Say Cheese to 2016: The Return of King Kylie

When Kylie Jenner isn’t owning the Marty Supreme red carpet, she’s reviving King Kylie. Beauty and Style writer, Ling En, explores how Snapchat-era nostalgia still fuels a billion-dollar empire... if you’re iconic enough.

The King Kylie reign has officially returned. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of selling her first ever lip kits, Kylie Jenner launched a new collection ‘King Kylie', sparking numerous discussions about nostalgia from and her most iconic persona. This limited-edition release single-handedly resurrected the Tumblr-era aesthetic that captivated all social media platforms from 2014-2016. The pastel hair, over-lined matte lips, and digital glamour… The packaging nods to the era with Kylie’s her old selfies and teal metallic lettering. 

The King Kylie Collection [ source: kyliecosmetics.com ] 

 

Say Cheese to 2016

Out of all products in the collection, the eyeshadow palette stands out as the most representative of the era. Its shades are inspired by Kylie’s experimental hair colors from the time, while the mirror features the iconic Snapchat dog filter she frequently used during 2015–2016. As one of the platform’s most-followed users, Kylie helped turn the filter into a defining symbol of early internet culture. 

 The filter embodied a sense of digital intimacy and playful rebellion that contrasted with her typically heavy and professional full-glam look. Printing it directly onto the mirror is a strategic design choice, inviting consumers to see themselves through a digitally enhanced, mid-2010s lens. The detail certainly positions the collection as a tribute to the selfie culture that fueled her early success, while the California car plate packaging further grounds the nostalgia of the era. 

Eyeshadow Palette form the King Kylie Collection [ source: kyliecosmetics.com ] 

Kylie Jenner in the Snapchat dog filter [ source: Instagram ] 

This attention to visual detail extends to the accessories and facial products. Crucially, the collection includes the King Kylie Loose Powder Highlighter, a product crucial for the "2016 Instagram Beat," which provides the ultra-luminous glow required for the look. Its accompanying highlighter brush swaps the usual white bristles for turquoise ones, referencing her bold, turquoise hair tips in 2014 that truly set her apart from her sisters and marked the start of her King Kylie transformation. 

King Kylie Loose Powder Highlighter [ source: kyliecosmetics.com ] 

Highlighter Brush from the King Kylie Collection [ source: kyliecosmetics.com ] 

Kylie in her turquoise hair, 2014 [ source: cosmopolitan.com 

Beyond the products mentioned above, the collection also revives Kylie’s iconic Matte Lip Kit. Shades like True Brown K return as essentials for recreating the signature over-lined pout. The Supple Kiss Lip Glazes, on the other hand, draw inspiration from her earliest lip glosses. They provide the high-shine, voluminous finish that completed the full-spectrum lip combination in the mid-2010s. 

Matte Lip Kit in the shade “True Brown K” [ source: kyliecosmetics.com ] 

Supple Kiss Lip Glaze [ source: kyliecosmetics.com ] 

King Kylie’s Cultural Impact 

The blueprint for celebrity-as-brand ownership began with Kylie Jenner during the King Kylie era. Between 2014-2016, her "Instagram Baddie" image didn’t just reflect trends, but dictated them. Her lip kits selling out within seconds in 2015 simply proved that Kylie wasn’t just following what was popular, but creating it. Her influence was so big that it changed the way people shopped. 

Unlike earlier celebrities who relied on red carpet appearances, Jenner leveraged the unfiltered, high-frequency intimacy of Snapchat to transform personal style into a social event. Her brand marks the return of the “maximalist digital identity” when there’s a trend of "quiet luxury" and minimalist skin care going around. She is always just one step ahead. 

Selfie Culture and Online Identity 

The establishment of “unapologetic selfies" was closely linked to King Kylie’s success. Unlike today’s “clean girl aesthetic”, selfies in 2016 favoured high contrast, heavy filtering and dramatic lighting to show the thick contour, blazing highlight, and precise matte lips. By consistently presenting the “Instagram baddie” image, Kylie turned the application of cosmetics into a public, digital art form.

Fans felt as though they had unrestricted access to her life because of her continuous presence on social media sites like Snapchat. Even though she carefully selected and thoroughly filtered her photos, her "backstage" content's informality and raw frequency gave it a feeling of "performative authenticity." Her personal aesthetic became a dominating global beauty trend because of this paradoxical feeling close to an obviously fake persona. By reviving this look, the campaign capitalises on a cultural desire for the rawer, less inhibited and more playful form of self-expression that characterised the early days of social media. It demonstrates that a compelling and well-documented online identity is still the most powerful force in shaping contemporary beauty standards. 

More than a commercial decision, this launch functions as a cultural statement on the cyclical nature of trends and the lasting impact of online identity. By reviving the "King Kylie" character, Jenner provided a clear maximalist countertrend to today’s minimalist beauty trends by embracing bold makeup, vibrant colours and the look of an extensively filtered selfie. This intentional return taps into the mid-2010s nostalgia for a much less-curated social media world; and more importantly, serves as a powerful reminder that a well-documented digital alter-ego can in fact sustain a billion-dollar empire. Though of course, only if you’re Kylie Jenner. 

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Author: Ling En Editor: Germaine Co-Editor-in-Chief: Sue Ann