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Local Beauty Product Company Gives More than Lip Service to DIY Movement

Olivu

Napoleon Dynamite included, a lot of us rely on lip balm to keep our mouths moisturized. But it's likely few of us ever thought about making our own product.

One Sheboygan woman has given more than lip service to the importance of pampered puckering. Caitlin Brotz is carving a niche for her homegrown lip balm company, called Olivu 426.

Brotz explains she became an entrepreneur when she curiously found herself with an abundance of balm.

"Lo and behold, I was left with about 500 lifetime supplies of lip balm," she says. "Thinking to myself, ‘What on earth am I going to do with this all?’ - that’s really where my story starts."

What's interesting, however, is that Brotz's company is where lip balm meets the DIY movement - an idea she got as she experimented making products.

"Before you knew it my kitchen became a lab, and I thought to myself, 'It would be nice if they could make it themselves and customize it themselves, that way it's exactly as they want it,'" she says. "That was my light bulb moment, and that's when I decided maybe I wanted to make a career out of this."

Olivu 426 allows customers to customize their beauty products - which includes hair products, sunblocks, lotions and, yes, lip balms. Patrons can determine what all-natural ingredients are included in the products they create on the company's website.

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Listen to more of our conversation with Caitlin Brotz.