On The Lighter Side: James Charle's Senior Picture Do-Over Is Making History

Show of hands … who cannot wait for this election to be over? Who is tired of the nastiness, the lies, the misogyny, the racism, the homophobia of it all? Well, I am, and so I will try my best to refrain from more political posting — except for Random Musings and I Didn’t Say it because those are snippets mostly — and talk about other thing … fun thing … light things … cool things. And maybe about the murder that took place in my family last century — seriously … that happened; stay tuned.

But for today, let’s talk fun …

I remember getting my senior portrait taken vividly; not only was I graduating that year but I was also editor of my high school yearbook and so I was heavily involved in the organization of what we called “Senior Picture Day.”

And I also vividly remember my mother’s reaction to my Senior picture because, for some reason, on that particular day, I opted to comb my hair differently, and, well, it looked good, but it hung across my forehead and almost into my eyes. My mother’s reaction? Closed eyes, pursed lips, and a light shaking of the head.

Sadly for Mom there were no do-overs and so that picture is the picture and, in time, she grew to love it because my hair stayed like that and so after a few months it did resemble me.

Cut to 17-year-old James Charles from Bethlehem, New York, who, when he received his senior pictures, was also less than thrilled by them; he opted for a do-over and retook the photos to make sure his highlighter would pop.

It popped; and then some.

Charles, an aspiring makeup artist says that the  “lighting was not ideal for my makeup so all my hard work at 7am didn’t pay off” and so he emailed the photography company to ask if he could re-take his photos and bring along his trusty ring light. The company said yes, the appointment was made. And the ring light was set up on his tripod while the picture was taken.

Charles said he’s actually a pretty “reserved” person, but wanted to make sure the picture was right because “it was my senior picture and I knew it would be in the yearbook forever." Charles wanted to make sure the picture was “iconic” and so he brought along his friend Delaney who posed with him in one of the photos. He was so impressed with them that he Tweeted them out; he’s gotten over 21,000 reTweets and more than 55,000 likes:

“I knew it would do pretty well on my Instagram page because my followers were really excited when I posted selfies from the morning of the original picture day, but I DID NOT expect the Tweet and Insta pic to blow up this much.”

But it wasn’t just Twitter that went ape for James Charles and his picture … now just months after his epic do-over James Charles is set to become the first male CoverGirl — CoverBoy? — in 58 years. 

He will join current CoverGirl ambassador Katy Perry to promote the brand's products; he’ll also be featured in TV, print, and digital campaigns for the brand. His first spot is CoverGirl's new So Lashy Mascara. 

"I think it's important for brands to recognize the male population because we're growing. I see more and more beautiful boys in makeup every single day on social media...we love makeup just as much as the rest."

What a great thing for CoverGirl to do, not just by acknowledging that make-up shouldn’t be gender-exclusive, but because it’s going to help all those other “James Charles” boys that come after top feel less alone, less different, less other.

And all the more fabulous.

BuzzFeed

Refinery

WTF? Lady Gaga ... Again

Okay, this time Gaga doesn't make the post because of the outfit, though it's slightly reminiscent of a Vegas Lounge act get-up from the mid-1970s.

The WTF this week is for the make-up. i mean, it looks like she's channeling Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond from Sunset Blvd. and no one should be doing that; EVER!

I kinda wish Gaga would find her own style, rather than co-opting everyone from a silent screen star to Cher in Moonstruck to that Material Girl.

Bad Makeup! Bad Fashion!

Tyra Banks went to something called, and I swear this is a real event, the Moth Ball--which, I'm guessing, is where she keeps her career--and she looked like this....

....which caused Joan Rivers to say, on The Fashion Police, "Oh my god! They dug up Whitney?"
I know, it could have been a case of bad taste........I'm talking Tyra's makeup, not Joan's comment.
Then, little Miley Cyrus showed up at the Billboard Music Awards going all Christina Aguilera, by forgetting her pants, and, well, her shirt, too.

Note to Miley: this doesn't make you look like a grown-up, it makes you look like you're doing the Walk of Shame because your pants and shirt were left on the floor of a cab after you hooked up with a drunk guy at a bar.
Just sayin'.