I Watched Kiko Milano Build a Beauty Empire in Plain Sight—Now the World Is Finally Catching Up

I've always had an affinity for Kiko Milano. As a wide-eyed beauty assistant, it was the first beauty brand to ever take me on a press trip—and it wasn’t the average press trip. I was flown to Milan (business class, naturally) for a whirlwind 48 hours of Michelin-starred meals, four-poster hotel suites, private chauffeurs and more makeup than I could fit in my suitcase.

While wonderful, it felt ever so slightly at odds with the brand's accessible price point. Here was a brand selling £10 lipsticks and £15 foundations, sashaying around with the prestige and opulence of a luxury heritage fashion house.

Since then, I've always kept a curious eye on Kiko. Across Europe, it's been a beauty institution since the 1990s, with stores on nearly every major shopping street. But in the UK, its rise has been somewhat covert. It opened one store after another, including a flagship on London’s Regent Street, the country’s most expensive retail postcode, without ever becoming the beauty industry's biggest talking point. Or any kind of talking point, for that matter. Until now.

Over the past few months, Kiko’s had a bit of a glow-up. It’s gone from being beauty insiders' favourite affordable brand to one of the industry's most talked-about success stories. Madonna's appointment as the face of the brand signalled a new era, and my TikTok feed has become awash with videos comparing its products to far more expensive luxury alternatives. Suddenly, makeup enthusiasts who had never stepped inside a Kiko store were discovering what European shoppers have known for decades. Which raises the question: why now?

Part of the answer lies in how dramatically the beauty landscape has changed. Over the past decade, the market has steadily polarised. Prestige brands have become more expensive than ever, while a new wave of affordable labels has driven prices down to previously unimaginable levels. For years, success was often built on aesthetics as much as efficacy, with brands investing heavily in viral packaging, carefully curated identities and social media appeal.

More recently, however, the pendulum seems to have started to swing. Consumers are becoming less interested in buying into a brand's image and more interested in whether a product actually performs. In other words, a product's value lies primarily in its efficacy—and this is exactly where Kiko Milano excels.

Unlike many other accessible beauty brands, Kiko has never made price its USP. Nor has it built its business around viral marketing moments or Instagram-worthy packaging. Just when beauty brands are increasingly wrapped up in wellness narratives, scientific jargon and celebrity founders, Kiko remains unapologetically focused on its formulas. Colour, texture, innovation and accessibility are still at the heart of the brand. It doesn't ask consumers to buy into an aspirational lifestyle—just its products.

And then there’s TikTok.

Beauty's favourite social platform has fundamentally reshaped how consumers discover products, with creators now able to transform a relatively under-the-radar item into a global bestseller overnight. Kiko was perfectly positioned for a viral moment. It's the right combination of being relatively under the radar and underappreciated by many younger beauty consumers, so creators feel they can "reveal" it to their audience, yet established enough to have credibility and global availability.

One of its biggest recent moments came courtesy of creator Nina Pool, whose video comparing Kiko's lip liners to Charlotte Tilbury's amassed millions of views. She suggested the products were manufactured in the same factory—a claim that sparked widespread discussion online. While the reality of cosmetics manufacturing is considerably more nuanced than sharing a production facility, the conversation introduced millions of viewers to a brand they may never have considered before.

Crucially, Kiko had the infrastructure to capitalise on that attention. Unlike many brands that go viral on the back of a single hero product, Kiko's appeal extends across almost every makeup category. Once consumers discover one standout formula, they're likely to stumble upon an entire catalogue of consistently impressive products.

Looking back, that extravagant trip to Milan suddenly makes much more sense. Even then, Kiko Milano behaved like a global powerhouse. The rest of the world just hadn't realised it yet.