We've seen our fair share of beauty tutorials on YouTube, but when we stumbled upon 19-year-old Lucy Edwards' videos, we immediately had to know more. Just two years ago, she went blind, and she's been sharing her journey online with advice videos, clothing hauls, and–our favorite–makeup tutorials.

Unlike other YouTube beauty personalities, Lucy's videos are particularly noteworthy because she manages to make even the hardest things, like contouring and applying liquid liner, look so incredibly easy. We reached out to the UK-based student (who plans to attend law school next year!) to find out more about her inspiring videos, how she got so good at applying makeup, and why she wants everyone to talk more openly about disabilities.

MTV: After watching your YouTube videos, you make it clear that your blindness is actually quite recent. How did it happen?

Lucy Edwards: I have a rare condition that's in my family, none of my actual family has it, but it's a gene that's passed down from the female line. It presents itself as a skin condition, but it's really rare: it's called incontinentia pigmenti. I've had it since I was about 11, and it's just progressed. My family all hoped it wouldn't, but eventually it led to me having very, very limited vision. I could see colored blobs when I hold it right close to my eye.

MTV: How did you feel when this was all happening?

Edwards: It's very sad, but as you can see I've tried to be–with my YouTube channel–really positive about it. My boyfriend is doing animation at university, so he's been really helpful in creating all the graphics for it. I've been with him since I was 17. I think I've only been with him 2 months and then I went blind. We've been together 2 1/2 years now, so it's pretty sweet.

MTV: Why did you decide to start making YouTube videos?

Edwards: Before I lost my sight, I was just a typical teenager. Me and my sister are really close in age–about 15 months between us–and she's always watching makeup tutorials on YouTube, and I thought, "I really want to do that." But I didn't want to think, "I'm blind, I can't do anything." I want to help people because there's not anyone out there that's on YouTube that's blind paving the way for change. There's no real resources anywhere that say, "OK, you're blind, this is what you have to do." I was plunged into this on my own. I wanted to teach people what I've learned, and I've got a lot of feedback saying it really helps people, and it makes me really happy that there are people out there with similar conditions to myself and I'm helping them.

I've also always wanted to beat the stereotypes of being a frumpy blind person who doesn't go out of the house. After it happened, I instantly dyed my hair red. I feel so much better about it now because I am able to give advice.

MTV: What have been the biggest challenges so far?

Edwards: One day I was so depressed, and I was like, "This is either going two ways: either I'm just going to shrivel up into a ball and never get out of my bed and not do my A levels or try to do my makeup and try and try and try, and get through your A levels to get a law degree," and I picked the second one.

I haven't seen anyone online do makeup tutorials without a mirror, and I was getting really frustrated. There was a moment where I was trying to regain control so much, I was frantically doing my makeup all the time. I wanted to change how I thought about myself, and how I could control my appearance when I didn't necessarily have the ability to look at myself. I like that I finally have something to give back to the people since they help so much when I'm out. It's also just a way of coping, definitely.

MTV: How do you go shopping for makeup?

Edwards: This is something I'd love to address because I go to a store, and the only reason that I am OK and not overwhelmed with so many products is the fact that I've got my sister. She's just so great. She knows everything about makeup, and we've grown up together and obsessed about makeup together. So, I don't know how someone would do it without an Alice in their life. I feel like that's the other reason why I have a YouTube channel is because I want to develop a line of easy makeup that people can just come in and have a consultation and be secure in how they look. I don't know how to sort out the store issue, but I'd love to create a brand one day because people just don't know what they're buying.

MTV: What was it like making your first YouTube makeup tutorial?

Edwards: I remember that video, it took [her boyfriend] Ollie and I ages to film that video because he was like, "Look at the camera," and I was like, "I am looking at the camera!" and he's like, "Well, your eyes aren't, and I know you wouldn't want this to go on YouTube without you looking at it." I was just getting really frustrated. I think it took us about 3 hours to film that video, and it was so many cuts.

The response I got was amazing, it was so worth it, but it was very, very hard to film because I wasn't quite getting my eyeliner spot on just how I like it. I just remember people commenting saying, "I love your eyeliner," and I'm like, "Is that an abnormal thing?" I didn't know so many people didn't know how to do winged eyeliner–let alone when they can't see.

