Alix Earle Is in It for the Long Haul

The sun is shining on Alix Earle. Literally, in the sense that the natural light in her adopted hometown of Miami gives her an otherworldly glow, even on Zoom, even without a stitch of makeup. And figuratively, too: Earle just walked in the SI Swimsuit runway show and appeared on the magazine’s cover. Her acne-focused skincare line, Reale Actives, is a hit. 

“It’s been weird for so many things to be going so right,” she tells me earnestly. It’s a bit jarring: Earle is blonde, beautiful, young, and successful. Things are, ostensibly, on her side. But part of her appeal—perhaps the most important part—is her ability to connect with her audience, which she’s done by sharing both her highs and lows. Those who have been around since she was a University of Miami undergrad have seen her through plenty of drama, breakups, and, yes, cystic acne.

The trust she developed led to “the Alix Earle effect,” referring to her uncanny ability to sell out practically anything she recommended, from hair oil to skinny jeans. Often showcased casually in her signature “get ready with me” videos, Earle’s recs felt natural and unforced—a rarity in the product-pushing world of influencer marketing. “It just felt like a community of friends hopping on FaceTime together, sharing different things that we’re loving,” she says. “That was really incredible for me to see and watch in real time, and I think that’s where I started to realize there was a power that I was holding.” That power reached a fever pitch this past spring when she launched Reale Actives: It promptly sold out, and the initial waiting list climbed to over 57,000 people. (The line has since been restocked. Praise the breakout gods.)

In addition to her newfound role as a skincare founder, Earle launched a new digital series, called Get Real With Me, in which she interviews people like Quenlin Blackwell and Nikki Glaser. She’s also an investor, with brands like Poppi, SipMargs, and Gorgie in her portfolio. Last year, she competed on Dancing with the Stars, finishing in second place (and breezily executing a double pirouette that impressed even professional dancers). There isn’t much free time for, say, jetting off to Monaco, but she’s just fine with that.

“I love being busy,” she says. “The second I have a day off, I start spiraling.” She still chronicles it all, and the chatty GRWM videos that first gained her an audience are still a part of her repertoire. Like one might check in with a parent or best friend, Earle posts on TikTok with tales of her escapades. Soon, she’ll overshare in a whole new way: Netflix picked up Earle Meets World, a reality series she filmed with her family, that will stream later this year. “I am excited for it to be out there, and I think people are going to get to see a completely different side of me,” she says.

Her TikTok videos may be spontaneous, but nothing Alix Earle does is by accident. Ahead, Earle reflects on her past, present, and future and how she’s playing the long game, one viral post at a time.

I started posting on social media in middle school—like, the second that I was able to. I think Instagram was the first thing I got. I always loved it, to the point where I annoyed my family all the time recording things around the house. At that point, I didn’t see it as a career path, but I loved creating and posting.

In college, TikTok became a thing. I tried a bunch of different things to try and get any type of virality—there was a lot of dancing and skits in my room. Really, it was a lot of trying to copy what anyone else was doing. As we went into COVID, like everyone else, I was chronically online. By my junior year, I had around 100,000 followers and I was able to make some money from it. I thought I was the biggest influencer in the world.

During the summer before my senior year, I stopped posting for a bit. I became really insecure about my acne, and I didn’t want to show my face online. I was embarrassed. Then I got to a point where I felt like I couldn’t hide anymore, I couldn’t stop doing what I loved just because I felt insecure. So I posted about it, and that was when I started to see this community come together. I could tell that the message was more meaningful to people. I kept talking to my audience and sharing more vulnerable moments, and that really led into me doing my “get ready with me” videos and oversharing more than I should. It took off in the way that I had always dreamed of, and I think it was due to the fact that I stopped trying to copy other people and started doing my own thing.

Everything changed over the course of a few months—content creation went from a side hobby to a very big serious career path. I started to see videos of people calling things the “Alix Earle curling technique” or the “Alix Earle light.” I was shocked to see that. But my audience and I share a bond. I think people feel like they can trust me because I share the moments that aren’t always that great. I think that’s completely normal and human, and I would rather people know that than fake like everything feels so amazing all the time. 

There have been times more recently that I’ve started to doubt or over overthink if I’m sharing too much. But anytime that I do restrict myself from sharing my emotions or what’s going on in my life, I think my audience can feel that. I know that sounds very parasocial, but it’s really therapeutic for me to get on there and share these human moments.

