Kirsten
Carriol

Raised in South Australia, Kirsten Carriol spent much of her childhood on her grandparents’ sheep farm, where lanolin was part of everyday life. Her father, a DNA molecular scientist, also taught her from a young age about the unique skin-compatible properties of lanolin. Those two influences - no-nonsense farm practicality and a deeply scientific respect for ingredients - became the foundation of LANOLIPS. Kirsten has often described the brand as the point where her family history, beauty experience and obsession with useful products all came full circle.

Before launching LANOLIPS, Kirsten built a career in marketing, branding and beauty PR. She began in marketing and branding in Sydney, gravitated naturally toward beauty clients, and later founded her own PR agency. After more than a decade working closely with beauty brands, editors and consumers, she saw firsthand how much of the category was driven by noise, claims and packaging - and how often the actual product did not quite deliver. That frustration became fuel. Kirsten wanted to create something simple, honest, hardworking and worth the money.

The idea for LANOLIPS came during a long-haul travel moment, when Kirsten realised that despite having tried almost everything in beauty, nothing had ever worked on dry lips like the lanolin she had grown up with. She launched LANOLIPS in 2009 with a clear mission: to bring lanolin back, properly - in modern, beautiful, high-quality formulas that actually work.

Today, LANOLIPS is stocked globally in over 30+ countries and 15,000 stores, and has grown from a cult lip balm into a broader skincare and hydration brand. The original 101 Ointment has become a hero product, recognised for its multipurpose use, high lanolin content and loyal following among everyday customers, beauty editors and celebrities. Public media profiles have described LANOLIPS as a global skincare sensation, with famous fans including Gigi Hadid, Drew Barrymore, Sabrina Carpenter and Lindsey Lohan.

Kirsten is known for her refreshing candour, practical founder wisdom and refusal to dress up simple ideas in corporate jargon. Her approach to beauty is direct: products should be useful, ingredients should make sense, and hype is not a strategy. She speaks with authority on building a brand with longevity, ingredient-led innovation, global growth, customer trust, founder instinct, and why simple ideas - when done properly - can become powerful businesses.

As a speaker, Kirsten brings a rare combination of beauty industry insight, global expansion, entrepreneurial grit, scientific curiosity and down-to-earth humour. She can speak to founders, women in business, building a business whilst raising a family, beauty and retail audiences, corporate leadership groups, and consumers who want the truth behind building a brand that lasts.

Her story is not about chasing trends. It is about trusting the thing that works, backing your instinct, and building something useful enough to outlive the hype.