BeautyTok is divided again, but this time it’s not about blush blindness or the return of thin eyebrows. It’s product development — the behind-closed-doors side of cosmetics that most people never think about — until the Lipstick Lesbians blew it wide open. Enter Leaked Labs, the duo’s beauty brand turned group experiment that brings lab samples straight to consumers — and in doing so, blurs the line between customer and test subject.
If you’ve followed the Lipstick Lesbians for a while, the concept makes sense. You’ve probably seen Alexis Androulakis on your FYP, correctly guessing where a product was manufactured in the middle of a Sephora. But it’s not just a niche industry party trick. Christina Basias Androulakis, the other half of the pair who holds a Ph.D. in education technology, quickly realized there was a growing appetite for transparency in an industry that rarely explains how products actually get made. More than a million followers have since flocked to their page looking for exactly that.
“The Lipstick Lesbians’ journey is one of circumstance and intuition,” says Basias Androulakis. That’s to say, after the pair went viral in December 2022, they suddenly had recognition — but no income. So they leaned in, traveling to manufacturing trade shows in Italy. They spent a year traveling the circuit, surrounded by unreleased formulas that take years to hit shelves or might never even make it there.
For Androulakis, who spent decades in product development, that world was familiar. For Basias Androulakis, though, it was eye-opening. After one trip to MakeUp in Paris in May 2024, she says the realization hit in the shower: “Would it be crazy for us to launch the products that people never get to see?” Or as Androulakis puts it, opening up “the frustration drawer.”
“We hear a lot of consumer sentiment about how the beauty industry has so much sameness. It’s like, ‘Oh my God, another lip balm. Where is the innovation?’” she explains. “But manufacturers are saying the same exact thing — they’re just as frustrated because they’re getting the same brief from five different brands to develop the same product.”
Leaked Labs is their attempt to disrupt that process. Instead of waiting the typical 12 to 36 months it takes for new technology to go through packaging meetings and focus group timelines, the pair are releasing formulas directly from the lab. Each launch is called a “leak,” and the community reaction ultimately helps decide whether it becomes a permanent product. The rules are intentionally loose. “The major point really is to see how it plays out,” says Androulakis. That kind of flexibility simply isn’t possible for traditional brands — and the moment Leaked Labs becomes too rigid, “the fun of it all dissipates.”
Their first “leak” shows exactly how unconventional this can get. The Amplify Flexi Powder looks nothing like a typical pressed compact. It comes in four metallic shades — pink, bronze, gold, and silver — that bend without breaking. It’s still powder, but it can be applied dry for a softer wash of color or activated with water for full pigment payoff. Even after it’s wet, the disc — which you pick up and apply with your fingers — dries to its original texture.
Clearly, their hypothesis — that beauty lovers want more innovation — has some merit, because the Flexi Powder sold out on day one. “Maybe we’ll do one more drop because we can call our supplier and say, ‘We need more lasagna now,” Androulakis quips, referring to the product’s flexible sheet format. The idea is to move fast, watch how people react, and adjust.
But how have people reacted? Split, to say the least. Even though the pair thought consumers might highlight the sustainability of the no-plastic compact, they intentionally kept quiet about that angle to see what people would notice on their own — and “no one has mentioned it, which is fascinating,” says Androulakis. Instead, most comments focus on the practical benefit they hadn’t anticipated: the fact that the powder doesn’t shatter like traditional palettes do.
What they did expect, though, was the skepticism behind it — mainly because of consumer habit. As Androulakis points out, most makeup wearers learned to use powder products in a pan. “I was 12 when I started doing makeup with Lancôme quads that I stole from my mom,” she says. “This is a learning curve. People either want to relearn how to do something, or they want to go buy the eyeshadow in the pan they already know how to use.”
Still, the broader criticism circulating online goes beyond the unusual application method. Some commenters question whether Leaked Labs is essentially asking customers to pay to participate in a focus group — something brands normally compensate people for. Others wonder whether unfinished ideas should cost the same as fully developed products. For the founders, these debates are kind of the point. Androulakis says that participating in the brand doesn’t necessarily mean buying the products: “You don’t have to make a payment,” she emphasizes, pointing to the steady stream of feedback in comment sections and response videos. “You can participate with your voice as well.”
Basias Androulakis also stresses that the products themselves aren’t experimental in a safety sense. “There’s this psychological thing where people hear ‘lab sample’ and think it’s unfinished,” she explains. “But that’s not true. These are finished goods that go through compatibility, stability, and safety testing. We’re just presenting them to you and asking what you’d want to see modified — if at all — and whether you’d want to see them come back.”
As for future leaks, they’re focusing on unusual textures and solving specific pain points that Androulakis noticed during her decades in product development. Some ideas might look radical from the start, while others may appear familiar until you actually touch them. Either way, the process will likely remain messy and very online.
The goal, according to Basias Androulakis, is simple: “We want to bring the fun and the joy back into beauty.” And judging by the response, the internet is ready to play along.
