How Alix Earle Turned GRWM Videos Into a Netflix Series and a Skincare Brand

Since posting her first TikTok video back in 2020, Alix Earle has been making waves on social media—going from GRWM videos to becoming the internet's “IT” girl. 

Since then, she's parlayed her impressive Instagram and TikTok following into a genuine business empire that includes a chart-topping podcast, sold-out skincare line, equity stakes in beverage brands, a stint on Dancing with the Stars, and even her own Netflix series. 

But her rise to fame didn't happen overnight. The beauty and lifestyle influencer has worked tirelessly building a reputable brand through consistency, candor, and a willingness to keep evolving with every new platform and opportunity that's come her way. 

This creator Spotlight breaks down that entire journey, from her humble pre-fame beginnings to the business empire she's built today, highlighting the key moves, mindsets, and turning points that any beauty or lifestyle creator can learn from and apply to their own path. 

Life Before The Glam: Alix Earle’s Early Years

Before she was raking in millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram, Alix Earle was a marketing student at the University of Miami trying to figure out college life like everyone else.

She started gaining some attention on TikTok during her sophomore year, mainly by posting the GRWM videos that would eventually become her signature. But her major breakout wouldn't happen until her senior year.

Her earliest TikToks were pretty simple. She posted dance videos, lip dubs, makeup routines, and the typical glam shots, showing off her newest outfits.  

There wasn't a detailed content strategy or carefully planned personal brand behind them. She was basically doing what thousands of other college students were doing at the time—jumping on the latest TikTok trends to try and attract viewers.

And despite the polished lifestyle people associate with Earle today, her life before TikTok fame included plenty of normal teenage jobs.

One of her first jobs was at Hazel Boutique, a small clothing store in New Jersey. After initially being offered free clothes in exchange for modeling them, Earle asked the owner if she could work there for the summer. 

She has since said she was so nervous around her older coworkers that she barely spoke to them for the first few months.

She also spent time working at a custard-making factory in Surfside, New Jersey. While Earle has often been described as coming from a relatively wealthy family, her early work experience was surprisingly ordinary. Retail, food service, and summer jobs filled her resume long before sponsorships and brand deals did.

Her college experience wasn't an easy path to popularity, either. 

Earle has said she rushed sororities at the University of Miami but was rejected by everyone she tried to join. With many of her friends getting accepted, she said the experience left her feeling like a "total social pariah."

It's an interesting part of her story, given how she would eventually build a career based on her image and persona. 

Going Viral: How Alix Earle's Became TikTok's Biggest Beauty Sensation

Earle's real breakout came in the summer of 2022, and ironically, it happened at a time when she wasn’t trying to look perfect online.

She had started posting videos of her acne struggles and her journey with Accutane—a powerful medication used to treat severe, stubborn acne.

This gave viewers a more vulnerable look at Earle and let her open up about something she had previously felt pressure to hide.

The response was overwhelmingly positive. 

For Earle, it showed her viewers weren't always expecting a perfectly polished beauty influencer and connected with someone willing to show the less glamorous parts of their life, too.

From there, she leaned further into the format that would eventually make her famous—Get Ready With Me videos (GRWM).

On the surface, the idea was incredibly simple. Earle would sit in front of the camera, do her makeup, pick out an outfit, and get ready for wherever she was going. 

But the makeup wasn't what kept millions of people watching, because when Earle got ready, she talked, and that’s what her viewers loved about her.

Whether it was stories about dates, relationships, college drama, parties, or embarrassing moments, her viewers were hooked and happy to comment, letting her know they wanted more.

This gave her content something many traditional beauty tutorials didn't have: an ongoing story.

As TikTok trend commentator Katie Xu put it at the time, Earle made viewers "feel like we're in the in-crowd; we feel like we're her friend." 

That sense of inclusion helped turn casual viewers into fans who regularly checked her page for the next update.

By the end of 2022, her following grew exponentially, with a reported two million new followers. 

By early 2023, she had grown to 4.9 million followers on TikTok and 2.4 million on Instagram, all while still finishing her senior year at the University of Miami.

Her influence soon extended beyond views and follower counts.

When Earle casually mentioned a beauty product in a GRWM, fans wanted to know what it was. 

Products like Dior Addict Lip Glow, YSL Beauty, and Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream became closely associated with her videos, and some of the items she recommended quickly sold out.

