The Untold Truth Of James Charles

If you haven't heard of James Charles yet, where have you been? The makeup artist became CoverGirl's first ever CoverBoy in 2016 at the tender age of 17. A relative newcomer to the scene, Charles became an overnight sensation after he insisted on retaking his high school yearbook photo in order to properly accentuate his cheekbones. He made his highlighter pop and also began popping up all over the internet after his yearbook photo went viral. Soon, the teen was taking the beauty world by storm. The CoverGirl contract soon followed, and now Charles is one of the most popular young beauty vloggers in the industry.

Being thrust into the spotlight at such a young age isn't always easy, though, especially when you are a boy in a traditionally female-dominated industry. Charles isn't just making a name for himself, but also breaking down barriers. Here's how he is navigating his new success — and looking fierce while doing it.

Charles has always loved art, but it didn't initially occur to him to apply those skills to makeup. His first foray into the world of beauty was actually in hair styling. Charles revealed in an Instagram post that his dad taught him how to braid hair when he was just a little boy, so styling his friends' hair must have seemed like a good way to utilize his skills. Makeup, however, is something he got into by accident.

"At one of my best friend's hair appointments, she was late for her makeup appointment so she asked me to do it," Charles told Seventeen. "I was like 'OK girl, I'll do it, but if it looks awful, do not tag me in that Instagram picture.' And it ended up actually looking really, really great. ... So she ended up posting a picture and she loved it and everybody was like, 'Oh my God, this looks so good,' so I ordered a basic starter set online and I started practicing on clients." Soon after, Charles began trying makeup on himself, and the rest is history.

While things are slowly changing, there are still not that many men in the beauty industry — at least not ones who model a full face of makeup like Charles does. Society still largely views makeup as a solely feminine accessory, which has resulted in a lot of skepticism and outright hostility for Charles. "As more and more guys come to light, the way the internet is, there will be people who don't agree," Charles told The New York Times. "Those negative comments probably make people not want to do it, because lots of people take that stuff very seriously."

In spite of the negativity, Charles is excited to be the first male CoverGirl representative. "The fact that I am the first boy is so cool," he said. "It shows that this industry is actually becoming genderless, and we're really making the push toward equal opportunities for everybody, regardless of race, sexuality, gender."

With so many people who don't approve of Charles, he can at least rest easy knowing that his parents are always in his corner. Charles came out as gay when he was twelve years old, and his parents were immediately accepting. They were also on board when he told them he wanted to pursue a career in makeup. "They were like, 'Oh, you know, we love you no matter what. Like if you're trans, you can tell us,'" Charles told Ellen. While he doesn't identify as transgender, Charles appreciated his parents' unconditional support.

His dad went above and beyond in order to help Charles achieve his goals. "My photos would not be as high quality without my dad," Charles told Allure. "He's a contractor, and together we converted an area in our basement into a makeup studio with a desk, a mirror lined with dimmable lights, and storage areas."

While Charles has a broad platform, so far he hasn't used it much to advocate for political or social issues. Of course, being one of the few high profile men in the beauty industry is already a statement of sorts, but he doesn't feel comfortable doing much more than that — at least right now. "To be 100% honest, I tend to keep my mouth shut out of the fear that I will word it wrong and offend people," he told Affinity. 

There are those who think that he's not doing enough to advocate for marginalized groups, but Charles isn't unconcerned about social issues. "Some of my favorite pages to follow are POC artists, and the lack of representation is sad," he sad. "Skin color has absolutely no correlation to how talented someone can be with makeup and it's frustrating to watching [sic] solely white people make it to the top. I seriously hope that in the future the industry will continue to be more and more diverse."

It's kind of hard to believe it given that Charles creates such visually striking makeup looks (not to mention beautiful drawings), but the beauty guru is actually legally blind. He can't see very much without corrective lenses, but Charles has not let his disability slow him down one bit. He does need to wear contacts so he can see, but he has even turned that into a stylish statement by opting for colored contacts that help him achieve some truly eye popping looks. Charles is so used to it that he says his poor vision doesn't bother him.

"It really doesn't affect the process that much," he told Seventeen. "My contacts are the same prescription as my regular glasses. After a long day of a shoot, however, my eyes do usually feel pretty dry so it can be a pain sometimes. Oh well, I guess beauty truly is pain!"