You know what we love? Losing weight by applying lip gloss. Which Karen Robinovitz is making possible with her line of lip plumpers, which also contain an appetite suppressant called hoodia. We also love lip plumpers that don’t make us feel as though our lips are being stung over an over by bees. So we’re pretty much hooked on the Huge Lips,, Skinny Hips line. checked in with Karen to learn more about her line of cosmetics, damage control via blogging, poledancing and some awesome beauty tips:
Did you just wake up one day and say “I will begin making fabulous lip glosses now?”
It was always a dream. “Huge Lips, Skinny Hips” was inspired in part by my husband. He had been telling me for years and years that I should start my own beauty brand. And it was a dream, but I wasn’t going to just do it out of thin air. It had to come naturally.
Then we were out at a dinner party when I ate way too much. I had ring around the waist. And I said to my husband, “if my lip gloss could plump my lips not my hips, I would not be in this mess.” Then I said lip plumper with Hoodia, that’s what we need! And 2 years later here we are. 2 years, near bankruptcy lots of trying, later.”
You were a very successful writer before you started Purple Lab cosmetics. Do you think that background helped you with founding the brand?
My whole career has set me up to be doing this. Because I was a journalist first I have a great perspective on the media, and compelling stories and what editors want to cover. When I was a journalist I started going into consulting on cosmetics. I was working with huge brands and talking about how they market to media. I also did a lot of television and all of that has set me up to look at Purple Lab in a completely holistic way – from the marketing to the pacakaging to being on television. I couldn’t have done PL one minute before it happened. I needed to have this 15 year career before I could do this.
All of the lip glosses have really fantastic names – for instance, Kitty Poledancer. How do you choose them?
Its really natural, I look at that color and I think about what it inspires, and they’re all named after things in my own life that make me happy. Or they have stories that I want to share, they all have a little message so you can have an emotional connection.
Like Poledancing?
Kitty poledancer is about feeling good in your body, it doesn’t matter what it looks like. And a lot of the time you hear poledancing and you automatically think of a stripper in Lucite shoes. I go to poledancing as exercise. I can think of a million celebrities who do it. It’d about feeling liberated and sexy and we should all be kitty poledancer.
You ran into a little bit of problem a while ago when you were accused of bribing bloggers. Supposedly, you offered on girl a Coach bag. This makes us sad because you never offered us a Coach bag. Was there any truth to it?
Oh, God. I’m not afraid of anything being said good or bad because I am really open. I’ve been talking openly on my blog (even though I hate to use the word openly twice) and sharing all the mistakes I’ve made. I can tell you that 8 or 9 months ago I was giving samples to some bloggers in the hopes that they’d do something on our product. You know how it is, it was no different than any other brand. One girl did an amazing 7 minute video and I sent her a thank you note. She was coming to New York, I said “I’d love to meet you.” I met her and her mom and her sister and took them out for mani pedis. Once I saw how amusing and influential she was I introduced her to friends who had their own brands. If those people wanted to send her something, they were absolutely free to send her something. If they did, that was their choice. But I did not bribe her, I did I did not send her a gift. But even if I had sent her a thank you gift, I don’t see anything wrong with that. That’s a thank you.
How do you handle the damage control on something like that? :
I talked about it on my blog. I did a video response as well. I can only be as authentic and real as I am. There will always be people who it will never cut through for them. And then there will be people whose opinions it changes. And it at the end of the day I have to know I acted with integrity. I have to be able to look myself in the mirror.
On a happier note, you have a great line right now called Sealed With a Cure that helps support breast cancer. How did you get involved with that?
I was introduced to 3 women who are inspiring amazing women who unfortunately lost their friend to triple negative breast cancer. I had never heard of triple negative breast cancer, and I checked with my friends, and they’d never heard of it either. It tends to impact younger woman and I thought, “Wow, if I don’t know this, and my friends don’t know about it, I have to do something to bring attention to this kind of breast cancer.” I didn’t want to take a normal lip gloss and stick a pink ribbon on it, though, so we formulated a lip gloss that’s all about wellness, it’s filled with Echinacea and it’s really all about lifting your spirits. And 20% goes back to the triple negative breast cancer foundation.
Share one really good beauty tip with us.
Purple Lab is about double duty beauty. Every product has multiple benefits, and they can be used in multiple ways. Cream blush can be used as eyeshadow. Luxury squared concealer you can mix with cheek implants for a dewy runway glow. Lashionista Modelista mascara and liquid liner mix perfectly and I dab the diamond dust at the edge of all my lashes so for me the best tip is thinking about your products and use it multiple way. You’re running out, you need blush, use your lip gloss.
What’s coming up next?
I’m going back on HSN in April and we have a new shade of huge lips skinny hips and we have a new shade of Lashionista Modelista a midnight blue. It will really bring out the whites of your eyes. Pearlesque show, it’s a silicone free primer that minimizes that size of your pores and has crushed pearls. And most primers are not silicone free and it can make it slip off your face.
I just hope and woman using purple lab can feel empowered and strong and sexy. All my products have names like 6 inch heels and backstage pass because that’s how I want you to feel every day, as though you are slipping on 6 inch heels and going backstage, even if you’re just wearing crocs and going to the supermarket.
Learn more about Karen and her products at Purple Lab.
Post from: TheGloss
