March 5, 2025 • 39 mins
Kate and James sit down together after a walk around the neighborhood with James' dogs. James Charles opens up about his journey in the beauty industry, reflecting on his childhood, early passions, and the rise of his career on social media. He shares behind-the-scenes stories from his early beauty content, the success of his first products at Painted, and how moving to LA changed the trajectory of his career. James also discusses the evolution of beauty content creators, his personal experiences with makeup, and his exciting plans for the future.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What is up?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Runner Gang, Welcome back to Post Run High. We're here
today in LA with James, Charles and you guys. I
was so excited for this conversation. James is someone I
followed online and have loved for so many years. He's
been in the social media space for nearly a decade,
starting out as a beauty creator and completely changing the game.
(00:24):
James has built a massive platform, he recently launched his
own brand, and he is a key example of staying
at the forefront of the industry while constantly evolving. Today
we got into everything his upbringing, how he got to
where he is today, his insane work ethic, how he
keeps pushing himself creatively, and what it's really been like
(00:45):
navigating the highs and lows of internet fame. As you
guys know, the premise of Post Run High is we
go for a run before sitting down for our full conversation.
But sometimes we mix up the form of movement we do,
and you guys, don't worry. You get a high from
all sorts of workouts, so the endorphins are still always there.
But today, for context, James and I went for a
(01:08):
walk in his neighborhood before sitting down for the conversation
you guys are about to listen to, and of course
that walk has been posted on my socials at Kate
Max for you guys to watch. And guys, I was
low key really excited to see James run, but that's okay,
maybe we'll get him next time. As always, if you're
listening here, don't forget you can watch this full episode
(01:30):
over on YouTube, So please subscribe to my YouTube channel
if you haven't already, and if you want to keep
up to date on all of the behind the scenes
of our shows and everything else we've got going on,
follow me across socials at Kate Max and at Post
Run High. Okay, Runner Gang, let's get into today's episode
with James.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
What is up?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Welcome back to Post Run High, Post Friend Walk today,
Post Walk High, Post Walk High, which I kind of love.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
We're here with James Charles.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Hi you guys.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Hello, Hello, Hello, I'm so excited to be sitting down
with you, James. I was telling you this on our
walk eyes. James and I just got back from a
one mile.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Walk with his dogs. Yes, it was beautiful, like.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Welcome to my home. Welcome to the neighborhood. Glad you
enjoyed Finn and Theodore.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, it's so cool being at your house.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I just have to really quickly say, I've grown up
watching you on social media, so it really is so
cool to be able to like step into your home,
like see your house.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And what I love about it.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I just kept saying to James, I was like, your
house is so well designed. Thanks, and I know design
is such a big part of you and your life. Yeah,
it's cool to see.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Thank you. We were welcome anytime.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
How is the walk for you?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
The walk was good?
Speaker 4 (02:47):
I mean I don't I'm not a big physical activity
type of person. When they told me that your team
had reached out about doing this, I was like, oh
my god, is she I'm not running with her?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Or she can't make me run. I can't do it.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
But I was so excited when we got to do
a walk because I do love getting out, and the
dogs love a walk, and the weather's been so beautiful recently,
so I was excited to chat and get a little
little bit of exercise. End that would be my workout
for the next month.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I'm shocked that you don't work out at all, Like
not even yoga.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
No, wow, I've really I've genuinely really tried, because obviously
I know that everyone loves it, and I know obviously
that it's very good for the human body.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I'm human body too.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Well.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Yeah, of course I genuinely can't get into it, and
I've tried multiple times. I've tried different personal trainers, I've
tried different gyms, I've tried so many different workouts.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Like, it's actually really funny.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
We filmed YouTube like series probably like two years ago
now where I was like, I'm going to get fit
because I had gained a little bit of weight during
COVID that I wanted to get rid of. So I
converted my entire garage to a gym, hired a personal
trainer for two months, cut out all fast food. What
if you yo me? Yeah, that's a that's a big
I mean you saw the Cooke Foe.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I was gonna ask you, what is your diet?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Like bad?
Speaker 4 (03:51):
It's disgusting, Okay, like it's so bad, but that's fine, Okay, love.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
But I definitely, like I complimented with working out. But
if I don't think, I don't know whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I don't mean. I just couldn't get into it.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
But for two months I fully cut out, also to
off us food, and was working out three or four
times a week and like not stupid little like workout
was like a girl. I was really going in and
by the end of the two months, I had gained
two pounds. And yes, I'm aware that muscle weighs more
than fat. I'm not looking for that. I don't want
to be jacked and muscular. I'm trying to be tiny
and skinny and disappearing before your very eyes. I love
(04:25):
that I need camera to zoom in so far that
because I'm like a little speck of dust floating around
in the backyard.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
You know, I can't even see you right now?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, thank you, Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
That's what I was going for.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Well, Okay, So I like, personally I run because it
like keeps me very grounded, and I feel like with
social media and content, our lives are just can be
super chaotic and overwhelming. So I'm curious, Like, for me,
working out is definitely my escape and what keeps me
really grounded.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So what do you do to stay grounded?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I have a few couple of ones that are kind
of like weird niche interests. I love building Legos, love
Love Love goos. My entire office is covered in all
sorts of different Lego builds, So that's like a really
nice way of like distract myself and put on like
a TV show, put my phone away, and just like
build for a couple of hours. I love escape rooms.
They're my favorite pastime in the entire world. And it
(05:13):
sounds so stupid, but like my life is really crazy sometimes,
so it's so cheesy to say, but I do enjoy
putting my phone away for an hour and like pretending
like I really am in the Titanic and we're sinking
and we have one hour to get.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Out, and I like that.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
It's fun.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
It's fun even though it's like a high stress situation,
like you know, it's like you know, it's playing for tend.
It's like it's just like fun little it's a game.
But I like turning my brain on. I like thinking
and I like strategizing, and that's like genuinely fun for me.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
I love puzzes. I love brain teasers.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
So that's kind of like my escape where I get
to turn my phone off and be like disconnected from
like the social media world, but still be like thinking.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I feel like it makes so much sense because I mean,
you don't build the empire that you've built without being smart.
And you can tell I feel like Legos especially you know,
when you're a kid growing up like they, you'd think that,
like all kids play with Legos, but it's really not true.
It's like a certain type of kid plays with Legos
that likes doing activities that turn their brain on and
challenge them.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
So I love knowing that about it.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, well did you did you grow up with Legos
or did you ever?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
My older brother is very smart and she was the
kid in our family that like loved Legos, So I
feel like there's some synergy there. Guys comment down below,
let us know what you think, But I think Legos
kids playing with Legos is a sign of adultgy. Well.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
I loved I loved Legos, and I also loved there's
just like kids agat that no longer exists anywhere. But
it was called Canacs and they were like, they were like,
you would build.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Things. How do I explain it?
Speaker 4 (06:40):
It wasn't like it wasn't It was different than Legos,
where you're like building a building, but with connects. It
was like you would build like a roller coaster, or
you'd build like a ferris wheel, or you build like
I don't eve really know how to explain it. I
love the Amusic Park ride for some reason. That was
like my special interest as a kid. And from there,
like I would always build like giant roller coasters and
like that was like my interest as a kid. I
wanted to be in a music park designer. So I've
always just been very like engineering focus. My dad's a
(07:04):
self employed contractor as well, and I will never forget
like when my when my when I lost my two
front teeth. Of course, all parents have the tooth fairy.
So when I lost my tooth front teeth, I didn't
ask for money. I didn't ask for any sort of
special prize. I asked for a shark vacuum. I'm not kidding.
And my dad, for my like I think it was
third or fourth birthday, built me a It was like
(07:26):
a wooden box with just plugs, switches and outlets on it.
None of them did anything. They were not connected to anything,
nothing was wired together. But he built the boxing because
he saw that I was always watching him when he
was working, like wiring electrical and like installing outlets and
plugs into people's homes. Yeah, and I was interested in that.
So it's like that's so weird and such a good Like, No,
(07:49):
I love it, kid, But I wanted to be an engineer.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I wanted to be a designer.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
I've always been really interested in just like figuring out
how things work.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I was just going to say that, Yeah, it seems
like it. Are you the type of person that will
get and want to assemble it?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Low?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Want to assemble It.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Depends on how complicated it is.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Maybe not that, because like I'd rather hire our task
robbers to do that instead.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
But if it was, but bye bye.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
But you go into James's garage and there's like a
shed of all essentials Iikia furniture, like eight different.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Nights, say it's ready for a stressful night. Jame's gonna
take one on and ready to go. No, not like that,
Like I would never choose to put it together. However,
if you were like, Hi, for our podcast today, we're
racing to see who can build an IKE addresser faster.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You bet? Are bet? I am clocking in to that challenge.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
No, I love the competitive side of you.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Love it, Okay, I want you to kind of take
us back because we're getting to know from these stories
what you were kind of like as a kid, but really, like,
walk us back through your childhood. You grow up in
upstate New York. Yes, what were you like as a
kid outside of these annoyings?
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Okay, I was really really stubborn, very outgoing. My little
brother and I could not have been more polar opposites.
I put my poor parents through absolute hell growing up
just because I.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I knew what I wanted.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I was definitely little bit difficult as a child, but
I was very smart, very outgoing, and very just like
always was innovating and wanting to try something new.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
I had a million different hobbies.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I actually started like my social media journey when I
was eleven. I had a Twitter account back in the day,
it was called That's what Kids Do, and I used
to post like relatable teen quotes and tweets like that
awkward moment when blah blah blah blah blah, or like
that moment when your crush says blah blah, like so stupid.
