This holiday season, The Lip Bar is ushering in a new era of beauty collaborations with its first-ever influencer-created lip kits, partnering with three powerhouse Black women who continue to shape culture online: De’arra Taylor, Jeannette Reyes, and Jeneé Naylor.
For Founder & CEO Melissa Butler, the collaboration is a milestone rooted in intention. “This is a celebration of women owning their voice and their beauty on their own terms,” she says. “Each of these amazing creators embody the community that has fueled The Lip Bar from the beginning, fearless, authentic, and unapologetically themselves.”
Arriving just in time for holiday gatherings and end-of-year celebrations, the trio of lip kits taps into the emotional power of beauty, offering shades that elevate joy, confidence, and self-expression with a single swipe.
Beyond the festive moment, the launch signals a broader evolution for The Lip Bar. The campaign reinforces the brand’s commitment to innovation, intentional storytelling, and community-centered beauty, spotlighting the individuality of each creator while delivering the high-performance formulas TLB is known for.
Senior Director of Marketing Kia Brinkley explains that selecting these creators was a no-brainer: “Each of these women show up unapologetically as themselves every day, hardworking, ambitious girl bosses who reflect who we see our TLB Beauties being, and who they aspire to be.”
Much like The Lip Bar’s own origin story, each creator built her platform from a simple idea and transformed it into a cultural force. Their entrepreneurial spirit, creative independence, and commitment to authenticity made them the ideal trio to help usher in this next chapter for the brand.
Bringing each woman’s dream lip combination to life was a months-long creative process, one that Brinkley describes as intentional and collaborative from start to finish. “We connected our product development team with each influencer to create the lip combo of their dreams,” she says.
Jeannette gravitated toward bold and attention-grabbing tones. De’arra wanted something easy and effortless. A pinky nude that compliments a variety of melanated skin tones for everyday wear, and Jeneé set out to finally create the neutral nude for deeper skin she always wished existed. “Each influencer came to the table with a very different desire, which was perfect,” Brinkley adds. “From these desires, each lip kit was born.”
From shade iterations to packaging artwork and naming, Brinkley says every detail was a “labor of love,” resulting in three distinct kits that capture the creators’ personalities while honoring The Lip Bar’s signature high-performance formulas.
For The Lip Bar, this campaign is as much about community as it is about beauty. Collaborations with creators who are also entrepreneurs help strengthen ties between audiences, foster new relationships, and reinforce the brand’s belief in “collaboration over competition.”
The early excitement around the lip kits sets the tone for what’s ahead. Brinkley hints that this launch may become a yearly tradition, opening the door for new creators and new innovations in 2025 and beyond.
