Kylie Jenner: How the teenager of reality has founded a cosmetic empire

Kylie Jenner was only 10 years old when she debuted in her family's reality TV series, Keeping up with the Kardashians. A decade later, the show continues to be strong and its youngest star is now the biggest breadwinner of the famed family.

It appeared this week just how much of the family's wealth belongs to the 20-year-old man. Despite Kim's initial eclipsing celebrity, Forbes magazine says Kylie is now worth almost three times as much as her sister at around $ 900 million (£ 680 million).

The magazine praised it for becoming one of the youngest "self-made" billionaires ever.In view of its track record, many people make fun of the title online, but it's not the only way to make it. impressive speed of commercial success is more difficult to make fun of.

Kylie Cosmetics is by far its biggest source of revenue, it is not sold in stores and does not advertise because unlike Of other competitors, he does not seem to need it.

After all, Kylie is a social media power.When she tweeted that she was "too much" above Snapchat earlier this year, his actions have plummeted.

The vast majority of his 110 million Instagram followers are young people and women, who fit squarely into the brand's target market.The success can be seen directly in the major trends of the brand. 39, the world's beauty industry, which has suffered u A huge change, because influencers and social media vloggers become more important to the success of a brand.

Kylie launched her first set of clean-brand lip kits in November 2015. The choice of the product was not incidental, since the Internet had spent most of the previous two years speculating on substantially larger lips of the teenager.

The reality star claimed that change was achieved by using clever makeup tricks (covering the lips and filling with a natural-looking matte base).

Some mocked and provoked a viral and painful challenge to close their lips, but beauty bloggers eagerly recreated their eyes. The products that she was supposed to use were sold in MAC outlets around the world.

So she and Kris, the "momifier", saw the opportunity to go it alone. She spent months launching an initial launch of three-tone lip kits – a combination of nude lip combos and matte lip cream – on social networks

The initial launch of the stock is paid off in less than a minute.

Bloggers have suggested "duped" options for those who have not had the chance to own them, and $ 29 kits have been hacked online for hundreds of dollars .

After launching the first kits, she renamed her company Kylie Cosmetics and sales continue to climb, making $ 19 million in one day.

In a few years she has amassed 630 million dollars (470 million pounds) in sales, diversifying lip kit duets to other products such as chandeliers, highlighters and shadows to eyelids.

The brand has kept people hanging by maintaining the original exclusivity of FOMO (fear of missing) limited circulation products, often in collaboration with its famous brothers and sisters.

Kylie Cosmetics is not alone; a host of popular brands such as Huda Beauty and Anastasia Beverley Hills have enjoyed growing popularity in recent years. YouTube's support, in particular, has the power to make a product indispensable.

Stephanie Saltzman, beauty editor at Fashionista.com, says that one can not overemphasize the importance of influencers and online marketing.

She describes the recent change as a "democratization" within an industry that she said had become obsolete in her approach

"Historically, consumers would use what their mum used or would go on to explore. beauty counter in a department. Now, it's in the hands of social media, "she says.

"He feels more authentic coming from a person and Kylie Jenner is a person as opposed to a blank, faceless company."

Traditional make-up brands are adjusting, though. Some have collaborated with influencers and beauty bloggers on limited-edition lines or enlisted to use Generation Z celebrities like Lily Depp as their public face.

Charlotte Libbey, a color cosmetics expert from the Mintel group of analysts rejecting traditional advertising, instead of being drawn to the transparency of the brand, and in particular by the "personality, belief and Ethics "

" Crowdfunding campaigns and social media have broken down some barriers. BBC.

"Social media and the success of influencers have proven that personality is selling, and partnership with real people rather than with traditional media offers the brand the opportunity to show more personality. . "

The size of Kylie's business is exceptionally small.

She has only 12 employees, and only seven are full-time. Most of the operations and production needs of the company are outsourced to specialized companies.

"As ultra-light start-ups go, Jenner's operation is essentially aerial and because of these tiny fees and marketing, the profits are huge and go directly into Jenner's pocket," writes the journalist Natalie Robehmed. The success and huge profits were not lost on sister Kim, who followed suit by launching a new beauty line and a range of new fragrances.

After a social media marketing campaign that consisted of sending elaborate scents to celebrities and influencers, Kim's initial offer was selling quickly, raising $ 10 million before only paying customer even felt the products.

"I think it was really a wake up call for many others in the industry, and the same thing can be said with Kylie and all that she has accomplished "says Saltzman, editor of Fashionista. I spoke to Kim right after the launch of this fragrance and she said that big companies came to her for advice. "

In the beauty industry in particular, it seems that the Kardashians might be the ones to follow.