Ever since 1968 when celebrity Jennifer O’Neill posed as the first face for CoverGirl, the popular makeup company has partnered with many more beautiful women for their ads, from Ellen DeGeneres to Queen Latifah to Sofia Vergara, Taylor Swift and many more. While the past lineup of faces making the cut for the CoverGirl ads has been pretty diverse, people still questioned why makeup was only targeted towards women.

CoverGirl is now proud to announce that the new face representing the new “So Lashy” mascara will be none other than James Charles. You heard it right, James. The iconic makeup brand is breaking boundaries once again and featuring a male model in their newest campaign.

In the past year, 17-year-old James Charles has become popular on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube for his many talented makeup tutorials. Most people may recognize him from the viral tweet of his absolutely stunning makeup for his senior portraits.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan Magazine, Charles said that as a child he was very creative. He enjoyed drawing and painting, but makeup has recently become his new favorite. The young teenager discovered his talent a year ago when one of his close friends had missed her makeup appointment. In a hurry, she asked if Charles would do it for her. He replied, “Yeah girl, but if you look awful, I’m not taking credit!” After his friend posted a picture, people started raving about his makeup skills, so he decided to fully commit to becoming a makeup artist. Charles claims that after weeks of practicing on his friends, he tried makeup on himself and started posting pictures, and the followers came rushing in!

Gaining nearly half a million followers on Instagram and Twitter and 70,000 YouTube subscribers, he has become a makeup role model for both men and women. Other men that have popularized the beauty trend have all identified themselves as transgender. As for James, he has made it clear that for himself, makeup is just another form of creative expression. Charles confronted the elephant in the room when he did an interview with Marie Claire magazine, claiming that he is not transgender. “I’m still confident as a boy and I will always be a boy,” he says. “I can be confident with bare skin and with a full face.”

As for the haters, James has learned to remove the classic hate comments from his posts and brush them off. In a Q&A with Cosmopolitan magazine James quotes, “I have a thick skin, and I’m definitely not willing to let someone without anything better to do than hate on someone else behind a keyboard get into my head. I’ve got way more important things to worry about!”

The strong willed and open minded teen has basically broken the internet with his empowering and positive comments on his Instagram posts and tweets. While the haters are going to hate, James continues to chug along, making history through CoverGirl. We hope to see more from James Charles in the makeup industry in the future. Keep on being beautiful James!