Kylie Jenner may be the youngest member of the Kardashian family, but (for the beauty industry anyway), she may be the most influential. Sure Kendall has joined forces with Estée Lauder and her older sisters kick-started a contour movement, but Kylie Jenner’s obvious love of beauty has helped her to land her own makeup line, Kylie Cosmetics. Having a strong social media presence of 8.2 million Instagram fans has also certainly helped boost the selling power of the 19-year-old. Here BD takes a look at just how Jenner has shaped the beauty industry in the past year.
A spot of rouge
Jenner’s personal preference for lipstick is well documented in her selfie-focused social media accounts and burgeoning lifestyle website. M.A.C Cosmetics senior vice president and group creative director James Gager called the return to rouge the “Kylie Jenner effect”, applauding her for her “phenomenal job” at redirecting attention back to lipsticks and colour when speaking to WWD.
Says The Telegraph UK, a sharp rise in lipstick sales has been experienced in the past 12 months. “While sales of lip colour cosmetics grew by 8 per cent between 2014 and 2015, sales are predicted to rise by 12 per cent this year to £306 million, according to consumer analyst Mintel. Two out of five women purchased lipstick in the past year, rising to 48 per cent of women aged 16 to 24, it found.”
Mintel senior beauty analyst Charlotte Libby attributes the rise directly to Jenner, commenting: “Sales of lip makeup [products] are expected to grow significantly this year… While matte lipsticks have been a popular trend, the fuller lip, too, has been made fashionable again by celebrities such as Kylie Jenner.”
Nude by nature
Jenner’s penchant for nude lipstick is undeniable, and has been a shade trend that has taken the beauty industry by force this year. In Polyvore’s annual report (which evaluates data from its 20 million monthly active users), Jenner was named most influential in terms of beauty and fashion trends for 2016. The site also reported a 553 per cent increase in searches for ‘nude lipstick’ across Australia, America and the UK.
M.A.C Cosmetics can confirm Jenner’s selling power. The company’s global brand president Karen Buglisi Weiler told WWD that immediately after Jenner documented her use of the Velvet Teddy lipstick and Soar liner back in 2014, the products soared to the second bestselling lipstick and number-one liner. Even now that popularity remains, with Tess Stolarchuk from the brand commenting: “In M.A.C across Australia, there are 200 Velvet Teddys sold per day.”
The Hollywood Reporter provides another example: “Already a cult favorite of makeup junkies everywhere for its universally flattering appeal, M.A.C's most-wanted lip pencil in the even more coveted Spice hue has seen a surge in popularity since the world discovered it's in Kylie Jenner's cosmetic bag. So much so that M.A.C boutiques and department stores are experiencing a shortage of the bestselling product.”
Nip and tuck
Similarly, Jenner’s well-documented experimentation with lip augmentation (or fillers) has seen a surge in the plastic surgery procedure in the past year. Jenner’s non-natural pout has inspired the younger generation in particular to engage with lip fillers. According to the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 64 per cent of facial plastic surgeons saw an increase in cosmetic surgery or injectable treatments in patients under 30 just last year.
Surgeon Dr Leah Totton told The Independent that immediately after Jenner admitted to using lip fillers, her clinic was inundated with a “70 per cent rise in lip filler enquiries.” In a recent interview on StyleMic, plastic surgeon Justin Yovino says: “Kylie had a major influence on the popularity of lip injections. I think once people saw that lips could be made fuller and still be smooth and natural-appearing their opinions changed." And while Jenner’s cosmetic enhancements have seen the category embraced by millennials in particular, the focus on an enhanced pout has seen the beauty industry launch a plethora of non-surgical lip-enhancing products – from collagen masks to pout stimulators aplenty.
