Kylie Cosmetics is an American cosmetic company founded and owned by Kylie Jenner. Formerly known as Kylie Lip Kits, the company was renamed Kylie Cosmetics in 2016 after the release of the liquid lipstick and lip liner set on November 29, 2015. In 2018, Forbes valued the company at over $900 million.
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Background
In 2014, Kylie Jenner signed on with Seed Beauty, a company launched by Laura Thomas that would help build Kylie's brand from the ground up. Inspiration for the debut products came from Jenner's childhood insecurity about her lip size. Kylie Jenner has described her decision to use her former insecurity as inspiration for her brand as "one of the most authentic things I've done in my career". The first 15,000 lip kits were funded by Jenner at a cost of $250,000 from her modelling earnings. Kylie Lip Kits debuted in 2015 and sold out within a minute. Jenner's mother, Kris Jenner, then brought in Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify in late 2015 to outsource sales. The company was renamed to Kylie Cosmetics in February 2016 and production was increased to 500,000 kits. By the end of 2016, the total revenue was $307 million.
In the first 18 months, the company generated $420 million in revenue. Kylie Cosmetics maintains its reputation as a self funded and individually run company. Kris Jenner has suggested that attaching to a bigger brand like Estee Lauder would be beneficial for the future of the company.
In a month long pop-up event in November 2017, seven TopShop stores across the country sold Kylie Cosmetics products. As of May 2018, Kylie Cosmetics remains exclusive to their website. Many attribute the brand's success to Jenner's cosmetically altered lips.
Kylie Cosmetics is a cruelty-free company. The products are not animal-tested, and do not include any animal products such as honey or beeswax. As stated by the company's website, all Kylie Lip Kits are vegan.
In July 2018, it was revealed by Forbes that the owner and founder Kylie Jenner is about to become youngest self-made billionaire ever, largely due to the success of Kylie Cosmetics.
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Collaborations and collections
Kylie Jenner has collaborated with several other celebrities on collections for Kylie Cosmetics. Some notable collaborations include Kim Kardashian-West, Khloe Kardashian, and Kourtney Kardashian. Most recently, Kylie Jenner has collaborated with her mother, Kris Jenner. In November 2016, Kylie announced the very first Kylie Cosmetics collaboration called Koko X Kylie, where she teamed up with her half-sister, Khloe Kardashian.
In April 2017, Kylie announced her collaboration with her half-sister, Kim Kardashian-West, called KKW X Kylie. Kylie Cosmetics partnered with Kim Kardashian-West soon after the KKW release.
In May 2017, fans were hit with the news that Koko X Kylie would be returning for a Part 2 of the half-sisters' collaboration.
In April 2018, almost exactly a year after announcing her collaboration with Kim, Kylie announced her Kylie Cosmetics collaboration with her oldest half-sister, Kourtney Kardashian, called Kourt X Kylie.
On May 9, 2018, Kylie and Kris Jenner announced their collaboration called the Kris Kollection via Kylie's personal instagram. The Mini Lip Set in the Kris Kollection, which includes eight mini liquid lipsticks, is aptly named "Momager", a title in which Kris Jenner has personally taken on, and attempted to trademark, in recent years. In addition to the "Momager" Lip Kit, the Kris Kollection includes lip glosses and a four pan pressed powder highlight/blush palette, which has created a lot of controversy online with both good and bad reviews. The collection was released just in time for Mother's Day.
Non-collaborative collections
In February 2018, Kylie released Kylie Cosmetics' first non-collaborative collection: Weather. Kylie explained the collection is an ode to her daughter, Stormi, who inspired the collection and was born earlier that month.
Packaging
In May 2016, Kylie Cosmetics was forced to change the packaging of its Lip Kits due to complaints of theft. Due to the easily recognizable packaging and high demand for the product at the time, some customers received empty boxes after having their products stolen in the mailing process. The original Kylie Lip Kit box was black with a white lip gloss drip design. In order to solve the theft issue, the boxes were changed to a basic black, and the recognizable lip gloss design was moved to the inside of the box.
In the April 2018 release of the Kourt X Kylie Collection, Kylie Cosmetics included eyeshadow palettes with brand new plastic packaging rather than the traditional cardboard packaging.
Marketing
Kylie Cosmetics heavily depends on social media for its marketing. Because of her extensive use of advertising on social media, Kylie Jenner has been dubbed by some as a "marketing genius". As of August 2018, Kylie Jenner has the most followed Snapchat account and 112 million Instagram followers, all who see her teases to past and future makeup releases.
While Kylie Jenner, or members of her family, often serve as the face of Kylie Cosmetics, the pair of lips that advertise the Lip Kits themselves belongs to beauty and lifestyle blogger, Ashley Rosales. Before entering the beauty community, Ashley Rosales served in the United States Army as a mechanic.
Kylie Jenner revealed that she has enlisted her housekeeper and her boyfriend Travis Scott to model swatches of the makeup on their arms for social media advertisements.
Criticism
"Luxury" brush scandal
In an occurrence dubbed by Cosmopolitan Australia as the "Kylie makeup brush scandal of 2017", Kylie Jenner received backlash from fans, makeup gurus, and Internet users alike after Kylie Cosmetics launched a set of 16 luxury makeup brushes, priced at $360. After a few big-name makeup artists including James Charles and Manny MUA weighed in with their negative opinions on the price of the brush kit, Kylie responded via her personal Twitter, telling fans, "I hear you guys". Many hoped that this would mean the company would lower their prices, but they have remained the same as of late.
Skin Concealer controversy
After the release of the Kylie concealer line, Skin Concealer, Kylie Cosmetics received flack from internet users who claimed the company was copying Rihanna's makeup line, Fenty Beauty. Though the intention of the makeup line was to remain inclusive, it was assumed by some that Kylie was profiting off of diversity by including 30 shades in her concealer line.
The Skin Concealer was additionally critiqued for the fact that all of the darker shades have red undertones, and is therefore believed by some to not cater to all skin types. Descriptions of the concealers on the Kylie Cosmetics website state that each of the darker shades has red undertones.
"Provocative" blushes
The release of Kylie Cosmetics' most recent line of blushes sparked fury within some fans, claiming that the names of some of the new products were "too provocative". Though the blush collection sold successfully, parents of young fans were not in support of names such as "Barely Legal", "Virginity, "X Rated", and "Hot and Bothered".
See also
- ColourPop Cosmetics
- The Kardashians
- Kylie Jenner
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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