year ago, Rowley was living at her grandmother’s house and didn’t have a job because her high level of anxiety kept her from having one.

Now, charismatic, bubbly and true-to-herself, Rowley shares stories about her day-to-day life with millions of people around the country, even starting a series where she does her makeup to match a pair of what she calls “weird earrings,” which range from glow-in-the-dark stars to geese.

She’s also coined the phrase “You don’t look weird with eyeshadow under your eye, you’re just not used to it,” and is known for applying a small white heart on the tip of her nose in every makeup look.

Through her online authenticity, she’s been able to put a roof over her sons’ heads — she’s a mom of one with another due in October — allow Louis to quit his job, meet her idols, get her wedding makeup done by Nars and become part of the Sephora Squad, which helps smaller influencers grow through paid partnerships with brands.

“I think that this experience has really taught me about my self-worth … the value of your own self, the value of saying yes to scary things and knowing how much something that seems silly can impact other people,” Rowley said.

She started making videos for a laugh and is now receiving messages from people every day telling her she’s their favorite creator, she’s changed their lives and she’s changed the way they see themselves.

“That’s such a big honor to have that come from me doing my eyeliner,” Rowley said. “My life literally turned around overnight and I’ll always be grateful for that.”

Emily Barnes is the New York State Team consumer advocate reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Contact Barnes at [email protected] or on Twitter @byemilybarnes.

Lindsey Rowley makeup tutorials are captivating millions online

Lindsey Rowley’s explosive rise to social media fame

How Rowley handles the negative side of social media

Positively impacting the lives of her fans has made it all worth it

By Matthew. Jr

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Lindsey Rowley makeup tutorials are captivating millions online

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How Rowley handles the negative side of social media

Positively impacting the lives of her fans has made it all worth it

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