Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images, Leaked Labs
The online beauty community is no stranger to controversy. (If you’re an OG member, flashbacks to all the Dramageddons of YouTube and the “Bye Sister” video from Tati Westbrook are probably playing in your mind.) 2026 is experiencing one of its big ones right now, and it has to do with TikTok darlings Alexis Androulakis and Dr. Christina Basias Androulakis — also known as the Lipstick Lesbians — and their newly launched beauty brand, Leaked Labs. It all involves lasagna-inspired eyeshadows, confused customers, and a “State of the Union” address that doesn’t seem to have gone to plan. If you’ve had your phone Bricked (good for you!) and have no idea what’s going on, let me break it down for you.
Alexis Androulakis and Dr. Christina Basias Androulakis are married business partners who went viral on social media when Basias Androulakis (who has a Ph.D. in digital education) began filming Androulakis (a product developer) as she shared insider knowledge about beauty formulas and packaging. Currently, the couple has 1.2 million followers on TikTok and 559,000 on Instagram.
Leaked Labs is the Lipstick Lesbians’ latest brand. (It appears they also had a brand called Fempower Beauty, which shuttered late last year.) Rather than launch full-fledged products with final formulas and packaging, the brand “leaks” limited quantities of prototypes from product manufacturers that, for whatever reason, haven’t been picked up by another brand yet. The idea is that the brand’s customers would then test the lab samples and share their feedback, helping shape and determine the fate of each product. Instead of consumers waiting years for a brand to bring innovations to market, this model is meant to give them access to the development process.
Before it was Leak 1.0 v1, it was an experiment sitting at an Italian lab that nobody wanted to take a risk on. It was our understanding that it was TOO conceptual. TOO different. TOO hard to educate on… The moment we saw it, we knew you beauty queens needed to experience it. 
It was a flexible powder sheet, engineered and inspired by pasta-making. Layering. Pressing. Drying. The same inspiration that creates perfectly supple lasagna became the beginning of a blueprint for a next generation pigment that bends, amplifies its intensity with liquid, and reforms back to its original state. This is what we like to call the duality of a dehydrated emulsion. More on that soon… And so we traveled to Italy to understand the manufacturing philosophy that made Amplify Flexi Powder possible. Leak 1.0 v1, Amplify Flexi Powder, coming soon on 3.6 #makeup #BeautyTok #thelipsticklesbians #leakedlabs #beautyproductdevelopment
♬ original sound – The Lipstick Lesbians
On March 6, the brand launched Leak 001: Amplify Flexi Powder. Described by Androulakis as “the world’s first flexible powder” and supposedly inspired by “perfectly supple lasagna,” the product is a water-activated “pigment disc” that feels kind of like al dente pasta (thanks to a seaweed-derived polymer) and comes in four colors: pink, bronze, silver, and gold. Although you’re supposed to be able to use the disc dry for a light shimmer effect, you’ll get more of a full-pigment, metallic finish by wetting it with water or wetting spray and swiping it directly onto your face. Because it’s circular, you can easily wrap it around your finger to make the application easier. And as you use the product, it’ll get smaller and smaller until it eventually disintegrates. To get in on the testing process, customers were able to buy a small tin in which all four shades were stacked together (weighing 0.07 ounces total) for $34 plus at least $6.25 in shipping. The product sold out the day it launched.
Sometimes you need to get ahead of the leak in order to control your own narrative. A new model of beauty is on the horizon, beauty queens!! Did you really think we would just launch another influencer brand? More on @leakedlabs soon. Your first hint: The future of pigment is FLEXIBLE makeup beautytok thelipsticklesbians beautyproductdevelopment leakedlabs
♬ original sound – The Lipstick Lesbians
At first, the Lipstick Lesbians’ audience seemed excited about the new brand. Comments under one of the Leaked Labs announcement videos, which was filmed like a press conference, were by and large positive — unsurprising, since their followers have seen Androulakis test countless beauty products and demonstrate her seemingly encyclopedic knowledge about the industry. Fans commented things like “You don’t understand how happy I am” and “Can I buy stock?! Trust you guys with my life.”
But as the influencers began releasing demonstrations of Amplify Flexi Powder, the general sentiment took a turn. In a TikTok, Androulakis swiped the discs onto her forehead and across her cheeks to show how they applied both wet and dry — which seemed to cause some confusion. One of the top comments, with over 10,000 likes, reads, “What’s the point? To have my hands extra dirty by the time I’m done?” Others expressed that they weren’t fans of the colors, and some were concerned that the product felt like a “gimmick” or that it may not stay hygienic over time because of how much contact it has with your hands, skin, and liquids.
Meanwhile, on Reddit, the criticism began early with users balking at the concept itself. “So, let me get this straight, they’ll release formulas that are considered unpopular or risky by big brands, so that we as consumers buy them and give them feedback about it?” wrote user MrsBridgerton under a post about the brand in r/BeautyGuruChatter. “So we will be PAYING to do the market research for this [company] while everyone else profits? Oh hell no.” Under another post in the sub-Reddit, user dryloaf wondered what the “innovation” had to offer regular makeup users. “What is this consistency supposed to offer us in terms of color payoff, performance or ease of usage?” they asked. “Because in all the videos they’ve shown the color payoff was ghastly, which is insane to think since shimmers usually show up way easier.” Another commenter, glowgirl1111, didn’t mince words: “I feel like her brand is going to discover WHY these products were abandoned,” they wrote.
