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Local vegan lipstick company, Color the World, isn’t your average beauty venture. Five dollars from every tube sold benefits charity. Not just one charity but a dozen, including the Make A Wish Foundation, Homes for Our Troops and the Coral Reef Alliance. Another unexpected detail? The company is run by brothers Stephen and Wayne Miltz and Stephen’s wife, Stephanie. The trio started selling their lipstick at the farmer’s market and have since opened a new brick-and-mortar store in Five Points. We spoke with Stephen to get the scoop on how they got started and the most popular shades.
How and why did you start Color the World? It’s definitely not often you find men running a lipstick business.
Well, my brother, wife and I were looking to start a company with the main goal of giving back. And we knew we wanted to sell a product. After coming up with the name “Color The World,” my wife Stephanie said why don’t we make lipsticks–it can be fun, bright and colorful. We all agreed that lipsticks were a great way to “Color the World” both literally and through giving back.
What products are usually used in non-vegan lipsticks?
Every company is different and uses different ingredients in their lipsticks. But we wanted to make a superior product using only the best ingredients. That is why we chose to create a vegan, cruelty-free lipstick.
How do you choose colors?
Every few months our team gets together, and we look at different trends and colors that are popular for that season and decide which colors we would like to make, and which colors would be exciting for our fans. We try to keep our most popular colors constant but always have some seasonal colors in our collections too.
What’s your bestselling shade?
Our bestselling shade is tied between our color Foxy and Surfberry. Both colors are very moisturizing and look great on a variety of skin tones.
How often do you add new shades?
We try to every season. Just recently, we added our color Goddess, a nice maroon color for the fall and winter.
Explain the hand-pouring process?
Well, we do not use machines like most companies do today. Everything is made here in Raleigh, and we pour each and every lipstick by hand.
Why did you choose to support many different causes instead of just one?
It was something we wanted to do and was always a part of our vision. We wanted to work with different charities to bring people together and to bring awareness to different causes around the world. We all three had charities we were interested in supporting and also took fan recommendations.
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