In August 2023, Glossy was the first to report that Rhode was closing in on selling its first million tubes of its Peptide Lip Treatment, the skin care-enhanced lip balm for which Hailey Bieber’s brand has become best known. At $16, that meant the single SKU had already earned the brand $16 million. It launched with three “flavors”: unscented, watermelon and salted caramel. It then got people hooked by making new variants feel like collectibles, much like like Pokémon or, more precisely, Bonne Bell Lip Smackers.
As anyone with social media already knows, Rhode is continuing to find new ways to keep fans excited about the seemingly simple product. For nearly a month, Bieber has had her 51 million Instagram followers, and Rhode’s 1.3 million, in a tailspin over a phone case designed specifically to hold the Peptide Lip Treatment. Having proven herself — or at least the team she’s hired — to be savvy marketers, it only makes sense that the arrival of the $35 “Lip Case” will be timed to the restock of the brand’s four tinted Peptide Lip Treatments, on February 27.
As Glossy reports, Rhode has been out of stock of the Lip Treatment since launching in September 2023. To be clear, the Lip Tints are a separate purchase; a phone case and lip tint combo will set Bieber fans back $51. That said, popular brands like Casetify and Flaunt, the latter known for its square phone cases, are also priced in the $40-$50 range, sans lip balm.
Between the initial tease of the case on February 4 and its for-sale date this week, the Lip Case will have had more major moments than most products ever see. Bieber whipped it out at the Super Bowl, which the brand posted footage of. The Instagram post was captioned, “mid-game touch up 👀📱🎀✨ @haileybieber.” And, on Valentine’s Day, when Bieber promoted her new Strawberry Glaze Soft Serve collab with Erewhon, purchasers had the chance to scratch to win gifts from Rhode, one of which was the Lip Case.
It seems plausible that Rhode’s case will represent the start of a trend. After all, according to a recent Milwaukee broadcast news report, 79% of Gen Zers use digital wallets and think physical wallets are “lame.” The days of “phone, wallet keys” are gone. Enter: phone, lip balm, go. Or, as Rhode’s copy puts it: “Text. Treat. Tint.”
Kira Jackson, an investor and head of partnerships at investment firm RX3 Growth, shared her thoughts on the Lip Case with Glossy, expanding upon her post with over 1.1 million views. “I’m the kind of girl who doesn’t carry a bag. So, when I saw it, I was like, ‘Why is every brand not doing this?’” Jackson said. “[For Rhode], it’s an incredible product for expanding cart size and driving retention for people who’ve been collecting these lip glosses. They buy every color, [they] want to show it off and it becomes a part of their personality,” Jackson said.
Jackson noted that the quality of the product will be crucial to its success beyond the initial buzz. “If the [component] that holds your gloss expands and stretches and it no longer holds it, people are gonna be disappointed.”
It seems inevitable that, come Tuesday at 9 a.m. PST, this thing will sell out nearly instantaneously, alongside all four colors of the tinted Peptide Lip Treatment. A few years ago, Burt’s Bees offered a PopSocket filled with its signature lip balm that comparatively flew under the radar. Still, it wasn’t minimally colored, per the look du jour, and stamped with Ms. Bieber’s seal of approval. It’s that ineffable cool factor that has sustained the excitement around Rhode since its June 2022 launch.
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