But I grew that account to like eighty or ninety
(09:31):
thousand followers when I was eleven. That's insane and I
literally I got banned because I put my age in
my Twitter bio because I was proud of being an
eleven year old with a one hundred thousand followers, and
then they're like, nope, you have to be thirteen banned.
So my poor mom had to like write an email
to Twitter being like, Hi, this account is managed by
a parent. Let him back on because I was making
money from him. I was running Google ads on my
Twitter account, and then eventually I sold that account, moved
(09:54):
over to Tumblr, learned how to code htmail and CSS,
and started designing web themes for people and for people blogs.
Then I use that money to buy my first ever
DSLR camera and a MacBook.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
And then I made a comedy.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
YouTube channel when I was like thirteen or fourteen, fully
made like a PowerPoint presentation for my parents as to
why they should allow me to make YouTube videos. Started
posting the comedy videos, and then I eventually got into
doing girls hair and makeup for school like prom and ball,
then did my own makeup, and then.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
It's a realzing and it's so cool how you ended up,
like because you love the techie side of things too,
but also you have such a creative side of you.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
It's so cool to see how all of these things
kind of merge together.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, and you always had such a high production quality
even when you first started out, so it's cool knowing
that you were really the brains behind that.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I've always been.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Really interested in that. Like for me, I said this
like when we were walking earlier. But yeah, I know that,
Like I know that I'm great at what I do,
but I'm never the best.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I truly love my part of the job that.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Entails learning, whether it's you know, how I can improve
my landing, how how I can I proved my video settings,
how I can make a videos retention a couple of
seconds higher, how I can photoshop my thumbnails to be better. Like,
I really do enjoy that part of the content creation process.
I'm not competing with anybody other than myself to continue
one up in what I've already done.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Yeah, and I find that fun.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
It's like a fun challenge, absolutely, And it's so hard.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I would say, like, what would you say for people
just starting out on content, including some of those things
that you just mentioned, right, because like we're just getting
started in the YouTube game, and it's crazy how important
thumbnails are, and it's so hard to find really good
thumbnail designers. It's like, honestly the hardest.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Thing, right, I been doing it myself really, Yeah, I
only just started recently. I just started working with a
guy that I found on social media. Yeah, but I've
done my own thumbnails for the last seven years.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Which means I'm shook.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, your thumbnails are incredible, Like I use your thumbnails
as reference all the time because I'm like, this is
what great looks like.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
That's so impressive.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
I learned how to use photoshop when I was like
seven or eight because I ran a Club Penguin blog too.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
That one didn't that one was ever.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Successful, so I didn't include that in my story journey.
But I learned how to use photosop because I needed
to or how to edit the Club Penguin Penguin into
like different positions.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
You were such an interesting kid. I feel like you're
like giving boy genius.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
It was giving like loser nerds. No, definitely not giving boigenius.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
But also social and outgoing.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
So it seems like I feel like the smartest people
kind of have every box ticked, like right where they're
outgoing and social and they're also smart.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
I knew really early on that I didn't want to.
I didn't want to take a regular path. I wanted
to be I don't think like I wanted to be famous.
I wanted to do something in the public eye. I
wanted to create. I wanted to inspire people. I wanted
to do something positive to impact people's lives, and I
knew that I wanted to do it with people watching.
My rise on social media was very quick, for sure,
(12:44):
but there's been you know, ups and downs over the years.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I had.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
You know, when I started about a year in is
when I had my big break and I got my
senior photos went viral. When I rechok my senior pho tell.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Us the story behind that, because I kept seeing that
everywhere and I was like, what is the lore behind
this senior year?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
I took my photos with makeup on and the lighting
was disgusting.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I looked terrible.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
So I emailed this company being like, Hi, this is crazy,
but like I know how to use photoshop. Can I
either retake these photos or just like retouch them myself?
And they're like, we don't care, sure, come back on,
Like come back on these days you could just pay
a retake of gun I said, absolutely, you better bat
I'm going to be there. So I went back, brought
my ring light, retook the photos, and then retouched them myself.
They let me photoshop the pictures posted on social media,
(13:26):
not even like not even with the attention about going viral.
But one of my other content creator friends at the
time was like, you should turn this into a meme.
And this was like right at the like, memes weren't
even like a thing yet. The memes at the time
were like nian Cat, the stupid pop tart rainbow thing
you over.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
That for the closure is a world of its own.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Yeah, this was like brand new, like what memes really meant.
So she was like, you should turn this into like
a meme, like at a funny caption about like when
you retake your photos and bring your ring light. And
I was sitting there being like that is so stupid,
and she's like, just try it.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
So I posted it, not.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Really thinking anything of it, and literally the next morning
woke up to my email and being flooded with every
single news outlet.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
On planet Earth being like, Hi, we need to interview
about this.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
And I was like, and that was a photo that
went viral like a meme photo.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Wow, that was it. That was literally and from there
I got noticed by Cover Girl. I signed as cover
girls first ever mail ambassador for the brand. I did
my commercial with Katie Perry, Chloe Helly Bailey were in it.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
At the time.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
It was so cool. And then that I went on
The Ellen Show and from there it was like crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
And when you posted that photo of your senior yearbook
photo online, were you already creating beauty content on the internet? Okay,
so you had started kind of that journey.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
I had already been making beauty content, but I hadn't
gone viral yet. There was a couple of I mean,
Instagram was just different background. That was like when they
had like the popular page, right, do you remember, Yes,
I do remember.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
God, Like those were the days.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Yeah, what I would do to go back in time
to twenty sixteen Instagram, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Fill little notification like you made it on to the tay.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Was probably iconic.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Girl.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
If a time machine powered up for the ground right there,
you better bet I am jumping and that and.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Going right back right.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Oh my god.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
Those so days were just it was just an easier, simpler,
better time back then. But that was when, like it was,
it was easy for things to go viral and like
take over the entire internet like that, so that it
was really unexpected. Like I said, I when my friends suggested,
I honestly was like, that's so stupid. Yeah, but I'm
so grateful that she gave me that advice because it
definitely worked and got.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Me noticed definitely.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And I feel like one of the most impressive things
that I find from beauty content in general and beauty
girls is it's like, when you start out, you're not
an expert, right, and I'm sure you were good at it,
but it's amazing, Like what gave you the call? I all?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Actually, so what did your initial content look like?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Well, so I.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Started on Instagram first, okay, and I had I had
already been doing girls makeup for prom and ball at
my school beforehand. Looking back now, it wasn't bad by
any means.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
And how did you get into that? Like what made you?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Because like you're interested in all these different things techi stuff,
building stuff, legos like so I was.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
I was always a huge fan of watching YouTube, and
I really enjoyed watching videos of like girls hairstyles. I
loved watching braids and just intricate liked and I just
loved that you could like change someone's hair and like
this like these fun like sculptural, beautiful ways for events.
I don't know why that was so fascinating to me. Well,
I mean, as a good kid, is it really not surprising?
But you know, I tried doing girls hair, just like
(16:15):
like on the bus or like during our middle school
musical rehearsals. I would like just braid the girl's hair
in front of me, and I was like, this is
so fun. So I started doing girls hair. And I
was in the middle of an appointment once and my
high school friend at the time, her name was Callie Noonan.
She booked me for her hair appointment, but she was
supposed to go get her makeup done at MAC after
I had finished, but she was running so behind, so
she just asked if I would do it, and I
(16:35):
was like, I mean, I had been watching makeup tutorials
online from Michelle von and Naked Tutorials and jacqulin Hill
were some of my biggest role models growing up, so
I knew what I was doing, but I had never
done it myself before. So I was like, listen, Diva,
I'll try this out. But if you look ugly, it is.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Not my problem.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
This is this is a do it your own risk
type of situation. You're requesting this, I will do it.
I will fulfill your requires right now. But if this
looks ugly, it's not my problem because you miss your appointment,
not my fault. So I did it and it looked good,
definitely in terms of today's standards. I mean nothing in comparison,
but it was different. It was so and I kind
of love yeah, and it turned.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Out okay, and I was like, wait, wait, I kind
of ate that up.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
That was fun.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
That was fun, and she felt so beautiful, and that
to me was just the coolest feeling of like, Okay,
thirty minutes of playing around with these creams and powders
put a smile on this beautiful girl's face and made
her feel so confident for this really special light of hers.
That's cool. That's cool. That's why I want to do
more of that. So that's how I got into practicing with,
you know, with makeup as well as doing the hair
(17:40):
on the girlies. And then it was Halloween when I
did makeup on myself for the first time. I did
a skeleton look on myself. It's still on my Instagram
and for some reason, that day is what really made
me believe in Beginner's luck. Because the makeup looks that
I did on myself after that, oh my god, they
were disgusting. But for some reason, that skeleton was so
(18:02):
good even by today's standards. If I if I walked
out of the house right now, would that.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Look at it?
