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Melissa Butler Determined to Grow Her Makeup Brand, The Lip Bar, Geared Towards Women of All Colors

Southfield (CW50) - While working on in New York, Melissa Butler spent her free time making lipstick in her kitchen for herself, after she grew tired of experiencing the beauty industry's lack of diversity and inclusion. Not only did she see this as the industry determining what the standard for beauty is, but she also noticed the industry setting this standard using chemicals that compromised women's health.

Melissa Butler
Community Connect Host Lisa Germani, with Melissa Butler, Founder and CEO of The Lip Bar

In 2019, Butler opened The Lip Bar's flagship store in her hometown of Detroit. Coming home to Detroit felt like the right place to embark on what she believed was a business that was destined for success. The Lip Bar became Butler's contribution to what is seen as the revival of Detroit. Creating a vegan lipstick line that helped provide a product to women of all races and ethnicity's without having to compromise their health for beauty was the goal and now The Lip Bar has expanded to more than just lipstick.

The brands best-selling lipstick, Boss Lady, was designed to match all complexions, which Butler said was to show women that "they're all bosses and they just need to step into it."

The Lip Bar quickly became nationally recognized with deals to stock TLB products inside 40 Target stores, eventually leading to availability in more than 450 Targets. The latest expansion of sales comes from a deal with Walmart, which TLB announced on February 15th. Along with the announcement, TLB launched eight new products within Walmart stores. Some of the new products included new primer, eyeshadow palettes, blush, and mascara.

TLB Fairy Princess EyeShadow
The Lip Bar's new Fairy Princess Eye Shadow (Courtesy of The Lip Bar)
TLB Lip Care Kit
The Lip Bar's new Lip Care Kit (Courtesy of The Lip Bar)

You can find all of the new products at Walmart and by going to TheLipBar.com

Melissa Butler joins Lisa Germani on Community Connect to talk about the impact behind The Lip Bar's use of vegan products and creating a brand that serves women of all colors.

Watch COMMUNITY CONNECT, Saturday at 7am on CW50

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