Get Ready with Alix Earle
TikTok’s new “it girl” Alix Earle is winning the hearts and eyes of women across the world and the web. A 23-year-old college senior at the University of Miami, Alix is known for her “Get Ready With Me” (GRWM) videos and vlog-style content. She has amassed over 4 million TikTok followers and another 1.8 million on Instagram seemingly overnight. Her content is not revolutionary—it is predictable and consistent. Her beauty is not intimidating—it is familiar and achievable. Her personality is not unparalleled—it is approachable and relatable. The secret to her growth is her willingness to unabashedly share secrets on social media. Her honesty is refreshing and makes users refresh their feeds for more.
Taking over TikTok
Alix capitalizes on confessional-style videos. She posts daily and multiple times a day, conditioning users to her presence. Her face is always shown and her voice is almost always heard. This makes her recognizable to users. Many have compared Alix appearing on their “For You” page to picking up a FaceTime call from a best friend. She applies cover-up while uncovering her to-dos for the day, mishaps from the night before, and plans for her tomorrow. By involving the viewer in her day-to-night ongoings, she creates an ongoing rapport between herself and them.
Alix’s GRWM posts are her most beloved format and are not limited to a single niche. However, they singularly feature her. She highlights her face while sharing her life highlights and lowlights. She involves multiple niches (beauty, fashion, and lifestyle) while involving her followers in her makeup routine. Arguably, she has become a niche in her own right. She has transformed “A Day in the Life” videos into “every day in the life of Alix” recaps. She includes her audience in her outfit choices. She takes them along for the ride wherever she goes. She grants them exclusive access to events most could not access—such as a 10-hour photoshoot in Los Angeles.
By valuing who she is, Alix catapulted her value as a creator. This is not a spot reserved for her, but one that can be achieved by any creator who embraces the authentic self. Creators can follow Alix’s lead by leading with who they are. In place of audio overlays and blanket trends, creators can place themselves center-screen and feel proud of being seen. They can amplify their voice online by nature of being their natural selves. The more specific a creator can be, the more universal they become. It is this formula that equates being authentic with being relatable. With an average of 4 million views per ‘GRWM’ video, there is no surprise that brands are collaborating with Alix to show off their new products in an authentic way.
@alixearle #CTilburypartner Genuinely in shock at this glow @Charlotte Tilbury #HollywoodHighlighter #GlowGlide
Unfiltered and Edited
By sharing information about her past, present, and future, Alix makes her audience feel as though they are part of her inner circle. They are granted insight that can only be gained by following her, and that has led to her massive gain in followers. She creates an interactive model of tacit knowledge that people feel special for having received. They become invested in her journey and root for her victory by living vicariously through her failures and achievements. She is unfiltered in her speech and aesthetically filtered in her image.
Alix opted for a unique approach while embodying the trending body type: honesty. She did not conceal her cosmetic enhancements and openly revealed her struggle with acne, normalizing both. Her breast implants did not admit her into the next echelon of TikTok fame—her admission about them being fake did. Her breakouts did not break her—they helped make her a breakout star. She inspired and enamored women with her online presence; she did not trigger feelings of bitterness and envy with her wins.
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Aesthetic and Authentic
Alix is predictable, and the regularity of her content comforts her audience. Her content is visually appealing, which makes people want to watch. While her wealth may not be as relatable as something like acne, she does not flaunt it in a way that disconnects her from her fans. She is still the girl next door, but she happens to reside in a very rich neighborhood. While she is beautiful, it’s not a beauty that threatens other women. It’s a type of beauty that can be achieved through plastic surgery and one that many women could access if they so choose. Being her authentic self online for two years caused her to gain 2 million followers in the last two months. Her consistent TikTok effort led to rapid growth on Instagram as well, taking her from 400,000 to 1.8 million followers and counting in a month’s time.
Because she’s not intimidating to other women, they idolize her as the peak of their potential. She is unique in her ability to embrace authenticity whilst being on trend. Many conflate authenticity with being underdone and unpolished, but being authentic boils down to being oneself—and Alix does Alix very well.
@alixearle My DMs are open if you’re struggling and want to talk 🤍🫶🏼 #acne #accutane #acneskin #greenscreen
Attainable and Relatable
Her GRWM videos are genuine and unscripted. She showcases bloopers to make herself more relatable and her position more attainable. When TikTok user Diana Kirk announced she buys everything Alix recommends, except a Dyson styler she could not afford, Alix responded to the post in tears and gifted Diana a Dyson of her own.
As seen with creators like Emma Chamberlin, the more relatable you are, the more popular you become. Many have compared Alix Earle to Charli D’Amelio for similar reasons, except instead of charming teens, Alix charms girls in their 20s. Any product Alix promotes becomes as popular as she is. Not only does this garner her up to $70k per sponsored post, but it has also led to countless brands vying for her attention online. She can command such value based on the value she provides her audience. Alix may not be the first of her kind, but she’s claimed first place by being one of a kind—herself.
As she shows off her messy yet comfortable room in a TikTok video, users comment “So real” and “This legitimately made me feel so much better about the fact that I am also just a messy girl. And that’s okay”.
@alixearle Starting the year off strong
Work with Industry-Leading Creators
If you’re a brand looking to work with influencers like Alix, Glewee is the place to connect, collaborate, and execute campaigns with industry-leading Creators.
