A lovely shade of binary blue ...

Levash's new online company, Protocol Cosmetics, has rolled out an entire line of make-up with an Internet and computer twist. With names like "pixel dust shimmers", "binary blushers" and "megabytes glitter gels," Levash hopes to turn make-up into a new and fun way to educate women about the high-tech industry.

"I saw that there were a lot of cosmetics companies jumping online," explained Levash. "But there was never anything to really connect cosmetics to the Internet and I thought there would be a great need there. But not only that, it helps educate women. By wearing our products and a nail polish with computer terms for names, it connects you to them. It helps you learn terms."

Levash, who says she buys "thousands" of dollars worth of cosmetics every year, spends most of her time as a Lotus Notes developer. The 27-year-old divides the rest of her evenings and weekends between running Protocol out of an office in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., with two other partners, and going to school full time.

"I like being busy," she explained. "This is something I really wanted to do, so you make time for it."

The Protocol line includes about 35 products, including a line of nail polish called Nailbytes, which features 41 different colors with names like "search engine red" and "plug and play pink." Nail polish sells for $7 each and other products are generally under $20.

Tech glossary included
In keeping with Levash's goal to educate women about technology, the Protocol Web site features a glossary of all the terms used in the names of her products. She says she can understand why some women may be critical of her efforts, since the idea of using beauty products to teach women technology could be considered by some as demeaning, but "what we're really encouraging here is for people to have fun and to learn," she explained.

Although Levash says the site has been getting "great response" since its Nov. 29 launch, Mike May, digital commerce analyst for online research firm Jupiter Communications, is quick to point out that the online personal care market, which includes cosmetics, facial products, shampoo and toothpaste, is brutally competitive.

"What we've seen in last few months is about a half dozen well-funded companies enter the market," said May. "It's intensely competitive. They're all spending aggressively to build their brands but so far very few are doing anything to differentiate themselves."

There's good reason for the tight competition. Jupiter predicts that the online personal care market will grow from less than $100 million in 1999 to an industry worth $1.2 billion in 2003. That's still less than three percent of the total, offline personal-care market in the United States.

Male cyber cosmetics coming
Levash doesn't have any plans to try and compete with the big market players like eve.com and beauty.com. She's counting on word of mouth to spread the word about her unique line of products. According to May, that tactic may serve her well.

"The advantage that a niche player has is the ability to differentiate themselves in a space with a lot of sameness," he explained.

Levash is already planning her next move. She hopes to offer a full line of skin care and men's cosmetics in the next year.