In addition to being CoverGirl's first male spokesperson, there are not only so little about James Charles that's pretty impressive. Of course, he's had a rough 2019, but things are looking up. A top beauty blogger teaming up with a top TikToker has the world going crazy for the two. Of course, the latter one refers to Charli D'Amelio [net worth: $4 million]. He does often hang out at the Hype House, despite not being a member yet.
Born on May 23, 1999 [age 21], in Bethlehem, New York, James Charles Dickinson got the full support from his parents when they converted their basement into a makeup studio for him to film his tutorials. Before he even graduated from Bethlehem Central High School in June 2017, he was already mega-famous. Of course, pairing up with Katy Perry for CoverGirl can have that effect.
Charles was dubbed CoverBoy since his Involvement with CoverGirl.
Photo Source: CoverGirl
With such a skyrocketing career, many others from a similar field have had their eyes on him. But since bouncing back from his decreasing subscriber-count, he hasn't stopped bringing in money, just as regularly as he used to.
There's Nothing Stopping James Charles' $25 Million Net Worth from Further Increasing
As of March 2020, James Charles owns a staggering net worth of $25 million. With more subscribers than NikkieTutorials, Bretman Rocks and even Kylie Jenner [net worth: $1 billion], it's obvious where the money comes from. But his sources of income are not limited to social media only. And like many, his fortune comes from his own merchandise sales and lucrative partnerships in the beauty world.
James Charles' net worth is an accumulation of only a few years in the beauty industry.
Source: Levon Baird, Vogue Australia
In case you haven't noticed, So Lashy! By BlastPro Mascara is not the only partnership he's had. His name is used as discount codes for numerous beauty brands. His Palette line with Morphe has been the most popular one yet. Apart from YouTube, his Instagram follower-count is also overwhelming, surpassing Jake Paul [net worth: $15 million] as well.
First Off: Social Media Earnings
James Charles earns big from social media. Thanks, Captain Obvious! The earnings that every social media influencer get comes from sponsorships from various brands advertising their products through their posts online. No, the partnerships are a completely different thing. There can be sponsorships on social media without signing partnership deals with those brands.
Charles recreated Kylie Jenner's in-front-of-the-car pose from her Instagram page and it seems he also has some fancy cars in his garage.
Photo Source: Kylie Jenner, Instagram
Charles is determined to continue his online journey despite everything he's had to endure in 2019. And it was a pretty smart video he made towards the end of the subscriber-count battle with Tati Westbrook [net worth: $10 million] to bring his Sisters back to his subscriber list.
YouTube Salary
The 21-year-old first started his YouTube channel in December 2015 and uploaded his first ever video, Blue/Brown Serpent Makeup Tutorial in March 2016. It must have gained quite an attraction in the makeup world at the time, because in just a few months, he became the face of the CoverGirl brand in October that year.
While that first video has over 1.5 million views, his most popular videos these days don't see less than the 10 million views mark. At the time of writing, James Charles has over 17 million subscribers and posted over 250 times. With a total of almost two billion views in those videos, he earns about $20,500 per post. His guests on his makeup courses include Kylie Jenner, Jeffree Star [net worth: $180 million], Charli D'Amelio, Maddie Ziegler [net worth: $5 million] and Nikkie de Jager, while also having invited David Dobrik [net worth: $7 million] over.
Watch: James Charles' Latest Video with Charli D'Amelio, He Makes Her His Image
The content he puts up has led him to a Best Channel Award win in the Beauty category at the 8th Streamy Awards in 2018. You also might've seen his younger brother Ian Jeffrey in some of his YouTube videos.
Instagram Income
In an obvious way, he's also big on Instagram. With such a lucrative line of passion, there's a lot of beauty brands coming for his posts to sponsor their products. There are a lot of Morphe x James Charles promotions on his page, but he mostly shares updates on his YouTube journey and, at times, all the fun he has in his daily life.
You might call him the Brand Ambassador of Morphe, as well.
Photo Source: James Charles, Instagram
It's almost the same with YouTube subscriber count. He's collected over 16.5 million followers on his page, James Charles, and posted more than 800 times. As is the popular case, Instagram pays a lot more than YouTube for sponsorships, so there's bound to be a vast difference in his earnings from Instagram. Due to all the sponsorships and merchandise sales through Instagram, Charles earns somewhere from $33,200 to $55,400 per post. But in the end, it all depends on the amount of engagement for those sponsorships each of his posts gets, on Instagram or YouTube.
And Even TikTok
There's no limit to what youngsters can do with all the social media platforms that are presented to them as the years go by. And it makes sense that Charles would join the growing popularity of TikTok. He announced his arrival into the video-syncing platform on November 4, 2019, jokingly telling Danielle Cohn [net worth: $2 million] to move aside, 'cause, of course. But if you haven't noticed, they are real good friends, and Charles also celebrated Cohn's birthday (16th, so she says) with D'Amelio and several other prominent TikTok users.
