Kohl's launched the cute Flirt! cosmetics line back in 2004 as teen and young adult-centric brand. Flirt! was part of Kohl's core makeup offerings, along with the decidedly more adult (and skin-focused) American Beauty, of which Ashley Judd was the face. But now, you will find that both Flirt! and American Beauty items have been relocated to the deep discount clearance bins at the retailer, like kittens waiting in pens for rescue.
The displays used to be fun and girlish, and I remember they offered cards with product suggestions, techniques, and usage tips. The brand was more grown up than LipSmackers but not quite as luxe as the department store counter. It hit the middle of the teen and young adult sweet spots.
I used to love the squeeze tube lip glosses and fun eye shadow colors, which came in so many sparkly colors, and Flirt! also had plumping glosses that were packaged in chubby tubes. But they've all gone buh-bye.
Why?
Well, I reached out to Kohl's multiple times via phone and email for confirmation and for comment on why Flirt! was phased out. But they did not return those messages requesting further info.
However, those sleuth-y Redditors seemed to confirm that Flirt! and other endemic, Kohl's-only brands were, in fact, dunzo.
Here's my theory. Last year, I noticed that Kohl's started to develop into a mini-Sephora, bringing in exiled brands like Cargo, Lorac, theBalm, and more into the stores. It became a legit makeup destination. I am always impressed by the quality offering at Kohl’s beauty department and the store has upscaled carefully, so perhaps these mid-range, fun brands are their focus.
Similarly, Kohl's has been doing high-low fashion mashups, like the forthcoming Kohl's x Thakoon collab.
I am not sure if bringing in former Sephora brands directly resulted in the end of the Flirt! collection, as well as American Beauty, ELLE, and the short-term Vera Wang range. Wang has her Simply Vera Wang diffusion line that has sold at Kohl’s for nearly a decade now, so that made sense. Maybe a cosmetics set was just a temporary offering.
I can say this. Flirt! social media went quiet, as the last transmission from an insider’s once-bustling Twitter feed suggested that the brand was getting a makeover back in February 2015. Now it’s totally dormant and the website and Facebook page have been shut down. It seems fairly obvious that Flirt! is out of production and we may never know why.
So I suggest digging through the discount bins at your local Kohl's or hitting eBay if you loved the girly offerings of Flirt!
Maybe Flirt! will resurface elsewhere a la Hard Candy x Walmart. Maybe not.
Update: Kohl's has responded for comment with the following statement.
"As we expand our focus on beauty both in store and on Kohls.com, we are continually evaluating our product offerings to ensure we are delivering what our customers need and want. While we will be phasing out select brands, we continue to offer a powerful portfolio of beauty brands in-store and online including LORAC® Cosmetics, CARGO Cosmetics, theBalm®, H2O Plus and, most recently, Bliss, and are excited to continue to roll out our updated beauty department to more stores this year."
Images: Amazon; Flirt! (2); Getty (1)
