The Kardashian-Jenners have long been accused of having "no talent" — a phrase so commonly used to describe the family, that its matriarch Kris Jenner even posted a meme poking fun at it this month.
But love them or hate them, you can't argue with their impressive business savvy — especially when it comes to launching successful beauty brands. Just this week, both Kim Kardashian West and Kylie Jenner made it onto Forbes' 2018 list of the 60 Richest Self-Made Women, with their cosmetics businesses accounting for the majority of their wealth.
But the win wasn't without controversy, of course. Twitter erupted immediately, saying Kylie didn't deserve to be described as "self made" when she grew up in the Kardashian dynasty — specifically the path Kim presumably carved out for her. (Even Dictionary.com got in on the shade-throwing). But Kim, in an interview for her new line of Kimoji perfumes, was quick to correct the naysayers.
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"I really didn’t get it, because she is 'self-made' — we are all 'self-made,'" Kim said in a phone interview with Refinery29. "What, because we came from a family that has had success? To me, that doesn’t really make sense... I know so many people like that [who] haven’t turned out to be as successful as Kylie. If anything, I've seen the complete opposite."
Kim added that she was proud of her sister for "[taking] an insecurity of hers and [figuring] out how to make a really successful business off of it," referring to Kylie's lips, which she famously started injecting when she was 17 (and recently made headlines for removing).
CONGRATS @KylieJenner ??? pic.twitter.com/wWx0PaPlnM
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) July 11, 2018
Kim continued, stressing that the grind has been there since day one. "Me, Kylie, not one [of the siblings] has ever depended on our parents for anything besides advice," she says. "That’s how I lived my life with my dad [Robert Kardashian]. He never gave me anything. We might have the opportunity, but I’ve seen it go the complete opposite way. Nobody works harder than my sisters and my mom."
In her Forbes interview, Kylie said that she hopes to pass her billion-dollar Lip Kit business on to her daughter Stormi one day. And Kim says she and husband Kanye West feel the same. "I’ve built something, and you hope one of your kids will want to be in the family business and work with you," Kim says. "Kanye probably feels the same way. He wants one of our kids to work at Yeezy and take over [it]. Luckily, we have a lot of kids."
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Their offspring will have quite a number of business opportunities to choose from, including Kim's pride and joy: her line of KKW Fragrances. This month, the beauty mogul will be releasing her newest collection, which she based off of another successful venture of hers: Kimojis. Nothing like her last release (which was inspired by her naked body), these playful bottles include a peach, a cherry, and a word bubble that reads "Vibes."
The peach was an obvious choice for Kim when creating the line — as it appears on most of her merchandise — but she landed on the cherry after thoughtful consideration. "I was trying to go with a banana one, but it looked too crazy," she laughs. As for "Vibes," Kim thought it was perfect, "because you could have some good vibes and just spray it on everyone," she says. With more than a billion dollars to the family name, there's no shortage of those going around.
KIMOJI Fragrances (50mL, $45 each), available at KKW Beauty Pop-up Century City on July 14, and on KKWBeauty.com on July 17.
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