People can now freshen up their makeup and test for date-rape drugs and call the police for assistance with a new lipstick launched by Esoes Cosmetics.
The Las Vegas beauty brand is making waves as it turns makeup into a dating safety tool for people to use if they feel in danger.
Inspiration for the product stems from a tragic family story.
The story behind the business
Joy Elizabeth Hoover began her cosmetic business from a tragedy that happened in her husband’s family about 10 years ago.
TheStreet reported that Hoover’s mother-in-law, Marcia Hoover, was fatally shot by her husband before he took his own life outside their home while on a 911 phone call. The first responder on the other end of the phone heard Hoover scream “he’s coming after me” before she was shot.
Years after the tragedy, Joy Elizabeth Hoover married Marcia Hoover’s youngest son and was inspired to make a safety tool that could protect others from the same fate after hearing her mother-in-law’s story.
“I had this idea of what could we put into a lipstick and how could we keep people safe with literally a lipstick,” Hoover said, per CBS affiliate KLAS.
With a personal story that resonates deeply, Hoover felt it was important to use her company to spread awareness while also helping people protect themselves against dating violence.
“The fact that (my mother-in-law’s) life ended on a 911 call is something that pushed me to want to honor her life and make sure that our kids or the people we love don’t experience something like that,” Hoover said, per TheStreet.
Applying your lipstick or calling 911
The company founded by Hoover is called Esoes and is pronounced as SOS. Her company launched a product where a seemingly ordinary black tube of lipstick has a button that is preprogrammed for users to call 911 and other services when they push the button.
“When you’re experiencing any sort of threat, you’re in that fight-or-flight mode and don’t know how you’re going to react,” Hoover told TheStreet. “Our goal at Esoes is to equip people with the tools they need to feel safe without doing something that can cause additional harm.”
The Gwinnett Daily Post reported that the lipstick comes in all different shades depending on a customer’s preference, but the main goal of the product is to have a discreet way of contacting authorities for help without a potential attacker noticing.
Along with the feature to call 911, the lipstick has a set of test strips that any users can put in a drink to test for date rape drugs.
“This is a regular lipstick that comes off, you can see our logo on it right there. Covertly at the base you just click it off it’s our test strips,” Hoover said.
KLAS reported that while you’re testing your drink for drugs that a perpetrator could’ve dropped in your drink, you can simultaneously click the button if you feel unsafe.