Vlada's Mitty® Pout Reusable Lip Cleanser

Kiss cotton balls and disposable wipes goodbye!

We designed Vlada's Mitty Pout to be a fun, eye-catching cleansing tool. But don't be fooled—it's a very serious product.

Internationally-renown makeup artist Vlada Haggerty collaborated with Take My Face Off to take action against the massive problem of beauty waste. Skincare and makeup consumers rely too much on single-use cotton balls and makeup wipes to remove makeup and apply skincare. Both are pretty bad for skin, but they're terrible for the planet.

Why Is the Pout Better Than Cotton Balls and Wipes?

We knew that convincing people to switch away from cotton balls and wipes would be hard, so we created a product that:

• Is softer than any other cleansing aid we have seen
• Cleanses faster, so you save time
• Cleanses more gently, making it perfect for sensitive skin
• Soaks up less cleanser than cotton, so you save on skincare liquids
• Lasts for years and replaces thousands of wipes and cotton balls

The Mitty Pout grabs color without tugging skin, and the Mitty Detailer™ tip is great for targeted touch-ups. After use, toss in the laundry or wash by hand. The fabric lasts for years and years.

The Story Behind the Package

The package is a keepsake folder featuring original artwork by Vlada created specifically for this collaboration. The material is a tree-free, recycled paper product that resists moisture (because it's so pretty, people tend to hold onto it). When woking on the concept for the photo, Vlada talked about how the fabric was "soft as velvet." This inspiration led her to cover her lips in velvet and place resin "droplets" on her face for the final image.

Later, she decided to create another signature work for the collaboration—the word "Pout" and the droplets in amazing detail on her lips. Watch her remove that artwork in the video below.

The Video

To create the intro video, we invited Vlada and some of our favorite people to our founder's house (pre-COVID). Amazing makeup assistants, stand-in models, still photographers, and video pros worked on a mostly volunteer basis to create the fun short clip that would spread the word about our invention. Vlada prepped her lips for about 1.5 hours in our garage while watching "Friends" on an iPad as the video crew raced to get things set up before the afternoon sun made the living room a sauna!

Fun fact—the stand-in model and the still photographer are world-famous violinists whose "day jobs" include top spots in the Los Angeles Philharmonic! 

We had a complaint that we edited the video, implying we were being dishonest with our product claims. It's true we edited the video, but we didn't do it to be dishonest! It was supposed to be a fun and short thing, so we removed about a second or two because it made the timing better. We weren't going for a documentary here, just a fun and breezy product summary! To see informal, uncut of videos where Vlada uses the Pout in real time, check out this one or this one or this one.

How to Use Vlada's Mitty Pout

Directions: Slip Vlada's Mitty Pout into two fingers. Apply any cleanser. Massage gently onto lips. If necessary, turn to the clean side and repeat. Hand or machine wash and hang to dry or tumble dry warm. Avoid bleaching. No fabric softener.

Charitable Contributions

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Vlada's Mitty Pout are donated to the Pollinator Partnership, an organization dedicated to protecting pollinators and their habitats. More information on why we chose this charity and how products like wipes and cotton balls harm our planet can be found here.

Big Impact, Small Footprint

Take My Face Off makes a big impact on beauty by keeping our carbon footprint small. Almost all of our manufacturing and shipping takes place in the Western US, so we can keep things small, efficient, and "green."

We're constantly working to reduce our waste and packaging while increasing our products' effectiveness. Past innovations include innovative sewing and pattern-making methods that reduce error and waste, making it possible to create our products in the USA at a cost our customers can afford.

Recently, we turned a manual shop press into a fabric cutting machine. Before we created the new method, we used the same cutting techniques as the rest of the sewn products companies out there. We had no control over how the contractors disposed of offcuts and the pattern pieces had to be trucked or shipped to us. Now, we do it in-house (no fuel needed) and our new press is totally muscle-powered—no electricity at all!