The DOWNFALL of Kim Kardashian’s Beauty Empire… (Her New Brand Is Messy)

This week, Kim Kardashian announced that her once-loved makeup line would be returning, and there's been some mixed reactions. KKW Beauty was Kim's first solo cosmetics line, and although it wasn't really around for a long time, it made a huge impact in the beauty space. Kim has now relaunched her cosmetics line under her already existing skincare brand called Skin, so I thought we could go over the history of KKW Beauty, what went wrong, and what people are saying about this whole rebrand. It's a mess, so let's get into it. Today's video takes us all the way back to 2012, long before KKW Beauty or Skin by Kim was even a thought. In 2012, the Kardashian sisters Khloe, Kim, and Kourtney broke into the cosmetics market with their first-ever beauty line, Chroma Beauty. They launched with a few main products, including a lip kit, an eyeshadow palette, and lashes. They got their products in major retailers like Ulta and CVS, but just like most other Kardashian's business ventures, they were met with major setbacks. Early into business, they were hit with multiple lawsuits by already existing companies with similar names, the main one being Chroma Makeup. Chroma Makeup was trademarked in 2004, and the owner Leigh Tillett felt like the Kardashian's brand would confuse their already established customers and eventually overshadow them. After an 8-month long trademark dispute, the judge ruled in favor of Leigh's Chroma, and the Kardashians and Boldface Inc., the conglomerate behind their brand, were forced to change the name. They rebranded as Kardashian Beauty, and they went on to have a few successful years, expanding even beyond makeup. They had a whole line of drugstore beauty products like Hot Tools and Hair Care, and they even won an Allure Best in Beauty award in 2015 for their hair tool. Now, this was the same year that Kylie Jenner had launched her own beauty line, Kylie Cosmetics, and had massive success with her lip kits. It's been said that this was the moment that the rest of the Kardashian sisters realized just how profitable going solo could be, and how drastically the cosmetics industry as a whole was changing. In 2016, Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney were all sued by their business partner in Kardashian Beauty, Hilaire Capital Management, who actually took over for Boldface after they went bankrupt. They accused the Kardashians of not promoting Kardashian Beauty, making them miss out on millions of dollars worth of sales. The Kardashians fought back and said they actually owed them money, and in 2021, after a long legal battle, the Kardashians were awarded $11 million and Kardashian Beauty isn't around anymore. Which brings us to Kim's next venture in cosmetics, KKW Beauty. In 2017, Kim branched out without her sisters and started KKW Beauty with Seed Beauty. They launched with their cream contour and highlight kit, which was an instant sellout, generating KKW Beauty over $14 million in sales. We were very much in the height of the YouTube beauty influencer days, where every launch was a must-have, and Kim utilized that by doing collabs with some of the biggest influencers during that time. But despite getting in with some of the biggest influencers, when people actually started to receive their KKW Beauty products, there were quite a few complaints. A lot of people felt like the stick was a bit gimmicky, they thought the price point, which was $48, wasn't worth how little product you got, and the brush that came with the kit was labeled by many reviewers as useless. The brush is really soft, but since it's really short and the bristles are really dense, it can move your foundation around. I don't like anything tugging on my skin that much. I was expecting it to be super easy to blend, but it does take a little bit of effort. You see what I mean? The sponge is just a little too tough and it's just a little too small. I hated the sponge. I hated the sponge. I thought the sponge was terrible. I rinsed it with Fix Plus, and it's very, very hard. Like, it's very dense. So I tried doing the blending of the highlight with that, and I just gave up. One of the main complaints about the contour stick was its lack of blendability. A lot of people complained about the product not being able to melt into their skin and kind of just sitting on top, creating a very clear cast, showing where the product was applied. I'm really not liking this contour shade. I mean, I had high hopes because it blended out at my temples really nicely, but now we're at the cheekbones. It's not looking good, to say the least. I feel like the majority of the product has ended up on this sponge. That's how dirty it is after one use. And my cheeks, it's just blended out into nothing. The brush wasn't helpful with application either, with many people saying it kind of just pushed the product around or reabsorbed it into the sponge, which isn't what you would expect from a $48 Kim Kardashian makeup kit. This is just too much work because it's just so small. So again, for me, I would maybe just throw this in my bag, keep it as something that I can just quickly touch up with when I'm on the go. I just feel like it's just way too much work for me because with my beauty blender, I know that I can just cover so much more space. Another major complaint was how cheap the packaging was. Customers were going into this launch expecting to see quality similar to Kylie's packaging. Both Kylie and Kim's products were being