James Charles is a beauty YouTuber and makeup artist who turned a viral high school senior portrait into one of the largest personal brands in the cosmetics industry. Born James Charles Dickinson on May 23, 1999, in Bethlehem, New York, he is 27 years old as of October 2026. He became the first male brand ambassador for CoverGirl in 2016, built a YouTube audience of roughly 24 million subscribers, launched his own makeup brand Painted in 2023, and has remained a central figure in beauty culture for nearly a decade, through record-breaking collaborations and widely covered controversies alike.
As of 2026, Charles holds around 24 million YouTube subscribers, close to 20 million Instagram followers, and about 40 million TikTok followers. His estimated net worth sits near $22 million. That fortune comes from YouTube ad revenue, sponsored posts (reportedly averaging around $150,000 each), merchandise, and Painted, the brand he owns outright after his licensing deal with Morphe ended.
Early Life
James Charles Dickinson was born on May 23, 1999, in Bethlehem, New York, a suburb of Albany. His father, Skip Dickinson, worked as a contractor, and his mother is Christine Dickinson. He has one younger brother, Ian Jeffrey, who has appeared in his videos and built his own social media following. The family supported his interest in beauty early: his father helped convert part of their basement into a makeup studio where Charles could film.
Charles attended Bethlehem Central High School. Before makeup, he was interested in hairstyling and practiced on friends. Once he shifted his focus to cosmetics, he started posting looks on Instagram and opened his self-titled YouTube channel on December 1, 2015, initially filming prom makeup tutorials as a high school junior.
Rise to Fame
The breakout came in September 2016, when Charles was a high school senior. He posted his senior portrait on Twitter, but with a twist: he had redone the photo himself with full makeup and a ring light, joking that he retook the portrait. The tweet went viral. Within weeks, CoverGirl named him its first male brand ambassador on October 11, 2016, pairing him with Katy Perry in campaign materials. He was 17.
The CoverGirl deal made Charles the face of a genuine first in the beauty industry, and his subscriber count surged past a million within months. In 2017, he walked the runway for MarcoMarco during Los Angeles Fashion Week and landed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Art and Style. He won Streamy Awards for his beauty content in 2018 and 2020.
His channel kept scaling through celebrity collaborations. An October 2018 video in which he did Kylie Jenner’s Halloween makeup became one of his most viewed uploads. In November 2018, he released the James Charles x Morphe Artistry palette with Morphe, which became one of the best-selling influencer makeup collaborations of
its era, followed by a mini palette and brush sets. Charles later said the palette’s earnings paid for his house and his parents’ house.
The 2019 Subscriber Loss
In May 2019, Charles became the first YouTuber ever to lose more than one million subscribers in 24 hours. The trigger was “Bye Sister,” a video posted by fellow beauty creator Tati Westbrook accusing Charles of betrayal around a business conflict. The video set off a chain reaction across beauty YouTube, with creators taking sides and commentary channels covering every development for weeks. Charles’s channel dropped from about 16.6 million subscribers, then partially recovered as he posted his response and supporters returned.
The episode became a case study in how fast creator audiences can move. Charles kept uploading through it, and his numbers eventually climbed well past their previous peak.
Instant Influencer and Television Work
In 2020, Charles hosted, directed, and co-produced Instant Influencer, a YouTube Originals reality competition in which aspiring makeup artists competed for $50,000 and professional filming equipment. Ashley Strong won the first season. The show put Charles in a television-style host role and expanded his audience beyond tutorial viewers.
He had earlier appeared as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and his runway and campaign work kept him visible in fashion media through the late 2010s.
The 2021 Allegations
In 2021, Charles faced a wave of allegations after several people said he had exchanged flirtatious messages with them when they were under 18. At least 15 individuals made claims. Charles posted a YouTube video titled “Holding Myself Accountable” on April 1, 2021, in which he said he believed the people he messaged were over 18 and apologized for his behavior. He has said he was mortified when he learned one person was 16.
Morphe ended its partnership with Charles in April 2021. YouTube temporarily demonetized his channel. Charles stepped back from posting for a period, then returned with a focus on TikTok, where short-form content let him rebuild reach with a younger audience.
Painted: His Own Brand
Development on Painted began around 2019, while Charles was still working with Morphe. He has said he spent four years formulating products and switched manufacturers when the first one could not meet his price targets. Unlike the Morphe deal, which was a licensing arrangement where he did not own the intellectual property, Painted is fully owned by Charles and self-funded.
He launched Painted in August 2023 as a vegan, cruelty-free brand. The hero product was Create Paints, cream-to-matte multi-use paints packaged in tubes styled like art supplies, priced at $15 each, alongside detail brushes and an Artist’s Set of all ten shades for $135. Charles has said he wanted to inspire people to think of themselves as artists rather than just consumers.
The launch drew criticism from Emmy-winning makeup artist Kevin James Bennett, who accused the brand of using pigments unsafe for the eye area and questioned whether formula changes made shortly before launch had gone through proper stability testing. Charles did not pull the products, and several bundles sold out.
