"To make things even worse, [...] I was so nervous to get this opportunity with Zendaya that I left my contacts at my hotel in New York City." James Charles reveals.

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14 October 2021 by Fachana Techamaneewat

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On October 8, James Charles finally speaks out about time he lost to Zendaya during a 5-minute make-up challenge.

 

Let's rewind.

 

For those who don't know, James Charles and Zendaya were invited to participate in a "5 minutes Eye Shadow Challenge" on CoverGirl's official YouTube channel. However, it was deleted from the channel after James received a lot of negative publicity due to apparently "failing" the challenge.

 

Fast forward, and James reacts to a YouTube video titled, "Zendaya’s eye look completely embarrassed James Charles’ look and she’s not even a makeup artist". During the video, James reveals that he completely agrees with the title.

 

 

I "I do just want to clarify that I do agree with this title 100%."

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He also acknowledges that this particular video keeps going viral on Twitter and TikTok every couple of months, and to this day, consistently racks up new likes and hate comments. As a result, James is constantly reminded of the moment.

 

 

I "This exact video has gone viral on Twitter and Tiktok with millions of likes, literally every couple of months. So I get reminded of this moment constantly."

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However, James tells fans that the story behind it is "completely wrong".

 

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I "But every time that it goes viral, the story is completely completely wrong."

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In the video, James tells fans the backstory behind the challenge. According to James, both he and Zendaya were partners with CoverGirl during this period. The video was filmed to be uploaded onto CoverGirl's official YouTube channel, and they were given a task to recreate a specific eye make up look.

 

 

I "This video was filmed on the CoverGirl YouTube channel when I and Zendaya were both partners with the brand. So Zendaya and I were told that we were going to be filming a five minute eye shadow challenge using the brand new CoverGirl Jewels palette."

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I "And the CoverGirl team gave us an exact eye look to try to recreate in that 5 minutes."

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James then reveals that the specific make up look was complicated, and in reality, would've never been achieved within 5 minutes. Regardless, James attempted to complete the challenge down to its minute details.

 

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I "It was a very intense blown out purple blue cut crease, okay? Something that would never be able to be achieved in 5 minutes. However, me being the beauty guru that I am, thought 'I am so talented, I’m so great, I’m going to try to do this anyway.'"

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Unfortunately, it didn't exactly go as planned. James admitted that Zendaya's move was "much smarter", as she decided to create a simpler "blue and purple smokey eye" make up look.

 

 

I "Whereas Zendaya, in this situation, was much, much smarter and probably realized, 'This is never going to happen so I’m going to do something much simpler and just do a cute little blue and purple smokey eye'."

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As a result, Zendaya's final make up look blew James' look out of the water.

 

 

I "And that is exactly what she did and that is why her look ate me up to the bone. Not an excuse, but part of the reason why it looked so so bad."

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James also revealed that because he was "so nervous" to be featured on CoverGirl's YouTube channel and meeting Zendaya, he'd forgotten his contact lenses at his hotel in New York. Due to this, James completed the challenge with less than 20/20 vision.

 

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I "To make things even worse, the one thing that nobody knows about this, is that I was so nervous to get this opportunity with Zendaya that I left my contacts at my hotel in New York City."

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I "So I filmed this entire video not being able to see her next to me and not even be able to see myself."

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James also wanted to clarify that it wasn't him who deleted the original video out of embarrassment or denial. As the original video wasn't even on his channel in the first place, he had no control over it. The truth was, CoverGirl had decided to delete it due to the amount of hate it was receiving.

 

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I "The last thing to clear up in this video is that a lot of people think that this is a video on my channel that I deleted because she looked so much better than me."

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I "However it was on the CoverGirl's channel and they deleted it because the video got so much hate because I failed."

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According to James, he would've kept the video up and "owned it" as he agrees that Zendaya had completely won the challenge.

 

 

I "If this was at my channel, I would have owned it. I agree that she looks better."

 

 

James also spoke highly of Zendaya, citing her as "kind" and making him feel comfortable during the shoot.

 

 

I "I just appreciate her being so kind. She made me feel so very, very comfortable."

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Finally, James ended the segment of his video by adding that despite the "cringey" aspects of the video, he is grateful for the opportunity to work with Zendaya back when he was just 16-years-old and at the beginning of his career.

 

 

I "And even though this video is really cringey and horrible to look back at, I’m so grateful that I got this opportunity to work with her when I was just getting started."

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Read More: James Charles Speaks Out About Bullying Mackenzie Ziegler Rumors

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Read More: Fans THOUGHT James Charles Was HACKED After Receiving Texts (Phone Number)

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