Interview: Lily Lolo's Laura Abraham

Mineral make-up is becoming increasingly popular - and when Vikki Khan discovered there was a gap in the market back in 2005 she quickly set up Lily Lolo.
Offering a gorgeous range of 'au natural' make-up products at affordable prices, Lily Lolo products contain the minimum ingredients (natural ones at that) but still promise truly great products that really perform.
Here, Lily Lolo's Marketing and PR Officer, Laura Abraham shares her love of a brand which is going from strength to strength.


Lauren : How did you start out in your job? Were you always keen to work in the beauty industry?
Laura: Having graduated in Fashion Communications, my first roles within the industry were within the marketing departments of clothing retailers. I’ve always loved the fashion and beauty retail industry.
With this role, I’d been aware of Lily Lolo for a while and kept in touch with brand founder Vikki Khan for some time before this position arose. It was just a matter of being patient for a good year or so! As the Lily Lolo brand has grown over the recent years consumer and media interest has boomed, it became necessary to have an in-house contact managing requests, campaigns and everything else marketing and PR.

Lauren: I imagine there's a few perks to working at Lily Lolo?
Laura: It’s great to be in a position where you can see results of your work and landing coverage in a top title will always make my day. Oh and sampling and developing new products is always a fun part of the role! – Can’t say too much about that though!
I manage all areas under the marketing and PR umbrella.
A typical day can be anything from writing press releases, calling round publications about new products, liaising with design and web agencies, organising photoshoots, researching new campaigns etc.

Lauren: Anything you don't like about your job?
Laura: It has to be the temptation to spend all my money on products.
All our distribution is managed from the head office so there’s always products around - not good for the bank account.
In fact, at the moment we’re just finalising our stockist product stand – I think I might need one on my dressing table to house the full range. It’s getting slightly out of hand.

Lauren: What's the best selling Lilo Lolo product?
Laura: Without a doubt our best-selling line is the foundations.
With 16 shades we cater for all skin tones.
Mineral foundation is why minerals have taken the industry by storm. Their flawless finish is just fantastic, it beats those slimy liquids hands down.

Lauren: If Lily Lolo could have a female celebrity as an ambassador, who would it be and why?
Laura: I think somebody fun, and down to earth with a natural zest for life, perhaps like Fearne Cotton.

Lauren: What does Lily Lolo pride itself on (i.e high quality make-up/affordable products)?
Laura: We pride ourselves on the quality of our make-up and the price.
In comparison to some of the other mineral brands we have more in the jars, safer ingredients and at a lower cost.
We’re also passionate about creating an experience online for our customers, typically through interesting website features, blogs, online competitions and offers; and of course providing excellent customer service.

Lauren: What's your must-have beauty product and why? And if you were stranded on a desert island, which product would you take with you?
Laura: Since starting my job here at Lily Lolo I’m a complete mineral convert.
At first I just couldn't see myself wearing powdered foundation as I have really dry skin.
It’s just not like the powders you get on your typical high street (probably because they don’t contain any talc), so I think a mineral foundation and of course the Kabuki brush.
I’d have to break the rules and take two, or three actually as I couldn’t live without my tweezers to keep the eyebrows at bay either!

Lauren: What's your favourite make-up look?
Laura: Certainly smoky eyes.
During the day I wear light make-up and only a natural eye colour. I have naturally dark features, so emphasising with smoky eyes creates so much more drama for an evening out.
I’m a big fan of Mystery and Witchypoo Lily Lolo eye colours. I always use just the clear gloss on the lips with this look though; lips and eyes - it’s either one or the other.

Lauren: What's in the pipeline for the brand?
Laura: Now that would be telling...
We have lots of products in development at the moment which is very exciting.
Overall, we’re working on building brand awareness across the UK and overseas

Lauren: The brand has recently become cruelty-free. How important do you think this is?
Laura: Well, we’ve always been cruelty free, it’s just now that we have the official industry recognition.
It’s a tough audit process to get through, as BUAV look all the way back into the supply chain down to the rawest of ingredients.
It’s proven that the majority of consumers would prefer to buy from companies that do not test on animals. It’s as important to us as it is our customers, and we hope that more in the industry follow by example.

Lily Lolo make-up can be purchased online at: www.lilylolo.co.uk