If Twitter is any sort of an accurate barometer, and it often is, Kylie Cosmetics is dealing with some unhappy customers. The Feb. 29 restock of Kylie Lip Kits, which included the debut of the rich orange shade dubbed "22," sold out in just seven minutes, according to a tweet from Kylie Jenner herself. The fast sell-out of the much-koveted matte lipsticks lead to some intense frustration among users and shoppers, who tweeted about the site crashing and about adding a liquid lipstick to their cart, filling in their shipping and billing information, and then receiving an error message saying the product was sold out. What an emotional roller coaster. That said, I successfully shopped the KLKs —twice!— and I want to help you eventually get your own.
I'm not trying to rub makeup in the wound, but I purchased a Koko K Lip Kit with relative ease yesterday while sitting at my desk. I also bought a Candy K Lip Kit back on Feb. 5 via my phone while out and about at a meeting. I feel like my ability to nab the Lip Kits has been a mashup of dumb luck and smart shopping. There are some finesse moves that can aid you in your Lip Kit quest.
I read the Twitter comments with a sense of sympathy and amusement, since some Lip Kit wanters were legit angry, understandably so, while others resorted to humorous memes to express their disappointment.
I can attest that the Kylie Lip Kit is a special product, since the liquid lipstick dries down almost instantly, with an eye shadow-like texture. You get fabulous "look at me" lips. Jenner has a product people love and want and she is doing her best for supply to meet demand. Hopefully, she'll get there sometime this year.
In the interim, here are my tips for successful shopping Kylie Lip Kits, since I am two-for-two. Try these techniques on the next restock.
1. Have A Plan & Focus
My Candy K purchase was a sheer accident, since I logged on after an out-of-office meeting at a hotel ended early and was able to click and shop quickly. But I was working at my home office on Monday and I cleared my schedule so I could shop on fast WiFi and without distraction at 6 p.m. EST. I knew the on-sale time and planned for it. At 5:58, I began to ignore most emails, texts, and AIMs, and kept my browser on the Kylie Cosmetics site.
2. Info Ready
I also made sure to have my credit card at hand so I could enter any info quickly and accurately. I recommend turning on autofill settings, too. That could help you save precious seconds. TBH, I don't remember if that happened for me in this scenario, since I moved efficiently through the process. But it's still a suggestion.
3. Don't Refresh Too Much
I added a Koko K to my cart a few times and the site stalled. I also entered my info and was then shut out, due to an error, which was likely the site crashing from the mob of users and makeup mavens seeking Lip Kits. Rather than furiously refreshing, I waited a few minutes, then started over.
4. Don't Overclick
I noticed if I clicked the Koko K icon too many times while buffering, it added more of them to my cart. Don't do that, since you may confuse the system and then you waste time trying to delete Lip Kits if you add too many. There was also a three kit limit this time. Still, if you click three and but only want one, you have to delete the extras and more time is lost.
5. Have Patience
Don't stress or get anxious. Don't smash away furiously at your keyboard or keypad. Move swiftly yet carefully. On my first pass, when I grabbed a Candy K, I just logged in on a whim and managed to snag one. Maybe it was my chillness that made the process so easy. I was not in the grip of "OMG! I HAVE TO GET IT BEFORE IT SELLS OUT!" hysteria.
If you get the "Your Order Is Processing" message, it means either your KLK order is going through or you may get bounced back to the order page because of technical error or because it sold out while you were trying to buy it. That sucks, yes. But have a little patience and remember that it's just a lipstick. Eventually, Jenner will be able to mass produce more to meet demand.
These are my simple tips and what I did that lead to successfully attaining a Kylie Lip Kit.
Images: Kylie Cosmetics/Instagram (4); Kylie Jenner/Instagram (1)