The phenomenon became so noticeable that marketers and fans gave it a name: the "Alix Earle effect." 

A simple mention from Earle could suddenly send thousands of viewers searching for a product, giving brands a clear example of how powerful a creator recommendation could become when audiences genuinely trusted the person making it.

That trust was the real engine behind Earle's rise. Plenty of creators could recreate the makeup routine or GRWM format, but the harder part to copy was the relationship she had built with viewers.

Hot Mess: The Podcast That Defined Her Brand

Now with a fanbase of nearly 7 million followers tuning in to her TikTok videos to hear her stories, the next logical step for Earle was to provide a much bigger platform where she could talk about them for longer.

In September 2023, she launched her podcast Hot Mess with Alix Earle on Alex Cooper's newly created Unwell Network, becoming one of the first major signings alongside Pretty Lonesome host Madeline Argy.

For Earle, Hot Mess wasn't a complete change from what she was already doing. It was essentially a longer version of the storytelling that had made her GRWM videos so popular in the first place.

It quickly became one of the most talked-about creator podcasts, climbing Spotify's podcast charts and attracting major advertisers. 

More importantly, it showed that Earle's appeal wasn't tied entirely to TikTok's algorithm or the GRWM format, as her fans were fiening to spend more time listening to her stories.

It also followed the same basic formula that had fueled her rise from the beginning: make the audience feel like they're part of the conversation. 

While her TikToks felt like getting ready with a friend before going out, Hot Mess took that relationship further, giving listeners a place to hear the stories that couldn't fit into a quick GRWM.

However, Earle’s partnership with Unwell and Alex Cooper wouldn't last forever. 

In February 2025, Hot Mess was dropped from the network after a major dispute between Earle and Cooper stemmed from comments Earle made about Cooper on her podcast.

What started as online speculation eventually turned into a much more public feud, with both sides discussing their falling out through interviews, podcast appearances, and social media. 

For Earle, the split also meant figuring out what came next for Hot Mess. Though her original series was no longer continuing, she decided to keep the podcast going on Spotify and transition it more to new series on her YouTube channel, like Get Real With Me, What Would Alix Do?, and Reale Activities.

By this point, the podcast had already accomplished something bigger for Earle's career. It proved that the audience she built through short-form content could follow her into long-form media.

For creators, that's an important part of Earle's growth story. She didn't abandon the content that made her popular when she expanded into podcasting. 

She took the strongest part of it, her ability to casually tell stories and make followers feel included in her life, and built a completely new format around it.

Turning Influence into Business: The Alix Earle Effect

In March 2023, Earle signed with United Talent Agency (UTA) for representation at just 22. 

By now, the goal was much bigger than finding more sponsored posts. Earle had a major talent agency on her side that could take her brand across entertainment, media, and other platforms fit for her personality. 

Right away, she snagged partnerships with companies like American Eagle, Grubhub, White Fox Boutique, and Forever 21, which helped establish her as a valuable name for advertisers. 

As her TikTok and Instagram audience grew, more major brands wanted to hop on the Alix Earle train and were willing to pay big bucks for her influence. 

By 2025, Earle was reportedly earning between $40,000 and $70,000 for a sponsored post, working with major beauty and fashion brands like L'Oréal, Tarte Cosmetics, and Revolve. 

A single sponsored Instagram Story could reportedly bring in six figures. 

The reason brands were willing to spend that kind of money went beyond her follower count. The so-called "Alix Earle effect" had shown that her recommendations could actually get people to buy things. 

A casual mention of a beauty or fashion product could send fans searching for it and, in some cases, help it sell out.

But Earle eventually started looking beyond getting paid to promote someone else's product. Her next step was getting a piece of the businesses themselves. 

In 2025, she became an investor and brand partner in canned-cocktail company SipMargs. She also held equity in Poppi before PepsiCo acquired it and has been connected to energy drink brand Gorgie. 

Instead of only collecting a sponsorship check, these deals gave her the opportunity to benefit from the long-term growth of the companies she helped promote. Then came her biggest step toward becoming a brand owner.

In March 2026, Earle launched her own skincare company, Reale Actives, turning one of the most personal parts of her online story into a product line. 

The initial collection included four products: a cleansing balm, exfoliating gel cleanser, mandelic acid serum, and moisturizer designed to strengthen the skin barrier. 

