Kim Kardashian Revealed Her Beauty Muse & It’s Not Who You’d Expect

For those still clinging to their beloved products from now-defunct KKW Beauty, fear not: Kim Kardashian is *officially* bringing back her cult-fave cosmetics collection. New and improved, and with all new items, KKW Beauty will live on under the new moniker SKKN BY KIM.

Below, find everything you need to know ahead of launch — plus the unexpected Hollywood icon Kardashian calls her muse.

Kim’s Launching Makeup. Again.

Set to hit the market on Jan. 26, Kardashian is releasing a nude pigment for every step of your glam routine. The curated collection features 10 shades of Soft Matte Lip Colors ($32), 15 shades of Lip Liners ($22), and a Classic Mattes Eyeshadow Palette ($50) with a dozen earthy colors.

With lip and eyeshadow colors ranging from creamy beige to pure matte black — with pink-toned nudes and milk chocolates in between — the first launch is meant to cover all your essential needs.

“My goal was not only to create universally-flattering cosmetic essentials, but also to ensure that our products are clean, hydrating, comfortable, and help improve the look and feel of skin with every wear,” Kardashian tells Bustle.

SKKN Was Inspired By Her Muses

While Kardashian has truly nailed her identity, with a thread of luxe minimalism throughout all of her brands, she does still garner inspiration from the makeup artists she’s been most loyal to throughout her career.

“Just like our skincare collection, our makeup was inspired by the beauty secrets I’ve gathered from industry experts over the years,” she said. Kardashian goes on to name-drop the glam gurus she’s been most loyal to throughout her career — along with one old Hollywood starlet in particular — who she considers to be her beauty muse.

“It’s not really a person. Think it’s Ariel [Tejada] and Rokael [Lizama] and Mario [Dedivanovic] and my makeup artists and seeing what they could do on my mood board,” Kardashian says.

“I mean, I have Elizabeth Taylor and other stuff that I’d like to try, but Kevin Aucoin and those makeup artists that I just love so much and respect their work… that’s really where I learned all of my stuff from,” she continued.

Elizabeth Taylor’s Classic Glamour

Taylor is widely considered a primary style icon of the ’50s and ’60s, when the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof actor was at the height of her career. True to the glamour of the era, she was very much known for her Old Hollywood makeup — which was made all the more dramatic on black and white film.

More often than not, the late Taylor was spotted sporting dark, penciled-in brows, a glossy red lip, and black-lined eyes with fluttering lashes.

While Kardashian has formally set her sights on channeling Taylor’s glamour in the future, she has in fact nodded to the iconic star in the past. Back in 2015, the Skims founder referenced her starring role in the 1963 epic Cleopatra with an eye makeup-heavy editorial photoshoot for The Violet Files.

So while Kardashian may have worn Marilyn Monroe’s gown to the 2022 Met Gala, it seems that many silver screen legends serve as her beauty muse.