Kylie Jenner may have just turned 20 this Thursday, but her cosmetics label could be on its way to becoming a $1 billion brand by 2022.
The young celebrity started her brand "Kylie Cosmetics" in 2015 under the company Seed Beauty, which also owns the cult favorite brand Colourpop. Less than two years later, Kylie Cosmetics has already made $420 million in retail sales.
That number was disclosed to Women's Wear Daily by Kris Jenner, Kylie Jenner's mother and notorious "momager" to the celebrity family. Prior to that interview, the family had never confirmed the scale of the cosmetics brand.
That makes the brand one of the fastest-growing labels in makeup history. For reference, it took Est e Lauder's Tom Ford Beauty line a decade to hit revenues of $500 million.
Jenner isn't alone in this trend — independent brands are rapidly gaining more and more influence in the makeup industry.
Anastasia Beverly Hills — a high-end company independent from large beauty conglomerates — was reported to be the fastest-growing beauty brand last year by market analysts. In 2016, it saw an industry-leading online sales growth of 150 percent.
The formerly-independent IT Cosmetics made $182 million last year. In August 2016, it was bought by L’Oréal for $1.2 billion.
Experts say the growth of these brands stems from social media-driven marketing. On Instagram, Anastasia Beverly Hills has over 14 million followers, while Jenner has almost 100 million — she's currently the eighth-most-followed person on the site.
"In order to stay relevant for the public, I have to be on Instagram, and I have to be on Snapchat," Jenner said in a promo for her new reality television show "Life of Kylie."
But these successes haven't come without controversy.
Since launching, Jenner's brand has been hit with accusations of cheap formulas, broken lip brushes, empty packages and plagiarism.
And more recently, Anastasia Beverly Hills has been criticized for the alleged poor quality of its Subculture palette. The product retails for $42, and the company has started sending out refunds for disgruntled customers.
