8 min read
Alix Earle and I may be the same age, but our lives look very different. I type on a computer in an office all day, while the social media star parties on yachts in St. Barths, salsa dances her way to second place on Dancing With the Stars, and posts admirably candid content for her 8.3 million TikTok followers. The one area where our lives overlap? Acne. Glamorous, I know.
However, she and I are clearly not alone in this struggle. The 25-year-old built her following by being unapologetically honest online. Between her chaotic college vlogs at the University of Miami, “Get Ready with Me” makeup tutorials, and NFL game-day outfits, the moments that resonate most with her fans come when she shares her skin struggles. In fact, that’s really where it all started for Earle. After years of attempting to be an influencer when she was, as she puts it, “more insecure than I had ever felt,” the then-21-year-old began to open up about her years-long acne journey on TikTok. She didn’t just talk about it, either. She posted bare-faced photos of her breakouts that made her audience feel seen. It was in that very moment that her life changed forever, skyrocketing her profile from 150,000 to 1 million followers nearly overnight.
Courtesy of Reale Actives
Three rounds of Accutane and countless disappointing topicals later, Earle took matters into her own hands and founded Reale Actives, a skin care line designed with acne-prone skin in mind. Over the past two years, she has been working on creating formulas that combine dermatologist-backed ingredients with approachable, everyday routines. The brand currently offers four products: Get Bare, a gentle makeup-dissolving cleansing balm; Pore Power, an exfoliating LHA and BHA gel cleanser; Go Deep, a mandelic acid serum; and Dew More, a barrier-strengthening moisturizer.
For Earle, the goal isn’t selling the illusion of perfect skin. Instead, she wants to reshape the way people think about breakouts altogether—embracing imperfections instead of hiding behind a beauty filter.
Back in December, I sat down with Earle in her room at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City to discuss everything from her middle-school skin care routine to what it takes to build a brand from scratch. The packaging wasn’t even finalized at the time, but her passion for the industry was already clear: “I’m sure there will be speculation that I’m not involved or whatever,” she tells me, “but that’s really the main reason I wanted to build a skin care brand. I want to make it my life from here on out.” Below, the star opens up about all things acne and the making of Reale Actives.
Congratulations on the launch of Reale Actives! How long have you been working on this brand?
Right after I graduated college in 2023, I knew I wanted to start a company of my own. I was at a weird point in my life where I had the option to do a lot of different things. I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go in, but it definitely wasn’t skin care [at first]. I had always had a negative relationship with skin care. I felt like it didn’t work for me, so it didn’t feel fun. I associated it with bottles from the doctor.
But acne was something I was really passionate about. That’s when it clicked for me that I could create skin care that’s fun, enjoyable, and that I’m proud to have on my shelf, but is also super efficacious and something a dermatologist would recommend. The name was actually the first thing I came up with. Before I even knew it was skin care, I just loved the name “Reale.” I had it in my notes app for years.
When did your acne journey start?
I was in middle school when I first started noticing texture. My mom would try to put makeup on me for school to hide it, and then I’d get in trouble with teachers for wearing it. It was hard because I saw my friends going on medication or trying different products, and I was just trying to follow what everyone else was doing. I was confused about why my skin wasn’t as clear as my friends’, or why they found solutions that worked for them and I never could. Then my skin got really bad the summer before college, and my doctor recommended I go on Accutane. I ended up doing it three times, because every time I got off it, the acne came back worse. I went through a lot of trial and tribulation with skin care—products, doctors, treatments—and I was never really able to understand it.
Courtesy of Reale Actives
Why did you decide to share your skin struggles on TikTok so early in your career? What were you feeling in that moment right before you hit post?
I felt more insecure than I had ever felt. I got to this place where my skin was so bad that I didn’t want to get in front of a camera. I didn’t want to post and I didn’t want to leave my house. After a month or so of that, there was one day when I woke up and was just like, “Maybe if I post this, someone else will feel better if they’re also going through this.” I thought, If I get ahead of it, then maybe people can’t say things about me. That ended up being the first video of mine that really blew up and I started to get followers. People started commenting about how much this resonated with them. I realized that putting yourself out there and being vulnerable can actually help other people going through the same thing. And it helped me too, because I realized I wasn’t alone.
