Makeover, YouTube style

Lauren Luke has seen what happens when you tap the transformative power of makeup in a big way. The 27-year-old single mom grew up awkward and out of place in her South Shields, England, neighborhood and would often experiment with her mom’s Avon products to give herself a little extra confidence. Though she never quite emerged from her shell, she did start selling makeup brushes, eye shadows and the like on EBay.

And when her so-called ugly duckling’s metamorphosis arrived, it came straight out of a tube -- YouTube, to be exact. Her EBay clients had bombarded her with questions about how to use her products, and since showing is easier than telling, in 2007 she began to upload unedited, not-rehearsed, real-woman-giving-it-a-go makeup application tutorials under the name panacea81, signing off with her trademark “zoom zoom” -- what it sounds like, she says, when characters in the Sims games say goodbye.

Her word-of-mouth fan base grew, and with more than 5 million channel views logged, she launched her own makeup line, By Lauren Luke, in April.

“She is totally funny, and she’s real and riveting and so honest,” explains Linda Wells, Allure editor in chief, of Luke’s popularity, “It’s that voice of every woman looking in the mirror and fantasizing what they can do with makeup. She demonstrates it step-by-step and makes you think you can do it too.”

Luke has a small-screen presence akin to that of Julia Child or Rachael Ray, Wells says, and despite what the school bullies might have said, Luke’s got the look.

“She’s really beautiful, but she’s not a supermodel in any way,” Wells says. “It’s as much her appearance as her delivery. Her language is hilarious. It’s a real person speaking.”

The demand for Luke is only increasing. She started a beauty column for the Guardian newspaper in January, has a book coming out and will be a beauty-advising avatar in a Nintendo DS game. And how did Anomaly and Zorbit, her makeup-line business partners, first contact her? Through Facebook.

“I was in my own bedroom having my own fun,” Luke says by phone when asked about her sudden popularity. “It was when I started getting contacted by press and media. . . . It’s not until people start contacting you that you realize it’s a big deal.”

Luke’s first detailed video demonstrated how you too could get the smoky eye look with cocoa colors and sparkly eye shadow. She’s also made a name for herself with interpretations of celebrity styles. Her take on singer Leona Lewis’ green, heavily lined cat eyes from Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” video could be considered Luke’s breakthrough video, as it now has more than 2.6 million views.

But her favorite, she says, is an ode to the 1980s punk scene, using what she says were “lilac purple with plummy purple and blue colors. That’s when I went completely out there, crazy experimental.”

In case you couldn’t tell, the warm, perky Brit has a thing for color (the first makeup she bought herself was turquoise MAC eye shadow). And it shows in her makeup line. Her five palettes -- with names including Vintage Glams, Sultry Blues and Luscious Greens -- each have a primer, blush, black eyeliner, two lipsticks and three eye shadows in dramatic shades.

They’re available now online at bylaurenluke.com, but Luke just closed a deal to have them on sephora.com and in Sephora’s new Times Square flagship when it opens this summer.

Luke hasn’t been working in a vacuum. Just as she’d respond to viewers’ comments and e-mails about her videos, she involved fans in shaping the line.

“I take comments off of YouTube,” she says. “When I first started this, I asked people what they would like to see in a palette. I keep taking feedback off of people. That’s the good thing about it -- people can tell me what they want and I’ll see if it’s doable.” For Luke, this is a way of giving back.

“I know it sounds silly, but I really don’t have many friends in real life,” says Luke. “When I go on YouTube, I feel like I’ve got friends even though I’ve never met them.”

We doubt that will be the case for long.

Zoom zoom.

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whitney.friedlander@latimes.com