By Cassandra Shaffer
She has amassed 101 million followers on Instagram, was recently ranked 47th on Forbes’ list of the world’s 100 highest paid celebrities (earning $45.5 million last year), and now she’s a budding name in the beauty industry.
Kim Kardashian West seems to be following in her half sister’s footsteps with the launch of her own cosmetics company, KKW Beauty.
Kim Kardashian West teased her beauty brand, her first foyer into cosmetics without her sisters, on Instagram throughout the week leading up to the collection’s launch on June 21st. From glimpses of the packaging, to swatches of the Creme Contour and Highlight Kit, Kardashian used her social media platforms to promote the new brand. However, some of her followers took offense to the KKW Beauty ads, which features Kardashian with a darker skin tone than usual. In an interview with the New York Times, Kim denied any allegations of blackface or cultural appropriation.
Similarly to Kylie’s Lip Kit Business, KKW Beauty is currently only available online through the brand’s website (kkwbeauty.com), and will have various product drops throughout the year. The two brands also share the same manufacturer. The first product to be launched is a Creme Contour and Highlight Kit. The kit comes with a dual-ended contour stick that has two complementary shades, a dual-ended highlighter stick that has a matte and shimmer highlight, and a dual-ended applicator with a brush head on one side and a sponge tip on the other. Each kit costs $48 and comes in four shades; light, medium, dark, and deep dark.
In predictable Kardashian fashion, the Creme Contour and Highlight Kit sold out in under three hours, reportedly selling 300,000 units and grossing over $14 million. Kardashian promises fans that there will be a restock of these coveted kits, and that she plans on expanding the line’s product offering in the near future. According to her Snapchat, a KKW fragrance is already in the works. All the more reason to keep up with the Kardashians.
