Do you still make wishes? Monique, the owner and creator of Fra Lippo Lippie, does. And they seem to come true as well. I met her on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon at her favorite bar and we spoke about the universe, lipsticks and rock songs. Monique loves what she does and you can feel her positive energy when you speak to her. Her smile is quite contagious as she raves about makeup and the future for hew own brand. We both agree that we share a love for color and David Bowie as she answers all the questions I have in store for her.

How did you get started? Was your goal always to have your own brand?

No, not at all. You are going to be surprised. I started making makeup, not to make makeup but to spread the vegan word in a low key way. It started in Australia when I was living with my then boyfriend and he had a set of mermaid and dolphin oracle cards. It’s a gentler version than tarot. Every now and then I would be drawing this card that would say „mother nature is under a lot of stress and it’s time to reciprocate“.

So I quit my job and I quit everything that was secure for me. The deck of cards helped me a lot this way. When in Australia I decided to become vegan. Before that I used to eat a lot of cheese and meat. I also stumbled upon a number of articles that wrote about all the animal products you can find in makeup. And I thought, hold on. That might be a way that I can help mother earth without having to become a rebellious activist

Because a lot of vegans that I knew back then are quite dogmatic and not easy and open. I like to have fun and I am an open and fun person. This is where the ball started rolling and it naturally evolved from there.

What was the first product you created?

I started with lip balms because I’ve been always obsessed with them. Creating lip balms was just fun to do. Everyone uses it, so why not?

What was the biggest struggle you faced?

The only difficult thing was to believe in myself. It doesn’t matter what your profession is. I had to tell myself that people have done this before. You can do it too. Now that I have my own company I need to believe in me. Because when I feel like crap I can see it in my sales. There is a direct connection between how I feel and what happens to me. It can be a struggle sometimes and mostly it’s going super good.

How did you create lipsticks?

When I first ordered colors and I tried to make lipsticks it was just a mess. I said to myself: oh, I’m not getting into this. But then a shop owner who sold my lip balms said that lip and cheek colors always sold really well and asked if I would create some. I had thought about it before so this is when I got started on my lipsticks. ‘Brown Sugar’, ‘Red Betty’ and ‘Ziggy’ were my first colors. When I created ‘Whole lotta Rosa’ I actually set out to create an orange one that I recently released as Rebel Rebel. The color that came out was just so beautiful. A few of my lipsticks are also odes to daughters of good friends and of course a tribute to rockers.

From left to right: Ziggy, Red Betty, A whole lotta Rosa, Brown Sugar. Rebel Rebel

So it’s only you who is playing with colors? No one else involved?

Yes, it’s all mine and I like it that way. If someone has suggestions on the texture I of course will listen but the color is my decision.

Lip Balms, Lipsticks… what’s next?

Actually I have created a deodorant. I love using natural deodorant and I used to have one of those natural salt crystals but dropped it and it broke into a thousand pieces. I already had the ingredients and just tried to make my own. But I’m way more into makeup so I’ve been thinking about adding nail polish next. I would match the colors to my lipsticks. Hair soap is another thing that would be cool. I stopped using regular shampoo years ago so a bar soap for the hair, especially for my own type of hair would be interesting to create.

There are a lot of Flamingos in your products and Instagram. What’s the story behind the pink bird?

There is no strategy behind anything. It’s just what I like. Even the flamingo was there out of the blue. The very first lip balm or logo didn’t have a flamingo. Flamingos are girlish, sweet and funny. It just matched. There’s no deeper marketing science behind it all, everything you see is a reflection of my likings.

So you are a one man show. Is that going to change in the future?

Somebody is going to work with me and the story is actually quite cool. I am a person who follows signs, I let myself be guided and I make wishes. And they actually come true. At one point I thought: ‘I need to expand into France’. But I don’t speak French and I didn’t know how to do that. A few days later I was at a market, selling my products there, and this girl came up to me and said: ‘Hi, I am Julie and I know your brand and I love it. If you ever need help, I’m French and I think your product would really work in France.’ I just wished for someone like her and there she was, special delivery from the Universe.

Where else can we find your products besides Amazingy?

Berlin, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium… and hopefully France soon!

Can you tell me more about your philosophy?

When I was in Australia I learned about law of attraction and this is actually what I am doing. I follow what I feel. I follow my intuition. And I always take full responsibility for everything that happens in my life. Good and (at first glance seemingly) bad. And I receive feedback that this method works all the time. Meeting this French girl was again proof to me that the law of attraction works. When I came back to Holland after my Australia trip and just started my fra lippo lippie. I decided to go to the center of Amsterdam and let myself be guided. Just to see where I would end up. I ended up finding this store called ‘The Soulsister’ that I’d never seen before, while it had been there for such a long time, and I knew I had to enter there.

So I went in and talked to the owner, who was very supportive of me and my brand and decided to sell them.
A woman working for a yoga magazine later on saw my products at the same shop. These kind of “coincidences” or outcomes from inspired actions always proof to me that this “stuff” really works. Yes there are also insecure and hard times and that’s just as much a part of life as success and happiness. The only thing you need to do is accept the challenge and go in it with all your trust, love and effort and everything will be more than fine.

Have you had a look at Monique’s lipsticks and lipbalms? The packaging is to die for! The lipsticks come in a mirrored compact, so if you want to apply some color while on the go, you are covered! Also, the lip balms include a tiny wish doll, so all your wishes may come true !

Photographs of Monique: Dunja Karamehmedovic