@jamescharlesthe collab you’ve all been waiting for!! ? videos coming this friday ?♬ Sunday Best by Surfaces - rapidsongs
In the end, though, his collabs with D'Amelio are still the most popular of his posts, gaining at least 20 million views in those two clips, about twice his average views on TikTok. With already over 11 million followers and 60 posts on his TikTok page, James Charles, his earnings range from $6,700 to $11,200 per post through sponsorships. Remember, TikTok has that functionality for advertisers to place their advertisements for a certain fee.
Charles' Merch Sales Would Have You Wishing You Were Him
A big part of his earnings is actually all the branded sales of his merchandise that he makes off his social media popularity. With the most popular collaboration in merchandise sales being Morphe, it's casual to see Morphe x James Charles Mini-Collections being promoted here and there on his social media pages.
The Morphe x James Charles collection is his best-selling merchandise till date.
Photo Source: Morphe
His most popular eyeshadow palette was first released on November 14, 2018, in collaboration with Morphe Cosmetics, and like Jenner's Lip Kits, the Morphe x James Charles palette, with 39 shades each for $39, was sold out within minutes of its launch in Europe. The company also invited him to the second UK store opening in Birmingham in January 2019, which attracted over 7000 fans, inviting a lot of traffic around the City Center.
And the discount code we mentioned earlier. He has those at Morphe, Lilly Lashes, Laura's Boutique, and Skindinavia, thus involving a check every time someone enters JAMES at the checkout. He also did the makeup for Iggy Azalea for her music video Sally Walker in March 2019. He's also been into modeling as he walked the runway for MarcoMarco's "Six ½" as part of the Los Angeles Fashion Week in 2017. He's also become the first Instagram influencer to be invited into the Met Gala in 2019.
But that's not all. Perhaps the best for last, he launched his own merchandise line named Sisters Apparel, perhaps as a dedication to his fans that he calls Sisters, a whole new business venture. The products include his signature $50 hoodie, other $45 hoodies, $30 T-shirts and even a $25 rainbow fan. We all know, how much the most successful online stores make too. Like thousands of dollars per month? Yeah.
There's a whole line of interesting merchandise on 'Sisters Apparel'.
Photo Source: Sisters Apparel
The Sisters Apparel was actually launched with the backing of Jeffree Star's Killer Merch fulfillment services. But you know things haven't been the same between the two when Star got involved in the Tati Westbrook feud. As a result, the merch line went offline in May 2019. But with a new distributor, it was relaunched a month later.
Aside from being the CoverGirl ambassador, the openly gay YouTuber was also the face of brand So Lashy! By BlastPro Mascara. He even had the CoverGirl slogan, Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, on his convocation cap when he graduated from Bethlehem Central at the age of 18.
He's Not a Member of the Infamous 'Hype House'; And What's His Literal House Like?
Charles is originally a YouTuber and despite seeing him often hanging out with the Hype House guys, he is not one of them. As the TikTok collaborative group's rules suggest, anyone with good content can go there and film their videos. That's part of the reason he's often there. The other part is that they're one swell of a group as a friend for him. You've seen him with D'Amelio, Addison Rae [net worth: $3 million] and on Alex Warren's [net worth: $700,000] videos.
Yes, he's befriended many in the TikTok world, including the highest-followed user Loren Gray [net worth: $4 million]. But which collaborative group is he a part of? Ever heard of Flashback? Yes, the a cappella group based in Los Angeles, California. Anthony Gargiula's website mentions the group focuses on modern pop music and collaborated with Ben Bram from Pentatonix, another a cappella group.
Flashback's first cover song with them was of Charlie Puth's Attention, which is available on YouTube, iTunes and Spotify. But that's not the first song they covered. Remember Dua Lipa's New Rules cover back in November 2017?
Watch: 'Flashback' Covers Charlie Puth's Hit Song, 'Attention'
So yeah, little do people know, Charles also has a passion in the music industry. Other members of Flashback, aside from Charles and Gargiula, include Elizabeth Gaba, Zoe Deandrea, Reno Selmser, and Noah Davis.
Moving on; his real-estate choices are not bad either. He's currently closed up a $7 million deal for a never-been-lived-in house in Encino, California, starting the new decade with a new place of stay. Tax records mention the house sitting on a half-acre flat lot, which was purchased for $2.3 million by a local developer and then demolished.
The brand new nearly-10,000-sq.-ft., six-bedroom house replacement has everything to satisfy one's living needs. It's reportedly in the same block as YouTuber Logan Paul's [net worth: $19 million] $6.6 million home.
