Kirsten Carriol - Founder and CEO, Lanolips

Beauty Island

What does it really take to be successful in business? And what's the grown-up musky perfume this beauty expert wants her kids to remember her by? Hello and welcome back to Beauty Island, the beauty podcast that celebrates life and lipstick. I'm your host, beauty journalist, Brittany Stewart. Each episode, I sit down with a guest and ask them about the 8 beauty products that have a special memory or meaning for them. The ones they'd take to a desert island, or Beauty Island, that I am sending them off too. Maybe it's the beauty product that defined their teens, the one they grew up watching their mum or grandma use, or the perfume that instantly sparks a memory of a special place or person. Along the way we find out more about their life, career and the people and events that have shaped them into who they are today. If you've listened since the beginning or to a few episodes of Beauty Island, you'll have noticed that certain products get mentioned multiple times by different people. And there's one product that has been selected the most as people's desert island essential; Lanolips. A lanolin-based multipurpose ointment from a South Australian brand that can be used for just about anything you can think of. So it is my absolute pleasure to have founder of Lano, Kirsten Carriol, as this week's beauty Island guest. I was hoping to sit down in Sydney with Kirsten in person but being in Melbourne makes it a little difficult and I really wanted to bring you this chat as soon as possible so I was very lucky to get her early one morning over the phone - and I have to say this is possibly one of my favourite interviews I've done this year. I've listened to it a few times now during the editing process and each time I hear a new nugget of gold; so I hope you feel the same. Before she became the founder and CEO of an internally beloved beauty brand stocked by pretty much by the biggest beauty retailers around the world including Mecca, Priceline, Sephora and Net-A-Porter, Kirsten worked in beauty PR, launching the likes of Laura Mercier and St Tropez into Australia. That foundation, plus grandparents who were farmers and parents who are scientists in hindsight seems like the perfect formula for what she would go on to do; Turning the uncool ingredient of Lano into a highly successful beauty business. We talked about the risk of keeping a product so simple yet effective, the foundation and concealer combo she swears by to hide dark circles, the moment she discovered the grown up version of her musky teenage The Body Shop scent, and what she thinks of the likes of Drew Barrymore, Kim Kardashian, Rosie Huntington-Whitely and Chelsea Handler loving her products Playful chat about beauty but also was very candid about the relentless pace of running a successful business and the truth about that elusive work/life/balance. We spoke about the underrated value of kindness in business which was something that was shining from Kirsten even over the phone. So generous with her time and wisdom. I hope you enjoy our chat. As always, If you enjoy listening to Beauty island, please subscribe, and rate and review on Apple Podcasts. If you're on instagram, take a screenshot and share it on your stories so I can see where you're listening from - just tag me at @beautyislandpodcast. Now, over to Kirsten. Enjoy. Follow Kirsten @kirsten.carriol @lanolips Shop