The connection made sense for her audience. Earle had been talking openly about acne since before her major TikTok breakout, so skincare wasn't a completely new category she suddenly decided to enter. Fans had already spent years watching that part of her life unfold.

She also addressed a question that could have easily become a problem for the brand: how much of her own skin improvement could actually be credited to skincare products?

Before Reale Actives officially launched, Earle posted a video explaining her real skincare history. She talked about undergoing three rounds of Accutane between 2022 and 2023, dealing with hormonal breakouts, taking spironolactone, and continuing to see a dermatologist. 

Rather than presenting her products as the single reason behind her skin's improvement, she gave followers a fuller picture of what she had actually been doing. 

Reale Actives CEO Andrea Blieden later said the company had anticipated those questions and prepared for them months before launch. 

That transparency didn't appear to hurt sales, with Reale Actives reportedly generating $1 million in less than five minutes and reaching $5 million in sales by late afternoon, selling out within hours of launch. 

Earle's business journey shows the different stages of turning an audience into something bigger. She started by accepting traditional sponsorships, moved into higher-paying brand deals, began investing in companies, and eventually launched her own product line.

Reality TV Takeover: Taking Her Brand into a New Medium

With social media and podcasting already under her belt, Earle’s brand was ready for the big leagues—reality television. 

In late 2025, Earle joined Season 34 of Dancing with the Stars on ABC, made it to the finals, and finished as runner-up. 

Throughout the season, she stunned not only her fans but millions of television viewers who had never heard her name with incredible dance routines alongside partner Val Chmerkovskiy. 

It was a major moment in Earle’s career, showing fans there was more to the influencer than GRWM videos and beauty content—she was an actual star. 

That experience helped set the stage for an even bigger jump into entertainment.

In September 2026, Earle became the focus of her own Netflix reality series, Earle Meets World. 

Produced by Fulwell Entertainment, the company behind The Kardashians, and led by former Late Late Show executive producer Ben Winston, the series takes the personal storytelling that made Earle famous and expands it into a full reality show.

Rather than focusing only on Earle, the show brings viewers deeper into her personal life and the people around her. 

Her blended family plays a major role, including her sister and fellow creator Ashtin Earle, along with her parents, stepmother, and close group of friends.

The series follows Earle through a particularly eventful period, including Dancing with the Stars, changes in her relationships, family struggles, and the growing pressure that comes with becoming one of the internet's biggest personalities.

For Earle, however, filming a Netflix series was very different from posting on TikTok.

On social media, she decides when the camera turns on, what parts of her life she shares, and what ultimately makes it into a post. 

With a reality show, much of that control shifts to a camera crew and production team following her through moments she might normally keep private.

Earle admitted that giving up that control was "a little scary," but she also felt that showing those less-polished moments was important to making the series feel real. 

In many ways, Earle Meets World is a much bigger version of the formula that made her famous in the first place. 

Her original GRWM videos worked because viewers felt like they were getting an inside look at her life while she told them what was happening behind the scenes. The Netflix series takes that same idea and removes even more of the filter.

Why Alix Earle Is the Ultimate Blueprint for Modern Beauty Creators

Alix Earle's career started the same way as countless other creators: with a phone and a few casual TikToks.

What separates her story is what she did after people started paying attention. 

She took the personality and openness that made her GRWM videos so popular and carried them into opportunities like sponsorships, podcasts, television, and investments that helped her brand grow.

However, despite her success, her growth hasn't come without its setbacks. 

Like any rising star, Earle has been heavily in the media, with her personal life constantly being scrutinized, whether it's dealing with blowback from her breakups, criticism surrounding her businesses, or the latest controversy surrounding her family; the price for sharing so much of her life online is that nearly every decision she makes can quickly become part of the public conversation.

But rather than disappearing whenever controversy hits, she's generally been willing to talk about what happened, give her side of the story, and move on to whatever comes next.

For beauty and lifestyle creators, that's what makes her career worth paying attention to. Being authentic helped Earle build the audience, but she didn't stop there. 

She turned that audience into a business by trying new platforms, taking bigger opportunities, and finding ways to build beyond sponsored posts and social media.

The lesson isn't to copy Alix Earle's career move for move. It's to build something people genuinely connect with, earn their trust over time, and then find new ways to grow without losing what made them follow you in the first place.