Prior to that house, he was said to have been paying a $15,000 per month rent in a mansion nearby. But according to his February 2019 video, he already had a house in the Encino area. He reportedly bought that in 2018 and moved there in November 2018, as he describes in the video. Built in 2016, the Cape Cod-style house spans across 5,137 square feet with 5 bedrooms and 6.5 baths and was bought reportedly for $2.4 million. He collaborated with another YouTuber Mr. Kate to complete the renovation process.
Watch: Here's the Tour Charles Gave of His House Back in February 2019
Of Course, There Are a Lot of Controversies He's Admittedly Grown Out Of
Of course, Charles is known to have been involved in several controversies, widely popularized in the past. But after each of those controversies, he was maturing enough to know some things are wrong. The teenage adrenaline rush is obviously something overwhelming in anyone's life. With each mistake, he's learned to be human, despite even his fame brought on by something allegedly a lie.
As a 17-year-old in February 2017, Charles tweeted (now deleted) something about Ebola as a joke that was considered offensive, and he was called out by many Twitter users for being stereotypical and degrading. After "blocking and moving on" for quite a while, he wrote an apology tweet, saying he is extremely sorry for his remarks.
Since then, he's found himself in the midst of more controversies, like being called out by It actor Finn Wolfhard after he called the movie "awful" and "predictable" on Twitter and then his It Pennywise Glam Halloween Makeup Tutorial video.
He also found himself on the negative end of the backlashes when he named Ariana Granda as the answer to who he considered the rudest celebrity he met. Then there was the feud with Marlena Stell regarding a Netflix documentary and even many backlashes related to his James Charles x Morphe eyeshadow palette.
In late February 2017, another YouTube makeup artist Thomas Halbert surfaced conversations between him and Charles indicating the thing Charles got famous for was falsified. Since Charles posted a tweet on September 5, 2016, saying he brought his own ring light to his senior-pictures photoshoot retake, it was a whirlwind of fame. But Halbert revealed the conversation showing Charles admitted of the pictures being photoshopped and he did not actually bring his ring light to the photoshoot.
While Charles did not speak of it, it seems Halbert did have a change in heart. In a series of now-deleted tweets on March 1, 2017, a day after the exposé, he actually apologized for his moment of weakness and adrenaline & anger, saying he was drunk during the time and the unfollow from James was deeper than anything. He did "want it to be known that James is an amazing makeup artist and is talented."
The guy's also been criticized for unintentionally saying things that were immediately considered transphobic. In an April 2019 video, where vlogger Jeff Witteck does his makeup, they come to talk about the Kinsey Scale. Charles says he puts himself at 5.5 on the scale (0 to 6), saying he believes those who say they are fully 0 or fully 6 are very small in number and that he too was attracted to some girls and transgender people as well.
"There have been girls in the past that I've thought have been really, really beautiful. There's also been like, trans guys in the past too that I was really, really into for a moment in time." It was his words about discrediting transgender men as "actual" men that people found highly offensive, according to Nylon. It was unintentional, of course, as he couldn't clearly grasp the definitions at the moment those words came out. And he later apologized, saying he should've chosen different words to say what he meant.
Recently on New Year's Day 2020, he posted an Instagram Story of him singing My Type by rapper Saweetie, which had the N-word, of course. Despite denying he ever sang that word and had skipped it, the hashtag #JamesCharlesIsOverParty was promoted by several users, clearly something that isn't what it's supposed to be.
Jeffree Star, James Charles and Tati Westbrook reportedly don't talk to each other anymore.
Photo Source: YouTube
But perhaps the biggest controversy, or feud to be exact, he was involved in was the subscriber-count war with Tati Westbrook prompted by Westbrook openly explaining why she ended the friendship with the makeup star. The feud reached far and wide, so far indeed that people believe YouTube changed their policy of showing the number of subscribers on user's pages because of the craze people paid attention to their competition. And of course, PewDiePie vs T-Series was also something that influenced that decision.
Here's the full A to Z details on the James Charles vs Tati Westbrook controversy.
There were also allegations by another YouTuber named Gage Gomez who posted a video on his channel on April 29, 2019, claiming that the 20-year-old makeup vlogger had manipulated him, pressuring him to hang out, from January until the Coachella Music Festival 2019.
"James saw this as an opportunity to manipulate me as a person who may or may not have been trying to figure things out about their sexuality, after the fact that I told him I was straight multiple times," Gomez said in the video now set to private.
Charles, however, denies the claim that Gomez ever told him he was straight, explaining what happened since they were in contact in the first place. He posted a two-page explanation on Twitter, saying Gomez was just looking for opportunities to hang out with influencer, which garnered support from many in the comments section.
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