Hi sisters James Charles here and welcome back to my YouTube channel
2017 was an absolutely crazy year
And I am so beyond thankful that all of you sisters chose to stay with me through it. Let's talk about it
Ironically enough this year started with something that didn't exactly happen this year as most of you already know on October 11th of
2016 I officially became the world's first cover boy
We broke history by becoming the first male ambassador for a major beauty brand and the world was shook
i know this event didn't take place in 2017 however this opportunity changed my life forever
And my year probably would have been very very boring without it
In the beginning of the year I made a huge change in my life by graduating early and moving to Los Angeles at age
17
It was a tough choice to make but my hard work in school allowed for it and my parents knew deep down that it was
the right decision for me
I found my dream apartment after only a few tours and ended up moving in only a couple of days later
I literally had so much fun
Decorating and making it my own despite the fact that I never actually films an apartment tour even though
I promised you guys a million times
Oops coming soon maybe! Not gonna lie living alone at such a young age is a little bit spooky
I do love the freedom, and I've always been a very very independent and strong person, but it does get lonely
I probably would not have been able to survive here. Had I not met my best friend, Laura Milano
Her and her family took me in as one of their own for almost four months before I officially moved here
And those people literally mean the entire world to me. I also met the original sisters who became my close family security blanket and
security guards at my meet and greets as
Many of you guys know from following your favorite youtubers personal lives and drama LA doesn't exactly have the best track record for genuine people
But luckily along with Laura and the sisters
I've been able to surround myself with some positive hard-working individuals and make some amazing friendships along the way
This year I met Tati Westbrook another very special friend of mine
She's the mom of the YouTube makeup world and also like a mother figure to me
She's helped me become a better and wiser person and has given me literally all the makeup knowledge. I could ever ask for
Last January Tati and her now-husband James flew me to Hawaii to do her wedding makeup which is an experience
I will never forget a long side of Tati's wedding video. I also collabed with some other really cool people this year
I did a few videos of Laura's husband who you guys know as Daddy
The world was also not ready for the introduction of my little brother to my youtube channel
Better known as sister Ian, (Ian: Brother, Ian.)
I am truly blessed to have such strong
Masculine men in my life that are comfortable and loving enough to publicly support me and my career it truly does mean so much
Speaking of masculine men I was graced with the opportunity of filming with the loves of my life and future husbands the Dolan twins
Our relationship started from me leaving Thirsty comments on their Instagram pages
But it now blows my mind to think that they are two of my closest friends
Collabs are some of my favorite videos to film and I'm very proud of the content that I was able to create with some of my favorite
Content creaters that I've always looked up to
Not only did I get to work with some dope youtubers,
But I also got to meet a few celebrities that have had a major impact on my life.
I met Kim Kardashian at an Ariana Grande concert for the first time. Her makeup artist, and one of my personal role models, Mario
Dedivanovic had told her that I was there
And she said her security guard to escort me to meet her. My heart was racing at a million miles per hour
But I somehow managed to pull it together, and I couldn't stop smiling for literally the entire next week
I must have been annoying enough that she didn't forget me
Because when she launched her beauty line, KKW Beauty, I was invited to her house to celebrate.
(Kim and James: Hi sisters)
I've always looked up to Kim because despite what any tabloids or media has to say about her
She's a genius and a classy businesswoman and genuinely a super kind person
I also made a friendship with in my opinion the most talented vocalist of our generation Demi Lovato
She followed me on Instagram, and I slid into her
dm's and miraculously, she replied! We started discussing everything from her new music to my new makeup looks too even our internet memes.
How can we forget Poot Lovato?
She invited me to her documentary
Premiere a few weeks ago where I finally got to meet her in person and we took an iconic photo
And I could think her for all she's done for me.