Speaker 4 (18:06):
I'd be like, yeah, great, right, so weird. I do
not know how I did that.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Well, you were always those art, right, but it looks.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
After we're bad. They were really really, really really bad.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
So I just think it was a case of, like
Beginner's luck, this is aside from the universe, that this
is what I meant to be doing. So I'm so
glad that I didn't give up, right, But that was
what started it at all.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, I feel like that's the most important thing with
makeup and anything in the creative world.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Like I grew up.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Painting and oil painting, right, so like it's like the
first day you oil painted, it's going to look like shit,
And then you practice and you learn kind of the
processes and the techniques behind it and you start figuring
it out. And I feel like that is also makeup art, right.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
I love you have that mentality too, because that is
really what we're trying to focus a lot on with Painted.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I think it's really interesting.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
You know, when we first launched the brand, my kind
of stick with makeup has always been Yeah, I don't
I don't want to say educating, because truthfully, I'm not
an educator.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I'm not professionally trained.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Whenever I've done orials, I'm certainly not sitting there and
really going in depth and breaking down the steps because
that's not where my passion lies. It's kind of like,
you guys can watch me do this and if you
want to follow along, great, If you're just watching for
the entertainment value, that's cool too, you know.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
So for me, but I feel like sometimes you like
even in your videos, you'll be like, I'm not going
to show you how I feel in my eyebrows because
I've showed you it hundreds of times before.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Yeah, it's truthfully like, yeah, you know, I'm this might
come across bad. We can edit it out if it does.
But for me, like I'm a I'm a visual learner.
So for me, when I'm watching a video and like
somebody like does an eyeshadow look, my brain knows how
to recreate that if I'm watching it happen. Some people's
brains are just not wired that way. I am self
(19:44):
aware enough to realize that I do not. I do
not have the patience or the like educator level of
the educate, the educational way of explaining it to somebody.
I just don't care enough and like, here's how I
did it. You can follow along.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Great.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
If this isn't for you, there are a million other
educators out there that actually will take, you know, thirty
to forty five minutes to really slow down and teach
somebody how to do it.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
That is just not my style. I'm not a professional edit.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
I was never trained, and there are a million people
that could do a far better job at that than
I can, and I recognize that. So my specialty and
content has always been like, sure, if you're learning from it,
that's incredible. But for me, it's more about like having
fun while doing it and really inspiring people to try.
Cause I think that's what's so hard with make up,
Especially for some of my more intricate, artistic, complicated makeup looks.
(20:32):
People see them and they're always blown away and like,
oh my god, how did they do that?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:35):
You just have to try. And when you first try,
it might be awful, it might be so ugly.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
It probably will.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Mine were garbage when I first started, absolutely hideous. However,
I would have never gotten to the level that I
met today if I didn't just keep going. It's makeup,
it's creams, it's powder. It washes off with you know,
a nice gorgeous oil cleanser or a makeup wipe, not sponsored.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
But you're like, take it off and start over, Maybe
try and.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Try and try again.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
It's never going to be perfect on the first try.
It really does take practice. And that's always kind of
been my mantra, like all throughout YouTube, I'm not a
professional educator or I'm not a professional educator.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I was never professionally trained.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
I got to the level that I'm at by trying,
by failing, by starting over, by attempting new techniques, by posting,
by getting feedback, and by always trying to better myself
and learn from people that inspire me.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Absolutely, and you touched on painted in like the beginning,
but what we were just talking about, so like, let's
go back to painted tell us a little bit, because
I think it's so cool what you're doing. You aren't
seeing other brands do what you're doing at all, Like,
it's very unique and it's so true to you. So
like to everybody listening, explain to us what Painted is
and what your goal is with the rand.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
So with Painted, my goal is to provide pro artistry
level products to everyday consumers for an affordable price. So
when you think back to like, were you ever like
a Mac early? Did you ever go shopping at Mac,
like for makeup when you were younger?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
No?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Okay, that's fine.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
So Mac back in the day had a pro line
where if you went into Mac, you could buy the lipsticks,
you could buy the islanders, you could buy the foundations.
But if you wanted to buy the paints, if you
wanted to buy the sponges, if you wanted to buy
the brushes, you had to have a cosmetology license and
you had to basically go in and apply for a membership,
and only then could you actually buy the pro products.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
It no longer exists anymore.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
And obviously I still love Max, So I don't say
this in a shady way, but I always found that
concept as really stupid because when I was getting into things,
I was not a professional by any stretch of the means.
But I wanted to be I wanted to learn, and
I wanted to use the same products that I was
watching other people use in their videos. Yeah, if I'm
trying to recreate that, Look, why would I want to
(22:40):
go in and buy the Walmart version for lack of
a better term, or the cheaper version, the t move version.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
And you want to explain to people what you mean
by that, because do you mean, like, do you sell
certain colors and then the pro artists will mix the
colors together to get the shades that they want.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Not even that like a math pro.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
There were certain products that were only available to everyday consumers,
and there were there were pro level products that were
only available if you had the license and if you
applied and got into this membership and we're paying for it.
So I hated that idea that like the best products
were being kept behind closed doors and you only exclusive
people cannot access to it.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
That to me was really stupid. So for me, my
goal painted.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Was to provide really high quality, level, professional grade of
products to everybody. But I wanted to educate people and
show people how they can use them regardless of their
skill level. So if you're a pro, if you're a
working makeup artist, if you're a drag queen, if you're
you know, if you're just a makeup lover who's been
(23:35):
practicing for years and years and years, you can use
the products and they're going to give you the exact
performance level that you are expecting and you're used to
in your career path.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
But if you were a beginner, you still have the
good shit.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
So if you don't know how to use it, now,
you can sell practice and when you are good, it'll
still be there performing at the same level.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Can I tell you about something that this kind of
reminds me of? So I just did an interview. I
just did an with one of the heads of production
for Makeup for Ever, And what I didn't know about
their brand was that when they first started, it was
started by Danny Sons in nineteen eighty four. So Danny
Sons in nineteen eighty four started Makeup Forever and the
origin story happened. Basically, what it was was she started
out working on theater set design and she was a
(24:17):
painter on the theater sets, and then one day they
had a performer and the crew was like, do you
mind painting the performer, and she loved it so much
that she ended up creating a line that was all
about like professional makeup and makeup Prever obviously has turned
into a brand that's more about kind of everyday products,
but it was so cool hearing their origin story. And
literally I was walking around the office the headquarters in
(24:40):
New York the other day and they were showing me,
I guess they do a thing with students maybe one
year or whatever it is where they all kind of
do beautiful designs with makeup, kind of how some of
your makeup art looks. And I was walking around looking
at the art that they had printed out of these students' designs,
and I was thinking to myself, I'm like, what's so
cool about Makeup Forever is I feel like they don't
do that same level of artistry anymore, but you are.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
You're like bringing it back.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Okay, So what's so interesting to you that you bring
that up? And I've talked about this in our Painted
initial launch video. Yeah, my first product with Painted are
called Create Paints and they're literally a makeup paint.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
So same thing that you were just talking about.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
The Makeup Forever Flash palette is like a two hundred
dollars ten color cream paint pan for makeup, and that
product is what inspired me to create Create Paints. I
love that because in a lot of my original makeup
looks I would be doing these crazy, intricate, artistic looks
where I was painting my face, doing crazy designs, doing
(25:36):
colors all over. But I hated as great as that
product was, it was really expensive and they were also
a cream formula that didn't dry down. So that was
the inspiration behind our Create Paints was I wanted a
cream makeup paint that you could use all throughout your
makeup routine, whether you're a pro artist or if you're
a beginner, for a super affordable price. Right when we
(25:57):
launched those paints, people thought we were crazy. There were
immediate press articles being like this is a complete flop.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Who cares about this?
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Like no one's gonna buy paints, no one's wearing this thing,
And I knew that it was so annoying watching those
articles come out, But I was fine with it because
to me, I was well aware that that launch was
never going to be a billion dollar launch for the brand.
To me, it was about establishing the brand identity, and
what we stood for. How stupid would it have been
if I'm like, Hi, this brand is called paints. It
(26:25):
it's all about artistry and being creative. And then my
first launch was, you know, a four color brown eye
shot up palette.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
No one would have cared, so to me, I wanted.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
I was willing to take the risk and the hit
on having that crazy, global, over the top launch for
making sure that I was launching a product that was
true to me as an artist and that would establish
what the brand stands for. And sure, we didn't have
a ten trillion dollar launch day, but.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
We still sold out.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
And those paints ended up on Beyonce, those paints ended
up on Nicki Minaj, those paints ended up on Cardi b.
Those paints ended up on Becky g. Those paints have
ended up on a different incredible celebrities that I am
so grateful that their makeup artists have trusted me and
my formulation and my labs and.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
My product design.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
But they've also ended up on girlies, guys, moms, dads
and everybody in between all across the world that have
never tried makeup before.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And that's what the whole.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Point was, is that sure the idea of a paint
in your makeup routine might seem really crazy. I get it,
I completely understand. But when you realize that you can
use the brown as eyeliner, you can use the block
in your waterliner, smoke it out, you can use the
rid as a lipstick, you can use the pink as
a blush. It can It's a multi use product that
doesn't necessarily need to be for crazy artistic makeup books.
(27:38):
And I think that was so cool to launch the
brands in a different way that really set us up
for long term success in the future and hopefully a
platform to really bring back creativity and artistry to an
industry that has kind of fallen off of it a
little bit at least in terms of the gene, social
(28:01):
media culture, beauty space.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Well, it's like you launched with a very niche thing
targeting a very specific audience, and now it's kind of
you get the opportunity to educate people on what we're
doing right now. You know, why do these pro artists
use this style of paint? Why is Beyonce wearing it
on stage? How can you make it something that you
use on a day to day basis? And you know,
you can always evolve and implement more products the way
(28:24):
these other of course.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
But that's why I just thought it was really interesting
that people were like, he's like releasing the stupid product.
