This month for Beauty Blogs Backstage, I got to interview Louise of Get Lippie. Louise has had a love affair with makeup ever since she was a smallhuman! She's been doing makeovers since she was a teen, and she celebrated her one-year blogiversary in September. Louise's partner Matt occasionally contributes to Get Lippie, reviewing men's products. Read my interview with Louise below (and please excuse this lame introduction, I'm running on no coffee right now. I'll write something wittier later, when my caffeine-to-hemoglobin ratio has been set to rights.)

1. How did you get started with makeup and beauty products? Was it just the general personal-maintenance stuff that expanded, or did you start with nail polish when you were still young enough to half-fancy the thought of painting your mom's walls with the varnish?
   Great Question! Since I was about 12, my mum had more or less banned me from leaving the house without (at the very least) lipstick on, and on so many occasions her final words as the front door shut behind me were: “Have you got your lippie on?” so I guess you could say I inherited my love of makeup from her! (also, sharp-eyed people might also have just figured out where the name of the blog comes from too!) she had a great collection of make up – lots and lots of Avon products - and she was happy to let me experiment with them from a very early age, I was doing makeovers on the neighbours from about the age of eight!
   
   Also I had a toy when I was about ten, which was called a Girls World (essentially a disembodied head you could put makeup onto and style its hair, which is kind of creepy now I come to think of it), and that started off an entire fascination with cosmetics as the kind you got with the doll were dreadful! Green and blue crayons. Bah. (LiAnn's note: You know, I think I had one of those. It was the head, and it was on kind of a pink tray-thing that could hold the makeup / hair doodads and soforth? Ah, memories...*twitch* now let's shove this one back in the box and never speak of it again.)

2. What first attracted you to try organic products?
   When I first started the blog I shared my house with a very good vegan friend, and I realised that she wouldn’t be able to use a lot of my favourite products. After a bit of research, I discovered that a lot of the smaller, independent organic cosmetic producers were also “vegan-friendly”, and so I wanted to show off products that all people could use. Also, a lot of the small producers are more interesting, and definitely more “female-friendly” than many of the multinationals, so they’re more interesting to write about.
   
   I find I’m allergic to quite a few skin-care products that contain parabens and lots of synthetic perfumes, too, so it’s nice to avoid those once in a while as well.
3. Have you ever been asked to do any "long-distance" personal shopping?
   Oh yes! I get requests all the time from all over the world asking me to recommend products for people for specific problems and events, I love it! I’m a horror at getting to the post office though (I hate the post office) so I’m a lousy swap partner!
4. How did you get Mr.Lippie interested in contributing?
   I didn’t, really! He’s always been very supportive, right from the get-go, and he’s always shown an interest in what I’ve written and the events I get to go to, plus, he’s a past master at reading beauty blogs over my shoulder when I’m browsing! He’d said a few things that made me think he might have a bit of a talent for turning a phrase, and when I was given a bottle of aftershave instead of perfume by a PR a few months ago, I thought “right! Write about it, don’t just tell me this time”, and it turns out he can actually write really well! I’m very proud of him, although it means our bathroom shelves get VERY crowded with two “beauty bloggers” in the house!
5. What discontinued beauty product (skincare, makeup, whatever) do you still miss?
   Chanel’s India lipstick. Frankly my perfect shade of bright, but not too in your face pink. Not a day goes by when I don’t wish I could just pick up a new one. I still have the stub of the old one, which I’m saving. Saving it for what, I don’t have a clue!
6. What color, technique or treatment did you think would not work well on you...but it ended up surprising you?
   I’ve been forced to wear blue eyeshadow a few times this year, and, whilst I still think it doesn’t suit me in the slightest, it always gets compliments. I still wouldn’t wear it by choice though.
7. Got any blogging or beauty goals for 2011? (It's not too early to ask that, right? :D )
   Ha ha! It is WAY too early to ask that! I never know what I’m going to blog about from one week to the next, really. I think my goal for 2011 is just to keep on keeping on.

You can also check out the interview she gave me, and my really long and rambly answers, over on her site.

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