The Untold Truth Of Carli Bybel
Since launching her YouTube channel and publishing her first-ever beauty tutorial in 2011, New Jersey native Carli Sue Bybel has risen to online superstardom. In addition to regularly filming makeup and hair how-tos for her millions of fans, she also uploads extremely popular Q&A clips, runs a successful fashion blog called The Beauty Bybel, and has even found time to launch a secondary YouTube channel dubbed Inner Beauty Bybel. Despite the fact that she lives in the public eye, the beauty guru still has some surprises up her sleeve. She may not be living a double life like some YouTube stars, but here are some interesting facts you likely never knew about this talented influencer.
Her ex-boyfriend is a YouTuber, too
Many of Carli Bybel's videos feature her former boyfriend, Brett Caprioni. In 2013, the couple made a video answering questions about their relationship and revealed they first met when Caprioni was in 3rd grade (in the same class as Bybel's sister) and Bybel was in Kindergarten. While they dated briefly in high school, it wasn't until later that they really became a couple. "Timing is everything!" Bybel said. Caprioni gushed in the video, "She wows me every single day. When you know, you know."
While you'll often see (or hear) Caprioni in Bybel's videos, he has his own channel where he shares fitness and nutrition tips as well as workouts. In fact, prior to their breakup Bybel occasionally made guest appearances on his channel too.
She laughs at her first-ever YouTube video
Carli Bybel sure has come a long way since her very first video and she's the first one to admit it. Uploaded on August 25, 2011 and titled "Curl Hair with Straightener Tutorial," the superstar's debut tutorial may have garnered over 319,000 views as of August 2017, but it still makes her laugh.
Asked by Sanders Kennedy in 2014 if she ever revisits her first foray into the world of YouTube tutorials, Bybel admitted that she does "all the time! Me and Brett will go watch it and we'll literally pee our pants because it's so funny," she admitted. "I remember editing it for the first time and being like, 'Oh my god, this is so good! This is the perfect video!' Meanwhile, it's just horrible quality, no lighting — it's funny."
She now earns over $16,000 a month from YouTube
Carli Bybel no longer needs to hold down a day job, as she's able to make a living exclusively off of her YouTube videos. As she told Fox 5 New York in 2015, "I'm signed with a network called StyleHaul, so they're the ones who will pay me for the ads on the views." Described on their website as a "contemporary marketing services and media company with a flair for storytelling," StyleHaul reportedly helps over 6,000 influencers earn money through advertising.
The revenue is nothing to scoff at. Looking at the top 20 beauty and style YouTube channels ranked by income, subscribers, and more, Adage found that Bybel came in fifth in 2015, earning a whopping $16,644.60 per month from her exploding viewership (her tutorials garner over 11 million views each month!) and close to 3 million devoted subscribers, which jumped to over 5 million by 2017.
Her success totally shocked her mom
In a hometown interview with Fox 5 New York in 2015, during which the channel visited Carli Bybel's New Jersey home to see where she shoots her uber popular videos, the celebrity vlogger recalled how her mother didn't exactly believe in her mission to become Internet famous. Not at the start, at least.
"My mom, in the beginning, she was just like, 'What are you doing? This isn't going to take off!' It wasn't until I had a meet-up at Macy's in Herald Square" that she changed her mind after getting quite the surprise.
"She came to it and there was like a six-hour line and she was like, 'Ohhh, so you are doing something with your life!'" Bybel recalled of the meet-and-greet during which she chatted, shopped, and took photos with fans "in her very own Macy's closet."
She's absolutely obsessed with penguins
Carli Bybel may be totally obsessed with all things makeup, but few know about her second biggest love. No, not her boyfriend Brett, but penguins! During a 2014 interview with Sanders Kennedy, the influencer was asked what she'd be doing if she had never gone viral. Pointing out that she used to work as a freelance makeup artist, the beauty junkie revealed that she'd likely be pursuing that profession, but that her real dream would be to work at "the penguin exhibit at SeaWorld because I'm obsessed with penguins. It's a problem," she laughed.
She confirmed said love on Facebook in 2014 when she posted a snap of herself kneeling next to a penguin wall decal and writing, "Found a baby penguin on the wall randomly in the Mall of America. Cute widddddle baby!" and again in 2015 when she posed alongside a real penguin and her boyfriend on her 25th birthday, gushing, "Thanks baby for the best surprise birthday gift EVER! I got to feed and play with widdle precious penguins yesterday! An amazing memory I will never forget."
Her clothing collaboration with Missguided crashed the brand's website
Not only has Carli Bybel experienced huge success in the realm of makeup, but her first foray into fashion was a bigger hit than anyone expected. When, in 2016, she launched a capsule collection with Missguided, even the online retailer wasn't prepared for what was about to happen. The site couldn't handle all of the traffic from eager shoppers and Bybel had to take to Twitter to placate her fans, writing, "I know the site crashed and everything is crazy right now but please don't worry!! We will be restocking anything that sells out!!! ILYSM"
She also called out Missguided for underestimating her popularity, tweeting, "I told them statistics and everything of my palette & they based it off of that. u guys are THE BEST! Exceeded all our expectations AS ALWAYS."