It's going to be a flop. And I just really
think that there was no strategy behind.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
This hell out because some of my favorite videos that
you've done are ones where you show how talented you
are at art and you do portraits and different things,
and yeah, I just think it's so cool.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
So when you launched it, I was like, Wow, this
makes so much sense for him.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
And again, like you said, you're saying so true to yourself,
so it really is amazing. Really quickly, I just want
to back up and talk about like when you first
moved to LA, moved to LA so young to live
on your own out here. What made you at the
(29:05):
time want to move to LA. Was it that all
the beauty gurus at the time were living out here?
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Okay, So my opportunity with cover Girl had come before that.
So I signed with cover Girl when I was seventeen,
but I was already coming out to LA so frequently
to work with them for different photo shoots for different events.
At that point, I had around like a million followers
at this time, So I was already traveling so often
just to continue pursuing my career that it made the
(29:32):
most amount of sense to me. You know, I got really, really,
really lucky. I had incredible educators and teachers and a
support system around me in my high school growing up.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
They were really really.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Understanding of what was happening, and you know, I was
really blessed because not every school is that way, but
I think they really had the mentality of, like, you know,
our job as educators and as administrators are to make
sure that our high school students.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Have a path to success.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
So although I wasn't taking their tradition one, it was
imminent that I was going to do something really special.
So during my senior year, I had already started doing
all these things. I was in school for three out
of the first ten weeks of the semester, so I
took it upon myself to go into the guidance councilor
and be like, hey, I gotta go, Yeah, I have
to move. I want to get out of here. Help
(30:18):
me graduate early. And thank god, I had already been
taking all AP and honors classes, so I almost had
expected I had almost enough credits to graduate twice, right,
I just had. I was missing up. You're gonna love this.
I was missing gym credits.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Perfect, stupid gym credits.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Oh my god. So he was not running high school mile.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
I was, and I got a great time too, but
I didn't have enough gym credit, so I had to
write like a couple of like physical fitness essays about
like the body whatever I was doing.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
But that's always so.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
So you graduatedly, what were your parents like?
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I know, I saw a video of yours that you
posted showing the setup that your dad created for you
at your childhood home. Yeah. Actually when you post that video,
I commented on it and you liked my So that
was our first little like social media dress fun. Yes,
And I love that so much because it was so
cool to see how much your parents supported your goals,
especially when YouTube at the time was so fresh and
(31:11):
so new.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Yeah. Truthfully, it wasn't always that way, okay, And they
were never they were never against it, but they were
definitely really hesitant, as any parents should be, right, like your.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Kid coming home and be like, hey, I'm gonna be
famous online.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
WHOA, No, that's crazy, that's crazy, So they were definitely
really hesitant to be like, what's going on here, where
is this money coming from?
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Who are you working with?
Speaker 4 (31:33):
They were definitely very protective in that sense, and it
was also really hard to because I did have really
good grades. So my parents were like, you're going to college.
We have these offers from these various schools, we have
scholarships on the table. You're not going to abandon that
and you think you're going to be an influencer in
LA haha, And those that they know, I'm like, sorry,
it's already happening well.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Because at the time, it's like your parents are used
to LA and Hollywood and actors. It's like, it's amazing
how much the beauty industry. I mean, it's amazing how
it's always been a huge space to you know, do
really well.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
But really lucky I had, you know, I had a
lot of friends already in LA that I was meeting
from different events and from different just trips and stuff,
and they were able to meet them and know that
I had a good support system here built around me already,
so it's not like I was truly moving here alone.
I lived with one of my best friend's family for
like six or seven months on and off over in
(32:26):
Wady or maybe like an hour away from here. And
you know, her mom put her name on my lease
when I moved to LA for the first time because
I couldn't find to lease myself because I was having teams, right,
So I was really lucky that I had great people
around me to help me and take care of me
when I was, you know, just a kid being here,
So that was really incredible. And my parents had already
met them from the different trips, so they knew that
(32:47):
I wasn't necessarily alone.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
But I think, as any parent.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Should be, they were just worried that I was, you know,
gonna make the right decisions, that I would come here
and you know, wouldn't get overwhelmed with partying or drugs
or drink or just the lacne in general. But you know,
I think I had really worked super hard to prove
to them that I had a good head on my
shoulders and that I really wanted this. Yeah, I wasn't
(33:11):
gonna let it, you know, slip away.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Absolutely, And it was cool that there were other examples
in the space of people already living out here like
you were truly part of such an iconic I'm going
to call it such an iconic class of beauty girls, right, yeah, yeah,
I mean, what do you think were like the pros
and cons of being part of this amazing like people,
I don't know, I used.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
To love watching like all of you guys.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
You know, I think, you know, there there was definitely
a golden age of like the beauty community on YouTube,
and I think it really did provide such a crazy
sort of entertainment for people for a very long time.
At the same time, I think it also got really
toxic really quickly, just because there was so much money,
so many views, and just so many different players involved
in the space. I think that, you know, it's really interesting.
(33:55):
One thing that I've always like paid attention to over
the years is, you know, it's very natural that people
become friends and maybe go their separate ways, or people
grow apart. And I think that, you know, when the
audience is watching, it makes growing or being an adult
really difficult because people are paying attention too closely to
things like that. And I think with being an influencer,
(34:15):
you know, really a lot of times the only things
we have in common is making content online. So I
think there was just a lot of really crazy, fun,
entertaining personalities that worked for a second and maybe didn't
work at another certain point.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
And that's fine, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
But I think it was really cool to grow up
in that era and be a part of something that
really was so impactful to so many people. And as
much you know, drama or crazy things online that may
have happened, there are some really great people out there
that are still making great content. You know, Nicki Tatorrels
is my absolute favorite people in the entire world, who
(34:52):
is always so sweet and so helpful to me growing up.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Same thing with Jaqueline Hell.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Jaqueline was one of my biggest role models and I
got to meet her when I was seventeen years old.
She was so kind to me when she didn't have
to be, and she was so just willing to offer advice,
to help, just to be a friend. And you know,
there were a lot of people like that as well.
So I will, I really, I will forever be grateful
for those times and how they shape me to be
(35:19):
the guru that I am.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
I mean, it's such a good That was such a
well worded answer, you like all you What I love
about James is his answers like your answers answer my
follow up questions, which is perfect.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
As we wrap it up, I heard you in.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
We talked about escape rooms in the beginning of his interview,
and I heard you once in an interview say your
career is like an escape room where you're always trying
to get out and get to the next level. Yeah,
so I'm curious what is the level that you feel
like you're currently in and where are we trying to go?
Speaker 3 (35:50):
Ooh, that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Also, that was an iconic quote. I was like, look
at him using these analogies.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
I love.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
I think for me, you know, the last couple of
years have really been about, like I would say, like
reinventing myself. I've been doing this for a very long
time now, and I think that through making especially long
form content for so long, I think that people really
had a super solidified idea of who I was as
(36:17):
a human being from my content. And it was really funny,
you know, growing up, my friends would always say like, gosh, James,
like I wish you would just be more yourself in
your videos. People would just love it, and I was like, what,
Like what are you talking about? Because I never felt
like I was playing a character. Of course, as soon
as the camera turns on, you know, we all have
a more energetic personality. Of course, I always focus on,
(36:38):
you know, making sure I had a future for myself
and my family. So I was watching what I was saying.
I was making sure that I was being brand and
family friendly to make the most amount of AD revenue.
I'm not ashamed to say that. But for the most part,
I always felt like I was being myself. But my
friends would always be like, no, girl, like this is
not you. Like, when you truly figure out how to
like be yourself, that's when you'll be unstoppable. And I
(36:59):
never really got it until quite honestly, like the last
like maybe two years, just like from being on TikTok
and from starting my spamach hount and just posting random
rants and tangents and going on live streams and sometimes
saying some things that are a little too unhinged.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
I managers calling me be like, get a funny you do.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
But you know, people responded so well to like seeing
what I'm really like behind the scenes. I think that,
you know, I've also gone through plenty of ups and downs.
I will never you know hide away from that, But
in those situations, I've always tried to use embarrassing or
bad moments to truthfully learn and grow and try to
become a better, smarter, stronger person. That's how I've always
(37:41):
looked at everything. So to me, after doing this for
so long, I now have the mentality of like, I'm
just gonna have fun. I have seen that a career
or social media cloud or relevancy can truly go away
in a matter of a couple of hours and can
come back later on as well. So I used to
really focus every single day on what am I doing today?
(38:03):
How can I do this? How can I do this?
How can I gain more followers, how can I.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Get more views this?
Speaker 4 (38:08):
And of course I still do have that mentality that's
part of running a business, but I think now more
than ever, I'm just really trying to have fun and
make things that I'm proud of. And I think that
the audience will always find its way if they're interested
in watching what you're putting out there.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
I love that it's so important too.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
I think like with content, it can be so stressful
and sometimes the fun can get sucked out of it,
and I feel like the best videos and the most
organic videos come from just having fun with it, So
I love that so much. You are amazing guys. James
is the best person on and off camera. When I
showed up here, I swear to god, you were like
your aura was just so kind and sweet.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
So I love that thing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Absolutely, Thank you so much for welcoming my team into
your home.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Pleased to have you guys. Thanks for coming everybody, Thank you,
Thank you for having me. This is a blast.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I love you. Maybe next time I'll get you go
for a run.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
You won't, but you're welcome to indite me.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Okay, that's ron.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Thanks guys, We'll see you next time on post run high.
