2016 was one of the best years for pop culture. People were constantly doing the mannequin challenge, this was the year that Drake dropped his album “Views”, and the choker paired with a bomber jacket was having a huge moment in fashion. All of that was cool and all but nothing can top Kylie Jenner and how huge of an influence she was to teen girls during this era. The hold that Kylie Jenner had on tweens and teens during this time was insane. While her brand has expanded over the years into Kylie Swim, Kylie Cosmetics and Kylie Baby, it once started out as just lip kits. 2016 was also during the time when Kylie Snapchatted every aspect of her life.
One measly box of a dry matte lip gloss and a small lip liner and people went wild for it. One interesting thing about this time was that the lip kits were promoted only through social media by Kylie herself. No press, just 30 second Snapchat videos of her showing each color shade on her arm. This was back when Kylie had a different hair color every week, still dating Tyga, and her and Jordyn were joined at the hip. I feel like for a long time Kylie, until more recently, was considered the black sheep of the Kardashian/Jenner clan. Kylie just wanted to be a normal teen having fun while the other sisters were known to be more serious about everything.
2016 was also my favorite time because this is when all the sisters dropped their lifestyle apps. For $3.99 a month, you had access to different things behind the scenes from each sister’s life. My favorite apps were Kim’s, Kylie’s, and Khloe’s. Kylie and Kim’s apps were more makeup tutorial focused, Khloe’s was more organization and fitness. If you asked me now as a 21-year-old, paying $3.99 a month for each app to get these 3-minute videos sounds like the biggest waste of money, but to the 15-year-old me who would pay for them using her mom’s credit card (Mom if you are reading this, I am sorry), this was a must-have thing that I needed on my phone.
I feel like as the years have gone on, and the more famous Kylie becomes, the less relatable and enjoyable her life becomes to other people. Kylie was dominating the internet back then more than she is now and personally I feel like if she released Kylie Lip kits today instead of 2016, there is no way they would be as successful and popular as they were when they were first released. I love Kylie, don’t get me wrong, but I just feel that she does not have the same traction and fanbase that she once had.