4 min readThe Lipstick Lesbians have over 1.2 million followers on TikTok, and they are launching their own beauty brand.The brand is called Leaked Labs, and the first product is called Amplify Flexi Powder.The product launches March 6th at leakedlabs.com.
A Kelly bag made purely of eyeshadow. A bubble gum tape roll filled with highlighter. Long, flexible sheets of bronzer. These are the Willy Wonka-esque visions that Alexis Androulakis and Christina Basias Androulakis, Ph.D., known online as the Lipstick Lesbians, want to share with consumers through their brand Leaked Labs.
The couple is known on social media for sharing insider knowledge about beauty products. Launching March 6th, Leaked Labs is a “direct-from-lab beauty platform” that releases formula innovations from product manufacturers directly to consumers, skipping the lengthy branding and development process that beauty brands typically follow. The founders will gather feedback on the innovation from their community and use that response to determine the next step: develop the formula into a core product, or retire it to the archive.
Here in the Good Housekeeping Beauty and Personal Care Lab, there’s nothing we love more than beauty innovations. I eagerly requested an appointment to chat with the founders and a sample of their first “leak.”
Lipstick Lesbians
What is Leaked Labs’ first product?
The brand’s Leak 001 is called Amplify Flexi Powder. In my sample, I received a makeup mixing palette, a spatula, and a small tin containing a stack of shimmering, flexible discs in pink, gold, silver, and bronze. The discs are like little eyeshadow wafers I can hold between my fingers. Androulakis explains that users can hold the dry disc and swipe it over skin for a light application of shimmer, or for more payoff, place the disc on the makeup palette and “activate” it with water or setting spray. Then, with the swirl of a finger, the disc softens, releasing a potent dose of liquid pigment that can be applied anywhere on the face. When left to dry, the disc returns to it original, flexible state to be used again.
Androulakis, a beauty product developer, and Basias Androulakis, who has a Ph.D. in education and technology, tell me that the idea for Leaked Labs was sparked by their experiences at beauty trade shows like Cosmoprof Bologna. Basias Androulakis would film her wife evaluating the prototype formulas that manufacturers present to beauty brands. With the manufacturer’s permission, she posted a clip to their followers. “It was literally Alexis swatching an eyeshadow, just getting so genuinely excited about it. And the video went viral. The comments were like, ‘I want to buy it now.’”
Amplify Flexi Powder was one such surprising innovation. Androulakis says “one manufacturer showed us this flexible, panless powder coming out of what looked like a bazooka bubble gum tape [dipenser]. I think my jaw was on the floor. I had never, ever seen anything like this.” Basias Androulakis adds, because of the leathery texture of the formula, “we also saw it at the manufacturer as a Kelly bag, which was kind of mind blowing to see.”
If they followed the typical beauty product development process, it would take years to bring the formula to consumers, which frustrated the founders. Basias Androulakis says, “These innovations are given to the brand, and then the brand has to put their fingerprint on it, edit it, but so much time is wasted. People could experience it now, and why not give them that opportunity?”
Leaked Labs
How does Leaked Labs work?
The couple has over 1.2 million followers on social media who relish learning the secrets of how their favorite beauty products are made. Now, they want to invite those fans into the beauty product development experience. Leaked Labs will release samples like Amplify Flexi Powder in limited quantities and collect feedback from their community. That feedback could lead to a second iteration of the product, or its retirement to the archive. The founders want their followers to lead the process. “We don’t know if it’s going to come back because this is true beauty product development. You need to tell us, do you want it to come back? Do we need to modify it?” says Basias Androulakis.
When I received my sample, I was a bit surprised at the minimal packaging, but I soon learned that that was the whole point. “This is an actually real, from the manufacturer, handcrafted in Italy, lab sample” Basias Androulakis says. They recognize the risk of releasing sample packaging to consumers. “It may be too conceptual” she admits, but the founders see both risk-taking and consumer education as unique strengths of their brand. “The way that we’ve built the business model allows us to be nimble and have more frequent drops than a traditional brand. The leak cycle is going to keep the newness alive in a way that will hopefully spark dialogue consistently, in a way keeps people engaged in the brand,” says Androulakis.
Amplify Flexi Powder will be available on leakedlabs.com from March 6th, and will cost $34.
Chiara (she/her) is a reviews analyst in the Beauty, Health and Sustainability Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute, where she conducts hands-on testing of health and beauty products. She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Columbia University. Before joining GH in 2022, she worked as a cosmetic chemist, formulating skincare products for a variety of brands and learning to decode ingredient lists, evaluate ingredient efficacy and scrutinize product claims.
