One nurse looked at the way people were using lip balm and decided there had to be a cleaner option.
Makylla, a registered nurse, biomedical engineering student, single mom, and founder of Witty Brand Co., created Lip Caviar, a line of individually portioned lip balm pods designed for single use.
Witty Brand Co. reports that the idea came during Makylla’s 12-hour hospital shifts, where she repeatedly saw coworkers dipping their fingers into a shared jar of lip balm. As a nurse, she was already thinking about what could be transferred from hands back into the product.
View this post on Instagram
So she came up with a different approach.
Instead of a stick or jar, Lip Caviar comes in small balm “pearls” that are used one at a time. Users shake out a single pod and apply it directly to their lips, eliminating the need to repeatedly dip fingers into the same container or pass around the same applicator.
Witty Brand Co. describes the product as the world’s first single-use lip balm pod system and says each container comes with more than 100 pods, plus a refill pouch with more than 200 additional pods.
The brand currently offers several flavors, including Agave Sorbet, Frosted Plum, Bourbon Vanilla Glaze, Spiced Peach Flambé, and an unflavored option.
But the idea behind the product goes back to one simple concern: hygiene.
View this post on Instagram
“I built Lip Caviar after one too many 12-hour hospital shifts watching coworkers stick their fingers into a shared lip balm jar,” Makylla explains on the brand’s website. “As an RN, I knew exactly what was transferring between that jar and those lips.”
The product is also designed to be refillable. Instead of throwing away the container when the pods run out, customers can refill it and continue using the same packaging.
For Makylla, Lip Caviar brings together two parts of her life: her experience in healthcare and her interest in engineering and product design.
What started as something she noticed during a hospital shift eventually became a product built around solving that everyday problem.
Sometimes innovation really is as simple as looking at something we have always used and asking, “Is there a better way to do this?”
