Luxury, Water-based Lubricant Brand Lelubé Launches DTC

Better sex is here, according to Lelubé. 

Lelubé, a lubricant brand founded by beauty and wellness veteran Bill Colli (formerly of Nutrafol, L’Oréal and many more) is available Monday via its direct-to-consumer website Lelubepleasures.com, after two years in development. Lelubé launches with its hero product, Ultra Glide Water-based Lubricant, $45, a vegan, pH-compatible, odorless and tasteless formula infused with skin care ingredients, packaged in a green bottle with an airless pump. The brand’s ethos is summed up in its catchy tagline: “Better sex for anyone, any way, anywhere.” 

As lubricants are a growing market, Colli saw a business opportunity when surveying the products that were available. 

“Historically, the lubricant market has been a little tawdry,” he said. “It’s cheap packaging and iffy formulas, very kind of a hush market, messy silicones and oily lubricants that smell like piña colada.” 

In addition, Colli found that many of the offerings took a more issue-centric approach, “addressing vaginal issues, painful intercourse, dry vagina.” 

He added: “It’s not very sexy.” 

With this in mind, Colli set out to create something more elevated, luxurious and, of course, sexy with Lelubé, something a consumer wouldn’t be ashamed of displaying on their nightstand. 

“We saw a niche there for more of a luxury positioning, of a lifestyle brand with a sexy angle with a formula with great, skin care-grade, expensive ingredients,” he said. “It’s basically not a medicinal approach.” 

Therefore, Lelubé is formulated with skin care ingredients, including lotus flower water that nourishes and soothes the skin; vegetable glycerin for the lubricating, glide factor; green tea extract to provide antioxidants, and vitamins A, C and E to “create some vitality in your more intimate parts,” said Colli. 

He added: “We went one step further. We added antimicrobial agents to kill odors because those can ruin a good experience… It doesn’t dry out and get sticky and lasts as long as you do.” 

Although investing in these additional steps made the end product pricier than alternatives on the market, Colli argues it also resulted in a better-for-you version. 

“It’s going to end up in your bloodstream,” he said. “It makes no sense that if you care about your wellness, you would put a $2 something inside of you, whether it be orally, anally, vaginally, even touch.” 

While the ingredients themselves differentiate the product, Colli also aimed for a sexier feel with the branding — think black and white images of models showing a bit of skin and of course, showcasing the product. 

“It’s about pure luxury, sexy, kind of Madonna ‘Erotica,’ black and white,” he said, adding this approach opens Lelubé up to collaborations with aligned brands in the future. 

Additionally in terms of what’s to come, the team is in talks with aligned retailers, like luxury boutiques. Colli is also looking at parallel products but ultimately wants to own the lubricant market. 

“It’s a $1.9 billion market,” he said. “I want it all.”