MTV: Oh yeah, it's so hard!

Edwards: Even my auntie, my mom and my dad were like, "That's incredible." No one knows how to do winged eyeliner without a mirror, and I guess that's quite cool, so I kept doing it.

MTV: Seriously, what is the secret to making it look so good?

Edwards: For ages, I just had Alice do it for me, but every time I felt her do it, I made sure I had a felt tip pen–I use L'Oreal Super Liner–and I know my eye so well now, that I literally follow the line of my eye. I also use my other hand as well because I have no depth perception to help with the line. You just have to have some confidence with it. I used to do scratchy lines on my eye, but that's too weak, and it looked a bit bumpy for awhile. As soon as I got confident with it, and fully pressed the pen to get a solid line, it started to look really good, and I haven't had to ask anyone since.

MTV: What's the most challenging part of your daily makeup routine?

Edwards: I think knowing if a blemish is red or not. Some blemishes aren't, and I probably do waste more concealer than the average person because I don't know what blemishes are red or not. I tend to go over all the bumps on my face if I'm having a really spotty day. It's just a precaution, really.

Also the amount of foundation you put on–I only use one squirt of foundation to start as a buildable layer. Alice always told me not to shove loads on because you get much nicer coverage if you use one thin layer and let it dry. I also make sure I have primer so everything sticks to my face. I also just make sure I have good skincare underneath, otherwise it doesn't go on as well.

Another thing to think about is having smaller brushes. With my mascara, I literally live by having a small brush because these big, clunky mascaras, I get them all over my face, no matter how many times I practice with it. I have to go quite slowly because I never know when the brush is going to touch me–it's like Jaws coming to your face. [she sings the 'Jaws' theme song, laughs] Sometimes I worry that I smudged it, but I'm like, "Yolo."

MTV: What advice would you give to other teenagers in a similar situation?

Edwards: They need to keep telling themselves and others that they can keep doing things. The determination that I have and the motivation my parents and my sister put into me does really help you. I think doing YouTube videos and telling people every day that they can do it also helps. If you have a good, happy mindset you do get more things done anyway. If they are visually impaired, don't think too much about being blind, just live with the sight you've got and flaunt it. I just wanted to be a source that peps someone up, and tries to put a positive spin on things. I mean, sometimes you can't and you just want to sit with Ben & Jerry's ice cream in bed but that's OK. We're only human.

Set yourself little goals along the way like opening an email and sending it. If you build these things into your everyday life and make yourself feel better and more independent. Try to make everything in your life the least dependent on someone else and get all the resources you can around you. That will make you the happiest.

MTV: What are some of the strangest questions people have asked you?

Edwards: Well, one time, my friends and I went into a hairdresser, and they basically said, "Do we need a different type of scissors to cut this blind girl's hair?" and I was like, "No... why would you need different scissors?" Some people have literally no clue, and I guess you get a certain amount of that online with things like, "Why are you looking at the camera? You can't see!" Someone asked me if I can blink and sleep. There's a lot of things people just don't know, and I want to teach them about it. I guess there's not a wrong way to ask someone–I encourage questions. If someone really didn't know if I could close my eyes, I'd rather them ask it to me than just stay quiet about it because I just love to answer anyone's questions. Obviously, it's a very individual thing–other blind people may not be as open as me or want to talk about it.

MTV: What's the most memorable feedback you've gotten since posting your videos?

Edwards: Oh, there's so many people. I love it because I didn't have any blind friends before. I've had a mom with a baby with the same condition as me and that is crazy because I only know two other people with it. I get these comments every day and people reaching out to me saying my videos made them smile today or they have this condition and they really want to know how to do eyeliner more. Being blind is a journey. You don't just wake up knowing how to do everything now. It's literally a loss. I'm just glad I can help people and email people. I truly believe that if I put some wisdom into people's brains, they can take it and fly.

What I've tried to do is crush the fact that disabilities may be something that people don't want to talk about and it's a taboo subject because it's a part of life. I think if people are more aware of blindness and every sort of disability–from the physical to the most non-physical–it makes that person feel that much better and not abnormal. Everyone has this perception of being normal, and I don't believe that just not having my eyesight makes me abnormal. I like forcing change, really.