Online Lives: Full-time YouTuber Eimear McElheron

Full-time YouTuber Eimear McElheron has a talent for makeup artistry.

She set up her channel, youtube.com/EimearMcElheron, seven years ago and thousands of people subscribe to her videos.

“Despite studying business in college for five years, makeup is my passion,” she says.

“In July, 2011, I uploaded my very first, step-by-step makeup tutorial. Seven years and almost a quarter of a million subscribers later, here we are.

“I mainly create beauty related content, with a focus on step-by-step makeup tutorials, using mostly affordable products.”

Eimear says most of her subscribers, who live abroad, follow her because she is Irish.

“When someone new comes across my channel, I can almost guarantee you that the first thing they comment on is the fact that I am Irish. I receive so many comments about Ireland and I believe there is such a keen interest, because the vast majority of my subscribers reside outside of Ireland.”

To appeal further to these followers, Eimear shares videos of her trips around the country, too.

“The aim of my ‘Irish Adventures’ travel vlog series is to film a travel vlog in each county in Ireland to give my international subscribers and Irish subscribers alike a taste of what this beautiful country has to offer.

“I upload makeup tutorials weekly and, to date, I’ve covered Dublin, Galway, Wicklow, and Wexford in my travel vlog series.”

Eimear works hard to produce content regularly and says some people dismiss her job because they don’t understand it.

Just because it isn’t a traditional job doesn’t mean it isn’t a ‘real’ job. You work hard and you are earning money. That sounds like a job to me

She sometimes is the target of online trolls.

“I experienced a bad case of backlash a couple of years ago, which I was really not prepared for. Being anonymous on the internet paves the way for people to be quite horrid. I usually wake up to comments on my videos slagging my appearance.”

However, Eimear enjoys her day-to-day working life and says she loves that it’s a career, and an industry, that didn’t exist a decade ago.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Irish Examiner (@irish_examiner)

“I realised that not only did I love experimenting with makeup, but that I also really enjoyed the process of filming and editing videos.

“Blogging and social media have had a hugely positive impact on my life and career, in the sense that it currently is my career. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if it were not for social media. It’s a career that didn’t exist 10 years ago, which is fascinating.”