Longtime beauty YouTuber Jen Luv also posted an in-depth review of the product on March 12. Although she enjoyed the effect of the formula once applied and liked that it was travel-friendly, she noted that the discs may become more difficult to use as they get thinner and that the application process was messy. “I can’t imagine using these on vacation in a functional way and enjoying that process, with having to do the setting spray and all — absolutely not,” she said. “The last thing I want to do on vacation is make a mess.” She concluded that Amplify Flexi Powder was ultimately less convenient to use than your average powder product. “In the end, it is my opinion that there is a reason why these never came to market before,” she added. “It doesn’t fill any kind of gap for the customer; it’s only making things harder. It’s overcomplicating something that works fine.”
Beauty queens … or should we say @leakedlabs beta baddies 
We’ve seen the questions about Flexi and sanitization – which makes sense, since this powder is a new format to the market and needs additional education! To explain this a bit deeper, we phoned a friend, our chemist bestie Julio (20+ years in cosmetic chemistry). Here’s the deal: 
From a hygiene standpoint, using Flexi is no different than dipping your finger into a traditional powder or eyeshadow compact. The format is new, but the formula behaves like other powders designed for finger application. He confirmed that like most cosmetic products, Flexi went through strict safety and stability testing before launch, including a 28-day Microbial Challenge Test confirming the preservative system can prevent microbial growth during normal use. All Leaks follow the standard testing for cosmetics to ensure safety. Important to note, that while Leaked Labs innovation may be early in its lifecycle, every Leak is still a fully finished cosmetic product that has passed industry safety testing before reaching your hands. 
TLDR: Flexi was formulated and tested to be safe. We appreciate all the questions around this – curiosity is part of the Leak Cycle. #leakedlabs #productdevelopment #makeup #beautytok #thelipsticklesbians
♬ original sound – The Lipstick Lesbians
They posted a series of videos: one in which Androulakis demonstrated how to use the discs wet, another in which they called a cosmetic chemist to address the hygiene concerns and assert that the formula was thoroughly safety-tested before launch, and one, posted three days ago, that was formatted as a “State of the Union” address meant to quell people’s main concerns. In response to the question “Why am I paying to test and provide feedback for an unfinished product?,” the Lipstick Lesbians replied that the discs were actually finished products and that consumers actually weren’t paying to do the brand’s homework. “You’re paying to participate in beauty’s largest public focus group that’s being documented,” Androulakis said. Basias Androulakis added that what they wanted to do was directly deliver manufacturers’ “finished goods” to consumers to test without all the further tailoring that brands usually do. “But rest assured, Leaked Lab’s products are safe to use, pass all cosmetics and regulatory testing, ready for launch, and hygienic to you,” she explained.
The couple went on to discuss the brand’s future, asserting that “no one really knows” how it might evolve but that they want to continue “[rescuing] products that deserve the spotlight.” Androulakis also invited other beauty brands to test future innovations with customers via Leaked Labs.
The last question was, well, “Is Flexi a gimmick?” To that, Androulakis asked back, “If you want this product to be used the way you’ve used all your other powder products, is it really innovative? It’s really just a question of ‘Is it worth it to explore?’” The two then went on to compare the product to the invention of the selfie camera as well as the process of realizing you’re a lesbian. “Take me, for example,” Androulakis said. “I only dated men until I tried a woman, and boy, was I surprised.” Basias Androulakis followed that with, “You need to be flexible.”
Users had three main complaints about that last TikTok. Some claimed that focus groups are almost always paid to test a product — as opposed to paying to try them. Others took issue with the tone of the video, which some called “aggressive.” “This made it worse,” one comment read. “No need to talk down to us.” Finally, many pointed out that the brand was getting exactly what it asked for — feedback — and that they were confused by the Lipstick Lesbians’ reaction to those honest critiques. “‘You just don’t get it’ as the response to poor feedback is an interesting choice to make,” a user commented. Jen Luvs followed up on her review with another YouTube video reacting to the “State of the Union” that echoed that sentiment. “This video was essentially saying, ‘We don’t want feedback like that,’” she said. “And to me that shows that they weren’t looking for feedback at all. They were looking for validation.”
The Lipstick Lesbians had cross-posted the video onto their Instagram page, where it seems to have gotten a slightly warmer welcome and more positive top comments, like “Perfect response 
i love what you ladies are doing. This is actually exciting!!” But clearly, the duo is reading all the reactions, both good and bad. Yesterday, they commented on a statement under the Reel. “Hi everyone,” they began. “Firstly we see you and we hear you and we are genuinely sorry this video missed the mark on tone. It was certainly NOT our intention at all.” They went on to explain that they are mid-travel but promised to make yet another video “to address some recurring concerns we’re seeing in these comment sections.”
Now, is this little internet kerfuffle the end of Leaked Labs? Probably not. Considering the first batch of products sold out, there’s clearly an audience for this sort of thing, and to consumers who want to feel like they’re a part of the product-development process, it’s certainly an intriguing concept. But it’s probably going to take a lot of education, customers who are willing to pay a premium for lab samples, and the right marketing approach for the Lipstick Lesbians to win back the general public. I say this with love: It might be time to go back to the lab, ladies.
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