Make sure you subscribe.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Timbs up clicked about icon Hm
What is up?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Runner Gang, Welcome back to Post Run High. We're here
today in LA with James, Charles and you guys. I
was so excited for this conversation. James is someone I
followed online and have loved for so many years. He's
been in the social media space for nearly a decade,
starting out as a beauty creator and completely changing the game.
(00:24):
James has built a massive platform, he recently launched his
own brand, and he is a key example of staying
at the forefront of the industry while constantly evolving. Today
we got into everything his upbringing, how he got to
where he is today, his insane work ethic, how he
keeps pushing himself creatively, and what it's really been like
(00:45):
navigating the highs and lows of internet fame. As you
guys know, the premise of Post Run High is we
go for a run before sitting down for our full conversation.
But sometimes we mix up the form of movement we do,
and you guys, don't worry. You get a high from
all sorts of workouts, so the endorphins are still always there.
But today, for context, James and I went for a
(01:08):
walk in his neighborhood before sitting down for the conversation
you guys are about to listen to, and of course
that walk has been posted on my socials at Kate
Max for you guys to watch. And guys, I was
low key really excited to see James run, but that's okay,
maybe we'll get him next time. As always, if you're
listening here, don't forget you can watch this full episode
(01:30):
over on YouTube, So please subscribe to my YouTube channel
if you haven't already, and if you want to keep
up to date on all of the behind the scenes
of our shows and everything else we've got going on,
follow me across socials at Kate Max and at Post
Run High. Okay, Runner Gang, let's get into today's episode
with James.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
What is up?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Welcome back to Post Run High, Post Friend Walk today,
Post Walk High, Post Walk High, which I kind of love.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
We're here with James Charles.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Hi you guys.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Hello, Hello, Hello, I'm so excited to be sitting down
with you, James. I was telling you this on our
walk eyes. James and I just got back from a
one mile.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Walk with his dogs. Yes, it was beautiful, like.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Welcome to my home. Welcome to the neighborhood. Glad you
enjoyed Finn and Theodore.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, it's so cool being at your house.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I just have to really quickly say, I've grown up
watching you on social media, so it really is so
cool to be able to like step into your home,
like see your house.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And what I love about it.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I just kept saying to James, I was like, your
house is so well designed. Thanks, and I know design
is such a big part of you and your life. Yeah,
it's cool to see.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Thank you. We were welcome anytime.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
How is the walk for you?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
The walk was good?
Speaker 4 (02:47):
I mean I don't I'm not a big physical activity
type of person. When they told me that your team
had reached out about doing this, I was like, oh
my god, is she I'm not running with her?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Or she can't make me run. I can't do it.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
But I was so excited when we got to do
a walk because I do love getting out, and the
dogs love a walk, and the weather's been so beautiful recently,
so I was excited to chat and get a little
little bit of exercise. End that would be my workout
for the next month.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I'm shocked that you don't work out at all, Like
not even yoga.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
No, wow, I've really I've genuinely really tried, because obviously
I know that everyone loves it, and I know obviously
that it's very good for the human body.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I'm human body too.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Well.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Yeah, of course I genuinely can't get into it, and
I've tried multiple times. I've tried different personal trainers, I've
tried different gyms, I've tried so many different workouts.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Like, it's actually really funny.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
We filmed YouTube like series probably like two years ago
now where I was like, I'm going to get fit
because I had gained a little bit of weight during
COVID that I wanted to get rid of. So I
converted my entire garage to a gym, hired a personal
trainer for two months, cut out all fast food. What
if you yo me? Yeah, that's a that's a big
I mean you saw the Cooke Foe.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I was gonna ask you, what is your diet?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Like bad?
Speaker 4 (03:51):
It's disgusting, Okay, like it's so bad, but that's fine, Okay, love.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
But I definitely, like I complimented with working out. But
if I don't think, I don't know whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I don't mean. I just couldn't get into it.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
But for two months I fully cut out, also to
off us food, and was working out three or four
times a week and like not stupid little like workout
was like a girl. I was really going in and
by the end of the two months, I had gained
two pounds. And yes, I'm aware that muscle weighs more
than fat. I'm not looking for that. I don't want
to be jacked and muscular. I'm trying to be tiny
and skinny and disappearing before your very eyes. I love
(04:25):
that I need camera to zoom in so far that
because I'm like a little speck of dust floating around
in the backyard.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
You know, I can't even see you right now?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, thank you, Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
That's what I was going for.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Well, Okay, So I like, personally I run because it
like keeps me very grounded, and I feel like with
social media and content, our lives are just can be
super chaotic and overwhelming. So I'm curious, Like, for me,
working out is definitely my escape and what keeps me
really grounded.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So what do you do to stay grounded?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I have a few couple of ones that are kind
of like weird niche interests. I love building Legos, love
Love Love goos. My entire office is covered in all
sorts of different Lego builds, So that's like a really
nice way of like distract myself and put on like
a TV show, put my phone away, and just like
build for a couple of hours. I love escape rooms.
They're my favorite pastime in the entire world. And it
(05:13):
sounds so stupid, but like my life is really crazy sometimes,
so it's so cheesy to say, but I do enjoy
putting my phone away for an hour and like pretending
like I really am in the Titanic and we're sinking
and we have one hour to get.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Out, and I like that.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
It's fun.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
It's fun even though it's like a high stress situation,
like you know, it's like you know, it's playing for tend.
It's like it's just like fun little it's a game.
But I like turning my brain on. I like thinking
and I like strategizing, and that's like genuinely fun for me.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
I love puzzes. I love brain teasers.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
So that's kind of like my escape where I get
to turn my phone off and be like disconnected from
like the social media world, but still be like thinking.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I feel like it makes so much sense because I mean,
you don't build the empire that you've built without being smart.
And you can tell I feel like Legos especially you know,
when you're a kid growing up like they, you'd think that,
like all kids play with Legos, but it's really not true.
It's like a certain type of kid plays with Legos
that likes doing activities that turn their brain on and
challenge them.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
So I love knowing that about it.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, well did you did you grow up with Legos
or did you ever?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
My older brother is very smart and she was the
kid in our family that like loved Legos, So I
feel like there's some synergy there. Guys comment down below,
let us know what you think, But I think Legos
kids playing with Legos is a sign of adultgy. Well.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
I loved I loved Legos, and I also loved there's
just like kids agat that no longer exists anywhere. But
it was called Canacs and they were like, they were like,
you would build.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Things. How do I explain it?
Speaker 4 (06:40):
It wasn't like it wasn't It was different than Legos,
where you're like building a building, but with connects. It
was like you would build like a roller coaster, or
you'd build like a ferris wheel, or you build like
I don't eve really know how to explain it. I
love the Amusic Park ride for some reason. That was
like my special interest as a kid. And from there,
like I would always build like giant roller coasters and
like that was like my interest as a kid. I
wanted to be in a music park designer. So I've
always just been very like engineering focus. My dad's a
(07:04):
self employed contractor as well, and I will never forget
like when my when my when I lost my two
front teeth. Of course, all parents have the tooth fairy.
So when I lost my tooth front teeth, I didn't
ask for money. I didn't ask for any sort of
special prize. I asked for a shark vacuum. I'm not kidding.
And my dad, for my like I think it was
third or fourth birthday, built me a It was like
(07:26):
a wooden box with just plugs, switches and outlets on it.
None of them did anything. They were not connected to anything,
nothing was wired together. But he built the boxing because
he saw that I was always watching him when he
was working, like wiring electrical and like installing outlets and
plugs into people's homes. Yeah, and I was interested in that.
So it's like that's so weird and such a good Like, No,
(07:49):
I love it, kid, But I wanted to be an engineer.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I wanted to be a designer.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
I've always been really interested in just like figuring out
how things work.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I was just going to say that, Yeah, it seems
like it. Are you the type of person that will
get and want to assemble it?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Low?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Want to assemble It.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Depends on how complicated it is.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Maybe not that, because like I'd rather hire our task
robbers to do that instead.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
But if it was, but bye bye.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
But you go into James's garage and there's like a
shed of all essentials Iikia furniture, like eight different.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Nights, say it's ready for a stressful night. Jame's gonna
take one on and ready to go. No, not like that,
Like I would never choose to put it together. However,
if you were like, Hi, for our podcast today, we're
racing to see who can build an IKE addresser faster.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
You bet? Are bet? I am clocking in to that challenge.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
No, I love the competitive side of you.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Love it, Okay, I want you to kind of take
us back because we're getting to know from these stories
what you were kind of like as a kid, but really, like,
walk us back through your childhood. You grow up in
upstate New York. Yes, what were you like as a
kid outside of these annoyings?
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Okay, I was really really stubborn, very outgoing. My little
brother and I could not have been more polar opposites.
I put my poor parents through absolute hell growing up
just because I.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I knew what I wanted.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I was definitely little bit difficult as a child, but
I was very smart, very outgoing, and very just like
always was innovating and wanting to try something new.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
I had a million different hobbies.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I actually started like my social media journey when I
was eleven. I had a Twitter account back in the day,
it was called That's what Kids Do, and I used
to post like relatable teen quotes and tweets like that
awkward moment when blah blah blah blah blah, or like
that moment when your crush says blah blah, like so stupid.
