Neon dyed hair. Babydoll top. Ripped black jeans. Dramatic eyeshadow. Overlined lips.
Meet “King” Kylie Jenner.
“King Kylie” was introduced to the world when she appeared on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” for the first time at ten years old in 2007. Although KUPTK’s initial seasons focused mainly on Jenner’s older half sisters, Kourtney, Kim, and Khloe Kardashian, viewers quickly fell in love with the young cheerleader for her humor, attitude, and striking confidence. At 14, she and her sister Kendall Jenner were picked up by Seventeen magazine as Style Ambassadors, advising young girls of the early 2010s on the latest trends in bright clothing and chunky accessories. In 2012, the girls dropped out of high school and launched their signature clothing line “Kendall and Kylie:” picture leopard print tanks, black fedoras, and boho beige cardigans. The brand later went defunct after Kendall decided to pursue modeling full-time.
When Jenner turned 16, she discussed her first cosmetic surgery on KUWTK in shockingly plain fashion, citing a boy teasing her for her thin lips after kissing her as the reason for her seeking out lip injections. This drastic change in her appearance triggered an unprecedented Internet trend: the Kylie Jenner lip challenge. Across Twitter (now X), Instagram, Vine, and Snapchat, thousands of young people sucked on shot glasses, pill bottles, and more to make their lips seem fuller than they actually were, one of the Internet’s earliest inside jokes. This trend functioned as undeniable proof of Jenner’s influence on young people in the 2010s, especially young girls; she enjoyed this newfound fame by beginning to experiment with fashion, makeup, and, perhaps most notoriously, hair color.
Building on the Kylie Jenner lip challenge, in 2015, Jenner launched one of her earliest commercial successes, “Kylie lip kits,” which included a lip liner and a liquid lipstick; her first drop sold out in mere minutes. In 2016, Jenner expanded and further developed her brand to include blushes, concealers, eyeshadow palettes, etc., in order to accommodate the unbelievable market demand: this brand is known today as Kylie Cosmetics. KC was groundbreaking at the time due to its being one of the first national brands to utilize social media, namely Snapchat and Instagram, for the majority of its marketing and advertising; the brand only sold products through its own website until 2018, defying the supposed commercial success prerequisite of merchandising through retail stores.
It is in 2016 that “King Kylie” emerged in her eyeliner-blue-hair glory. Jenner picked up this nickname from her then rapper boyfriend Tyga, who was known online as “King Gold Chains.” This title wasn’t far from the truth, though: at this point, Jenner was the most popular member of the Kardashian-Jenner family, her iconic friend group including her sister Kendall and models Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, and Hailey Bieber. She even had her own reality TV show, “Life of Kylie” (2017), in addition to appearing on KUWTK; her Snapchat was filled with behind the scenes glimpses into her friendships, relationships, red carpet appearances, businesses, and television shows. It’s fair to call Kylie Jenner the original “influencer” due to her trademark candidness about her luxurious life and undeniable sway not only on the beauty industry but on pop culture at large during this time.
After breaking up with Tyga, Jenner started dating rapper Travis Scott, soonafter becoming pregnant with their first child, Stormi, at 19 years old. Stormi’s birth in 2018 marked the unofficial end of the “King Kylie” era, ushering in Jenner’s new image of muted eyeshadows, simpler outfits, and an understated online presence (barring her viral “rise and shine” video in 2019). Scott and Jenner had another child, Aire, in 2022.
Jenner later spearheaded several additional beauty and lifestyle brands, including Kylie Skin (2019), Kylie Swim (2021), and Kylie Baby (2021). At 21, she was named the world’s youngest self-made billionaire by Forbes, stirring a hearty amount of online outrage at the “self-made” designation with many insisting that Kylie’s success rode in large part on the Kardashian-Jenner name. In 2020, after a stunning scandal, Forbes removed Kylie from this billionaires list after discovering her tax documents, and thus the net worth of her businesses, were forged and invalid.
Today, Jenner is often criticized for her cold, distant, scripted approach to social media, especially in the wake of her vibrant, bold, and exciting “King Kylie” era; her viral “73 Questions with Vogue” interview in 2021 drew intense critical attention due to her awkward, plastic demeanor. Some say she’s naturally mellowed out, particularly after becoming a mother, but others insist she has put up a wall of indifference in order to protect herself from online bullying, which was a persistent issue throughout her teenage and young adult years.
Additionally, Kylie Cosmetics has seemingly fallen by the wayside due to its being stuck in the 2016-2017 era of heavy, dramatic makeup; in other words, the 2025 “fresh face” trend doesn’t mesh well with Kylie Cosmetics’ longtime reputation for neons, maximalism, and overlined lips. Jenner’s newest brands, Khy (2024), a clothing brand, and Sprinter (2024), a vodka soda brand, have failed to reach nearly the same influence and popularity as her previous ones, spelling what may be the beginning of the official end of “King Kylie.”