While this year was filled with many highs and also had some major lows and at one point
I quickly went from everyone's favorite cover boy to the most problematic youtuber of all time. In February
I went on a trip to South Africa with some friends from school that I had been saving up for and looking forward to for
Four years prior. Before the plane could even depart the runway. I made a joke about getting Ebola and my friend thought
I was talking about the food virus ecoli
I tweeted about her mistake without thinking twice and the plane took off
When we landed just one hour later in DC for a layover
I remember checking Twitter and my heart dropping to the floor. A news article was written and went viral
Titled, "Cover Boy James Charles says that the only thing Africa has to offer is Ebola"
I was so confused and my first reaction was to fight back being that my tweet had no harmful intentions
And I was now under public scrutiny I tried to brush it off and make a quick apology
But after 26 hours of flying and no internet access above the Atlantic Ocean
I quickly realized I had messed up big time and that there was no going back
I remember spending the first night in my hotel room in Africa sobbing alone
Thousands of miles away from the people that I love the most and unable to communicate or defend myself to the thousands of people following
Me online it was a rough few days, but there was one day on the trip that changed my life and perspective forever
We visited a high school called edge, Maine
And I remember watching a live drum performance for the music kids at the school
In the middle of performance the principal came in and interrupted and asked for someone named James Charles
I vividly remember my heart stopping and my first instinct was that they heard of my tweet
And we're gonna ask me to leave but to my surprise he opened the door to the auditorium
And there was a huge crowd of kids outside that had left their classes
Because they had heard about my arrival and wanted to meet me
I
Instantly started crying as I took photos while smiling and meeting all these kids we started off by talking about how our school systems differ
from each other
But we quickly got very very comfortable and started talking about everything under the Sun
We talked about our everyday lives what we like to do for fun boy and dating drama pop culture
And I was even able to have an open and honest conversation with some of the kids about my tweet
and how it affected them from that day on my life literally took a
360 degree turn and my Africa trip consisted of some of the best memories of my life
My tweets from my past are definitely not something that I'm proud of
but being called out for them has allowed me to educate myself and become a genuinely better person and are not an accurate representation of
Who I am today
Aside from me growing and becoming a better person
There is no denying that I've become a far better artist this year back in March
I took a flash photo with a sister named Pam at a meet and greet. And after being filtered it turned out a little bit ghostly. The
photo quickly got into the hands of Stan Twitter and was Enter and desaturated and thus
Flashback Mary was born. At first, I was upset by the poor representation of my makeup skills and everyone laughing at me
But I quickly learned to laugh with everyone instead
I turned my hate into profit by making one of my most successful videos on my channel of all time recreating my memes
Okay
Flashback Mary
Flashback Mary
Flashback Mary
Flashback Mary: HI SISTERS!
Deep down I think that flashback Mary was a blessing in disguise
Although it sucked at the time my recreating my memes video definitely got my creative juices flowing and therefore
Opened the door for more entertaining based content on my youtube channel
I can honestly look back and say that I am really really
proud of the videos that I put out this year
The beauty community can sometimes get over flooded with repetitive tutorials and challenges
And I definitely set the bar high and changed the excitation for beauty videos
Some of my favorites that I did this year include
my makeover series
Where I got my makeup done an Ulta Sephora and Mac which opened my eyes to different styles and techniques used by various artists
Testing fake makeup where I compared knockoff products to the real versions of the most popular makeup items of the time
Take her swimming on the first day where I tested waterproof makeup products by jumping into a pool
makeup versus the iPhone X face ID where I tested the capabilities of the brand-new iPhone on the same day that it launched and
Finally singing my makeup routine an original challenge series in which I improv through some of my favorite songs
Allowing me to combine two of my all-time favorite passions music and makeup
Speaking of music I also worked on my voice a lot this year
and was able to show you guys a whole other realm of James
Alongside a few fun Instagram covers with one of my best friends Anthony. I also started an acapella group called flashback
We've only released two songs so far
But have accumulated more than 3 million views on our videos and have had a ton of sales and are so excited to keep working
On more music in the future music plays a huge role in my life
And is now a huge part of the James Charles brand if you will which is developed immensely
