WORKING with and creating make-up would be a dream come true job for many women, but for Enniskillen-born Lisa Keeling, it is her reality after launching her own make-up brand – London Copyright – in 2018.

Lisa grew up in Cavanaleck after being born into a family of six sisters and two brothers.

She was educated at St. Fanchea's College and Mount Lourdes Grammar School before heading off to Liverpool to study Economics at university.

She returned to Fermanagh and got a graduate job with the Quinn Group before going to travel all around the world, returning to the U.K and settling in Manchester six years ago

Lisa had picked up managerial skills over the years in all her various roles, but she began managing a beauty brand on her return to Manchester.

After a few years, she decided to start up her own company. When asked about the move to start on her own, Lisa said: “I’m a business person, first and foremost, but I'm quite a creative person, so I moved into cosmetics when I moved back to Manchester.

"I worked in a colour cosmetics brand in Manchester, and then ended up working my way through that, and managed the brand and all of the exports, and all of the product development, and I just got a really good view of how the business was run.

“I started to get an idea that I'd really like to do something myself, and to try to identify products that I would like to bring to the market.

"I tried to think of things that maybe weren't there on the market at the price range that I thought people should expect from a make-up and quality level.”

That was back in 2017, and Lisa was hands-on from the start – from the materials in the product packaging, to the artwork, to the design and the logo.

She was heavily involved in working with her suppliers in terms of an ingredient list for her products.

Of her hands-on approach, she said: “Everything is cruelty-free, which was really important for me. It's obviously hugely technical to set up a brand and a business as it is, never mind in the cosmetics industry where you've got a lot of different policies and procedures to follow as well.”

Now, as her brand approaches its second birthday, Lisa employs two members of staff; one in her warehouse to help with the delivery of orders, and one who looks after PR and the social media side of the business.

Covid-19 and Brexit have caused some concern for Lisa and her brand. Major plans for 2020 had to be put on hold due to the pandemic.

She said: “It’s been a bit difficult to grow in an environment where nothing is running currently, and everyone is really hesitant, even Brexit has caused concern because we are in Europe – we're in over 14 countries in Europe.

"When you sell into Europe, you have a huge technical loophole to jump through, with regard to the products on the market, which unfortunately will probably all change now because of Brexit, but that's just how it stands at the moment.”

Many make-up artists have brought out their own products, but Lisa warns that it’s not as easy as it looks.

She said: “The business side of things is actually much more complex than people realise.

"I was reached out to by somebody quite recently who was a make-up artist on social media, and they thought it was just a case of being popular, so they could just bring out make-up.

"But it's really much more complex than that. There're a lot of different technical and bureaucratic things that you have to go through.”

Lisa explained the reasoning behind starting her own company in her forties.

She said: “I'm really creative, and to be honest, with business I'd never really found the outlet in order to kind of release that.

"It sounds a bit of a strange thing to get to my age – 42 – and only be developing a business now, but I found something that I loved with cosmetics, and obviously it's creative.

"You get to get to work with lots of different types of people, but the thing I really love is when people love what I created.

"It just gives me so much pleasure, seeing people picking up something, touching it, trying it and really loving it, so that drives me.”

Lisa takes inspiration from everywhere – nature, art and photography, but her core inspiration is her late mum.

“My mum has always been a very dominant character. She's always put a lot of belief into us and said if you can work at something, you can achieve anything."

Lisa’s brand, ‘London Copyright’, is stocked in United Colours of Benetton, Enniskillen.

This collaboration delighted Lisa, as she admires proprietor Sabrina Gamble as a woman in business in a huge way.

She said: I’ve always really respected her as a businesswoman, so I'm really pleased that it’s her that's taken it on in the town, as I know she'll do it massive favours back home.

"She took the products and tried them, wore them and loved them, so now she stocks them. I couldn't be more proud than to have it with Sabrina."