LAMIK Beauty's Growth: From E-commerce to Retail Success

Kim Roxie believes that beauty is revealed not applied. After working in the beauty industry for many years, the LAMIK founder decided to launch a line of cosmetic products – focused on catering to the specific needs of her highly targeted market.

LAMIK (which stands for Love And Makeup In Kindness) is a multicultural vegan makeup line that uses non-toxic ingredients in all of its products. Since it was founded, back in 2004, LAMIK has grown exponentially.

After working as a makeup artist during her college days, Roxie saw how challenging it was for her customers – mostly women of color – to find beauty products that perfectly matched their unique requirements. This inspired her to start a makeup collection. However, she thought to herself, “I can’t put my name on that and sell it to people!” — after seeing the common ingredients that were used in making beauty products.

So, with a $500 investment from her mother, she set out to create a health and wellness makeup line that not only met the needs of her clients but was also safe and healthy. This is how LAMIK came into being, back in 2004 – as a local makeup shop in Houston, TX.

After the death of her mother (as a result of breast cancer) in 2014, Roxie decided to focus on the provision of paraben-free makeup to women of color who wear makeup on a routine basis. Several years later, she shut down her makeup shop and focused all her attention on the provision of clean and safe cosmetics through her LAMIK brand.

In 2020, Kim Roxie re-launched the brand with a focus on moving its products through e-commerce platforms. The brand offers a variety of products including lip glosses, eye shadows, and foundations. One of the first products she introduced – back in 2018 was her Brow Kit. Roxie developed this product to specifically address her alopecia. She used this kit to give her brows a natural look in the face of her struggle with hair loss. By adding it to her brand’s product offering, she was able to help other women facing similar issues.

After deciding to transition the brand from a brick-and-mortar operation to e-commerce, Roxie used accelerator programs in Silicon Valley and Austin to assist her with soft launching a test version of the brand’s online store. Speaking to the Houston Business Journal, she said, “In every accelerator, I was the only Black woman there, and it never bothered me.”

According to Kim Roxie, funding has been one of the biggest obstacles to building a successful business. Fortunately, the LAMIK founder has been able to take advantage of pitch competitions and crowdfunding to overcome this hurdle.

Over the years, LAMIK has been able to secure highly rewarding marketing deals through pitch competitions. For instance, the brand earned a placement on Ulta’s e-commerce site after participating in a Black Girl Ventures pitch competition. LAMIK also has existing partnerships with HSN and Macy’s.