In Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, “Jab Jab Jab Right Hook“, he emphasised on turning what you’re passionate about into a money-making business. No matter if it’s just about your passion for stickers. While it worked for him as he collected fortune from his own passion for baseball cards, it was rather odd on how it turned out for Kylie Jenner. For she turned her insecurities into a US$230 million net profit.
Kylie Cosmetics was built from a fan base of millions of followers of Kylie Jenner in Instagram alone. The youngest billionaire may just join Mark Zuckerberg in becoming one at age 23 and Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel (in his early 20’s) in being America’s Richest Self-Made Entrepreneur once her steady revenue is kept up for the rest of 2018.
As how the internet reshapes everything from business, social networking all the way to politics, Kylie Jenner who was just 17 years old, managed to go smart around usage of these social platforms online. This made the earnings of her business go directly to her pocket, all 100% of it with virtually no employees, capital or expertise.
Teenage insecurity that budded from being in the limelight at an early age seem to have ignited Kylie Jenner into becoming a walking US$900 million as how FORBES recognizes her.
Being the youngest of Kris and Caitlyn Jenner, who was a decathlon Olympic gold medalist, Kylie gained a massive following of her own. She owes much of it to her genes being the sibling of supermodel Kendall Jenner and half-sister of the Kardashians. While these celebrities enjoy their stardom in piling up money because of the businesses they owned here and there, Kylie Jenner initially was clueless on what to develop of her own.
Modeling did bring in 7-figured fortune to her account just to say she was doing something. But her calling of providing for her daughter didn’t make her settle for less. She pushed herself into becoming one of the bests in her craft. As she caught the people’s attention gaining followers through twitter and Instagram, it was not hard to own a celebrity status during her teenage years.
This escalated her insecurities though, (particularly for her lips) that she never leaves the house without make-up. As early as 6th grade, she was putting purple eyeshadow on already. She thought she had thin lips that it needed plumping each time she had to go out. She did suck air from the mouth of a glass to make her lips sweet so that they’d look full. Here’s the effect that it makes.
THE IDEA
But other than the silly “Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge” where girls would bring out their lips after sucking from a shot glass, the “Kylie Lip Kits… for the perfect pout” became the real trademark of her product. To give her ‘thin’ lips with a full illusion, Kylie Jenner had developed a habit of applying lip liner beyond her lips’ natural perimeter.
You guys, imagine this, but all in lip kits. I think it needs to be clear vending machine where you see all the colors.” -Kylie Jenner
These lip kits consist of a matching set of lipstick and lip liner. As she flaunts her usage of different colors and tints, she posts short videos of it on social media where 110 million follows her on Instagram, 16.4 million following her ‘company’ directly and 25.6 million from Twitter. Targeting girls and women of these lip kits, her near-billion-dollar empire is now added of cosmetics like eye shadow and concealer. As of today, FORBES values her company at U$800 million. And once again, she owns 100% of it.
THE PRODUCT
Personally, there are times when I buy cheap products to test their quality. As per advice from the book, “How to Look Expensive.”, expensive cosmetics doesn’t necessarily guarantee quality products. I bought a cheap every day lipstick. It was flaky and it somehow doesn’t blend on the lips. To make the story short, it’s a failure and I regret buying it.
My friend had sold some products that came with a purchase that she made. She said, she didn’t want some of it and one of the lipsticks was the Kylie Jenner Lipstick. I bought because of its extraordinary peachy-beige shade. When I applied it atop the cheap lipstick I was wearing that day, it did wonders. Somehow, it blended with the salmon shade of my everyday lipstick that it made my lips looking instantly full.
As for my recommendation, I love how creamy it is and the shade is truly posh. Though it did cost me 5 times of my cheap lipstick (HK$120), I consider it a good buy because it doesn’t smear nor go off when I eat or drink. It has that gentle powder finish. More importantly, the long-lasting effect keeps my awful cheap lipstick in place. Voila! I didn’t have to get rid of it then and waste money.
THE STRATEGY
Everyday, I notice that almost everybody’s attention is on the phone. I look at my pattern and without filter and lies, I reach for my phone the moment I wake up. Besides the days that it is due to shutting out my alarm (which seldom happens because I end up waking up before it), just the simple act of checking out my schedule, reading the newspaper, attending to notification from social media and checking e-mails can eat up 2 hours right away. Thank God, I don’t have Snapchat otherwise, I might get hooked as well just like how I denied getting hook to Pinterest. Ending, I check on it each time I can. And that is around 5 times and over each day.
It’s inevitable. Technology had saturated our needs into a single gadget like our mobile phone. The newspaper, banking assistance, calling long distance, international transactions and many more had all become possible to be done in a click. Kylie Jenner understood how it’s done. Well played.
EXPECTATIONS
Because of the trend she had set, more and more demands came in for her products. She was then propelled to hire people from China to produce massive numbers and to understand her concept of making these lip kits available via the vending machine. Here in Hong Kong alone, you can purchase a lot of things via the vending machine. There are umbrellas, hygiene kits (mostly seen at hotels), condoms, headphones, Canon printer ink cartridges on top of the usual sodas and juices available. Check out the wacky vending machines featured in this post by Marcus Wong. It is real.
And so, Kylie wants to set up a trend around her product targeting once again women using these mode of distribution. Come to think of it, men alike, would be needing this for a gift to their spouse, partners, and the demand could extend all the way through the drag queens, the queer who dares to make a statement and to anybody who just wants some pout perfection. The shades are versatile to each consumer’s personality and preference. The product satisfies an array of consumer as well.
Without the annoying seller behind the counter that pushes the products to the consumer, they could just easily decide on their own. But with a catch = “no return, no exchange” policy!
To sum my thoughts up,this product is highly recommended. Even if it seems a fortune for a lipstick, (5 times the price of my cheap one), it was worth it. I get an instant boost to my social skills which makes me confident to initiate a conversation. I am able to blend it with my cheap lipstick making it posher than ever. Lastly, it is sets your lips with plump effect initially and sets it off with a powder finish.