The Carli Bybel X Missguided range, which featured 40 pieces, actually had to be launched a second time to give everyone a proper chance to snag a piece or two.
She was on Project Runway
It's no secret that Carli Bybel is interested in fashion, especially since the launch of her collaboration with Missguided, but if you're new to the world of Carli Bybel, you may have missed her strutting her stuff on the runway — Project Runway, that is. Bybel appeared on a December 2013 episode of Project Runway All Stars with other YouTube fashion icons. Not only did she look fabulous on the show, but of course she also looked gorgeous for the viewing party as well. #Goals.
She has finger tattoos
If you've paid close attention to Carli Bybel's videos, you've probably noticed the tattoos on her fingers. In a 2014 video where she answered questions from fans, she revealed two finger tattoos. On one ring finger she has a tattoo of open hearts. "I got this when I moved down to Florida.... I was with my dad and I was going through a hard time at the moment and it was kind of like a reminder for me to remember that if your heart is always open, love will find its way in. I've always wanted a relationship filled with love... so during that time in my life, it was a good thing for me to get."
Her second finger tattoo, which she got years later, is on her other hand on her index finger and is the word "love" in cursive. While Bybel said in that video that she likely wouldn't get any additional tattoos, those with a keen eye have noticed that she has in fact added to her finger tattoos, adding an "om" symbol to one finger and "mooi" (her nickname for her best friend) on another, bringing her total to four.
She loves country music
It might be surprising that Carli Bybel, being a New Jersey native, is a big fan of country music. While she uses a variety of background music in her videos, it's in her vlogs (rather than her beauty tutorials) where we get a glimpse into her personal tastes.
Everything from her Lady Antebellum Pandora station while driving, to her trip to Nashville for the 2014 Country Music Association (CMA) Awards where she vlogged from the red carpet (the photo above is from right before that very event), Bybel isn't shy about sharing her love of country music. In fact, in her own words, she is "deeply obsessed with country music." In a video where she answered questions from fans, she revealed that her favorite music artists include Taylor Swift (who got her start in country music), Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, and Miranda Lambert, to name a few.
She's close with her family
It only takes watching a few of Carli Bybel's videos to see that she's close with her family. From phone calls with her mom and sister to mentions of her papa, Bybel doesn't shy away from featuring her family in her videos. In 2016, she went on a cruise with her family, sharing about her sister's birthday and adventures in gambling with her grandmother. Sadly the trip was bittersweet as it was after her grandfather's passing. Prior to his passing, she filmed a vlog visiting her papa and grandma, something she and Caprioni said they tried to do at least once a month.
In a very personal "Draw My Life" video, Bybel shared more about her family life, including her parents' divorce. "Growing up my dad was always my best friend," she shared, so when her parents got a divorce and he moved from New Jersey to Florida, it was really difficult for her. The tension between her parents put a strain on her relationship with her father to the point where she ended up not speaking to him for a long time. Ultimately that relationship was repaired and she even lived with him for two weeks when she was struggling in her early 20s, before moving back to New Jersey and finding her calling with her YouTube tutorials.
From her videos to her Instagram and Twitter feeds, it's clear that Bybel's family is a hugely important part of her life.
She has eczema
Just because you're a beauty icon, that doesn't mean that you don't struggle with skin problems. After all, YouTube celebrities are human too! Carli Bybel's biggest skin struggle is eczema, which she's struggled with for years. Frustrated and getting fed up, Bybel shared her first trip to the allergist to see what, if anything, she might be allergic to that could be causing her eczema flare ups. She learned that she's allergic to "pollen, fresh cut grass, every animal (even hypoallergenic ones), melons, apples, kiwi, peanuts, basically all raw nuts, and nutmeg."
In another video, Bybel shared that to help with her itchiness, her dermatologist recommended a bleach bath. "I was getting really itchy again... it definitely soothed it a little bit. They say that it helps prevent any further ones from coming... on my hand it's basically gone." Despite the trip to the allergist, the bleach baths, and getting rid of all of her products with fragrance, Bybel was still struggling and decided that it might be time to change her diet more dramatically.
She's vegan
One of the ways that Bybel has dealt with her eczema is by adopting a vegan diet. After posting a video about her former diet routine, other YouTubers reached out to her and shared that they had personal experience with a vegan diet clearing up eczema and generally bettering their health. So Bybel started doing her own research and what finally made her take the leap wasn't just the possibility of clearing up her skin, it was the moral implications of eating meat that got to her.
While switching her diet was one thing, Bybel was up front about the fact that changing out all of her products was more difficult as she said, "I have more makeup than Sephora!" While the beauty products were longer coming, she said the food transition wasn't hard at all, gushing about her favorite restaurants in her two-month update and shared her newest sushi obsession: avocado, cucumber, and scallion. "It is amazing," she said.
