The $11 Alternative to Kylie Jenner's Lip Kits

Photo via Instagram/@yasmine_alom

Like so many people around the globe, I'm weirdly fascinated by the KarJenners. I've never watched their TV shows, played their app games, or purchased any of their products, but—thanks to magazines ranging from Vogue to People to Forbes—I have kept up with their lives for years. And that's how, last summer, I first stumbled upon Kylie Jenner's blue Lip Kits. 

Blue lips may be your thing, but—aside from costume parties—they're not mine. There's no way I'm paying $29 for a blue Lip Kit. But when I found a $11 NYX alternative at Ulta, I snapped it up. And then I fell in love with the products.

Both the liquid lipstick ($7) and the matching liner ($4) come in colors ranging from traditional nudes to out-there blues and grays, and the long-wear formula is ideal for a costume or a night out. If you've got pastel-colored hair, one of the vibrant hues would be a perfect Hunger Games/Capitol resident pièce de résistance. (If you're going to rock a lewk, rock a lewk.)

One of the common side effects to long-wear lip products is that your lips will feel (and look) dry, so be sure exfoliate and balm it up before applying the lipstick. To make your color last longer, line your lips with NYX Suede Matte Lip Liner first, then color in with the liner by making light sunbeam strokes. At the center of your lips, those lines will be on a north-south axis, but you'll create angles as you move to the outer corners—similar to drawing a picture of sunbeams. Finish your lips with the NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick, and you're ready to go.

You can order NYX online, or find most of the colors at San Francisco's two Ulta stores. Ulta is currently offering a buy one, get one 50 percent off deal on NYX, so you can stock up for even less. At that price, you can either save yourself $20, or buy multiple lipstick and liner sets... for the price of one of Kylie's Lip Kits.