If you have been searching for KKW Beauty recently and coming up empty, that is not a glitch. KKW Beauty does not exist anymore, and the story of what replaced it, who owns it now, and what is coming next has moved so fast that most articles on this topic are already out of date. This is the full picture as of July 2026.
What Was KKW Beauty?
KKW Beauty launched in 2017 and immediately became one of the most commercially successful celebrity beauty brands ever built. The first product was a contour kit that sold out in two hours. The brand generated an estimated $100 million in revenue in its first year alone. That is not a typo. One hundred million dollars in year one.
KKW Beauty built its identity entirely around Kim Kardashian’s signature aesthetic: sculpted contouring, neutral lip shades, velvet matte finishes, and sleek minimalist packaging. For the millions of women who had been trying to recreate Kim’s look since the mid-2010s, KKW Beauty was the official guide. The brand expanded into fragrances under the KKW Fragrance line, with crystal-bottle scents that sold out repeatedly and cemented Kim’s status as a serious fragrance force alongside her makeup empire.
The Coty Deal That Changed Everything
In 2020, Kim Kardashian made a move that signalled she was thinking about KKW Beauty as a business, not just a brand. In June 2020, she sold a 20% stake to Coty, the French beauty conglomerate, for $200 million. That transaction valued the entire brand at $1 billion.
Coty’s involvement with KKW Beauty was designed to accelerate global distribution, strengthen product development, and build the kind of operational infrastructure that a genuinely international beauty company requires. The deal also required KKW Beauty to pause operations during the transition, which turned out to be the beginning of a longer transformation than anyone initially anticipated.
KKW Beauty Was Discontinued
KKW Beauty was discontinued in 2022 and rebranded as SKKN by Kim, transitioning into luxury skincare. KKW Fragrance followed, also shuttering in 2022. The initials that anchored KKW Beauty, widely understood to stand for Kim Kardashian West, became untenable after Kim filed for divorce from Kanye West in 2021. The rebranding removed that association entirely.
SKKN by Kim launched as a nine-product luxury skincare system. The complete set cost over $600 in the US, a significant departure from the accessible price points that made KKW Beauty a mass-market phenomenon.The rebrand was more expensive and more niche, and it underperformed compared to the mass-market appeal of the original.
SKKN by Kim was positioned for the premium skincare consumer rather than the everyday beauty buyer who had loved KKW Beauty. It was a different product for a different customer, and the market responded accordingly. The brand never achieved the viral sell-out moments that KKW Beauty had built its reputation on.
What Happened to SKKN by Kim?
The SKKN by Kim story has a significant 2025 update that most people following the brand missed when it happened.
On March 21, 2025, SKIMS announced its acquisition of Kardashian’s majority stake and Coty’s minority stake in SKKN by Kim, which Kardashian launched in 2022. Coty purchased the stake in SKKN by Kim in 2021 for $200 million.
In plain terms: Kim’s shapewear company SKIMS bought the entirety of SKKN by Kim from both Kim personally and from Coty, bringing her beauty, skincare, and fragrance businesses under the same umbrella as her clothing and shapewear operations. Coty invested $200 million taking a 20% share of SKKN by Kim back in 2021. Kardashian’s 80% majority stake was also bought by Skims, meaning the star’s clothing, cosmetics, skin care and fragrance businesses all now sit under one umbrella.
Coty made a $71.1 million loss from its stake in Kim Kardashian’s beauty brand. The $200 million it paid in 2021 was not returned in full when it sold out in 2025.
So What Does Kim Actually Own Right Now?
Kim Kardashian does not own KKW Beauty. She has not owned KKW Beauty since it was discontinued in 2022. She does not run SKKN by Kim as a standalone entity anymore either.
What Kim owns right now is a significant stake in SKIMS, the shapewear company that has absorbed SKKN by Kim along with all of her beauty, cosmetics, skincare, and fragrance rights. Kim Kardashian’s net worth is $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion as of early 2026. Roughly 88% of her net worth comes from her approximately one-third stake in SKIMS, valued at $5 billion following a November 2025 funding round led by Goldman Sachs.
SKIMS is now the parent company of her entire lifestyle empire. Everything that was once KKW Beauty, KKW Fragrance, and SKKN by Kim now lives inside SKIMS. The brand consolidation is complete.
What Is Coming Next: SKIMS Beauty in 2026
This is where the story gets genuinely interesting for beauty consumers.