made by See Beauty, and people thought since Kylie's packaging was such a nice experience, then Kim would probably go for the same vibe. Although she didn't. She shipped her products out in these tinfoil little baggies that you'd maybe expect to see from a small business who's just starting out, but you wouldn't expect to see it from a multi-millionaire's beauty line who's also working with one of the biggest cosmetics manufacturers in the game. Bag, like it comes in a bag. It doesn't come in like a box or anything like that. It's just, you know, it's in a bag. Pat McGrath has her products in a bag, but it's not like a trash bag. It just kind of feels like a trash bag. And Pat McGrath's comes in like a thicker sort of vinyl. It's holographic and it's filled with sequins. The backlash didn't stop Kim from continuing on and eventually launching a whole line of products, including eyeshadow palettes, lipsticks, lip liners, blushes, and pretty much everything you could think of, she had. The only problem was, once again, the reviews weren't the best. She launched these powder contour palettes really soon after the cream ones and to promote them, she swatched them on her Snapchat and the results were not very good. Okay, so it comes with two highlighters. One, this is for the light palette, but they have a lot of sheen to it. One's a little more goldy white and one's a bit more pinky. They're so pretty. I'll do them on Heather. These guys, these bronzers are amazing. Then there's like a more gray undertone one. Better for Heather's skin tone. Those are the contour and highlighting shades for the medium kit. Kim was being dragged by the beauty community for how dry the powders looked and how they barely showed up even on her own skin. And then for the people that did find that they got a bit of color payoff, they usually complained about it being way too orange and warm for the intended skin tone. Another product of Kim's that got dragged through the mud a bit was her lipsticks. She had launched these nude lipsticks and although I did hear really good things about the formula, a lot of people hated the packaging. Many people said it looked like cheap dollar store packaging and for that price point, customers felt like more effort should have been put into the looks and overall experience. Don't forget, this was at the height of Kylie Cosmetics' popularity and since KKW Beauty and Kylie Cosmetics were both being produced by Seed Beauty, they were both sisters doing the same thing, they were being compared constantly. Kylie was coming out with these really elaborate collections with the most interesting packaging that helped justify the price point. So naturally, a lot of people gravitated to Kylie over Kim. Now let's talk about the downfall of KKW Beauty. As you guys know, Kim and Kanye ended up getting divorced back in 2021 and many people suspected that she'd eventually rebrand the KKW Beauty name. Kody had just bought a 20% stake in KKW Beauty the year prior and bought a 51% stake in Kylie Cosmetics back in 2019. This created some major issues with Kylie and Kim's manufacturers, Seed Beauty. Seed had suspicions that Kylie was sharing trade secrets with Kody and they had fears that Kim would eventually do the same. They filed suits to try and stop this from happening because Kody owns a lot of big name brands in the beauty industry. The last thing Seed wants is for Kylie or Kim to share secrets with Kody and for them to use their information to grow their own brand. It was never revealed what exactly these trade secrets were but they could be anything from formulas or packaging or how they manufacture things so quickly. In 2021, Kylie and Kim ended up settling out of court with Seed Beauty which leads us to the real downfall of both of their brands. I already talked about this in my downfall of Kylie Cosmetics video but while this Seed Beauty lawsuit was taking place, Kylie went missing. They deleted all of their posts except one which said something new is coming. They ended up having a rebrand which was said to be so they could have a new clean and vegan formula but people weren't buying it especially when the news broke about Kylie and Seed settling out of court. Many people suspected that this rebrand was a way for Kylie to introduce a new formula because of the lawsuit with Seed Beauty without having to say that she was rebranding because of the lawsuit with Seed Beauty. It sounds much better to say you're rebranding because you want to be clean and vegan not that you're rebranding because you're being sued and pretty much have no choice. The same thing happened to Kim at the same time it was happening to Kylie. Kim also came out in July of 2021 and said her beauty brand was also closing in order to rebrand as well writing, It all started with a contour kit and expanded to eyes, lips, body and many incredible collections over the past four years. On August 1st at midnight, we'll be shutting down the KKW Beauty site so that we can come back to you under a completely new brand with new formulas that are more modern, innovative and packaged in an elevated and sustainable new look. I'm excited to continue to develop and expand my product range and for you to finally be able to experience it the way that I've always envisioned. In addition, my team is hard at work to improve the customer shopping experience where you'll be able to purchase my beauty and cosmetic offerings in all categories from one single website. Thank you so much for being on this incredible journey with me and