Why Fenty Beauty Will Probably Be Worth A Billion Dollars Before Kylie Cosmetics

They say there are two types of people in the world: the hyper-organized and the super-sloppy; people who think pineapple is an acceptable pizza topping and people who abhor it; and those who use Fenty Beauty products compared to the ones who prefer Kylie Cosmetics.

If you look at the numbers, it would appear that Fenty Beauty is dominating the cosmetics game, with the Instagram community strongly preferring the fruits of Rihanna‘s side-gig over Kylie Jenner‘s pride and joy (remember: before there was Stormi Webster, there were Lip Kits).

According to social media engagement tracking reports from Cherry Pick, Fenty Beauty is coming out on top. In January 2019, just over 60 percent of consumers intending to purchase powder products planned to specifically buy Fenty Beauty’s Pro Filt’r Instant Retouch Setting Powder, nearly 30% of customers intended to purchase Fenty Beauty products for their general “face” cosmetics, and three Fenty Beauty products (Pro Filt’r Instant Retouch Concealer, Pro Filt’r Instant Retouch Setting Powder and Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation) were the most-coveted products in the market. Cherry Pick compared this data to Kylie Cosmetics’s position on the charts, and in terms of consumer intent to purchase, Jenner’s products generally took the seventh spot. Instagram users apparently really like Jenner’s Kylighters, placing her in the first place for “cheek” products, but not even the Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kits took the number one spot in the “lip” category of makeup (Jeffree Star beat her there). You can take these numbers to signify that Fenty Beauty is wiping the floor with Kylie Cosmetics in the social media sphere, and ultimately might beat Jenner at her own game of building a billion dollar empire.

None of this should be particularly shocking—WWD already reported that Fenty Beauty gained more impressions than Kylie Cosmetics on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube in October 2017, and that the former brought in $72 million in media value within a month. Perhaps that can be attributed to the fact that Fenty Beauty’s commitment to a wide range of shades and tones in their foundations and other products has long been a selling point and a highly celebrated aspect of the brand. People are willing to pay for beauty products that appropriately match their skin tones. Fenty Beauty gets that, and even inspired other cosmetics brands like Kylie Cosmetics and Tarte to expand the number of shades they offer to consumers. It also seems like Jenner’s Instagram and Snapchat Stories don’t stand a chance when they’re up against the Fenty Beauty campaigns, which have run the gamut from featuring reality television icons like Tiffany Pollard to videos of Rihanna giving beauty tutorials herself.

With Fenty Beauty being sold at Sephora (which is owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH), Rihanna’s empire has made a reported 500 million euros (that’s roughly $568,295,00) within its first year. Compare that to the $420 million Kylie Cosmetics earned within its first 18 months when products were sold primarily through Jenner’s e-commerce site (the company been around since late 2015 and only recently partnered with Ulta), and you have Fenty Beauty poised to hit the billion dollar mark before Kylie Cosmetics does.

There are also the rumors that the Fenty empire may grow to include a luxury fashion label (still confined within the margins of LVMH) and reports that Rihanna’s highly anticipated dancehall album is on the way, so even if Fenty Beauty doesn’t make a billion dollars before Kylie Cosmetics rakes it in, something tells us Rihanna will be preoccupied either way.

Related: Rihanna Has Reportedly Been Secretly Developing a Luxury Fashion Line