But I grew that account to like eighty or ninety
(09:31):
thousand followers when I was eleven. That's insane and I
literally I got banned because I put my age in
my Twitter bio because I was proud of being an
eleven year old with a one hundred thousand followers, and
then they're like, nope, you have to be thirteen banned.
So my poor mom had to like write an email
to Twitter being like, Hi, this account is managed by
a parent. Let him back on because I was making
money from him. I was running Google ads on my
Twitter account, and then eventually I sold that account, moved
(09:54):
over to Tumblr, learned how to code htmail and CSS,
and started designing web themes for people and for people blogs.
Then I use that money to buy my first ever
DSLR camera and a MacBook.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
And then I made a comedy.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
YouTube channel when I was like thirteen or fourteen, fully
made like a PowerPoint presentation for my parents as to
why they should allow me to make YouTube videos. Started
posting the comedy videos, and then I eventually got into
doing girls hair and makeup for school like prom and ball,
then did my own makeup, and then.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
It's a realzing and it's so cool how you ended up,
like because you love the techie side of things too,
but also you have such a creative side of you.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
It's so cool to see how all of these things
kind of merge together.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, and you always had such a high production quality
even when you first started out, so it's cool knowing
that you were really the brains behind that.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I've always been.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Really interested in that. Like for me, I said this
like when we were walking earlier. But yeah, I know that,
Like I know that I'm great at what I do,
but I'm never the best.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I truly love my part of the job that.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Entails learning, whether it's you know, how I can improve
my landing, how how I can I proved my video settings,
how I can make a videos retention a couple of
seconds higher, how I can photoshop my thumbnails to be better. Like,
I really do enjoy that part of the content creation process.
I'm not competing with anybody other than myself to continue
one up in what I've already done.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Yeah, and I find that fun.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
It's like a fun challenge, absolutely, And it's so hard.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I would say, like, what would you say for people
just starting out on content, including some of those things
that you just mentioned, right, because like we're just getting
started in the YouTube game, and it's crazy how important
thumbnails are, and it's so hard to find really good
thumbnail designers. It's like, honestly the hardest.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Thing, right, I been doing it myself really, Yeah, I
only just started recently. I just started working with a
guy that I found on social media. Yeah, but I've
done my own thumbnails for the last seven years.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Which means I'm shook.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, your thumbnails are incredible, Like I use your thumbnails
as reference all the time because I'm like, this is
what great looks like.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
That's so impressive.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
I learned how to use photoshop when I was like
seven or eight because I ran a Club Penguin blog too.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
That one didn't that one was ever.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Successful, so I didn't include that in my story journey.
But I learned how to use photosop because I needed
to or how to edit the Club Penguin Penguin into
like different positions.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
You were such an interesting kid. I feel like you're
like giving boy genius.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
It was giving like loser nerds. No, definitely not giving boigenius.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
But also social and outgoing.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
So it seems like I feel like the smartest people
kind of have every box ticked, like right where they're
outgoing and social and they're also smart.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
I knew really early on that I didn't want to.
I didn't want to take a regular path. I wanted
to be I don't think like I wanted to be famous.
I wanted to do something in the public eye. I
wanted to create. I wanted to inspire people. I wanted
to do something positive to impact people's lives, and I
knew that I wanted to do it with people watching.
My rise on social media was very quick, for sure,
(12:44):
but there's been you know, ups and downs over the years.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I had.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
You know, when I started about a year in is
when I had my big break and I got my
senior photos went viral. When I rechok my senior pho tell.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Us the story behind that, because I kept seeing that
everywhere and I was like, what is the lore behind
this senior year?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
I took my photos with makeup on and the lighting
was disgusting.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I looked terrible.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
So I emailed this company being like, Hi, this is crazy,
but like I know how to use photoshop. Can I
either retake these photos or just like retouch them myself?
And they're like, we don't care, sure, come back on,
Like come back on these days you could just pay
a retake of gun I said, absolutely, you better bat
I'm going to be there. So I went back, brought
my ring light, retook the photos, and then retouched them myself.
They let me photoshop the pictures posted on social media,
(13:26):
not even like not even with the attention about going viral.
But one of my other content creator friends at the
time was like, you should turn this into a meme.
And this was like right at the like, memes weren't
even like a thing yet. The memes at the time
were like nian Cat, the stupid pop tart rainbow thing
you over.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
That for the closure is a world of its own.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Yeah, this was like brand new, like what memes really meant.
So she was like, you should turn this into like
a meme, like at a funny caption about like when
you retake your photos and bring your ring light. And
I was sitting there being like that is so stupid,
and she's like, just try it.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
So I posted it, not.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Really thinking anything of it, and literally the next morning
woke up to my email and being flooded with every
single news outlet.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
On planet Earth being like, Hi, we need to interview
about this.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
And I was like, and that was a photo that
went viral like a meme photo.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Wow, that was it. That was literally and from there
I got noticed by Cover Girl. I signed as cover
girls first ever mail ambassador for the brand. I did
my commercial with Katie Perry, Chloe Helly Bailey were in it.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
At the time.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
It was so cool. And then that I went on
The Ellen Show and from there it was like crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
And when you posted that photo of your senior yearbook
photo online, were you already creating beauty content on the internet? Okay,
so you had started kind of that journey.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
I had already been making beauty content, but I hadn't
gone viral yet. There was a couple of I mean,
Instagram was just different background. That was like when they
had like the popular page, right, do you remember, Yes,
I do remember.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
God, Like those were the days.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Yeah, what I would do to go back in time
to twenty sixteen Instagram, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Fill little notification like you made it on to the tay.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Was probably iconic.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Girl.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
If a time machine powered up for the ground right there,
you better bet I am jumping and that and.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Going right back right.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Oh my god.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
Those so days were just it was just an easier, simpler,
better time back then. But that was when, like it was,
it was easy for things to go viral and like
take over the entire internet like that, so that it
was really unexpected. Like I said, I when my friends suggested,
I honestly was like, that's so stupid. Yeah, but I'm
so grateful that she gave me that advice because it
definitely worked and got.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Me noticed definitely.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And I feel like one of the most impressive things
that I find from beauty content in general and beauty
girls is it's like, when you start out, you're not
an expert, right, and I'm sure you were good at it,
but it's amazing, Like what gave you the call? I all?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Actually, so what did your initial content look like?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Well, so I.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Started on Instagram first, okay, and I had I had
already been doing girls makeup for prom and ball at
my school beforehand. Looking back now, it wasn't bad by
any means.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
And how did you get into that? Like what made you?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Because like you're interested in all these different things techi stuff,
building stuff, legos like so I was.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
I was always a huge fan of watching YouTube, and
I really enjoyed watching videos of like girls hairstyles. I
loved watching braids and just intricate liked and I just
loved that you could like change someone's hair and like
this like these fun like sculptural, beautiful ways for events.
I don't know why that was so fascinating to me. Well,
I mean, as a good kid, is it really not surprising?
But you know, I tried doing girls hair, just like
(16:15):
like on the bus or like during our middle school
musical rehearsals. I would like just braid the girl's hair
in front of me, and I was like, this is
so fun. So I started doing girls hair. And I
was in the middle of an appointment once and my
high school friend at the time, her name was Callie Noonan.
She booked me for her hair appointment, but she was
supposed to go get her makeup done at MAC after
I had finished, but she was running so behind, so
she just asked if I would do it, and I
(16:35):
was like, I mean, I had been watching makeup tutorials
online from Michelle von and Naked Tutorials and jacqulin Hill
were some of my biggest role models growing up, so
I knew what I was doing, but I had never
done it myself before. So I was like, listen, Diva,
I'll try this out. But if you look ugly, it is.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Not my problem.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
This is this is a do it your own risk
type of situation. You're requesting this, I will do it.
I will fulfill your requires right now. But if this
looks ugly, it's not my problem because you miss your appointment,
not my fault. So I did it and it looked good,
definitely in terms of today's standards. I mean nothing in comparison,
but it was different. It was so and I kind
of love yeah, and it turned.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Out okay, and I was like, wait, wait, I kind
of ate that up.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
That was fun.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
That was fun, and she felt so beautiful, and that
to me was just the coolest feeling of like, Okay,
thirty minutes of playing around with these creams and powders
put a smile on this beautiful girl's face and made
her feel so confident for this really special light of hers.
That's cool. That's cool. That's why I want to do
more of that. So that's how I got into practicing with,
you know, with makeup as well as doing the hair
(17:40):
on the girlies. And then it was Halloween when I
did makeup on myself for the first time. I did
a skeleton look on myself. It's still on my Instagram
and for some reason, that day is what really made
me believe in Beginner's luck. Because the makeup looks that
I did on myself after that, oh my god, they
were disgusting. But for some reason, that skeleton was so
(18:02):
good even by today's standards. If I if I walked
out of the house right now, would that.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Look at it?
