How Kylie Jenner’s lipstick fortune is under pressure from face masks and working from home. The pout is out.
- Kylie Jenner is the queen of the overlined lip look, and her cosmetics company has made her a fortune
- The Covid-19 pandemic and widespread use of face masks have dented her lipstick earnings
Whether Kylie Jenner really is a billionaire, there’s no arguing that when it comes to big, over-lined lips, she holds the crown. (She even named her company King Kylie LLC.)
But the pouty lipstick trend that the 22-year-old Kardashian sister amplified and has made lots of money from – even if it is millions with an “m” – is fast fading in a world of face masks and working from home. That will hurt the cosmetics giants that chased the fad even more.
The brand launched in 2015 and is still best known for its US$29 “lip kits”, which come with a pencil to outline one’s lips bigger than they are and then a matt liquid lipstick to fill them in.
In November, Jenner sold 51 per cent of the company to Coty, the parent of CoverGirl and Rimmel, for US$600 million. That deal valued Kylie Cosmetics as a whole at US$1.2 billion.