Sisters has quickly become one of the most popular words on social media
What started off as a term of endearment between my close friends and I,
quickley became my catchphrase which I eventually turned is my very own clothing line sister's apparel
We've only had a few launches so far
But have sold thousands and thousands of sisters gear sisters all around the globe
And I look forward to working at my fashion sense and clothing line once more in 2018
I know y'all are getting a little bit tired of me wearing the same four hoodies on a daily basis trust me me too. I
Mentioned earlier that I graduated in January, but in June I flew back home to little old Bethlehem
New York to get my diploma with the rest of my class
I've worked extremely hard in school and took all advanced courses all while balancing my at the time, small Instagram career and a job
At a frozen yogurt shop I decided not to continue my education and to work as a youtuber full-time
But walking to get my diploma and my custom-made Michael Costello sawasdee crystal jumpsuit was one of the most fulfilling moments of my entire life
Education is super important to me, and I am so thankful that I had a supportive school system
Laura's family actually flew all the way across America with me to watch my special moment alongside of my real family and some of you
guys even snuck in too
I've actually had a lot of opportunities this year to meet and hug so many of you guys face-to-face
And I look forward to so many more in 2018
I had an impromptu meet and great in the middle of New York City and over a thousand and you guys showed up
even though I only announced it on snapchat a day before I also went to playlist DC and
Almost got kicked out
oopsies I
Turned 18 this year and finally became a legal adult
Which means absolutely nothing because you guys know?
I don't really smoke party or drink
But I did choose to celebrate my birthday with all of you guys at the Morphe store here in California, and it was absolutely incredible
Working with brands such as Morphe this year has been such a huge honor and has made both my social media accounts grow
but also my knowledge of business it is truly incredible to be working firsthand and receiving products of some of the most famous brands and
Beauty when I couldn't even afford some of their products a year ago
I absolutely loved working in all their products and you guys are always hearing me to tell you use code James for ten percent
off your purchase. I even put it on a sweatshirt
I had an opportunity to model for a little holiday campaign this year
Which was super?
Exciting my makeup was done by lipstick Nick one of my all-time favorite artists for the shoot and the photos honestly turned out incredible
I was so happy to be the face of their palette and you can now catch me and all my favorites at all the different
Morphe store locations, which is such a huge honor although It wasn't a collaboration who really knows what 2018 may have in store I
Also worked closely with Benefit Cosmetics one of my all-time favorite brands they took Laura
And I and a ton of other influencers to Necker Island, which is truly one of the most fun weeks of my entire life
I would talk all about it, but the amount of adventures we have could literally fit in one video alone a few weeks ago
I was asked to be one of their celebrity
coaches for the benefit brow search where me a few other influences and the entire benefit team spent a week on a beautiful mansion in
Lake Tahoe coaching 20 artists from all around the world
Spoiler alert hashtag team sisters took home the crown (James: brows are not twins)
They are sisters
In addition to winning
$50,000 my artist and now close friend Rocio se house eyebrow is gonna be in every single benefit Brow bar in 2018 what a cool opportunity?
2017 started off with me having 1.1 million followers on Instagram and just over 500,000 on YouTube
But we're starting like 2018 with well over 5 million sisters combined
It's been a roller coaster over here
But I'm so thankful to all of you who have chosen to stick with me and my makeup journey
And I truly do love each and every single one of you so so much
I'm calling this look today blank canvas inspired by Jody Hall
But this look represents the main reason they started doing makeup in the first place express myself through art
2018 is my canvas, and I am so excited to be able to paint it in any way that I want
Thank You sisters for watching my year interview video, I really hope you enjoyed it if you did
Please don't forget to give it a big thumbs up down below and subscribe if you have not already
Join the sister to click that little bell icon
So you can be notified every time I upload a brand new video
If you'd like to follow me on my makeup journey and see what?
2018 has to hold you can follow me on Instagram and Twitter
They're both. Just James Charles and my snapchat for more of my behind the scenes kind of stuff is James Charles with an extra s after Charles.
this week's sister shout out goes to every single one of you guys watching out there
I know that's super cheesy to say but seriously I cannot thank you enough for always following and supporting me throughout this entire year
Special thank you to Brooke Zoe and arrows for helping me film this video today
I love you guys so much, and I will see you next year. Bye
