Clean lipstick by Belly Bell Kids | Photo courtesy of Belly Bell Kids
A mother-daughter duo creates Belly Bell Kids, a Yonkers-based clean lipstick and jewelry brand with vegan and cruelty-free ingredients.
Makeup serves many purposes: It’s a way to conceal blemishes, an avenue of confidence boosting, and an art form in itself. It can also be a rite of passage.
With the rise of clean beauty, many are realizing that products’ ingredients lists are often riddled with conceivably unsafe ingredients, not only in makeup meant for adults but for kids, as well.
Last fall, Lana Savoca and her daughter launched a vegan, gluten-, paraben-, and cruelty-free “Mommy & Me” makeup/jewelry company called Belly Bell Kids, based in Yonkers, so Savoca’s then-5-year-old could experience clean beauty.
“I was inspired after seeing the potentially harmful ingredients in the makeup kit my daughter received for her birthday a couple years ago. I was shocked to see formaldehyde, aluminum, talc, and other questionable ingredients I couldn’t pronounce,” Savoca says. “That’s when our idea for Belly Bell was born — my daughter actually came up with the name.”
Savoca had visualized the brand a few years ago, but due to the pandemic, she experienced obstacles, such as supply-chain disruption and product delays. She soft-launched in September.
Belly Bell Kids (bellybellkids.com) offers lipstick and a decorative, diamond-shaped, refillable necklace that serves as a case for the brand’s lipstick. The makeup, made in the U.S., is non-GMO and infused with carefully chosen plant-based and organic ingredients, like castor seed oil, avocado oil, carnauba wax, and jojoba seed oil. A bundle of the necklace and two lipsticks retails for $39.99 (including shipping). The lipsticks (Candy Apple Red and Pretty in Pink), scented with cocoa, are also sold individually.
Savoca says the lipsticks can be used by both adults and children, as they feature a hydrating and luxe formula. While primarily e-commerce, the brand is also sold at Silver Spoon in Bronxville.
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