Speaker 4 (18:06):
I'd be like, yeah, great, right, so weird. I do
not know how I did that.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Well, you were always those art, right, but it looks.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
After we're bad. They were really really, really really bad.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
So I just think it was a case of, like
Beginner's luck, this is aside from the universe, that this
is what I meant to be doing. So I'm so
glad that I didn't give up, right, But that was
what started it at all.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well, I feel like that's the most important thing with
makeup and anything in the creative world.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Like I grew up.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Painting and oil painting, right, so like it's like the
first day you oil painted, it's going to look like shit,
And then you practice and you learn kind of the
processes and the techniques behind it and you start figuring
it out. And I feel like that is also makeup art, right.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
I love you have that mentality too, because that is
really what we're trying to focus a lot on with Painted.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I think it's really interesting.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
You know, when we first launched the brand, my kind
of stick with makeup has always been Yeah, I don't
I don't want to say educating, because truthfully, I'm not
an educator.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I'm not professionally trained.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Whenever I've done orials, I'm certainly not sitting there and
really going in depth and breaking down the steps because
that's not where my passion lies. It's kind of like,
you guys can watch me do this and if you
want to follow along, great, If you're just watching for
the entertainment value, that's cool too, you know.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
So for me, but I feel like sometimes you like
even in your videos, you'll be like, I'm not going
to show you how I feel in my eyebrows because
I've showed you it hundreds of times before.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Yeah, it's truthfully like, yeah, you know, I'm this might
come across bad. We can edit it out if it does.
But for me, like I'm a I'm a visual learner.
So for me, when I'm watching a video and like
somebody like does an eyeshadow look, my brain knows how
to recreate that if I'm watching it happen. Some people's
brains are just not wired that way. I am self
(19:44):
aware enough to realize that I do not. I do
not have the patience or the like educator level of
the educate, the educational way of explaining it to somebody.
I just don't care enough and like, here's how I
did it. You can follow along.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Great.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
If this isn't for you, there are a million other
educators out there that actually will take, you know, thirty
to forty five minutes to really slow down and teach
somebody how to do it.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
That is just not my style. I'm not a professional edit.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
I was never trained, and there are a million people
that could do a far better job at that than
I can, and I recognize that. So my specialty and
content has always been like, sure, if you're learning from it,
that's incredible. But for me, it's more about like having
fun while doing it and really inspiring people to try.
Cause I think that's what's so hard with make up,
Especially for some of my more intricate, artistic, complicated makeup looks.
(20:32):
People see them and they're always blown away and like,
oh my god, how did they do that?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:35):
You just have to try. And when you first try,
it might be awful, it might be so ugly.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
It probably will.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Mine were garbage when I first started, absolutely hideous. However,
I would have never gotten to the level that I
met today if I didn't just keep going. It's makeup,
it's creams, it's powder. It washes off with you know,
a nice gorgeous oil cleanser or a makeup wipe, not sponsored.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
But you're like, take it off and start over, Maybe
try and.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Try and try again.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
It's never going to be perfect on the first try.
It really does take practice. And that's always kind of
been my mantra, like all throughout YouTube, I'm not a
professional educator or I'm not a professional educator.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I was never professionally trained.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
I got to the level that I'm at by trying,
by failing, by starting over, by attempting new techniques, by posting,
by getting feedback, and by always trying to better myself
and learn from people that inspire me.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Absolutely, and you touched on painted in like the beginning,
but what we were just talking about, so like, let's
go back to painted tell us a little bit, because
I think it's so cool what you're doing. You aren't
seeing other brands do what you're doing at all, Like,
it's very unique and it's so true to you. So
like to everybody listening, explain to us what Painted is
and what your goal is with the rand.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
So with Painted, my goal is to provide pro artistry
level products to everyday consumers for an affordable price. So
when you think back to like, were you ever like
a Mac early? Did you ever go shopping at Mac,
like for makeup when you were younger?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
No?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Okay, that's fine.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
So Mac back in the day had a pro line
where if you went into Mac, you could buy the lipsticks,
you could buy the islanders, you could buy the foundations.
But if you wanted to buy the paints, if you
wanted to buy the sponges, if you wanted to buy
the brushes, you had to have a cosmetology license and
you had to basically go in and apply for a membership,
and only then could you actually buy the pro products.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
It no longer exists anymore.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
And obviously I still love Max, So I don't say
this in a shady way, but I always found that
concept as really stupid because when I was getting into things,
I was not a professional by any stretch of the means.
But I wanted to be I wanted to learn, and
I wanted to use the same products that I was
watching other people use in their videos. Yeah, if I'm
trying to recreate that, Look, why would I want to
(22:40):
go in and buy the Walmart version for lack of
a better term, or the cheaper version, the t move version.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
And you want to explain to people what you mean
by that, because do you mean, like, do you sell
certain colors and then the pro artists will mix the
colors together to get the shades that they want.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Not even that like a math pro.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
There were certain products that were only available to everyday consumers,
and there were there were pro level products that were
only available if you had the license and if you
applied and got into this membership and we're paying for it.
So I hated that idea that like the best products
were being kept behind closed doors and you only exclusive
people cannot access to it.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
That to me was really stupid. So for me, my
goal painted.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Was to provide really high quality, level, professional grade of
products to everybody. But I wanted to educate people and
show people how they can use them regardless of their
skill level. So if you're a pro, if you're a
working makeup artist, if you're a drag queen, if you're
you know, if you're just a makeup lover who's been
(23:35):
practicing for years and years and years, you can use
the products and they're going to give you the exact
performance level that you are expecting and you're used to
in your career path.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
But if you were a beginner, you still have the
good shit.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
So if you don't know how to use it, now,
you can sell practice and when you are good, it'll
still be there performing at the same level.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Can I tell you about something that this kind of
reminds me of? So I just did an interview. I
just did an with one of the heads of production
for Makeup for Ever, And what I didn't know about
their brand was that when they first started, it was
started by Danny Sons in nineteen eighty four. So Danny
Sons in nineteen eighty four started Makeup Forever and the
origin story happened. Basically, what it was was she started
out working on theater set design and she was a
(24:17):
painter on the theater sets, and then one day they
had a performer and the crew was like, do you
mind painting the performer, and she loved it so much
that she ended up creating a line that was all
about like professional makeup and makeup Prever obviously has turned
into a brand that's more about kind of everyday products,
but it was so cool hearing their origin story. And
literally I was walking around the office the headquarters in
(24:40):
New York the other day and they were showing me,
I guess they do a thing with students maybe one
year or whatever it is where they all kind of
do beautiful designs with makeup, kind of how some of
your makeup art looks. And I was walking around looking
at the art that they had printed out of these students' designs,
and I was thinking to myself, I'm like, what's so
cool about Makeup Forever is I feel like they don't
do that same level of artistry anymore, but you are.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
You're like bringing it back.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Okay, So what's so interesting to you that you bring
that up? And I've talked about this in our Painted
initial launch video. Yeah, my first product with Painted are
called Create Paints and they're literally a makeup paint.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
So same thing that you were just talking about.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
The Makeup Forever Flash palette is like a two hundred
dollars ten color cream paint pan for makeup, and that
product is what inspired me to create Create Paints. I
love that because in a lot of my original makeup
looks I would be doing these crazy, intricate, artistic looks
where I was painting my face, doing crazy designs, doing
(25:36):
colors all over. But I hated as great as that
product was, it was really expensive and they were also
a cream formula that didn't dry down. So that was
the inspiration behind our Create Paints was I wanted a
cream makeup paint that you could use all throughout your
makeup routine, whether you're a pro artist or if you're
a beginner, for a super affordable price. Right when we
(25:57):
launched those paints, people thought we were crazy. There were
immediate press articles being like this is a complete flop.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Who cares about this?
Speaker 4 (26:04):
Like no one's gonna buy paints, no one's wearing this thing,
And I knew that it was so annoying watching those
articles come out, But I was fine with it because
to me, I was well aware that that launch was
never going to be a billion dollar launch for the brand.
To me, it was about establishing the brand identity, and
what we stood for. How stupid would it have been
if I'm like, Hi, this brand is called paints. It
(26:25):
it's all about artistry and being creative. And then my
first launch was, you know, a four color brown eye
shot up palette.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
No one would have cared, so to me, I wanted.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
I was willing to take the risk and the hit
on having that crazy, global, over the top launch for
making sure that I was launching a product that was
true to me as an artist and that would establish
what the brand stands for. And sure, we didn't have
a ten trillion dollar launch day, but.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
We still sold out.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
And those paints ended up on Beyonce, those paints ended
up on Nicki Minaj, those paints ended up on Cardi b.
Those paints ended up on Becky g. Those paints have
ended up on a different incredible celebrities that I am
so grateful that their makeup artists have trusted me and
my formulation and my labs and.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
My product design.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
But they've also ended up on girlies, guys, moms, dads
and everybody in between all across the world that have
never tried makeup before.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And that's what the whole.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Point was, is that sure the idea of a paint
in your makeup routine might seem really crazy. I get it,
I completely understand. But when you realize that you can
use the brown as eyeliner, you can use the block
in your waterliner, smoke it out, you can use the
rid as a lipstick, you can use the pink as
a blush. It can It's a multi use product that
doesn't necessarily need to be for crazy artistic makeup books.
(27:38):
And I think that was so cool to launch the
brands in a different way that really set us up
for long term success in the future and hopefully a
platform to really bring back creativity and artistry to an
industry that has kind of fallen off of it a
little bit at least in terms of the gene, social
(28:01):
media culture, beauty space.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Well, it's like you launched with a very niche thing
targeting a very specific audience, and now it's kind of
you get the opportunity to educate people on what we're
doing right now. You know, why do these pro artists
use this style of paint? Why is Beyonce wearing it
on stage? How can you make it something that you
use on a day to day basis? And you know,
you can always evolve and implement more products the way
(28:24):
these other of course.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
But that's why I just thought it was really interesting
that people were like, he's like releasing the stupid product.
