Balmee

Ali and Phoebe identified a gap the industry had overlooked. Then they sold out in three months.

Balmee is Australia's first microbiome-friendly lip balm, developed in response to a simple but overlooked insight. One week after their much anticipated re-stock we review their story thus far. 

The average person ingests the equivalent of two or more tubes of lip balm per year through everyday use, absorbed through the skin, consumed throughout the day. Ali and Phoebe noticed that no lip balm had ever been formulated with this in mind. So they built one.

Balmee launched in 2025 as Australia's first lip balm designed with the microbiome in mind. Working with Australia's leading microbiome specialist formulator, Ali and Phoebe developed a formula built around fermented Kakadu plum and fermented aloe vera, - rich in pre and postbiotics and free from parabens, alcohol and fragrance.

What makes their story worth paying attention to isn't just the product, it's how they built it. Balmee was founded on a $50,000 investment, scaled without paid advertising and sold out s within three months. In their first 90 days, Ali and Phoebe generated 377,000 Instagram views and 10,000 interactions, entirely organically.. Their conversion rate sits at 4.34%, above DTC beauty benchmarks with  12% repeat purchases. Strong for any brand, particularly one that launched six months ago with a single product.

When stock ran out, 1,500 people joined a waitlist and over 400 placed pre-orders. The good news? Balmee is now restocked.

Balmee have big plans. Ali and Phoebe are targeting 30 independent boutique retail doors in 2026, with plans to expand into mass beauty retail across Australia, followed by international expansion into the US and UK. A second SKU is in development with revenue projected to grow from approximately $300,000 in 2026 to just under $9 million by 2029.

For early-stage, women owned brands, customers are the most meaningful form of support. If you want to back Ali and Phoebe, shopping their product is the most direct way to do it.