I'm Kim Kardashian, Of Course
The age of the celebrity beauty brand
"I’m Kim Kardashian, of course, I missed the point. Okay, so I am a little late, but have you seen Kim Kardashian’s latest office tour on TikTok? In true Kardashian fashion, Kim never misses an opportunity to market herself and her empire of brands, in what was, I suppose, was meant to be a funny and satirical take, yet somehow reveals an ugly truth behind celebrity brands. The last couple of years, undoubtedly, have been the years of the celebrity beauty brands. We had Pharrell Williams, Jared Leto, John Legend, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Pitt, and even Khai Malik - that is Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik’s two-year-old daughter. It’s clear the market is overcrowded, but that is no deterrence. I am sure we will be seeing more in the near future.
The thing with celebrity beauty brands is that they attempt to establish an umbilical cord of sorts between the celebrity and the consumer. It gives the illusion of an intimate elusive insider insight into exactly what you need to achieve that celebrity beauty status. Celebrity skin, celebrity glam, celebrity hair, celebrity body, served on a platter, celebrity brands seemingly aim to make the inaccessible accessible. Celebrities are now bypassing the middleman - for many years, celebrities were only ambassadors for brands - to directly sell their image to us. As a money-making venture, it’s clever, the flawless skin, full bouncy hair, and sculpted physiques of the elite packaged up nicely for our consumption. Celebrities hold significant influence over the beauty market, they’re the OG influencers, so why not take full reign and cash in?
If we set aside all the other problems, Kim's office tour reveals a fundamental flaw in the celebrity beauty design. She showed us, very clearly, that she has access to a level of beauty that for the average person is beyond reach - I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t have a red light therapy booth in my office. In reality, to look like Kim, even a little bit, will take so much more than SKIMS shapewear, SKNN BY KIM cleanser, or lip liner. Yet she continues to market her array of brands to us, as a means to achieve the Kim K look. How thick does she think the wool is over our eyes? Come on Kim, give us more credit.
And it’s not just Kim Kardashian; it’s Gwyneth Paltrow with Goop, Pharrell Williams with his brand, and Jennifer Lopez with her series of beauty products. Pharrell’s “ageless” face was “ageless” before his brand, and Hailey Bieber’s “glazed doughnut” skin was as shiny before her skincare brand Rhode. Something doesn’t add up here; as they say, the maths ain’t mathing. It’s definitely not their skincare lines, that’s for sure. It’s naive to think that a celebrity beauty line is what gives said celebrity their signature look. It’s in the bespoke facials, expensive cosmetic procedures, and access to innovative and expert treatments, not the moisturiser they are selling to us.
For sure, not all celebrity beauty brands are bad, nor are the products themselves, ok so many are terrible but that is a tale for another day. It’s not that simple; the conversation is nuanced. Celebrity beauty brands didn’t start with Kim Kardashian and certainly will not end with her. One of the first celebrity beauty brands was founded by supermodel Iman; she launched her brand IMAN in 1994 to cater to the Black and Brown faces the beauty industry so blatantly ignored. That’s just one example of how a celebrity brand can actually bring something new and authentic to the market. But how many celebrities are actually doing that? I don’t know how many more celebrity brands we need and what problems in the industry they're addressing, or if there is any space for them.
If we didn’t already know it, celebrity beauty brands are just a stark reminder of how completely unrelatable and inaccessible celebrity beauty routines are. But I’ll give it to them; it’s impressive that so many celebrities have been able to profit from selling a slice of delulu. It’s really the age of the delulu. Whoever said the idea of celebrity was dead was wrong, the allure of celebrity remains as potent as ever.
See you next Wednesday, my new regular schedule for the newsletter.