Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
Speaker 1: hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
Speaker 1: Sophie Torba and coming up on today's show, TikToker Anna
Speaker 1: Paul has put luxury suitcase brand Romoa on blast in
Speaker 1: a recent TikTok blog and why Emmy Lou McCarthy's skin
Speaker 1: is up for debate as she launches her skincare line
Speaker 1: through Chemist Warehouse. But first, the owner of a Chapel
Speaker 1: Street Bridal boutique will be waiting with baited breath to
Speaker 1: see what wedding gown controversial Slickstick owner Mia Plasic wears
Speaker 1: on her big day. The divisive influencer tied the knot yesterday,
Speaker 1: but at the time of recording, is yet to share
Speaker 1: a glimpse of her much anticipated gown. Now, Sophie, It's
Speaker 1: believed Mia allegedly struck up a contrad deal with the
Speaker 1: boutique but never came to pick up the dress. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We covered this story extensively at the end of August,
Speaker 1: but essentially on June first, Miya announced that work had
Speaker 1: begun on her wedding gown and she tagged Bridal boutique
Speaker 1: Shamprey Cature in her stories, but didn't specify if this
Speaker 1: was a gifted or paid partnership. Now, with a lot
Speaker 1: of these wedding deals, particularly with gowns, most of the
Speaker 1: time these partnerships are contra deals, so the gown is
Speaker 1: either gifted to the bride or loaned in exchange for exposure. Now,
Speaker 1: Mia ended up jetting off on the fifth of August
Speaker 1: to embark on her European holiday ahead of their wedding
Speaker 1: in Italy, and this was very curious timing because it
Speaker 1: was only three months after she started having her gown designed,
Speaker 1: and most wedding gowns take anywhere between ten to twelve
Speaker 1: months to make even more time when it's a custom gown,
Speaker 1: it does seem very late to start having your custom
Speaker 1: made gown designed in June when your wedding is in September. Yeah,
Speaker 1: particularly when you're leaving a month before the wedding as well,
Speaker 1: because generally there's going to be last minute fittings, particularly
Speaker 1: when it is custom. So this designer would have been
Speaker 1: working around the clock to make sure that this gown
Speaker 1: was complete. And word on the street is that me
Speaker 1: has allegedly been shopping around for wedding sponsorship deals since
Speaker 1: she got engaged. So I wonder if she struggled to
Speaker 1: find a wedding dress designer who would give her a
Speaker 1: gown because of her reputation, because, as we touched on
Speaker 1: in our August episode, she had a thirtieth birthday party
Speaker 1: where a lot of it was gifted and a lot
Speaker 1: of those supplies were not happy because they didn't feel
Speaker 1: like they were given the exposure that they deserved. All
Speaker 1: were poss And what got a lot of tongues wagging
Speaker 1: was that after Mia started posting on Instagram about her
Speaker 1: very lavish bridal shower and her European holiday, Champury Couture
Speaker 1: unfollowed Mia, and this led to speculation that perhaps things
Speaker 1: had turned sour and that maybe Mia wasn't upholding her
Speaker 1: side of this contra deal. It is very strong messaging,
Speaker 1: as we know, to unfollow someone and it's a real
Speaker 1: fuck you. Yeah. And after our episode dropped, in what
Speaker 1: was very curious timing, Champury Couture posted a video of
Speaker 1: a beaded gown which looked very similar to the one
Speaker 1: that Mia posted in her original in Instagram story because
Speaker 1: we saw her in a corset so this was a
Speaker 1: beaded corset. It looked very similar. So the boutique wrote
Speaker 1: expressions of interest. What should we do with this gown
Speaker 1: which we custom made for someone who never collected it
Speaker 1: and pretty much screwed us over. We have our legal
Speaker 1: team on this next week, but wanted to ask everyone
Speaker 1: their thoughts on how we should get rid of this gown.
Speaker 1: We made this custom gown which is a one off design. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: we have lost thousands as this individual screwed us over,
Speaker 1: and we would like to recover funds for this dress
Speaker 1: since they refused to pay a cent. Is one hundred
Speaker 1: percent Italian silk, approximately sized twenty bust and hips and
Speaker 1: size fourteen to sixteen waist. Any funds we recover, we'd
Speaker 1: like to donate to charity. Any thoughts such a burn
Speaker 1: of a message following this post, a lot of people said,
Speaker 1: I don't think that this is Mia because she's not
Speaker 1: a size twenty, But we've got to remember that wedding
Speaker 1: sizing is absolutely fucked. It is different to regular sizing,
Speaker 1: so twenty aeco it's been like a country road. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's very different. I mean it's clear from this message
Speaker 1: that Mia was locked into a partnership with this brand.
