Last Monday, Kim Kardashian West took to Twitter to announce her latest beauty venture, KKW Beauty. It’s the star’s first solo makeup line, the goal of which is to “mirror skin care with makeup.” The brand’s first product drop will take place next Wednesday, June 21. If all goes according to plan, sales of Kardashian’s inaugural Crème Contour & Highlight Kit — which comes in four shades, costs $48 and consists of a contour stick, a highlighter stick and a kabuki brush/sponge, all dual-ended — could make the TV personality $14.4 million richer in a matter of minutes.
That said, Kardashian has already encountered a stumbling block on the way to makeup moguldom. Last week, KKW Beauty’s first promo campaign prompted accusations of blackface. In the photos, which showed Kardashian posing in a beige bra top, her hair tied in a high ponytail, her face contoured to perfection, the reality starlet’s skin appeared visibly darker than its normal coloration. Many accused Kardashian of being racially insensitive and trying to monetize blackness.
You dont have to do blackface pic.twitter.com/MLcJ5Hbg9R
— Wynters (@Sacha_Wynters) June 14, 2017
In a New York Times interview released this Monday, Kardashian admitted her oversight: “I would obviously never want to offend anyone,” she began, adding that it may have been a lighting issue. “I used an amazing photographer and a team of people. I was really tan when we shot the images, and it might be that the contrast was off. But I showed the image to many people, to many in the business. No one brought that to our attention. No one mentioned it.”
Regardless, she understands that people, if not her team, were upset, and that it’s the public’s opinion that matters the most. “Of course, I have the utmost respect for why people might feel the way they did. But we made the necessary changes to that photo and the rest of the photos. We saw the problem, and we adapted and changed right away. Definitely I have learned from it.” As her half sister Kylie Jenner would say, 2017 — the year of continuing to, like, realize stuff.
[ via the New York Times ]
