Melissa Butler didn’t just build a beauty brand — she built a movement. Fed up with a beauty industry that was toxic, exclusive, and convinced that one shade fits most, the Detroit native walked away from a Wall Street career in 2014, went back to her Brooklyn kitchen, and started mixing vegan lipstick formulations by hand. When she took her brand to Shark Tank in 2015, the panel called it “clown makeup” and one shark infamously called her a “colorful cockroach.” She left without a deal — and used every bit of that rejection as fuel.
A decade later, The Lip Bar is the largest Black-owned makeup brand at Target, with products in over 2,000 stores nationwide including 1,000+ Target locations, 600 Walmart stores, 100+ CVS locations, and a stunning flagship store in the heart of downtown Detroit at 1444 Woodward Avenue. The 800-square-foot space is a celebration of color — over 40 vegan, cruelty-free shades displayed like jewels across the walls, a beauty bar for makeup services, and a brow bar ready for appointments.
Butler’s story is deeply personal to Detroit. She came home intentionally, planting her flagship in a city experiencing its own renaissance — proof that Black women from the Midwest can build something that changes an entire industry. With 2025 sales projected up 40% and growing presence across every major retailer, The Lip Bar isn’t just surviving. It’s winning.
This is what it looks like when a little Black girl from Detroit takes up space — all six shelves of it.
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