Speaker 1: She got them to make a custom gown for her, which,
Speaker 1: let's be honest, we generally cost what tens of thousands
Speaker 1: of dollars, and then just decided allegedly, hey, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to pick this dress up. I can't be bothered
Speaker 1: to deal with this. I get the vibe. Maybe she
Speaker 1: didn't like it and that's why she didn't pick it
Speaker 1: up and she was too much of a coward to
Speaker 1: maybe say in person. Well, if this is true, this
Speaker 1: poor bridal company has been taken for an absolute right
Speaker 1: and this is really disgusting behavior. It would be absolutely
Speaker 1: crushing for this small business, particularly because it's clear that
Speaker 1: they want to get their name out there. If this
Speaker 1: has been in order that they've had to rush through
Speaker 1: in three months, they must have had designers and seamstress
Speaker 1: working in overtime, particularly because it was a very intricate design,
Speaker 1: a lot of beadwork. Yeah. Well, everyone has been waiting
Speaker 1: to see what dress Mia actually has worn to her wedding,
Speaker 1: and on Friday MIA's bride it's made Melanie James, who,
Speaker 1: for a side note, is married to Blair James, who
Speaker 1: recently sold Bondie sands for a lazy four hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty million dollars. So she caused a stir when she
Speaker 1: posted a photo of a dress bag in front of
Speaker 1: her private jet and wrote, for some reason, I was
Speaker 1: put in charge of the precious cargo for Mia Plasic
Speaker 1: and Justin Borg's wedding. Luckily it has arrived in Italy
Speaker 1: and people instantly thought, well, this must be MIA's gown. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I did some detective work because I looked at
Speaker 1: the photo and thought, that bag looks very small. Surely
Speaker 1: there's not a huge bridal gown in it, and one
Speaker 1: would assume that Mia wants something very lavish and over
Speaker 1: the top, so I'm guessing it would have a large
Speaker 1: train which would not fit into that tiny bag. So
Speaker 1: I googled the brand name on the front of the bag,
Speaker 1: which is actually a soup brand. So it appears to
Speaker 1: just be Justin's wedding suit. So it is still unclear
Speaker 1: which designer Miir is going to be wearing. I also
Speaker 1: want to rewind for a moment because this friendship with
Speaker 1: Melanie James seems odd. So they're very new friends and
Speaker 1: Melanie only got married last year, but Mia wasn't a bridesmaid.
Speaker 1: I don't think she had any bridesmaids, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: It seems to be a very lucrative friendship for her well,
Speaker 1: for Mia being associated to the previous owners of Bondy Sand's,
Speaker 1: who are worth over four hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 1: It almost makes her look more successful and legitimizes her business,
Speaker 1: particularly when there's been a lot of rumors of maybe
Speaker 1: business deals that have gone untoward with her. I have
Speaker 1: heard from a couple of sources that Mia has been
Speaker 1: using Melanie's wedding to get sponsorships for her own wedding.
Speaker 1: So she'd say things like, my very dear friend, she
Speaker 1: got this many ibills on her wedding, so I'm expected
Speaker 1: to get the same amount. So imagine being her friend
Speaker 1: and realizing that you were being used in that way.
Speaker 1: It does seem like a case though, of keeping up
Speaker 1: with the Joneses, or shall we say the James's, because
Speaker 1: Mia and Justin have arrived on the Amalfi Coast and
Speaker 1: they have been staying in a very opulent villa called
Speaker 1: villain Fatika. I'm probably prema Wrongteta, I'm so sorry now.
Speaker 1: So it is a twentieth century villa that has been restored.
Speaker 1: It is absolutely stunning. It's spread across four levels, so
Speaker 1: there's four terraces overlooking the coastline. And it is a
Speaker 1: massive villa, so it's set on nine hundred meters square
Speaker 1: of land and it has a very large garden with
Speaker 1: a swimming pool and a gym. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: places for photo ops for the wedding and it is
Speaker 1: pretty wild. Because I put my detective hat back on
Speaker 1: again and I jumped on Airbnb to look at the
Speaker 1: cost of this villa per night and it costs seven thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred and thirty eight dollars per night and you
Speaker 1: have to book a minimum of four nights. I know
Speaker 1: the Malfea Coast is pricey, but that is huge. Well,
Speaker 1: the thing is Mia and Justin have revealed that they're
Speaker 1: actually staying in this accommodation for a week, so that
Speaker 1: is setting them back fifty two thousand, seven hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty six dollars on accommodation alone. And I get the feeling,
Speaker 1: as we've touched on that they are trying to keep
Speaker 1: up appearances with the Bondi Sands people because they got
Speaker 1: married in Italy last year in the House of Gucci
Speaker 1: and their villa set them back two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars so far. Well that's a week. Sorry. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so fifty thousand dollars doesn't seem like much, does it.