I promise we won't be gone for too long. And people who loved KKW Beauty were hoping her rebrand would be as quick as Kylie's. Kylie also had all her different brands like Kylie Skin, Kylie Baby and Kylie Cosmetics all under one website with different tabs and as far as I can tell, most people said the formula and the quality of her products were pretty much the same. Unfortunately for Kim fans, that rebrand didn't happen as quickly. In 2022, Kim instead launched her new skincare line called Skin by Kim. This was during a time where the pandemic had shifted our wants and more people were focused on skincare rather than makeup and a lot of people saw this as Kim adapting with the current trend. There was no word on a potential makeup brand and many fans were losing hope for the return of a rebranded beauty line. Well, that changed this year when Kim finally announced that her beauty brand was back. Alright guys, so I have been reading the comments on the skin account and so many of you really want us to bring color cosmetics back. Kim, we need the makeup. We are dying out here. Kim, where is your makeup and fragrance? I'm dying for it. The world has been begging you. Can we get a release date on makeup? I hear you. Kim's makeup will be launching under her skincare brand called Skin by Kim and she's instantly coming out with a whole collection. She has lipsticks, lip liners, and an eyeshadow palette. Now, of course, whenever a new brand or product is released, it's usually met with some controversy and that's exactly what Kim is facing right now. When people got a look at what this new line is going to look like and cost, the criticism started to pour in. The lipsticks are retailing for $32, the lip liner is $22, and the palette is $50. A lot of people are saying that the price point for these things are a bit steep based off first impressions of how they're looking. Kim's look is very minimalist and her products are definitely giving that, but not in a good way. There's not much to them packaging-wise and just like the criticism that she received with her first launch, a lot of people think the price point doesn't make sense for what you're getting, writing, $50 for that cardboard packaging is a crime. This generation is lost. $50 for this? Girl, buy. Lip liner for $22 is just insanity. The KKW Beauty lip liners were $12. But I have to tell you, I think this palette looks cheap as ****. I mean, the materials, it's ColourPop level, okay? This should not be $50. 100% this should not be $50. And I understand that she's trying to like, keep the vibe of the luxe skin line, but like, if you're gonna do that, make the palette a little nicer. That's just my opinion. People are also comparing her palette to makeup by Mario, and I gotta say, they are very similar. Get ready with me using Kim Kardashian's brand new makeup by Skin. Look at the colors. Is it giving Mario palette? Let me grab it. Okay, so this one's Mario's and this is Kim's. The Mario having this burgundy-ish like warm shade, and these two more like yellower shades make this palette unique. Oh, this is $50. 12 shades for $50. Would you buy a palette that looks like this for $50? Manny actually did a review comparing the two, and let's just say, if you already have Mario's, you definitely don't need Kim's. This is literally all my comments in the Skin review of the makeup line, so let's compare. I have both. I'm very curious. So let's actually go compare and see if they're the same. Okay, so we've got our palette drawer, one of our palettes. Oh my god, look at old school Kylie. What? Anyway, we have our makeup by Mario's right here. Now let's open this bad boy up and see if they're the same. And here are the two side by side wall on top of one another. What do you guys think? Do you see a similarity? I will say that the middle rows are different. The middle row of makeup by Mario on top, the middle row of the KKW. Whoa, nope. I'm in skin. That is what those look like. The middle rows are completely different, but the top row and the bottom row do mirror like quite a lot. I swatched a few shades from each palette just to kind of compare. Left shades are going to be Mario's, rights are going to be Kim's. So it's like Mario Kim, Mario Kim, Mario Kim, Mario Kim, Mario Kim, Mario Kim. Undertones are different, but there is similarity. And that's not the only similarity that people have been noticing. Just recently, Kylie came out with a new line of lip liners for $17 each, and they look very similar to Kim's, which are going to retail for $22. I've been seeing so many comments from people being so excited about the lip liners returning, but it's like, aren't they just going to be the same as Kylie's, but more expensive? I find it so strange that Kody would be okay with Kylie launching these lip liners, knowing that Kim was going to be launching something that looked so similar only a few months later. KKW Beauty was constantly being compared to Kylie the first time around, and it just feels like she's not going to be beating the comparisons anytime soon. In saying that, I want to know what you think. Do you think Kim missed her timing with this launch, and is it too similar to Kylie to stand out, or can you see this being a huge success? I personally think she'll probably sell out regardless, but at this point, I just can't see these becoming staples, especially with the prices and the competition already out there. But, who knows? Anyway guys, let me know what you think about everything down below, and I'll see you next time!