Meet Doe Deere ♥

image courtesy of Doe Deere Blogazine.

Without further adieu here is my interview with the very lovely Doe Deere, unicorn lover and creator of Lime Crime cosmetics.

♥ I love your line, the one thing that really strikes me about Lime Crime is that it is so fun and vibrant! If you were given only three words to describe your products to a beauty editor what would they be? Like an elevator pitch? I would say that it's bright, pigmented, & whimsical! I think our slogan says it all: "So bright it's illegal!"

♥ Lime Crime is primarily sold online. How did you market your products to your customers? We sold exclusively online for the first year, but are currently branching out into retail stores in US, UK, Canada and soon Australia. When we were first starting out, my main marketing tools were MySpace, Twitter, and my blog - Doe Deere Blogazine. I enjoy writing and sharing, so I started posting makeup tutorials on my site back in 2005. Those were the dark ages of makeup tutorials, and, believe it or not, I was the only girl on the internet doing tutorials. Now we have YouTube, and LiveJournal communities, and lots of other sites! It's pretty awesome how the whole thing took off.

♥ Does selling online have any advantages over selling in physical stores? Yes, absolutely. You don't need a display, don't need to convince buyers to carry your product, and the overhead is significantly lower. However, the obvious problem with selling beauty online is that people can't try it. My dream was always to let my customers experience Lime Crime in person - which is why it's so exciting to finally have my products carried in physical stores!

♥ What was the hardest thing for you when beginning Lime Crime? Designing packaging and establishing a customer base. I love packaging and insisted on designing it myself, without having prior experience. Hit a few bumps on the road here and there. But in the end, I'm glad I did it myself - I have a much better understanding of how things work now, plus I love learning new skills. Getting the word out about my brand was tough. When you do something so far removed from the mainstream, you don't know where you fit in - and finding your customer can be a challenge. But in the process, I got to know my customer much better and even learned a thing or two about myself!

♥ How has social media impacted on your company? How have you approached using this method? I think the internet in general lent a hand. I've been online since 1996 (while still living in Russia) and marveled at the possibilities this invention brought us. I've made friends, business partners, even met my husband online - launching an online business was just a natural step. I love social networking, and enjoy connecting with new people very much.

My favorite sites:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Formspring (the new thing where anyone can ask you a question, anonymously or not).

♥ Lime Crime has recently been picked up in Urban Outfitters, congratulations! What do you think are the main contributors to this happening? Thank you so much! It's a milestone for us for sure, since Urban Outfitters is the first retailer to believe in our line and carry it in their stores. How did we end up there? Well, we were featured in Daily Candy, and that generated a great deal of buzz. Urban saw our lipsticks and wanted to carry them in their stores immediately. Our opaque lipsticks can be found in UO stores throughout Canada. I think we're a great fit with Urban because we are young, playful and tastefully edgy - just like their customers!

♥ Should we look out for Lime Crime in other stores soon? We are launching in Space NK this April, in both, UK and US. Space NK is a wonderful chain that carries cutting-edge brands such as Nars, Laura Mercier and Lipstick Queen. We are proud to be joining the family!

♥ What would you say to other women who want to start their own businesses? Go for it! If you have an idea, don't wait, do it now. Don't be afraid of failure - behind every great men there is a string of failures.

♥ What are your most used beauty products? Lip balm and eyeshadow primer - they keep my lips chap-free and my eyeshadow bright all day!

Thank you Doe...these answers have been really helpful to me and hopefully other aspiring entrepreneurs will enjoy them as well.

My Interview with Poppy King

I'm so happy to share this with you, I think that Poppy is truly one of the most creative and inspiring people that I have ever come across. Hopefully this will be the first of many interviews with inspiring entrepreneurs! Enjoy.

What was the very first thing you did to carry out your idea when you began Poppy?
The first thing I did was look up “lipstick factories” in the Yellow Pages and as there was no listing for that I found instead “Cosmetic Manufacturers” and starting ringing the numbers to see which manufacturer made lipstick.

Your packaging has always been very unique, where do you get you inspiration for it?
Mainly from art movements, films and books as well as popular culture. I just love taking things from one context and placing them in another.

I remember when I was little running into David Jones and picking out pretty matte lipsticks with my Mum, back then matte wasn’t really in vogue. How did you market the different formulation to your customers?
By emphasizing the long lasting nature of matte lipstick and that my colors were so reminiscent of the 1940’s deep reds and browns. I knew that women would like these as an alternative to all the glittery pinky colors that existed.

What was your biggest challege as a young woman, starting a business?
Learning the financial language involved. It is a very male dominated language.

What would you tell other women who are conflicted about starting a business?
The same thing I would tell them about conflicted feelings regarding relationships...it is better to have tried than not tried. The most soul destroying thing in life is not to try. Once you make the decision just to try everything becomes clearer from there.

Finally, what is the fail proof way of applying the perfect red lip?
Apply lipstick straight from the tube, blot to set and then apply another second coat and voila!

You can also read about my review of her book here.