‘I’m going to dream big’

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This article was published 03/10/2023 (965 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Alisha Talbot is in the business of sparkling hands.

And vegan lip balms and lotions, maybe play eyeshadows. It’s the name of the game for Lil Lippy, Talbot’s new kids-focused company.

“I couldn’t find a safe lip balm for little actors that was… in kid packaging but also had all-natural ingredients in it,” Talbot, 43, said.

She’s been a makeup artist for nearly 20 years.

Last spring, she accepted a Canadian Screen Award with the makeup department for The Porter, a CBC series set in the 1920s.

She’s led makeup departments on productions like Cult of Chucky and Channel Zero, a horror anthology television series. Movies including A Dog’s Purpose, Home Alone: The Holiday Heist and Goon have hired Talbot.

Around 15 years ago, she transitioned to wearing makeup with all-natural ingredients.

“I started paying attention to what the ingredients lists were on a lot of the products I was using on actors,” she said.

There’s been a push for “clean beauty” and all-natural products. Clean skincare entails products free from parabens, sulfates, fillers and harsh chemicals, listed Anna McGregor, MC College’s director in Winnipeg.

There’s plenty of clean options for adults, Talbot stated. It’s trickier when looking for kids, she added.

Talbot has a 10-year-old. It was around the child’s 2013 birth that Talbot started ruminating about a vegan line of kids’… something. Play makeup or face paint, perhaps.

“I had different conceptual ideas,” she said.

First, she began experimenting at home, her daughter at her side. Ingredients would ship from British Columbia and the United States.

“I quickly figured out that (making the product) was not something I wanted to do,” Talbot explained.

An explosion at the kitchen table dampened her enthusiasm: she was creating a colourful blush in a coffee grinder and the lid wasn’t locked — “colour and pigment all over the place,” Talbot said.

She filled binders with research, highlighting ingredients she’d like to try, cost breakdowns and similar products.

In 2019, she found a Manitoba manufacturer to partner with. However, the pandemic hit before any products reached store shelves; Talbot paused business and did more research.

This January, she returned to the local manufacturer to “pick up where we left off.”

Lotions and lip balms are the items she started letting her daughter use. Why not begin there with Lil Lippy?

Enter shea butter lotions decorated with shimmer bugs and watermelon monsters. Talbot launched the products in July.

“I would like to see this in stores across Canada,” she said. “I’m going to dream big.”

The company has a “long way to go” before then, she added. Still, it’s grown from the days of setting up at The Forks markets — her line is now stocked in the Forks Trading Company shop.

Talbot hopped to 22 markets this summer. The 2023 writers’ strike — putting many in the film industry out of a job, including herself — has been “a blessing in disguise” for her business, allowing her time to reach the markets, she said.

She’s seen mothers buy her products for their preschoolers and seniors buy the same for themselves.

Talbot has begun the “balancing act” of returning to makeup artistry while growing her brand. She’s developing eyeshadow pallets and booking holiday markets.

Meantime, her daughter (and her daughter’s friends) tout Lil Lippy, sharing with classmates and using the goods.

“To see these little people that I’ve dreamed of using these products… it’s inspiring,” Talbot said. “(It) makes me feel like maybe there is something here.”

McGregor, from MC College, wasn’t familiar with clean skin care lines targeted at children. She used to visit natural food stores and professional spas to buy skin products for a daughter who’s sensitive to artificial fragrances and parabens.

“I believe people will love the opportunity to have quality ingredients in products for children,” McGregor wrote in an email.

Lil Lippy’s lotions range from $19.99 to $24.99; lip balms cost $14.99. The items are online at lillippy.com.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com