- An unknown Chinese beauty blogger named Liu Yexi emerged in 2021 and immediately won millions of followers and fans. Bridging the realms of reality and the virtual with an ethereal presence, does this AI personality point to a human-less digital future?
- Yexi’s makeup is famous for its clever fusion of traditional Chinese aesthetics and modern technological sense, as well as a -monster-hunting streak.
OUR TAKE
When she posted her first video in 2021, she got 3 million likes and 2.3 million followers in the next three days. Her image blends traditional Chinese elements, such as the late Tang-style butterfly lip makeup, while incorporating a cyberpunk aesthetic to create a unique visual image. Her name is Liu Yexi, and she is one of China’s AI beauty bloggers winning legions of young fans.
–Miurio huang, BTW reporter
In the luminous expanse of the meta-universe, Liu Yexi emerges as a captivating AI virtual beauty blogger, seamlessly bridging the realms of reality and the virtual with her ethereal presence. Her journey is a mesmerising blend of cutting-edge beauty technology and ancient, enigmatic arts of monster hunting, skilfully intertwining tradition with futurism to create a visual and imaginative spectacle for her audience.
Liu Yexi’s existence is akin to a dream shrouded in mist, embodying the wisdom and creativity of the meta-universe while exuding the allure of ancient legends. With a unique charm and an unwavering pursuit of beauty, she traverses every corner of the virtual world, wielding beauty as her weapon and creativity as her soul. Liu captures and tames the strange digital spirits lurking within the torrent, transforming them into sources of beauty inspiration, each makeup look infused with its own story and vitality.
“The virtual image is one part of the brand IP shaping, but the most important and most difficult part of an IP is to have the support of content, whether it is entertainment IP or brand IP, the story basis of the IP itself and the connotation expressed is the most important, and to have moving content is very difficult.”
Liao Xuhua, Analysys‘s entertainment industry senior analyst
In this boundless digital universe brimming with infinite possibilities, Liu Yexi stands not only as a leader in beauty trends but also as a cultural ambassador. Liu Yexi’s creation is deeply intertwined with the concept of the metaverse, emerging as a product of this current trend. Her persona, enveloped in technical brilliance, showcases a palette of cool blues and vibrant or dark purples, complemented by fluorescent makeup elements, sci-fi special effects, and a cyberpunk-inspired aesthetic. This design caters perfectly to Gen Z’s tastes. The fusion of futuristic screen designs with traditional Chinese modeling results in a strikingly contradictory aesthetic. This surreal trend, combined with the cultural context of traditional elements, creates a uniquely unprecedented IP image.
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An intriguing persona
Unique makeup
As an AI beauty blogger, Liu Yexi’s makeup is celebrated for seamlessly blending traditional Chinese aesthetics with a modern technological flair.
Her complexion rivals the purity of freshly fallen snow, while her eyebrows are meticulously shaped into the graceful willow leaf form, enhancing her natural beauty with a touch of ancient elegance. The use of Lancet eyebrows, reminiscent of those favored by ancient Chinese women, not only frames her face delicately but also imbues it with a gentle allure.
Liu Yexi’s eye makeup embodies the essence of her beauty regimen, featuring long, slender eyes with deep, captivating sockets. Delicately applied eyeliner highlights her eyes, lending them a lively sparkle and agility, further enhancing her allure.
The design of butterfly lips, harkening back to the late Tang Dynasty, complements her look with subtle application that accentuates the peaks of her lips. This ancient aesthetic, coupled with intricate details like appliqué and mother-of-pearl, not only enriches her makeup but also distinguishes her as a standout among beauty bloggers.
While Liu Yexi embraces traditional elements, her wardrobe seamlessly integrates modern sensibilities. From contemporary cuts to innovative materials, her attire effortlessly blends the charm of bygone eras with present-day fashion trends, creating a captivating fusion of old-world elegance and contemporary allure.
Her outfits, ranging from yellow shirts paired with black skirts to flowing gowns, exude a distinctive Chinese charm. Whether set against a cyberpunk metropolis or an ancient fantasy realm in her short videos, Liu Yexi’s wardrobe enhances each scene with immersive visual narratives, captivating her audience with every frame.
Demon catcher
Liu Yexi’s prowess as a demon catcher stands out as one of her most distinctive traits. Portrayed as a virtual beauty master with the ability to capture demons, this narrative blends popular themes of monster hunting, beauty makeup, and the supernatural. In a landscape where virtual characters like Luo Tianyi, A-SOUL, AYAYI, and Ling have risen to fame, Liu Yexi sets herself apart by forging her own path, diverging from the traditional styles of her predecessors.
The concept of monster hunting resonates deeply with younger audiences, combining beauty with supernatural intrigue to enrich Liu Yexi’s character. These elements are recognized as key trends in the market, each drawing significant interest from Generation Z fans.
Beyond being a fictional persona, Liu Yexi constructs a meta-universe replete with fantastical narratives. Within this realm, she upholds balance and order through her exploits in demon hunting, enriching her backstory with depth and complexity.
Pop quiz:
How do AI influencers typically engage with their audiences?
