Michigan Made: Bringing beauty back to Detroit
(CBS DETROIT) - It's Monday, which means it's time to highlight another piece of Michigan Made magic. This week is pretty colorful.
If you've walked through Parker's Alley in downtown Detroit, chances are you've seen it, and if not there, then maybe in the makeup aisle in select nationwide retailers.
It's called The Lip Bar.
CBS News Detroit's Amyre Makupson caught up with the woman behind the brand and she says, it's all about bringing beauty back to Detroit.
"Being an entrepreneur from Detroit just means that I have hustle, I have grit, like I don't take no for an answer. Detroit is an underdog city, I have an underdog founding story," said Melissa Butler, founder of The Lip Bar.
"I was so frustrated with the beauty industry. It's lack of diversity, its excessive amount of chemicals, this idea that, like beauty looks like one thing, like you have to be a certain shape, certain size, your hair has to look a certain way and I was like, that's BS because like we're all beautiful."
So, Butler left Wall Street,
"I started The Lip Bar, making lipstick in my kitchen when I was working on Wall Street."
Butler moved to Woodward, helping to give back to the city that raised her.
"You know in 2010, 2011 when I was thinking about the company, all of the news stories were about how Detroit is in ruins and I was like, that's not my Detroit, that's not my city, that's not the city I know. I knew Detroit as a resilient place, a place that was rich in culture, a place that deserved to have positive stories and I wanted to be one of those positive stories."
Positive, indeed.
Butler's vegan, all-natural cosmetic line is making plans to expand in Detroit, and is also on the shelves two major retailers across the country, making The Lip Bar one of the most successful cosmetic lines to come out of the "D."
"I probably made, like 1,000 batches of lipsticks before I got one that was good. I just mean, like, don't give up, even when people tell you that you should," she said.
If you know of a cool place that is Michigan made, send us a message because we really want to know about it, too. Email Amyre.makupson@cbs.com with your name, the place, how you found it and why you think we should show it a little love on CBS News Detroit. You might just catch your suggestion on an upcoming report.
