Lanolips’ founder Kirsten Carrioll reveals the health scare that changed everything
The Vaucluse resident and beauty entrepreneur is the epitome of success but her fairytale life has not been without painful moments, she says.
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The Lanolips brand is celebrating 11 incredible years and its creator, Kirsten Carrioll, is delighted. The brand has expanded and evolved during this time and along the way has become a legitimate cult buy with celebrities happily sharing their love for it in print, on line and of course on their personal Instagram accounts. Lano has even hit Tik Tok fame – peak fame for those who aren’t that familiar.
Bottom line – Lano is an official success story.
But it is no overnight success. Nor is a struggle-free one. In the years since the brand was launched, Kirsten has not only worked incredibly hard, but has faced some personal demons too.
But more on those in a moment. First, I want to know … what she would tell her younger self if she could.
The question makes her laugh at first but then she gets serious – deadly serious and very, very still. It’s clear she has something to say and it means a great deal.
“If you just pick your thing and don’t be afraid to be a bit weird or a bit different and just shout about that thing, then you’ll find an audience eventually,” she says carefully.
“Being specialised and really focused is a really overarching message throughout my whole journey.”
That journey, by the way, began for the South Australia born and bred Kirsten, when she traded her McLaren Vale home for Sydney in her early 20s. Once here she formed her own PR agency Buzz Consulting, and later married husband Jean-Marc – whose Vaucluse family was behind the beauty distributor company Trimex – and soon the pair were working across some of the biggest brands in beauty.
“I was immersed in the world’s best beauty brands for many years and literally had access to anything and everything that I wanted,” reveals Kirsten.
“But then I was like, my lips are still dry.
“What’s going on here?”
That was a pivotal moment, says Kirsten, who realised that something from her childhood could be the missing ingredient in her beauty regimen – and the beauty regimens of millions of other women around the world.
And that something was lanolin.
Growing up spending time on her grandparents’ sheep farm in remote SA, it was lanolin that kept hands soft and skin supple and something the family had used for decades.
“That’s when I went on my journey – and it was a journey back home, so to speak,” she says.
“I fell back in love with lanolin and became a really passionate advocate for the ingredient.”
With a host of solid scientific data on its efficacy, a determined Kirsten set out to change Australian attitudes towards lanolin, which at the time had a reputation for being an allergen, and something destined only for the export market.
The problem wasn’t lanolin though, but something else entirely.
“I knew it was a communications problem,” says Kirsten.
“Lanolin was being used in every hospital in the Western world for burns healing and nipple cream and was 100 per cent safe at that grade. All I needed to do was present the facts differently and properly.”
Starting with just one product, the now-iconic 101 Ointment, Kirsten began making waves in her beloved beauty industry, launching Lano as a “side hustle”, while running Buzz – and her family life – alongside it. Of course, that wasn’t always a streamlined process.
“It hasn’t not been easy, and Jean-Marc and I are very much a team,” she says.
“I was primary caregiver for the first seven years, with a cleaner, and a part-time nanny for three of those years. There is no way I could have done it otherwise.
“For the past five years, since Jean-Marc sold his business, he has taken the reins with the kids. This allows me to work classic work hours to grow the business faster.”
As the family juggled their lives, Lanolips was growing in leaps and bounds and eventually Kirsten made the hard decision to sell her PR agency. It was and also wasn’t a surprise to those who know her well.
“Kirsten has always been someone who can see the big picture and that vision helps to drive her through the short-term pain,” says long-time friend and PR associate Sarah Humphries. “There were many times where it’s only in hindsight that I realised just how stressed she must have been. I believe that’s because Kirsten doesn’t project her stress on those around her, but she will always share her wins.”
Life was on track personally and professionally when in 2015 there came a crushing blow – Kirsten was diagnosed with a melanoma.
“It has probably reset my view that these things don’t happen to me,” she says, solemnly,
“This thing has happened to me. Anything can therefore happen to me. But I feel really, really lucky. It was caught by chance but in time … it was really very, very close to being much, much worse than it was. When I hear stories of people for whom it was too late, my heart goes out to them.
“Now I tell people, ‘when it comes to health always get second opinions.’ And a lot of doctors would agree with that. I now get myself checked twice a year by two different people.”
Still, she hasn’t slowed down. With some 25 products and a host of celebrities from Sienna Miller and Drew Barrymore to Kim Kardashian West using the range, Kirsten’s attitude continues to inspire those around her, as that “side-hustle” reaches heights even she hadn’t expected.
“I had really big hopes and dreams, but they were cautious,” she says.
“I did think, ‘oh wouldn’t that be amazing?’ Yes. But I didn’t want to have my heart set on it because it’s easier to not get it if you’ve not got your heart set on it,” she laughs.
“I would never have dreamt we’d be stocked in Sephora Europe in 14 countries and Canada, or 900 stores across America.”
Kirsten’s thoughts on why it has been so successful?
“I think we have a vibe that’s modern but could equally have been born 50 years ago,” she says.
“It feels like ‘coming home’. we are very trusted – and that’s because we do exactly what we say, with no hocus pocus. With the best natural ingredients.”
These days she and Jean Marc and their sons Delphin, 12 and Casper 13, spend the vast majority of their time in the home suburb of Vaucluse and enjoy the area’s proximity to the CBD and beaches.
“Every day I’m amazed at how beautiful it is,” says Kirsten.
“The natural beauty we have around us is amazing.”