Lip Gloss Found Living Secret Life At CVS

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Patrick Ta Beauty has sued CVS and distributor Akstrom Imports, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition over sales of its products at the drugstore chain, Beauty Independent reported. The brand's exclusive retail partner is Sephora. Its lip gloss, according to a fictional account assembled by this reporter, had been telling everyone it was at Sephora.

"I needed some time away," said a fictional tube of plumping lip gloss, reached on an end cap beside the cough drops. "At Sephora there is lighting. There are associates in black. Here there is a man buying batteries at 11 p.m. Nobody asks me what I am. It is very freeing."

According to Beauty Independent, the complaint, filed Oct. 14 in federal court in the Southern District of California, does not allege the products are counterfeit. It argues that the goods differ from those sold through authorized channels because buyers lack the same warranty and customer service, and that in-store displays could suggest an endorsement. CVS declined to comment. CVS has tested an off-price program called Fresh Beauty Finds in about 2,000 stores, and one TikTok user documented buying the gloss for $8 after coupons and rewards, against $26 at Sephora.

said a fictional tube of plumping lip gloss, reached on an end cap beside the cough drops.

Dashiell Okafor has seen this before. Not at CVS. On a seller forum. (seller forum, 3:12 a.m.: "Found my own product at a drugstore at 69% off. Is this a compliment.") A seller I trust, who sells phone cases and has spent four years chasing unauthorized resellers, said the gloss's situation is familiar. "Inventory finds a way," she said. "You ship it to one place. It shows up in another place wearing a sale sticker."

Legal experts quoted by the publication pointed to the first-sale doctrine, under which retailers can generally resell genuine goods they lawfully acquired. A fictional gray-market analyst, Felix Ordway of Channel Drift Partners, put it more simply. "Products have a home," he said. "Products also have a car."

Ordway said a fictional audit by his firm found prestige beauty items now spend an average of 41 days in authorized retail before being spotted somewhere unexpected, including a hardware store, a car wash gift shop and, in one case, a minivan's cup holder that the item described as "a pop-up."

Okafor read the complaint twice, the way he reads fee letters to relax, and noted that the brand notified CVS and Akstrom on Sept. 24 and, according to the complaint, got no meaningful response for weeks. He underlined "weeks." He has opinions about weeks.

At the end cap, the gloss was asked whether it planned to go back. "Eventually," it said. "Everyone goes back to Sephora. But first I would like to see the seasonal aisle."

Dashiell Okafor covers marketplaces, and his seller-account appeal is entering its seventh year. More from Dashiell Okafor ›

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Terms in this story: Endcap