Kylee De Thier: The Making of “She’s Everything” His Makeup Palette with xoBeauty
His beginner makeup tutorials, fierce personality and wild sense of humour have built a following of over 650,000. From creating YouTube videos at 13 years old to now launching his own makeup palette, it’s Kylee De Thier!
We sat down with Kylee, a Māori makeup artist and content creator, to dive into his humble beginnings and discuss the behind the scenes of collaborating with xoBeauty.
No Sad Cowboys: Congratulations on launching ‘She’s Everything’, the All Purpose Face Palette!
What were you thinking when xoBeauty first reached out to collaborate with you?
Kylee: Thank you! I’ve been watching @shaaanxo since I was a little boy, before I even owned any makeup. I remember sitting in my room back in Gisborne, feeling really stuck and not knowing which path was next for me.
I had just graduated university and moved back home to take a gap year and figure myself out. To be honest, it was one of the hardest times of my life – I was falling out of love with makeup and content creation, and since those are all I’ve ever known, I completely lost myself. I spoke about this on my Self-Titled podcast, but of course, I couldn’t mention the palette!
One day while forcing myself to smile in front of the camera, a very special e-mail from xoBeauty appeared on my phone. I immediately felt my inner child come alive! His eyes lit up and he gave me a massive smile. “We did it!” he said, and I burst into tears.
For the first time in a while, I felt hope come back to me. All of my hard work over the years was finally paying off in arguably the biggest way possible. I was going to have my own PALETTE! WHAT!?
NSC: You’ve been creating content on social media for a long time!
How did your journey with content creation and makeup artistry begin?
Kylee: I actually started when I was around 10-11 years old, posting gaming content, lip-sync videos – genuinely anything I could think of, I posted.
I moved to beauty content on YouTube in 2015 as ‘Kylee Fleek’. By then, I was around 13 years old creating makeup tutorials, nail polish reviews, hauls, vlogs, challenges – I wanted to be like the cool girls!
As the years went on, I built a little following on Instagram. I loved creative makeup, playing with colour, playing with gender – being everything my small town and society told me not to be.
When I was 17, I was casted on TVNZ’s Glow Up, a reality makeup competition show. It was such an intense experience that really pushed my boundaries creatively and emotionally. Each episode had us doing different looks on ourselves and models. The bottom two landed in the “red chair” – which I did twice – but I pushed through, made it to the finale and actually placed as the runner-up!
Then, during COVID was when I started posting on TikTok. After a couple of my makeup tutorials went viral, I shot from around 10k to over 400,000 followers in less than 2 weeks! It was wild to experience such extreme growth in such a short amount of time.
“All of my hard work over the years was finally paying off in arguably the biggest way possible.” – Kylee
NSC: How long have you been working on this project for, and what inspired the idea behind it?
Kylee: ‘She’s Everything’ has been in the works for over 2 years! When I was ideating, I thought about how my makeup tutorials always go viral, especially my Beginners Makeup 101 series with over 10 million views.
With so much makeup stuff out there, it's confusing and creators assume that everyone knows the basics by now. I found that that wasn’t true, and people loved the way I broke things down.
My main objective was to simplify peoples routines and give them one product that does it all, in a way that’s easy to understand.
NSC: What was the most challenging part of the creation process?
Kylee: With inclusivity being a core value of mine, I needed to select shades to include that’d work on everyone. While this is almost impossible to do in one small palette, I used my own experience and took advice from professional makeup artists to find colours that would cover most skin tones and could be mixed to create further possibilities.
Once the shades were locked in, the part that took the longest was perfecting each formula. We went through so many rounds, trying them on myself, getting my friends to try them – my main priority was to cater to the beginners.
The colours needed to be pigmented enough to work on most skin tones, yet soft enough to be able to easily blend and not overwhelm.
“My main objective was to simplify peoples routines and give them one product that does it all.” – Kylee
NSC: What are you most excited for about the launch?
Kylee: Honestly, I'm most excited for people to try it. I hope when they open it, they feel a sense of empowerment. Makeup shouldn't be overwhelming and everyone has the ability to do it. Whether they want a super dramatic look or just to make themselves feel a little more confident throughout their day!
And of course, I’m fizzing to see all the social content created around it. I’ve been working on this for 2 years, so my eyes have become so used to it, but I forget that everyone else is only finding out now!
It still feels like a dream, but when I start seeing people use the #ShesEverythingPalette hashtag and hearing real reviews, then it will sink in.
NSC: What would your younger self say about you working with Shaaanxo?
Kylee: If I could go back and tell little Kylee Fleek that one day he’s gonna create his own makeup palette with his favourite influencer Shaaanxo… he honestly would be like period!
I’ve always known that I was destined to achieve amazing things. I’m dedicated, I have a vision, I’m a professional manifestor – but most importantly – I believe in myself.
But seriously, little Kylee would be so incredibly proud. This palette is genuinely a dream came true. I fantasised about a moment like this everyday as a kid, and to say that it is now a reality is just a testament to what hard work, dedication and relentless perseverance can get you.
NSC: To wrap things up, what is your best piece of advice you can give to people watching?
Kylee: The best way to predict your future is to create it.
In the wise words of Beyoncé: “Don’t talk about what you’re gonna do. Don’t just dream about what you’re gonna do. You, be it. Be about it.”
With Beyoncé in one hand and a makeup brush in the other, Kylee proves that hard work, passion and a bit of creativity will take you far. We’re so proud to have him as part of the No Sad Cowboys crew and can’t wait to see what big things he achieves next!
To see more Kylee, visit him on social media or check out his talent page.