Speaker 1: Well not in that not With that comparison, it could
Speaker 1: also explain why Mia has been trying to get everything
Speaker 1: else for free, because it's potentially so they can save
Speaker 1: off enough money for this accommodation. It's also been interesting
Speaker 1: to watch her welcome dinner because she's been making a
Speaker 1: huge effort to post all of the brands she's potentially
Speaker 1: working with, and on the list so far is a
Speaker 1: brand called The Creative Directory, which is a Melbourne talent
Speaker 1: agency that represents hair and makeup artists and specializes in
Speaker 1: destination weddings. She's also been tagging Australian Wedding Official, which
Speaker 1: is a videography business, and they have already posted an
Speaker 1: event video of her welcome dinner, which is unheard of.
Speaker 1: Not many people get their wedding videos back like the
Speaker 1: next day or sorry they're welcome videos back then. No.
Speaker 1: I was very surprised also to see that The Nuptial
Speaker 1: Collective is MIA's wedding planner, So she tagged them in
Speaker 1: a number of posts and that name will sound familiar
Speaker 1: to listeners because we spoke about them a couple of
Speaker 1: months ago. So they are the wedding planners for Tammy
Speaker 1: Hembro and Matt Sakowski's wedding, which I'm so excited about,
Speaker 1: is a couple of weeks away, so they were caught
Speaker 1: up in the invite league. Now, the Nuptial Collective is
Speaker 1: a very high end wedding planning business and they've worked
Speaker 1: with notable high profile influences such as Brook Hogan and
Speaker 1: Shameless as Zara McDonald, and the business is very much
Speaker 1: known for working with high end, luxury weddings that come
Speaker 1: with very hefty price tag. So for Mea, it's all
Speaker 1: about appearances. So she knows that if she tags the
Speaker 1: Nuptial Collective, people instantly think, wow, this is an expensive wedding,
Speaker 1: and that's at the core what seems very important to her.
Speaker 1: Now let's get back to MIA's welcome dinner, because this
Speaker 1: looked like a very glitzy event. It took place in
Speaker 1: their accommodation right on the terrorist. They had band and
Speaker 1: a pop up bar, but there weren't that many guests
Speaker 1: in attendance. Yeah, I noticed in the event video that
Speaker 1: the videographer was trying to do a lot of tight
Speaker 1: shots because it was a very large balcony. But again,
Speaker 1: I don't think that there's that many people who have
Speaker 1: flown over for the wedding. I get the vibe there's
Speaker 1: probably around twenty to thirty guests. So it is hard
Speaker 1: as a videographer when you were tasked with the job
Speaker 1: of making an empty space look busy. I have been
Speaker 1: there a few times. You have to get a lot
Speaker 1: of like overhead shots. Well, there's nothing wrong with having
Speaker 1: an intimate wedding, but I just get the feeling that
Speaker 1: this is just all for social media because it was
Speaker 1: very opulent. There was a lot of There was one
Speaker 1: of those large what are those, you know, the cheese tables,
Speaker 1: like what are the razing table? And there was a band,
Speaker 1: but it looked like no one was on the dance floor. Now.
Speaker 1: Mia wore a long gown, while Justin wore a green
Speaker 1: suit jacket with chinos, and in the video it looked
Speaker 1: like the guests got pretty loose at the end of
Speaker 1: the night because they all ended up jumping in the pool,
Speaker 1: which is quite interesting because it looked like the wedding
Speaker 1: was the next day. Well that's how she made a
Speaker 1: look on social media. So I'm sure there's going to
Speaker 1: be a few sore heads. I hate that when there's
Speaker 1: a huge event the night before. Yeah, it just I
Speaker 1: don't know, it just seems like bad timing because the
Speaker 1: main focus is meant to be the wedding. You want
Speaker 1: everybody feeling their best on the wedding. But that's what's
Speaker 1: happening to weddings now all Like there's celebrities who are
Speaker 1: having these four to five day wedding events and you know,
Speaker 1: they've obviously got the money to do it, And now
Speaker 1: we've seen influencers try to recreate the same thing when
Speaker 1: we know that they don't have the budget for it.
