Masks off! It’s time to paint our lips and smile (safely)
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Karen Green has been obsessed with lipstick for much of her life. So when the ACT Government eases the rules around wearing masks inside from tonight, it’s likely she’ll be donning a bright smile in celebration.
Karen’s relationship with lipsticks is so all-encompassing that the Canberra-based artist created her own brand.
Just Lippy was launched in 2016 when Karen could no longer ignore her environmental conscience and set about devising a product she could trust and that did not use any plastic in its packaging. Her colours come in small metal tins to be applied with a finger or brush.
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“I make them from scratch with as few ingredients as possible and without anything derived from petroleum or coal. They are not tested on animals, are plant-based and you can feel great about the fact that they are plastic-free!”
As a painter, Karen was also able to create the exact shades she sought out at the makeup counter but could not quite lay her hands on.
In fact, it was a quest for a particular colour lipstick at age 16 at the cosmetics counter in the then Grace Brothers Belconnen that led Karen into a modelling career when she met a modelling agent who saw her potential.
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She finished college in 1984 and moved to Sydney the following year to try her luck. A contract with Ursula Hufnagl saw her career explode and she worked across all platforms—runway, TV commercials for brands such as Coca Cola, Swatch and Toyota, magazine shoots with Cleo, Cosmo, Studio, Dolly, and music videos for bands such as INXS and Wa Wa Nee.
While Karen left modelling full-time in the ’90s she still dabbles occasionally and says it equipped her with insights into business and people.
In 2000, Karen committed herself to art practice, combining jobs in retail and raising two now teenagers.
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Her lipstick business was a side-hustle that she enjoyed as customers appreciated the switch to truly “green” red lips. But Just Lippy took a severe hit from COVID, despite an initial flurry of lipstick purchasing as we all flocked to zoom and needed a quick pop of colour.
But Karen also began beavering away behind the scenes on another project she hopes to announce shortly.
“Sales of lipstick have been few and far between but because I’ve got this secret project, I’ve laid low and haven’t pushed the product much. It’s still there, if people want it but mostly they haven’t wanted it because they’ve had to mask up!”
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As of today, Karen is delighted to see the resurgence of “dressed lips” out and about across Canberra.
“OMG! Yes to the return of the lip and return of the lippy!
“It will be so great to see the smile that goes with the smiling eyes we all perfected with masks on. I think too, just seeing the glorious colours on mouths will say so much about how much joy a small thing can bring—especially when times have seemed so joyless.”
While the restrictions on mandatory mask-wearing are eased from 6pm tonight across the ACT, masks remain mandatory in some settings, including on public transport, in high-risk settings such as hospitals, aged care facilities, at Canberra Airport and in schools among Year 7-Year 12 students.
After all this time, Karen admits “Going maskless worries me a bit but I’ll definitely get my lips on safely!”
For further details on current mask guidelines, visit covid19.act.gov.au
