Kylie Cosmetics – Guilty of Extortion?

Would you pay $360 for a set of 16 makeup brushes? (That’s roughly about £270 / €300) 😱

Before Kylie Jenner even launched the new makeup-brush line for her extremely successful company, Kylie Cosmetics, it set alight the makeup community. It had everyone, and I mean everyone, talking …unfortunately for the youngest member of the Kardashian clan it wasn’t exactly comlimentary.

The biggest critism levelled at the brushes was the high end price point, which is significantly higher and disproportionate to the rest of her line. Others took offence to the silver colour scheme of the handles and brush roll, stating that it looked cheap and tacky.

Naturally Kylie defended her pricing decision, tweeting:

“I have developed for you guys the most amazing luxury brushes ever. I am very excited! Real brushes don’t compare to synthetic brushes. Different performance/quality/everything. I am 100% down to do an entire synthetic line in the future which will ultimately be cheaper. I always fight for the lowest price on all my products. Here are some other real brush lines for reference”

She then included picture references of brushes from Kevin Aucoin and MAC Cosmetics, which only served to infuriate people further, angered she had the audacity to compare her line to iconic artists and brands that have shaped the cosmetics industry for decades.

So what do I think? ….Before I go down that route I would like to clarify my feelings on Kylie / The Kardashians – I’m not a fan, but by the same token I don’t dislike them either, I have no particular feelings on them. But credit where credit is due, I have to say I admire these ladies’ acute business skills, they have a carved out several multi million pound businesses on the back of their very successful show ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’. And Kylie bringing out her own makeup line was marketing genius. If I’m a fraction as successful as any of them I will have done very well for myself. That said, anything I say is neither bias nor a form of hate – just my lil old opinion, for what it’s worth. 💁🏼

Honestly, I have to admit my eyes did water when I heard the price at first, but Kylie is correct, there are other brushes on the market for similar prices and I do have individual brushes in my kit that are actually much more expensive. (You can also buy her brushes individually). As a professional makeup artist I will totally justify spending that amount on exceptional quality brushes that deliver amazing results, although it is steep for the general consumer but I’m sure her fans will happily snap them up. The silver colour is definitely not to my taste but it’s not a deciding factor for me, if a brush worked I would buy it for the performance alone 💯

The issue that made me raise an eyebrow is the sweeping statement “Real brushes don’t compare to synthetic brushes. Different performance/quality/everything” – most makeup artists I know would not agree with this. Real (or natural hair) brushes do indeed provide a beautiful finish with powder products, they are extremely durable, have lots of texture and the bristles move freely so powders distribute and diffuse evenly allowing flawless blending. Perfect for powder eyeshadow, blush, contour etc 👍🏻 However, natural hairs have cuticles which tend to lift, trapping and soaking up liquid or cream products. Synthetic brushes dont have this problem and the bristles actually gravitae towards each other allowing precise appliacation and delievery of an even coverage of ‘wet’ product.  Therefore the ideal brush set would have both real hair and synthetic brushes. As much as I respect Kylie’s business prowess I am wondering where her knowledge of cosmetics come from… She’s not a makeup artist nor seems to have much more experience with cosmetics than the average twenty-something and I think her ideas behind a real hair only brush line reaffirms that. Liquid lipsticks are one thing, but designing tools for makeup application requires much more knowledge and expertise and I would rather buy expensive brushes that were designed by an industry expert.

On a final note, no I haven’t purchased these brushes and I probably won’t because I feel the brushes designed for liquid products, like the stippling brush and concealer brush, wouldn’t work in the way I need them to. From watching reviews on Youtube the general consensus is the same, the brushes deliver a beautiful finish when used with powders but not liquid, they are of good quality but not $360 quality.  If you are looking an amazing brush set do check out the new Ciara Daly Chaos Collection, 😍 a complete set of 20 gorgeous brushes presented in a stunning box with a leather pouch. A real bargain at only £99 and its always great to support a local makeup artist 🙌🏻

That said I’m not opposed to trying out some her other products and I intend to sooner rather than later, her new lipsticks look fabulous 💋. But do let me know what you think in the comments below – would you buy them? Or if you have what they are like?

Love

Louise

xxx