Episode overview

Kirsten Carriol joined Steve Grace on Give It A Nudge to share the 12-year story of Lanolips, from an airport departure lounge in Paris to a brand with 25 products in 20 global markets. The conversation covers the lanolin ingredient story, why blogs were the right channel before social media existed, how Kirsten caught Boots before everyone else did, why she waited until the stars aligned before entering the US, the packaging redesign mistake that taught her to trust her own instincts over panels, her approach to filtering self-doubt, and her advice for founders on protecting fragile early-stage ideas.

The lanolin origin story

In 2007, Kirsten was heading to the airport in Paris and dreading the dryness ahead for her lips. Despite having access to every luxury skincare brand through her PR career, nothing had worked. She remembered lanolin from her childhood in Adelaide, where her grandfather was a sheep farmer and his thick farmer’s hands were always soft from the lanolin that came off the wool during shearing. Her father, a scientist in genetics and DNA, had explained that the molecular structure of lanolin mimics human oils, making it uniquely compatible with skin in a way that plant-derived oils cannot replicate. The brand name came to her within 30 seconds.

Catching Boots and building the UK before the US

Kirsten launched in Australia with Priceline, David Jones, and Mecca, then saw early blogging culture emerging before social media had matured. She sent products to the three or four design blogs then operating in the UK and Australia. They loved the products and wrote about them. Boots caught word and reached out. Getting on Boots shelves 12 years ago, and staying there, remains one of her proudest milestones. The UK success gave her the confidence and the data to approach the US, which she waited for until the right distribution partner and enough brand awareness were in place.

The packaging mistake: panel decisions produce average outcomes

In years two or three of the brand, Kirsten ran a packaging redesign through a panel of experienced skincare and retail professionals she trusted. The result pleased everyone and was completely average. She hated it. The lesson: panel decisions always produce something in the middle, and middle is not where great brands live. Creative ideas are fragile in early stages and need to be protected from consensus before they are strong enough to survive it.

Filtering self-doubt

Kirsten has a deliberate approach to managing the self-doubt that comes with building a consumer brand in the age of social media. She actively filters the information she receives, choosing not to see things that will produce doubt without producing useful action, while building resilience toward the things she does need to see. Over time this has given her a kind of selective immunity: she hears the things that matter and is not destabilised by the things that do not.