I don’t usually plan out anything that I post, which I know sounds a little backward and messy. Everything is just based on my life and what is happening in real time. After college, there was a moment of doubt when I wondered if people were still going to be interested, because everything up until that point had only been college-based content. But life is always changing; there are always new characters, new stories, and new things happening.

Content creation can feel very sporadic and all over the place, so building a company over the past two and a half years has been a new experience. Being able to build something of my own has felt very grounding.

Skincare actually wasn’t the first idea when it came to creating a business of my own. I was in talks for a lot of other avenues, more in the makeup realm. But when I meet girls in person, the thing that they always say to me is how sharing my acne has helped them. It’s funny, because if you were to ask me when I was 15 what company I would start one day, skincare would be the last thing on the list. I hated skincare. It was always so confusing and unenjoyable. But I realized there is something I can do there to make it enjoyable and fun.

Going into the launch, I knew that there was going to be a certain level of noise. I know that there’s a ton of backlash with celebrity brands. But going for public favor wasn’t the reason for Reale Actives. It’s to actually solve a problem, and something that I felt really passionate about. I had to lead with my confidence in the brand, and knowing that we will eventually prove people’s opinions wrong. But it was really scary when we first announced it and everyone was hating on it. It’s hard when you work on something for so long and pour so much of your heart into it and you receive backlash for it.

But people showed up to get these products. It was not our intention to sell out. Especially with skincare, when people start a routine, you want them to be able to stick to it. One of the best things to come out of the launch so far for me is seeing how it’s actually working for people. I knew that it worked for me, and we did trials and testing, but just actually seeing the messages is what I always hoped for. Even if it’s just helping one person and their confidence and their skin, that means the world to me. There have been so many times I’ve been up at night in tears reading the reviews.

I’m used to having direct communication with my audience, so I wanted to have that with the brand, too. We had a big problem with our moisturizer—it was not pumping out correctly, and then some of them just weren't pumping out at all. We’ve made fun of ourselves and the problems that we’ve had, and while we are working to correct these issues, we’re also being honest and open about them, and that’s gone a really long way. Nothing is going to be perfect, especially when you’re launching something for the first time.

I’ve had a lot of imposter syndrome throughout my career. Learning to be a boss has taken me a minute to come into, but I feel like I’m finally here. I’m building a company, hiring people for roles and experiences that I haven’t had myself, so a lot of it has been a sort of guessing game, and I’ve relied on gut feelings. I’ve also learned the power of “no,” especially in the past year. Before, I never wanted anyone to think that I’m rude or standoffish, so I think I would be a “yes man” a lot of the time. I’ve learned to stick up for myself a lot more, and I think that’s just come with earned confidence over time.

10 years from now, my biggest hope is that Reale Actives will become a household name. That it lives beyond me and makes people feel more confident in their skin. We've only just gotten started. We’re expanding our line beyond the four products, which will hopefully give other people a chance to try something if they haven’t felt connected to a certain product yet. And of course, I want to be intentional with anything we put out. I want there to be a purpose for it.

A lot of things have been coming into fruition this year. We started filming Earle Meets World at a very weird point in my life—a moment where I felt very lost. I’m going through so many different emotional revelations. It’s a little nerve-wracking that it’s all captured on camera.

There were a lot of moments where I felt uneasy about putting trust into someone else’s hands. I’m so used to doing all the content myself, editing it, and putting it out on my own timeline. Letting go of that control was scary, especially for moments that felt a little bit more emotional. But I’ve started to come to terms with letting go of that control. And I’m excited for people to see that our family is not perfect. My parents are divorced, and we all hang out together and go on trips together. We love each other and we put family first with everything, but there are still problems that we have to work through as a family. I hope that the show gives people more of a glimpse into our lives. 

When you’re a content creator, your success is really based on people caring or tuning in, so you constantly have to keep people entertained. Storytelling is how I’ve remained relevant. I share my life online every day. But what I don’t want is to be a viral moment in time. I want to create a lasting career for myself. 

There are always different goals I’m setting for myself and manifesting. I’ve taken some acting lessons, but I only want to do it if I’m any good at it, so we’ll see. But I’ve gotten a little taste of what it’s like to be on set, and I love the energy. Dancing with the Stars allowed me to really fall in love with dedicating yourself to a different world for a few months. You are completely in this other universe.

I think about what’s to come in my life a lot. And I don’t know, one day when I have kids, I’ll probably still be sharing everything that’s going on, and I’m so excited to just have my audience come along for the ride with me. I don’t feel right when I’m not oversharing. I can’t imagine ever shutting my mouth.