Lanolips: Kirsten Carriol Interview

Have you tried Lanolips yet? You may be one of few who are yet to trial this beauty phenomenon.

Here's the Lanolips range below, and the Lanolips story. It's a very impressive, uniquely Australian one.
Lanolips was created by Kirsten Carriol. The inspiration for Lanolips came from a humble sheep farm in Lucindale, South Australia where Kirsten spent her childhood.

Lanolin (the main ingredient in the Lanolips range) is a natural substance taken from freshly shorn sheep’s wool, and it was in the farm shed where Kirsten spent her summer holidays. Couple that with her DNA professor father’s passion for using natural ingredients that really worked and you have the foundation for Kirsten’s love of lanolin ("nature’s wonder moisturiser"), and ultimately Lanolips.

Kirsten set out to create a completely natural, ultra-pure lanolin lip ointment, one that gave the best moisturisation available and that had a lush, glossy finish while remaining natural – something that didn’t exist in the cosmetics world. For six years Kirsten pestered and prodded until she created her perfect “I want to wear that formula”, a formula that was: nourishing, moisturising, comfortable wear, made her lips feel great and was based on completely natural, ultra-pure medical grade lanolin.

Kirsten is a beauty industry powerhouse, and I have known her since my days as beauty editor at Cream magazine, when she was director at her PR company Buzz Consulting. While still heading up Buzz, repping myriad high-end beauty brands, she launched Lanolips.

Here, founder/director Kirsten is interviewed by Josie's Juice on the whole phenomenon:

Josie's Juice: Tell me about how your love for lanolin came about?

Kirsten: My love for lanolin is life long, as a child I spent my school holidays at my grandparent’s sheep farm in Lucindale, South Australia. My father, who is a Professor of Genetics, swore by lanolin (which is a by-product of wool) for treating dry skin - It was literally the only ingredient he would use on my siblings and I, he truly believed it was nature’s best moisturizer and he passed that belief on to me.

How much did you commit in order to get Lanolips up and running?
Kirsten: Lanolips was six years in the making, it took years of hard-work, research, and product testing to create the perfect formula; I was turned away by many factories who could not work with a high percentage of lanolin, it took a lot of perseverance an belief in my product, but I eventually found the right factory to make my product.

There are so many different elements involved with creating a product and a brand, obviously the quality of the lanolin was the major focus for me, but I also needed to create branding assets like logos and packaging which sounds fun, but is also a slow process from beginning to end – you want it to be perfect!

What has been your proudest achievement so far for the brand?

Kirsten: I always feel really proud when I receive a letter from a happy customer; it’s a really warm and satisfying feeling to know that Lanolips has helped someone. I have received letters from customers with inexplicably dry skin as a result of undergoing radiation therapy or illness, and it is quite touching to think that it helped them so much they were compelled to write a letter.


Tell me more about how the perception of lanolin may be a little misunderstood?

Kirsten: Lanolin has been used as a skincare product in one form or another since the time of the ancient Greeks; but in more recent history it became popular for skin care companies to advertise their products as ‘lanolin free’. As a result for a long time there was a stigma attached to lanolin, consumers were educated by way of packaging that it was a ‘nasty’ ingredient that caused skin irritation. Funnily enough, there is no substantial scientific evidence to support the theory that lanolin is an allergen, if anything there is more scientific evidence to suggest it isn't. 

Lanolin is a 100% natural product of the wool industry. In nature it acts as a barrier, protecting sheep from wet and cold weather, and is extracted from the shorn fleece of a sheep after their annual shear.  Its role in skin care is very similar to the role it plays in nature, a moisturiser and protectant. Lanolin is an extraordinary natural emollient-style moisturiser and is able to imitate and augment many of the functions of human skin lipids. The moisturisation properties of lanolin itself are amazing, it can hold over 200% of its own weight of water, acting as a moisture reservoir to help maintain the hydration of the skin.

The ultra medical grade lanolin we use in Lanolips goes through a stringent refining and cleaning process; cleansing the raw lanolin of all external impurities, scent and colour, making it the purest, most natural form of lanolin available – lanolin is one of the few products that is not better organic – and the ultra pure medical grade lanolin we use is the absolute best quality lanolin you can buy in the world. 

What’s new with Lanolips...
Kirsten: This August I unveiled beautiful new illustrated boxes to house my products; I wanted something that would protect them in-store from fluorescent lights and to prevent sticky-fingers touching the products in store.

To do this I collaborated with an amazing Melbourne-based Illustrator, Sarah Hankinson, who I had discovered last year when we held an 'Artist Search' – she didn’t win that competition but I knew from her delicate and gentle entry illustration of the 101 Ointment that we would work together. I used her to create a bespoke Lanolips Christmas card last year and loved her work, so when I decided to tweak the Lanolips packaging I knew I had to work with her. 

Here are Kirsten's Lanolips ads as they have appeared on 'Mornings'. I think they are the best advertorials around. Full of all the info you'd like to know about the products, and a great rundown on the history behind the brand:

To see where Lanolips is sold in-store, and to buy Lanolips online, click here.

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