On Tuesday, the Black-owned beauty brand expanded to 3,300 CVS stores across the country, doubling its reach from 2,000 brick-and-mortar locations to 5,300. Prior to this expansion, The Lip Bar was primarily sold through Target and Walmart; The Lip Bar partnered with Target in 2018 and Walmart in 2021. However, this CVS partnership is the largest expansion this brand has yet to see.
Founded in 2012 by Wall Street ex-pat, Melissa Bulter, The Lip Bar has continued to redefine what it means to be a truly inclusive beauty brand. Butler created the brand after becoming disillusioned with the beauty industry’s “one-shade-fits-all all mentality”. From the brand’s humble beginnings in Bulter’s home kitchen to a 3,300-store expansion the brand’s mission has remained consistent. Provide affordable high-quality beauty products for all skin tones.
Butler shared her inclusivity mission and entrepreneur journey with Martha Stewart in a recent interview: “From the beginning, my mantra was to challenge the beauty standard. And from day one, we were able to do that with bold, clean, affordable, vegan, and cruelty-free lip products. We also made bold marketing decisions. For example, casting models with deep tones and putting them in bright-colored lips to showcase that, yes, women with deep skin tones do look beautiful in bright colors. Our goal is to continue to create products that are easy to use and have rich pigment, but are still clean, vegan, and cruelty-free”.
While The Lip Bar partnership with CVS makes Bulter’s dreams of inclusivity and affordability a reality, this partnership is not one-sided. The Lip Bar is able to sell more products and reach a wider audience, and CVS is able to cement itself as a top beauty competitor. In an interview with Glossy, The Lip Bar’s director of sales, Lauren DeVor said “The Lip Bar’s continued success and expansion into CVS stores is an exciting representation of the continued demand for a brand that connects with its community of diverse beauty lovers at their nearest convenience. The Lip Bar is already the largest Black-owned brand in its existing retail partners, and we’re looking forward to making history with CVS”.
The CVS rollout will continue through December, and if all goes well The Lip Bar is expected to increase their retail sales by 30%.