She's changed her beauty routine
You may think that someone who has access to all of the best beauty products in the world would constantly be discovering new must-haves and changing her essentials, but as Carli Bybel revealed in 2015, she actually used to have one beauty product she couldn't live without. She said in the interview that her go-to product was her "L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara because it's been my one staple piece for like eight years."
When Bybel made the switch to all vegan and cruelty free products, that also meant a change in her go-to as well. Luckily, she has plenty to choose from as she shared in her February 2017 cruelty free Sephora haul! And who doesn't love shopping for new makeup?
She's tried microblading
At this point, you've probably heard about or seen photos of people who have had their eyebrows microbladed. It's a beauty procedure that's all the rage these days, so it's only natural that a beauty blogger like Carli Bybel would try it out and take her fans along for the ride for her second appointment, five weeks after her first.
From the numbing cream to the consultation and all the way through each blade, Bybel shares it all (so steer clear if you're squeamish). "I think it's a really awesome thing to do if you guys have thinner eyebrows and you want to try it out, especially for the summer when you're at the beach and all that. But it's definitely not a necessity," she said after the procedure.
She's had lip fillers
When you're in the public eye, people pick apart your appearance. That's even more true when your appearance (and what you do with it) is what made you famous. While Carli Bybel shared her microblading experience with her fans, there was speculation that she was having much more than microblading done. In some of her posts, people were speculating about plastic surgery and other procedures. Bybel set the record straight in a vlog in September 2016.
She told viewers, "Yes, I have gotten my lips done in the past, the upper... lip," adding "the reason that I did get my upper lip done... almost two years ago, was because I've always had a bigger bottom lip and I figured it would even it out." At the time of that video, Bybel said she it had been almost a year since the last time she got her lips done, which was when she took her mother to get hers and the woman doing the fillers suggested Bybel get a little added to her top lip where there were uneven spaces (it had been a year since her last fill). Bybel agreed, but asserts that they were "way too big and I hated them, was not happy."
Bybel emphasized that the reason she didn't share it with her viewers sooner was because she knows she has young fans and didn't want them, or anyone, to feel like they need to get lip fillers or any kind of procedure to be beautiful. That's a message we can all get behind!
She's a Game of Thrones fan
Let's be real here, aren't we all Game of Thrones fans? Unfortunately, not all of us are as capable with makeup and fashion as Bybel, so we can't turn ourselves into Daenerys Targaryen as easily. In 2014, Carli Bybel and then-boyfriend Brett Caprioni dressed as Daenerys and Khal Drogo for Halloween and the look was a hit. As great as that look was, Bybel decided to kick things up a notch and made the look even more fabulous in August 2017.
The first look was before she had ever watched the show, so the new tutorial — which was in honor of the seventh season finale and after she's watched the series two times over — did the Mother of Dragons a bit more justice. Just in time for Halloween! Or any day, really. The look is fierce!
She's giving back as a WAH foundation Global Ambassador
In March 2017, Carli Bybel joined the WAH foundation, an NGO "dedicated to improving the lives and conditions of rural communities through water, health and education," as a Global Ambassador. Bybel's role includes raising funds to help girls in the third world attend school.
"We are very grateful and excited to have Carli as our Global Ambassador," WAH founder Christopher Wilson said in a press release. "Carli's global influence will help change lives and give underprivileged girls an opportunity for a brighter future."
The YouTube star established a scholarship with the foundation to allow 120 girls to go to the Bright Hope Institute in Cambodia for four years by covering all of their tuition, housing, food, and book expenses. She raised money for the cause through the sale of bracelets made available on her former Pranava Beauty website (a "new platform that I will use to share items that I love and have personally created for you"), which sold out!
She still can't believe her own fame
Despite having over 5.5 million devoted YouTube subscribers as of August 2017, Carli Bybel still has a tough time wrapping her head around her fame. So much so that she often forgets that she's a public figure.
"It's so funny because sometimes I'll be with Brett and I'll be like, 'Why is that person staring? Is something on my face?' and he's like, 'Are you kidding me?'" she revealed in a 2015 interview with PopStop TV. "I think I get more nervous than they do," she admitted, revealing what it's like being approached by fans. "It's so crazy! I think every time someone comes up to me I get more excited than they do. I just think it's so cool and it's awesome getting to meet the people that are watching my channel!" she gushed.
What does the future hold?
In August 2017, Carli Bybel celebrated six years as a beauty blogger by recreating her debut video. "I still can't believe it has been almost six years since I posted my first ever youtube video on this channel," she wrote in the clip's description. "It's honestly mind blowing!!" Clearly, Bybel has no plans to slow down and she took the opportunity to also encourage others to never give up on their dream, adding, "Be a good person, do your best every day and never give up on what you love."