SKKN by Kim’s most recent Instagram post confirmed the acquisition, telling customers to “Enjoy your favorite Skkn essentials for a limited time as we prepare to relaunch under the Skims brand.”
The plan: launch SKIMS Beauty, a new beauty vertical under the SKIMS brand, with specialist Diarrha N’Diaye leading the initiative. A beauty relaunch is expected in 2026.
Diarrha N’Diaye is not a random appointment. She is the founder of Ami Colé, the celebrated clean beauty brand built specifically for melanin-rich skin, and one of the most respected voices in inclusive beauty. Her involvement signals that SKIMS Beauty is being built with genuine product development credibility rather than just celebrity licensing.
Jens Grede, CEO and co-founder of SKIMS, said: “This acquisition isn’t just growth. It’s about the strength of our brand and our ability to enter a new category with authority.”
Kim herself framed the move in terms of her broader creative mission: “My mission has always been to create products that resonate deeply, whether it’s shapewear and lingerie that empowers or makeup and skincare that transforms.”
The SKIMS Beauty launch is expected to bring together skincare, cosmetics, and fragrance under the SKIMS identity, which has significantly broader consumer recognition than SKKN by Kim ever achieved. Where SKKN by Kim was positioned for a niche luxury buyer, SKIMS Beauty is likely to be more accessible, more inclusive, and more directly connected to the SKIMS customer who already trusts the brand.
How Does This Compare to Kylie Jenner’s Beauty Empire?
The contrast between where Kim and Kylie’s beauty businesses currently sit is striking.
Coty still owns a majority stake in Kylie Cosmetics, which continues to operate as a separate entity from SKIMS. Coty will continue doing business with Kardashian’s half-sister Kylie Jenner’s brand Kylie Cosmetics, in which it owns a majority stake.
Kylie Cosmetics is actively launching products in 2026, including the Kylie Jenner Mood Stones fragrance trio dropping July 30th. Kylie’s beauty business is in expansion mode right now, with Coty’s infrastructure behind it.
Kim’s beauty business is in consolidation and rebuilding mode. SKIMS Beauty is coming, but it has not launched yet. For consumers who loved KKW Beauty, the wait is real but the direction looks promising.
What Happened to KKW Fragrance?
KKW Fragrance, the crystal-bottle scent line that became one of the most recognisable celebrity fragrance collections of the 2010s, was discontinued in 2022 alongside KKW Beauty. The fragrance rights now sit inside the SKIMS umbrella along with everything else. Whether SKIMS Beauty will reintroduce fragrance as part of its 2026 launch is not yet confirmed, but given that fragrance was one of the strongest commercial pillars of the original KKW empire, it would be surprising if it were absent.
The Timeline: KKW Beauty to SKIMS Beauty
2017: KKW Beauty launches. Contour kit sells out in two hours. Brand generates $100 million in year one.
2020: Kim sells 20% stake in KKW Beauty to Coty for $200 million, valuing the brand at $1 billion.
2021: KKW Beauty pauses operations as the Coty transition begins and Kim files for divorce from Kanye West.
2022: KKW Beauty is officially discontinued. KKW Fragrance also closes. SKKN by Kim launches as a luxury skincare replacement.
March 2025: SKIMS acquires 100% of SKKN by Kim from both Kim Kardashian and Coty, consolidating all of Kim’s beauty and lifestyle ventures under one roof.
2026: SKIMS Beauty relaunch expected. Diarrha N’Diaye confirmed as leading the initiative. No confirmed launch date yet.
Does Kim Kardashian Still Own KKW Beauty?
No. KKW Beauty has not existed since 2022. What Kim owns now is a stake in SKIMS, which has absorbed the entirety of her beauty business including what was once KKW Beauty, KKW Fragrance, and SKKN by Kim. The KKW Beauty chapter is closed. The SKIMS Beauty chapter is about to open.
For anyone who loved KKW Beauty, the honest answer is that the brand you knew is not coming back. But what is coming in its place, a fully integrated lifestyle beauty brand with genuine product development leadership, a $5 billion parent company behind it, and the most famous woman in reality television history as its creative force, could be something significantly more powerful than KKW Beauty ever was.
The beauty world is watching to see what SKIMS Beauty looks like when it launches. Based on everything the brand has built in apparel since 2019, the bar it has set for itself is high.
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