Painted later got an unsolicited high-profile endorsement: a professional makeup artist used the black shade “Ink” on Beyoncé during the Renaissance World Tour. Charles has continued expanding the line, including the Artistry Canvas palette with 24 magnetic shades. As of October 2026, Painted remains active and is the commercial center of his business.
Personal Life
Charles is unmarried and has not publicly confirmed a long-term partner. His dating life stays mostly off his channels, and his relationship status is listed as single. He lives in Los Angeles, where he bought a six-bedroom Encino home for $7 million in 2020. He works closely with his brother Ian Jeffrey, who appears in videos and posts, and remains close to his parents.
He has described himself as openly gay since his teens, and his early content often addressed his identity directly. He keeps his family in his content rotation, filming with his brother and referencing his parents’ support for his career.
The Spirit Airlines Controversy (2026)
In May 2026, Charles sparked a fresh backlash after Spirit Airlines shut down operations, leaving about 17,000 employees without jobs. A woman who said she lost her job at the airline sent Charles a TikTok direct message with a GoFundMe link asking for a donation. Charles posted a rant on his backup TikTok account mocking the message, calling the woman lazy and entitled for sending what he described as a copy-pasted request to influencers.
The video drew immediate criticism for being out of touch. Charles first posted a defiant follow-up saying he stood by his message, then deleted both videos and issued a full apology on May 9, calling the original video rude, privileged, and unnecessary. He lost more than 130,000 followers in the days after the rant, a small fraction of his total audience but a visible dent.
Business Ventures and Brand Deals
| Venture | Details |
|---|---|
| CoverGirl ambassadorship | First male ambassador, October 2016 |
| Morphe collaboration | Artistry palette (Nov 2018), mini palette, brushes; partnership ended April 2021 |
| Painted | Own brand, launched August 2023; Create Paints, brushes, Artistry Canvas palette |
| Sisters Apparel | His clothing and merchandise line |
| Instant Influencer | YouTube Originals competition series, 2020; host, director, co-producer |
| Sponsored content | Reported average around $150,000 per sponsored post |
In past years, Charles earned close to $5 million annually from YouTube ad revenue alone at his peak, with total yearly earnings estimated between $5 million and $10 million across all income streams.
Follower Counts (as of 2026)
| Platform | Followers | Date of figure |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | ~23.9 million subscribers | 2026 tracker data |
| TikTok | ~40 million followers | 2026 tracker data |
| ~19.7 million followers | March 2026 |
Charles belongs to the first generation of beauty YouTubers who built audiences on long-form tutorials. The current wave of beauty fame looks different: TikTok-native personalities such as Jen Affleck, Whitney Leavitt, and Mayci Neeley broke out through reality television, specifically Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, rather than makeup tutorials. Charles’s longevity across both eras is part of why he remains a reference point in the industry.
2024 to 2026 Developments
Charles spent 2024 and 2025 focused on Painted, releasing new products including the Artistry Canvas palette and growing the brand’s direct-to-consumer business. He has said that Morphe still owed him millions from its bankruptcy proceedings, money he may never recover, which is part of why owning Painted outright mattered to him.
His TikTok presence kept growing through 2025, and by 2026 his combined audience across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram sat near 80 million. The May 2026 Spirit Airlines episode was his most covered controversy since 2021, but it did not lead to platform bans or brand cancellations, and his posting cadence continued.
Charles has also kept a foothold in mainstream fashion and entertainment media. He walked in Los Angeles Fashion Week early in his career, appeared on magazine covers, and remains a fixture at beauty industry events. His comment sections still draw the mix of devoted fans and sharp critics that has defined his public life since 2019, and he continues to address controversies directly on camera rather than through statements.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is James Charles?
He was born on May 23, 1999, in Bethlehem, New York. He is 27 years old as of October 2026.
What is James Charles’s net worth?
His net worth is estimated at about $22 million as of 2026. Charles has not publicly confirmed a figure himself. He previously earned nearly $5 million a year from YouTube ads alone.
What is Painted?
Painted is James Charles’s own makeup brand, launched in August 2023. It is vegan and cruelty-free, and its hero products are Create Paints, multi-use cream-to-matte paints sold in art-supply-style tubes. Charles owns the brand outright and self-funded it, unlike his earlier licensing deal with Morphe.
Why did James Charles lose subscribers in 2019?
After fellow creator Tati Westbrook posted a video accusing him of betrayal, Charles lost more than one million YouTube subscribers in 24 hours in May 2019, a first for the platform. His audience later recovered and grew past its earlier peak.
What happened with James Charles and Spirit Airlines?
In May 2026, after Spirit Airlines shut down, Charles posted a TikTok rant mocking a laid-off employee who sent him a GoFundMe request. He called her lazy and entitled, drew heavy backlash, deleted the videos, and apologized, calling his own video rude and privileged. He lost over 130,000 followers in the aftermath.
Is James Charles still with Morphe?
No. The James Charles x Morphe partnership, which produced the hit Artistry palette in 2018, ended in April 2021. Charles has said Morphe still owes him money from its bankruptcy.
