The Woman Behind 70,000 Makeup Swatches

Christine Mielke looks so familiar? Just Google your favorite lipstick and you're bound to see a swatch from Temptalia, one of the most prolific and long-running beauty blogs on the internet.

the blog now receives 850,000 unique visitors a month and serves as a resource for beauty enthusiasts looking to find dupes, get the right foundation shade, or decide whether the latest launch is worth their coins. Temptalia has come a long way from its humble beginnings.

“It started just really as a repository for makeup looks and my initial thoughts and impressions on the products I was buying at the time,” says Mielke of Temptalia’s early days. Then a student at UC Irvine, the MAC counter had an irresistible pull on Mielke, who hadn’t been allowed to wear makeup as a kid growing up in California.

It was the dream! The only [brand] you write about knows that you exist and takes you seriously. So I just started to take it more seriously ... and branched out into other brands,” Mielke says.