Product review: Kylie Jenner Lip Kit

Let me start off by apologising about how long it's been since I've posted! My few weeks in America really threw me off, and since I've been back there's been lots to do to prepare for my boyfriend coming over here in the next week. I'm in the middle of writing a bumper D.C. guide/post, so hopefully that should be up soon too. 

I finally caved into the hype and ordered a Kylie Jenner “Lip Kit” (i.e. matte liquid lipstick + matching liner) when I realised it was going to be my last time visiting the States for a while, as my boyfriend is spending the summer here. I’d tried so hard to resist, for a number of reason, not least the pretty hefty price tag: $29 + U.S. sales tax + $8 shipping = $37.95 (or around £27). And additionally, it’s Kylie Jenner. Does she really need the money/publicity/business? The kits have been on sale - sporadically - since the beginning of the year, and I think the general consensus is probably not. I’ve heard a multitude of horror stories about all parts of the process, from people being completely unable to get one to others buying multiple units without their knowledge or consent. I for one find it pretty unbelievable that a company with Kylie Jenner behind it (and therefore the ability to employ a multitude of people who know exactly what they’re doing) can continually mess things up as much as they do. When do you ever hear, for example, of NARS selling out of a product? Or MAC sending you an empty box instead of the lipstick you’ve ordered and paid for? Added to which, I knew even getting one would be stressful, as the restocks come randomly and normally at strange/different times. Hilariously, info about restocks are posted on Kylie’s app, which will cost you an additional £2.29 per month… Thank god for the kindness of strangers/bloggers, who repost the info for free and even write whole guides on how to get your hands on one. 

"Welcome to the world Caitlyn"

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I am not the ideal commentator on this topic, being a cisgendered, heterosexual, middle-class white woman. I don’t often talk about these matters for fear that I will offend and/or upset someone. But as I think of this blog as my space to express – amongst other things – my personal opinion, I decided that I would give it a go. Like most people, I am not perfect, and if anything I’ve said does trouble you, please let me know in a kind and respectful manner. To that end, I use male pronouns when talking about (the now-eradicated) Bruce Jenner, and switch when I start to discuss the post-transition woman Caitlyn Jenner.    

So after years of speculation – accelerated especially within the last few months, since his divorce from Kris Jenner – an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer, and a two-part Keeping Up With the Kardashians special, Vanity Fair today released shots of Bruce Jenner that will form the core of their next issue. These photos are the first that show Jenner as she will now be known: as Caitlyn Jenner. That is her chosen female name, and it is now clear that she has undergone gender-reassignment surgery. On the cover, Caitlyn perches on a stool, her arms behind her back and her curly hair falling over her – yes, still broad – shoulders as her eyes stare into the camera in a way that turns her closed mouth into a slip of a smile.