By Julianne O’Toole

Once again, the Kardashian family has the Midas touch; Kylie Jenner, the youngest family member at age 18, is creating a cosmetic empire.  

This past February, she came out with The Kylie Lip Kit which includes a creamy lip liner and a matte liquid lipstick. The cost is $29.00 for both liner and the lipstick. The eight different shades include Candy K, a soft, warm nude, Dolce K a medium beige nude, Koko K is a warm pinky nude. Posie K a dusty, mauve pink, Mary Jo K a true blue red, 22 a vibrant burnt orange, True Brown K a deep chocolate brown, and the newest addition to the collection, Kourt K, a deep purple.

The lip kits have been selling out almost instantly. Jenner came out with the liquid lipstick in February of this year, but has been working on them since last August. The most recent edition to the empire is her lip gloss and her metallic shades. There are three new nude, gloss shades that came out on April 1, 2016. The names are Like, Literally, and So Cute. The glosses cost $15.00 each. Jenner came out with three metallic shades, King K, Reign, and Heir. These cost $18.00. Any of her lip products can be purchased on her website, Kyliecosmetics.com.

There have been mixed reviews about how well the lip liner and liquid lipstick applies. “The lip liner is soft and glides on easily. It’s super-pigmented — a little darker than you might expect and a touch deeper than the lipstick. And it lasts: The sharp line I created on my lips only started to get fuzzy hours after I topped it with balm,” says journalist, Lexy Lebsack from Refinery29. Another review by Tynan Sinks, a journalist for XO Jane, does not give a good review of the liquid lipsticks. “The biggest complaint is that liquid lipsticks are drying. Next, is that they flake, the lines crack, and they make your lips look brittle.” Despite these critical comments, he gives the lip liner a great review: “Kylie’s liner glides on like butter using very little applied pressure, and causes virtually no drag. It couldn’t be easier to apply, which helps you to get a perfectly lined lip. They’re pigmented enough that you could wear them without topping them off with the liquid, and their stay power alone is great.”

Sara Steinfeld from The Gloss says, “The lip liner is definitely as smooth as everyone says. I didn’t feel like I had to press hard to get a good color payoff like I often do with other pencil liners, and the color was a perfect match to the liquid lipstick. The lipsticks themselves have a very strong artificial cake smell, which only got worse as the colors got darker… The pigmentation of the lipsticks, though, was absolutely beautiful, and the shades dried to a matte finish in about 10 seconds.”

One of Jenner’s biggest insecurities was her lips, due to the many rumors about her lip injections/fillers. She has to address these rumors constantly. Earlier in the year, the “#KylieJennerLipChallenge” trend became huge. People used a small glass to suction the lips, and create big lips just like Jenner. All this talk about her lips encouraged her to create something that would create the “‘perfect Kylie look’” said Jenner, thus she created the Kylie Lip Kit.

Despite any negativity towards Jenner or her product, the Kylie Lip Kit is a huge success among her fans.