Were you surprised that was the video that went viral?
Yes! I tried for so long to be so perfected and curated online. Then, the second I posted my biggest insecurity, that was the thing that did well. I was completely blindsided and confused. But it was then that I realized you don’t need to be so curated or put on this fake filter of who you are online. That taught me a lot, and it’s a lesson I still carry with me.
I’ve loved watching how knowledgeable you’ve become about skin care. Did your interest in ingredients stem from building this brand behind the scenes?
It first started with me experimenting and trying to figure out what worked for me. I was trying products and doing my own research. Then when I started building Reale Actives, the first thing I did was hire a dermatologist to work with me and help me understand what products would work and what ingredients should be in there. One thing I want to be transparent about is that I don’t know all the science. I’m not a dermatologist. But I’ve learned a lot about my skin, skin care in general, different ingredients, how they work, why they work, and what works well together.
Related StoryHow do you want Reale Actives to stand out from other skin care brands?
I want these products to change the way people think about imperfections. I want to embrace them. I don’t want to Photoshop our photos and sell something that’s so unrealistic and unattainable, like perfect skin with no pores. That’s just not realistic for a lot of people, including myself. Instead, I’m promoting healthy, clean skin and products that help clear acne while also being realistic about what that looks like for each individual. I’m really excited to hopefully change the way people think about their skin. I want to see a photo of someone with acne that isn’t sad and hiding in their room—like a sexy photo of someone with acne on their face, because most of us have that.
Were there any specific products you wanted to create your own version of?
Trying mandelic acid was a breakthrough moment for me and my skin, and it’s an ingredient I had never heard of before. It was something I really, really wanted to implement into the routine in some way.
On the other hand, are there any products or ingredients your dermatologist suggested that you grew to love?
Restoring and taking care of my skin barrier is something that I didn’t prioritize before. That’s something that I also wanted to implement into these products, especially in our moisturizer, to make sure it keeps your skin barrier healthy and strong.
Courtesy of Reale Actives
Have your younger sisters been testing out the brand?
They are very big “Sephora girls.” They steal all my samples when they’re sent to the house. They love the products. I also wanted their input on packaging, because I wanted something that felt cool for their age but not childish for someone my age. My little siblings have been my other consultants over there.
I tested them; my friends, my mom, and my siblings tested them. But there was just no one as psychotic as me. I would try the lotion, and then I would go and order 20 other lotions and moisturizers to compare it to. I’d put them all on different portions of my face, sleep in them, and then wake up to see which area looked the best. I have the craziest videos of me going all in with testing these products.
You were on the latest season of Dancing With the Stars. How did you keep your skin clear during the show?
It was only Real Actives, and I wish I could say that that was a lie. Wearing and removing all the makeup after show days was definitely tough on my skin. I knew there was a possibility it could react poorly, but I felt really confident in the products. Of course, my skin didn’t stay perfect. I’m not saying I didn’t get a pimple, but it never went back to square one.
Halfway through the show, my skin did get a little irritated from all the heavy makeup. I just stayed calm and consistent and didn’t change up anything. I went lighter on the makeup for a few days, and my skin went back to normal. That’s been the biggest thing for me, is learning patience with my skin. It’s understanding that there are circumstances in life where, even if you’re using products that are really great for your skin, a pimple can still pop up and that doesn’t mean that anything’s wrong with them.
Do you have any unusual or niche skin care habits?
I change my pillowcase often. Every two weeks I do a full wash of my makeup brushes, and I get a new beauty sponge regularly. I also love icing my face. Sometimes I’ll rub an ice cube on my face to calm everything down, or I’ll dunk my face in a bowl of ice water in the morning. My skin really loves that.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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