It's going to be a flop. And I just really
think that there was no strategy behind.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
This hell out because some of my favorite videos that
you've done are ones where you show how talented you
are at art and you do portraits and different things,
and yeah, I just think it's so cool.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
So when you launched it, I was like, Wow, this
makes so much sense for him.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
And again, like you said, you're saying so true to yourself,
so it really is amazing. Really quickly, I just want
to back up and talk about like when you first
moved to LA, moved to LA so young to live
on your own out here. What made you at the
(29:05):
time want to move to LA. Was it that all
the beauty gurus at the time were living out here?
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Okay, So my opportunity with cover Girl had come before that.
So I signed with cover Girl when I was seventeen,
but I was already coming out to LA so frequently
to work with them for different photo shoots for different events.
At that point, I had around like a million followers
at this time, So I was already traveling so often
just to continue pursuing my career that it made the
(29:32):
most amount of sense to me. You know, I got really, really,
really lucky. I had incredible educators and teachers and a
support system around me in my high school growing up.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
They were really really.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Understanding of what was happening, and you know, I was
really blessed because not every school is that way, but
I think they really had the mentality of, like, you know,
our job as educators and as administrators are to make
sure that our high school students.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Have a path to success.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
So although I wasn't taking their tradition one, it was
imminent that I was going to do something really special.
So during my senior year, I had already started doing
all these things. I was in school for three out
of the first ten weeks of the semester, so I
took it upon myself to go into the guidance councilor
and be like, hey, I gotta go, Yeah, I have
to move. I want to get out of here. Help
(30:18):
me graduate early. And thank god, I had already been
taking all AP and honors classes, so I almost had
expected I had almost enough credits to graduate twice, right,
I just had. I was missing up. You're gonna love this.
I was missing gym credits.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Perfect, stupid gym credits.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Oh my god. So he was not running high school mile.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
I was, and I got a great time too, but
I didn't have enough gym credit, so I had to
write like a couple of like physical fitness essays about
like the body whatever I was doing.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
But that's always so.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
So you graduatedly, what were your parents like?
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I know, I saw a video of yours that you
posted showing the setup that your dad created for you
at your childhood home. Yeah. Actually when you post that video,
I commented on it and you liked my So that
was our first little like social media dress fun. Yes,
And I love that so much because it was so
cool to see how much your parents supported your goals,
especially when YouTube at the time was so fresh and
(31:11):
so new.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Yeah. Truthfully, it wasn't always that way, okay, And they
were never they were never against it, but they were
definitely really hesitant, as any parents should be, right, like your.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Kid coming home and be like, hey, I'm gonna be
famous online.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
WHOA, No, that's crazy, that's crazy, So they were definitely
really hesitant to be like, what's going on here, where
is this money coming from?
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Who are you working with?
Speaker 4 (31:33):
They were definitely very protective in that sense, and it
was also really hard to because I did have really
good grades. So my parents were like, you're going to college.
We have these offers from these various schools, we have
scholarships on the table. You're not going to abandon that
and you think you're going to be an influencer in
LA haha, And those that they know, I'm like, sorry,
it's already happening well.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Because at the time, it's like your parents are used
to LA and Hollywood and actors. It's like, it's amazing
how much the beauty industry. I mean, it's amazing how
it's always been a huge space to you know, do
really well.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
But really lucky I had, you know, I had a
lot of friends already in LA that I was meeting
from different events and from different just trips and stuff,
and they were able to meet them and know that
I had a good support system here built around me already,
so it's not like I was truly moving here alone.
I lived with one of my best friend's family for
like six or seven months on and off over in
(32:26):
Wady or maybe like an hour away from here. And
you know, her mom put her name on my lease
when I moved to LA for the first time because
I couldn't find to lease myself because I was having teams, right,
So I was really lucky that I had great people
around me to help me and take care of me
when I was, you know, just a kid being here,
So that was really incredible. And my parents had already
met them from the different trips, so they knew that
(32:47):
I wasn't necessarily alone.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
But I think, as any parent.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Should be, they were just worried that I was, you know,
gonna make the right decisions, that I would come here
and you know, wouldn't get overwhelmed with partying or drugs
or drink or just the lacne in general. But you know,
I think I had really worked super hard to prove
to them that I had a good head on my
shoulders and that I really wanted this. Yeah, I wasn't
(33:11):
gonna let it, you know, slip away.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Absolutely, And it was cool that there were other examples
in the space of people already living out here like
you were truly part of such an iconic I'm going
to call it such an iconic class of beauty girls, right, yeah, yeah,
I mean, what do you think were like the pros
and cons of being part of this amazing like people,
I don't know, I used.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
To love watching like all of you guys.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
You know, I think, you know, there there was definitely
a golden age of like the beauty community on YouTube,
and I think it really did provide such a crazy
sort of entertainment for people for a very long time.
At the same time, I think it also got really
toxic really quickly, just because there was so much money,
so many views, and just so many different players involved
in the space. I think that, you know, it's really interesting.
(33:55):
One thing that I've always like paid attention to over
the years is, you know, it's very natural that people
become friends and maybe go their separate ways, or people
grow apart. And I think that, you know, when the
audience is watching, it makes growing or being an adult
really difficult because people are paying attention too closely to
things like that. And I think with being an influencer,
(34:15):
you know, really a lot of times the only things
we have in common is making content online. So I
think there was just a lot of really crazy, fun,
entertaining personalities that worked for a second and maybe didn't
work at another certain point.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
And that's fine, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
But I think it was really cool to grow up
in that era and be a part of something that
really was so impactful to so many people. And as
much you know, drama or crazy things online that may
have happened, there are some really great people out there
that are still making great content. You know, Nicki Tatorrels
is my absolute favorite people in the entire world, who
(34:52):
is always so sweet and so helpful to me growing up.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Same thing with Jaqueline Hell.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Jaqueline was one of my biggest role models and I
got to meet her when I was seventeen years old.
She was so kind to me when she didn't have
to be, and she was so just willing to offer advice,
to help, just to be a friend. And you know,
there were a lot of people like that as well.
So I will, I really, I will forever be grateful
for those times and how they shape me to be
(35:19):
the guru that I am.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
I mean, it's such a good That was such a
well worded answer, you like all you What I love
about James is his answers like your answers answer my
follow up questions, which is perfect.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
As we wrap it up, I heard you in.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
We talked about escape rooms in the beginning of his interview,
and I heard you once in an interview say your
career is like an escape room where you're always trying
to get out and get to the next level. Yeah,
so I'm curious what is the level that you feel
like you're currently in and where are we trying to go?
Speaker 3 (35:50):
Ooh, that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Also, that was an iconic quote. I was like, look
at him using these analogies.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
I love.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
I think for me, you know, the last couple of
years have really been about, like I would say, like
reinventing myself. I've been doing this for a very long
time now, and I think that through making especially long
form content for so long, I think that people really
had a super solidified idea of who I was as
(36:17):
a human being from my content. And it was really funny,
you know, growing up, my friends would always say like, gosh, James,
like I wish you would just be more yourself in
your videos. People would just love it, and I was like, what,
Like what are you talking about? Because I never felt
like I was playing a character. Of course, as soon
as the camera turns on, you know, we all have
a more energetic personality. Of course, I always focus on,
(36:38):
you know, making sure I had a future for myself
and my family. So I was watching what I was saying.
I was making sure that I was being brand and
family friendly to make the most amount of AD revenue.
I'm not ashamed to say that. But for the most part,
I always felt like I was being myself. But my
friends would always be like, no, girl, like this is
not you. Like, when you truly figure out how to
like be yourself, that's when you'll be unstoppable. And I
(36:59):
never really got it until quite honestly, like the last
like maybe two years, just like from being on TikTok
and from starting my spamach hount and just posting random
rants and tangents and going on live streams and sometimes
saying some things that are a little too unhinged.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
I managers calling me be like, get a funny you do.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
But you know, people responded so well to like seeing
what I'm really like behind the scenes. I think that,
you know, I've also gone through plenty of ups and downs.
I will never you know hide away from that, But
in those situations, I've always tried to use embarrassing or
bad moments to truthfully learn and grow and try to
become a better, smarter, stronger person. That's how I've always
(37:41):
looked at everything. So to me, after doing this for
so long, I now have the mentality of like, I'm
just gonna have fun. I have seen that a career
or social media cloud or relevancy can truly go away
in a matter of a couple of hours and can
come back later on as well. So I used to
really focus every single day on what am I doing today?
(38:03):
How can I do this? How can I do this?
How can I gain more followers, how can I.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Get more views this?
Speaker 4 (38:08):
And of course I still do have that mentality that's
part of running a business, but I think now more
than ever, I'm just really trying to have fun and
make things that I'm proud of. And I think that
the audience will always find its way if they're interested
in watching what you're putting out there.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
I love that it's so important too.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
I think like with content, it can be so stressful
and sometimes the fun can get sucked out of it,
and I feel like the best videos and the most
organic videos come from just having fun with it, So
I love that so much. You are amazing guys. James
is the best person on and off camera. When I
showed up here, I swear to god, you were like
your aura was just so kind and sweet.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
So I love that thing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Absolutely, Thank you so much for welcoming my team into
your home.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Pleased to have you guys. Thanks for coming everybody, Thank you,
Thank you for having me. This is a blast.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I love you. Maybe next time I'll get you go
for a run.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
You won't, but you're welcome to indite me.
Speaker 1 (39:03):
Okay, that's ron.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Thanks guys, We'll see you next time on post run high.
Make sure you subscribe.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Timbs up clicked about icon Hm
Host
Kate Mackz
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