Speaker 1: I always want to how the guests feel in those situations,
Speaker 1: Like are they all as into it as the couples?
Speaker 1: By the fucking recovery, they're all done. They just want
Speaker 1: to go home because it's over it by then, because
Speaker 1: there's only so much that you can just be focused
Speaker 1: on these two people and how fantastic it is. But
Speaker 1: even you know, if you go to a wedding and
Speaker 1: you don't know that many people there. I've been in
Speaker 1: that situation, and you know, you find your people to
Speaker 1: talk to at the wedding and after about five hours
Speaker 1: of conversation with them, there's nothing else to say. The
Speaker 1: next day done. Now we have got a little glimpse
Speaker 1: of the wedding morning, and again it was filled with
Speaker 1: a lot of sponsors, so that this time we saw
Speaker 1: a pajama sponsor, but we haven't seen the dress. And
Speaker 1: I am very interested for that photo to pop up
Speaker 1: on my Instagram feed and I want to see what
Speaker 1: the response is from Shampury Couture. Yeah, I just want
Speaker 1: to see the fallout because variant, Oh, can you imagine.
Speaker 2: If you've got one of these eighty percent is like me,
Speaker 2: Beta or Camelia that packed them the boys in packing
Speaker 2: the boys were like putting the boxes together.
Speaker 1: Lifestyle influencer Emmy Lou McCarthy has caused a stir by
Speaker 1: launching her very own skincare line exclusively through Chemist's Warehouse.
Speaker 1: While the single mums fans got behind her, selling out
Speaker 1: her skincare kids in just twenty four hours, other corners
Speaker 1: of the Internet scrutinized the forty five year old's skin, Sophie,
Speaker 1: I wasn't expecting skincare from Emmy Lou. Yeah. I was
Speaker 1: pretty surprised as well. Because Emmy Lou has predominantly marketed
Speaker 1: herself as a cook and also a TV presenter, we
Speaker 1: haven't heard her talking that much about her skincare routine.
Speaker 1: She has sold cookbooks online and also through large chains
Speaker 1: like w KMA and book Toopia, so she is very
Speaker 1: business savvy, but skincare didn't necessarily feel like an organic
Speaker 1: move from her. Then again, after doing some digging, I
Speaker 1: found out that she has previously worked in beauty salon,
Speaker 1: so maybe this is a passion that she's choosing to
Speaker 1: open up about now. It's interesting because skincare is normally
Speaker 1: marketed as being an aspirational purchase, but Emmylou's brand is
Speaker 1: centered very much on relatability, so it is kind of
Speaker 1: a weird mix. Yeah. But that being said, you've got
Speaker 1: to look at who this brand is being marketed at,
Speaker 1: because it's a brand for everyday mums. Well that's who
Speaker 1: I think it's for. It's everyday mums in their forties
Speaker 1: and fifties, and they're women who don't necessarily feel like
Speaker 1: they belong at shops like Sephora or Mecha, and maybe
Speaker 1: they feel like they're left behind when it comes to
Speaker 1: all of these new steps that were being told we
Speaker 1: need to have in our skincare routine. I mean, I know,
Speaker 1: for instance, my mum she doesn't really know what a
Speaker 1: serum is like, there's a lot lot she does now,
Speaker 1: she does now, But I mean, I feel like there's
Speaker 1: a lot of women in their forties, fifties and sixties
Speaker 1: who all of these things are new to them and
Speaker 1: they almost want to be educated on them because they
Speaker 1: want to keep up with it. I mean, it is
Speaker 1: a discount chemist after all as well, so it's going
Speaker 1: to be women who were looking for skincare at a
Speaker 1: lower price. Well, Emmy Lou is really good at speaking
Speaker 1: to the everyday mum and we've seen her do brand
Speaker 1: deals with Esme and Garnia in the past, So I'm
Speaker 1: wondering did she sell out a lot of those products
Speaker 1: and think, wait, a secon, why don't I just create
Speaker 1: my own skincare. What was quite nice is I noticed
Speaker 1: that Esme congratulated Emmy on the launch of her skincare range,
Speaker 1: and it was in contrast to Molly May announcing that
Speaker 1: she's launching her own clothing brand, and PLT, which she
Speaker 1: used to be the creative director of, didn't like the
Speaker 1: post and didn't comment on it and maybe think less
Speaker 1: of them, Like I actually think it's nice to see
Speaker 1: other brands championing other people, even though it's a competitor essentially. Well,
Speaker 1: let's get onto the name of the product. It is
Speaker 1: Saint Sage, and on Thursday, Emmy Lou dropped the announcement
Speaker 1: with a very professionally shot promotional video. Yeah, let's throw
Speaker 1: to Emmy explaining the meaning behind the name.
