Kylie Jenner’s insecurity about her thin lips, led her to using her own savings to start Kylie Cosmetics in 2015, and the launch of Lip Kits, which featured matching liquid lipsticks and liners. She was helped by her mother, Kris Jenner.
Strategic use of social media, and Kylie’s huge fan base, made the brand ricochet with rapid sell- outs and massive revenue growth. Kylie took to Instagram to let her fans know about her Lip Kit, and all of the 15,000 lip kits got sold in less than a minute.
The brand quickly grew beyond lip kits into a broader cosmetics line, becoming a global beauty phenomenon. The brand that was launched with the name “Lip Kit by Kylie” was rechristened as Kylie Cosmetics in keeping with Kylie’s vision for a full cosmetics line.
This blog is a roadmap of what and why’s behind Kylie Cosmetics, the factors behind its success, and the takeaways for women entrepreneurs.
A Little About Kylie Cosmetics
Necessity is the mother of invention, and wanting to overline and make her lips appear fuller, Kylie Jenner invested her money into making a few lip kits. There was no looking back after the well thought-out marketing plan got the brand a global presence in no time.
The brand’s lineup has an enviable collection of Lip Kits (glossy and matte), Lip Glosses and balms, pressed Blushes, Foundations and Concealers, eyeliner, and Highlighters. There are also other face products like Bronzers and Powders, with new additions like the Power Plush foundation and Kylash Mascara, adding to the core offerings by the brand.
The brand has collaborated with family members, like Kim, Kourtney Kardashian, and Kendall Jenner of recent times apart from celebrities like Stassie (Anastasia Karanikolaou). It has partnered with pop culture icons like The Grinch and Batman as well as luxury brands such as Balmain for events like the Met Gala.
The brand continues to do well despite increased competition, product quality concerns, and market saturation from its numerous expansions. The business model it follows is based on leveraging Kylie’s celebrity status, and extensive social media following.
This is skillfully used to create a hype and exclusivity around its limited edition drops. The idea is to capitalize on FOMO (fear of missing out), making its online sales skyrocket through high demand and rapid sales. The majority of products are sold directly through the brand’s official website, allowing it direct control over the customer experience, and customer relationship.
The brand was built on Shopify. It scaled rapidly with access to a global consumer base, while making the operational part simple. From $29 Lip Kits to a $900M+, the brand has grown exponentially within a few years.
While Kylie Jenner retains a substantial portion and handles creative leadership and communications, Coty Inc. holds a 51% stake in Kylie Cosmetics. The company that stands at a valuation of $1.2B has the company’s employees, retail partners like Ulta Beauty, and consumers who purchase their products as other stakeholders.
Kylie Jenner’s Background and Why She Started Kylie Cosmetics
Kylie Jenner gained fame on the family reality show ‘ Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ (2007-2021). She then went out to build Kylie Cosmetics which brought her the status of a self-made billionaire.
Her social media presence worked in her favor as the cosmetic brand caught the fancy of millions across the globe.
Wanting to get fuller lips, Kylie ventured into the alluring world of makeup. Her foray came with the making of ‘Lip Kit’, which sold like hot cakes. She was able to get for herself and her fans lip products that gave the desired result at an affordable price.
The rest is as they say ‘history’. She identified a gap in the market, and sought to fill it with an easy- to- use lip kit with a promise of clean, vegan, and cruelty-free formulas. All of this got done by leveraging her fan- following on Instagram that runs into hundreds of millions.
No traditional advertising was used – just a buzz that made their products go off the shelves with lightning speed.
Why Kylie Cosmetics is a Success
Here are some of the reasons why Kylie Cosmetics succeeded:
1. Social Media First
Kylie Cosmetics is a befitting example of the success one can achieve with a skilled use of social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. Kylie used both to speak to her fans authentically. This brought her brand more value which translated into better sales.
2. Scarcity & Hype
Making all their products in small batches of ‘ limited editions’ got the brand the hype, the buzz that is needed for explosive sales. Playing with the consumer’s mind that fears letting something good slip away, got them the sales figures they’d wanted.
3. Direct-to-Consumer Power
Selling directly from their website, and the simple sales procedures without the intermediaries, got them direct customer feedback, and preferences.
4. Personal Branding
Kylie’s story (lip fillers + insecurity) gave authenticity to the brand. The fact that Kylie Cosmetics was birthed out of Kylie’s insecurity around her own thin lips when she was already a global celebrity, made the brand more relatable to the consumers and added to its authenticity.
Lessons for Women Entrepreneurs Building Similar Brands
If you’re building out a beauty and cosmetics brand like Kylie Cosmetics, here are some lessons to takeaway:
1. Leverage Social Media as Your Launchpad
Soft launch before a hard one. Feel the pulse of your audience, and create a buzz around your launches by posting teasers that spike the curiosity of your target audience. Stay engaged on social media by keeping the posts and videos consistent while pushing the brand.
2. Scarcity Drives Demand
Small batches of products that promise quality but come as ‘limited’ or ‘special edition’, sell better. Consumers remain engaged, excited, and that without the need of hardcore advertising.
3. Authenticity Wins
Kylie Jenner spoke of her thin lips, and her insecurities around her appearance. She spoke of her need to make them look fuller, and therefore making the ‘ Lip Kits’. Her personal story and candid engagement got more authenticity to the brand.
4. Direct-to-Consumer Gives Control
Selling through your own websites gives you a better insight into customer satisfaction, and preferences. This helps to build more of the products that actually sell.
5. Strategic Retail Partnerships Can Scale You Fast
Partnering with Ulta boosted accessibility massively. Looking for partnerships that can help with sales and boost your business, is an absolute must. When accessibility gets attached to a business’s profile, profits swell.
6. Don’t Be Afraid of PR
Get yourself as much PR mileage as you can. A few titles like ‘ youngest billionaire’ etc. can go a long way in proving to be your business’s strongest marketing tool.
7. Think Collaboration
Partnerships with other creators, family, or influencers expand reach. Don’t hesitate to partner with other creators, influencers, or family to extend your reach. Every new collaboration is adding a new limb to your growing business.
8. Exit Smart
If your business starts to grow beyond your capacity, find someone who will partner with you. This helps in sharing not just the profits but in mitigating problems, and decreasing workload.
Conclusion
Kylie Cosmetics is proof that influence coupled with authenticity, and a strong social media presence can disrupt entire industries. For women entrepreneurs, it’s a reminder that you don’t need traditional playbooks if you deeply understand your audience and leverage your strengths.
The one big takeaway here is that you must build from your story, use modern tools (social + D2C), and scale smartly. Social media is not all fluff, and there are some real stories here that are inspirational.
Here’s to getting to reach more of such stories, and choosing what fuels us.
Subscribe to our blog or follow us on social media for more such content!
