KISS

KISS is an American beauty company founded in 1989, known for at-home false eyelashes, press-on nails and hair tools sold at drugstore prices. It began in a small warehouse in Flushing, Queens, New York, and now describes itself as the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of professional-quality nail and lash products, present in more than 90,000 stores across over 100 countries [6]. The brand operates under the parent organisation Kiss Beauty Group and remains active, still led by founding chief executive John Y. Chang.

The name "Kiss Haute Couture" seen in retail listings refers to the Haute Couture style within KISS's Lash Couture Masterpiece line, a single premium lash variant rather than a separate brand. The canonical brand is KISS.

KISS was established in 1989 by John Y. Chang, together with co-founders Sung Yong Chang and Won Shik Kang, a group of Korean-American immigrant entrepreneurs who started a small company in Flushing, Queens originally named Dae do [3][7]. Their first products were do-it-yourself nail kits designed to give salon-style results at home, a niche market at the time. According to the company, the founders set out to make beauty that "lengthened, strengthened and adorned" nails while saving customers time and money.

The brand's own corporate account, the Long Island Press, a PR Newswire anniversary release and the company's LinkedIn page consistently name Chang and his two co-founders. The company's founding has occasionally been attributed to a "Park Tae Hwan"; KISS's about page explicitly corrects this, and no published source connects that name to the company [3]. The founding year of 1989 is consistent across all sources.

National distribution arrived in 1992, when KISS launched in Walgreens stores nationwide with 18 nail products. The company added the Broadway Nails brand in 1997 and founded the over-the-counter division Ivy Enterprises in 1999. In 2005 it relocated from Flushing to Port Washington on Long Island, where it has been based since; the move reflected a relocation rather than a disputed headquarters, with Port Washington serving as the current global base and Flushing the founding site.

In 2012 KISS introduced the imPRESS Press-On Manicure, which the company describes as "game-changing" [3]. A 272,000-square-foot global headquarters with an on-site research and development centre opened in Port Washington in 2018, the same period the company began expanding into European markets. In 2024 KISS marked its 35th anniversary, reporting that its products were being bought at a rate of 233 units per minute [6].

KISS operates within Kiss Beauty Group, a privately held portfolio of beauty brands run by affiliated companies and founded, like the original business, in 1989 [9]. The group's brands include imPRESS, Falscara, Red and Kiss Colors & Care, alongside the JOAH Korean-beauty line. In 2025 Kiss Beauty Group acquired Chillhouse, a nail studio and direct-to-consumer brand founded in 2017 by Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton; the group's chief strategy officer, J. Paul Yang, framed the deal as giving Chillhouse operational infrastructure and global reach [8].

KISS positions itself around the slogan "Bring the Salon Home", which the company presents as its core mission since inception: making salon-quality beauty accessible without appointments or high costs. Its lash messaging extends this with the phrase "Runway to Reality. No Appointment Needed." On its company page the brand states that "beauty belongs to everyone" and describes its purpose as creating solutions for effortless beauty. The products sit at the drugstore tier, with the lash collections retailing roughly between five and twenty US dollars and distributed through mass retailers including Ulta, Target, CVS, Walgreens and Walmart [10].

KISS's range centres on false eyelashes, press-on nails, and hair tools and accessories. Its signature products include the imPRESS Press-On Manicure and the Falscara lash-extension system, both described by the company as top sellers. Within its premium lash tiers, the Lash Couture Masterpiece line includes the Haute Couture style, which the company markets as hand-woven from faux mink fibres with a twill weave and what it calls "Long Tapered Technology" for a more natural finish. KISS lists several proprietary systems across its lash lines, among them the Lash Atelier glue-ring application method and Couture Adhesion adhesives that it says use botanical ingredients such as biotin and blueberry extract.

The brand's lashes are made from synthetic materials rather than animal fur. A UK retailer notes that the lashes contain no animal products and are certified by PETA as free from animal testing, and that the faux mink styles use synthetic fibres made to mimic mink rather than real fur [13].

KISS products received several beauty awards in 2024. The New Natural Lash Collection won an Allure Best of Beauty Award, which the publication describes as an industry gold standard drawn from more than 10,000 annual submissions [10]. The same collection took Best False Eyelashes at InStyle's inaugural Red Carpet Beauty Awards, recognition tied to rapper Ice Spice's look at the 2024 Grammy Awards [11]. The imPRESS Press-On Falsies won Best False Lashes at the Cosmopolitan Holy Grail Beauty Awards for a second consecutive year, and Best in Makeup – Lashes at the Bella Magazine Beauty Awards [11].

KISS is active and global in scope. It remains under founding leadership, celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2024 with multiple industry awards, and continued corporate activity into 2025 with the Chillhouse acquisition through Kiss Beauty Group [8]. The company reports distribution in more than 100 countries and over 90,000 retail locations.