At this point, we all know that Kylie Jenner has solidified herself as a cosmetic queen. Her gangster gloss collection sold out in minutes and despite controversial claims about her manufacturing process, every new release continues to see rampant success.
Her multi-purpose lip kits are highly-pigmented and smell like freakin? cake, but let?s face it ? they?re a little pricey. On our quest to find cheaper alternatives, one brand seemed to stand out above the rest as both the cheapest and most similarly formulated dupe. We weren?t the first to uncover that ColourPop Cosmetics and Kylie?s products seemed eerily similar. Turns out, that?s not just because of the formula. Here?s a breakdown of the surprising connection. ?
Beauty Point of View
However, the e-commerce brand has a mysterious backstory. Their products were celebrated by beauty vloggers everywhere, but no one seemed to be able to pinpoint where exactly the brand came from. Who were the creatives behind the wide range of colors and fun shade names?
Conspiracy theories and controversial claims about the brand?s origins began to appear on social media
Allure
The business behind ColourPop remained elusive, until another heavy hitter in the beauty industry came to play
The youngest of the Kardashian-Jenner klan decided to branch out and create her own version of the beauty brand
Seventeen
It?s easy to dismiss Kylie Cosmetics as a brand that was bred into success. Anyone with money can create a brand of consumer products. The Kardashian-Jenner name alone causes enough of a stir that the first iteration of products were bound to sell out. But they?ve somehow managed to maintain cult-status month after month. That?s just one of many things Kylie has in common with ColourPop.
So, are ColourPop and Kylie products really just one in the same? Are the companies actually owned by the Illuminati? It?s time to put the rumors to rest.
Vampire Varnish
In an exclusive interview with Refinery29, the ColourPop founders came out from behind the curtain and came clean about their connection to the reality TV royal. The background on the company is surprisingly similar to how Kylie acquired her business connections. Laura and John Nelson were born into the business of beauty. Their father bought Spatz Laboratories ? which manufactures all of the Kylie Cosmetics products ? in 1989. It functioned as the hub of creation for both big beauty brands and private-label products and still is, but two years ago, something changed.
The duo created Seed Beauty, which operates as an umbrella company, thus letting them have control of both the creative and logistical sides of their products. Social media made ColourPop a huge success for Seed, but their next venture blew that out of the water.
Kylie Jenner was brought into the Seed family as part of what Laura and John called an ?incubation program.? Kylie was able to have complete creative control of her product, but make use of Spatz Labs and the company?s existing resources.
So yes, ColourPop and Kylie Cosmetics are sister companies, but you?re technically not wasting your money on those lip kits.
Seventeen
Don?t feel silly for dropping cash on Kourt K and Reign when there?s a $6 alternative that?s made under the same roof. The products are manufactured in the same location, but not in the exact same way. The formulas are different and of course, the colors and finishes are decided upon entirely by the reigning kween of cool, Kylie Jenner herself.
Seed Beauty plans to launch even more brands as part of the program, so you can expect the same quality you know and love with even more exciting creatives behind them.
This article originally appeared on Dose.com.