- A) Through live streaming events
- B) By hosting in-person meetups
- C) Only through pre-recorded videos
- D) Via phone calls
The correct answer is at the bottom of the article.
Chuangyi Technology
Chuangyi Technology is an IP incubator with the core of science and technology content operation, headquartered in Shanghai.
The company had completed tens of millions of angel round financing in 2020 and 50 million series A financing in 2022. It is an MCN (Multi-Channel Network) organisation that started with special effects production. They have a deep accumulation and experience in the field of special effects production, which provides a solid foundation for them to create high-quality virtual human content. As a virtual beauty beauty master created by this company, Liu Yexi has achieved great success since its launch. Her first video received more than 3 million likes on Douyin and attracted a large number of fans in a short time.
In addition to Liu Yexi, it also successfully incubated a number of technology stream IP.
Huihui Zhou
The multimillionth celebrity blogger has gone viral on the Chinese platform Douyin in 2018 for her video of controlling the rain. At that time, My Love from the Stars was hot, she wore a plain striped T-shirt, holding an umbrella, as if becoming the Do Minjun, who is the the lead actor in the play, and controlled the float of raindrops at will.
Although the special effects in this video look ordinary, they are more realistic than those in many Chinese films of the time. Once the her rain controlling videos were released, it quickly attracted a lot of attention, winning more than 200,000 fans for her, becoming a dream start for her debut.
Feifeiyu Fay
The content of Feifeiyu‘s account mostly takes emotion as the main line, showing human feelings and social phenomena through short videos. Most of the teams use the one-shot shooting method to shoot the ip video, which not only tests the team’s shooting skills, but also allows the audience to immerse in the story in the smooth picture. Just a few minutes of drama can often reflect the warmth of the human heart.
Bridging traditional culture and modern technology
In recent years, Chinese traditional culture has ushered in an unprecedented upsurge of attention, and its return and people’s deep recognition of culture have jointly promoted the vigorous rise of national tide, making national tide a new fashion and new trend leading the trend of the times. Liu Yexi, with her delicate face, Chinese-style makeup and clothes, and mysterious identity as a monster hunter, perfectly fits the current national trend.
At the same time, Gen Z is a major user group on social media, and we are happy to share and recommend content that interests us on social media. Liu Yexi has rapidly expanded her influence and popularity through the spread of social media platforms. While cooperating with major social media platforms, jointly launch joint activities or content to attract more attention from Generation Z through platform effect.
“With the maturity and stability of Liu’s account, there will be more and more Liu Yexii to meet with users, we are expected to launch 10 virtual characters in two years, they have different character Settings, involved in various fields, similar to Liu but different. We want to create a meta-cosmology from the point of view of content, which can be understood as Marvel, and what we want to do is Chinese Marvel.”
Liang Zikang, creator of ChuangYi tech
It is precisely such a series of carefully designed elements that jointly shape the unique virtual image of Liu Yaxi, making people unconsciously project their national pride and cultural identity on her while appreciating and loving her.
From the positioning of Liu Yexi’s model: beauty + technology, it can be seen that, on the one hand, beautiful and moving appearance, floating fairy clothes, wonderful stories are the factors that can attract girls: on the other hand, the elements full of science and technology such as the meta universe and cyberpunk meet the pursuit of excitement for boys.
It’s this magical intersection that brings together disparate communities.
Antique, beauty, supernatural, technology, cyberpunk etc. Liu YeXi shows a completely different short video presentation mode for everyone. Whether it is the shape of the dress up or the video part of the elements, there are strong traditional Chinese colors.
Liu Yexi’s creative team has made bold innovations and attempts on the basis of respecting traditional culture. They use AI technology to deconstruct and reconstruct traditional cultural elements to express them in a way that conforms to modern aesthetic and viewing habits.
In her first video, she attracted a huge crowd as she sat in front of a dressing table with her back to the camera. When she turned around, her distinctive makeup scared the crowd away, and only a little boy bravely stepped forward to communicate with her.
As a virtual character, Liu is able to interact with elements in the real world, such as passers-by and young boys, in the video. Willow night Xi dressed in ancient clothes, holding a makeup pen, for the little boy put on eye makeup, let him see the world of ghosts. In another video, Liu finds herself in a dimly lit factory full of electronics, fighting evil forces.
“We were consciously trying to get closer to traditional Chinese culture.”
Liang Zikang, creator of ChuangYi tech
This innovative fusion of AI, virtual personas like Liu Yexi, and the Z-generation’s fascination with Guo Chao (national trend) and the Metaverse, represents a bold new frontier in cultural expression and digital entertainment.
As Liu Yexi continues to traverse the boundaries between the ancient and the modern, the real and the virtual, she embodies a future where traditional culture is not just preserved but reimagined and revitalised for the digital age.
Her adventures, from quaint dressing tables to dystopian factories, showcase the limitless potential of AI-powered storytelling and the ever-evolving landscape of the metaverse, where the past and future intertwine to create captivating experiences that resonate deeply with the hearts and minds of the Z-generation.
The correct answer is A, through live streaming events.