Speaker 2: It's really quite simple but so gorgeous. So Saint for
Speaker 2: me is all about being a messenger, right, So it's
Speaker 2: a messenger and then Sage comes from the word sage,
Speaker 2: like as in what I named my son. But that
Speaker 2: word means wisdom and being wise. What means wise, you know,
Speaker 2: And so we obviously changed it around to make it
Speaker 2: kind of like a bit more brandy, and I loved
Speaker 2: having the Jay in it. And so it's all about
Speaker 2: the messenger of wisdom and knowledge for skincare. And then
Speaker 2: it obviously has that connection to family as well, and
Speaker 2: so it's yeah, that's where Saint Sage came from.
Speaker 1: I think it's a nice touch naming a product after
Speaker 1: a child, But I wonder how the other two kids feel. Well,
Speaker 1: maybe he's just got the most marketable name out of
Speaker 1: all of them. I did also find it interesting that
Speaker 1: Emmy said that her brand is all about sharing knowledge
Speaker 1: about skin care, and you know, it's got the name
Speaker 1: of Wisdom, and that then again buys into my theory
Speaker 1: that she's marketing this product towards older women who aren't
Speaker 1: up with the recent hot beauty products in skincare, and
Speaker 1: she's all about educating there. Look, she's only forty five.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think forty five year olds are
Speaker 1: up on skincare. Yeah, but I think she's marketing it
Speaker 1: towards time poor mums who might not have the time
Speaker 1: to keep up with what are all the steps I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to be doing? What's the process? Yeah, but isn't
Speaker 1: it a seven step skincare line? I definitely don't do
Speaker 1: seven steps on my skin. Yeah. This gu's caused a
Speaker 1: bit of contention. People are saying that it's quite bold
Speaker 1: to launch with seven products. So it includes a glow
Speaker 1: cleanser oil, a hydrating cleanser, a hydrating tona, a hydaluronic
Speaker 1: acid serum, nicinamide, a moisturizer, and an overnight mask. I
Speaker 1: personally don't have the time to do that all of
Speaker 1: that in onenot. I mean also sometimes I don't like
Speaker 1: to overload my skin with too many new products as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean business wise, makes probably a lot of sense
Speaker 1: actually having seven seven opportunities to sell to people. But hmm,
Speaker 1: it's a very bold move. Yeah. Now, a few Blue
Speaker 1: Tickers were quick to congratulate Emmy. Blue Tickers I've not
Speaker 1: heard that. I usually say the Blue Tick brigade, but
Speaker 1: they weren't that many of them, so I wouldn't call
Speaker 1: it a brigade, So christ Blue Tick crew. So Christian
Speaker 1: Hole wrote, fucking business woman, this is so exciting. Congratulations.
Speaker 1: Are you looking for influences for brand deals? My manager
Speaker 1: will reach out. I'm really expensive. There was also Lana
Speaker 1: Wilkinson who wrote in her boss gal era, congratulations, my love,
Speaker 1: while Sally Obermeeda wrote congratulations beautiful Now. There were also
Speaker 1: some critics in the comment section, as expected, so one
Speaker 1: follower wrote, I'm confused with the name spelling seems a
Speaker 1: bit weird. Saints Age Now, Emmy replied saying that's okay,
Speaker 1: we love it well. As expected, Emmy Lou's haters were
Speaker 1: ready to dissect this launch within an inch of its life,
Speaker 1: and they drew similarities between her logo and Saint Ali Coffee.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, they did look quite similar, but I
Speaker 1: think it is difficult in this day and age we
Speaker 1: have a logo that completely stands out and is super unique.
Speaker 1: At least, these two products are in totally different categories.
Speaker 1: We've got coffee and skincare. It's not like they would
Speaker 1: fall under the same copyright code. Interestingly, the line is
Speaker 1: launching exclusively in Chemists Warehouse online and at Ultra Beauty
Speaker 1: at DFO Southport, so the only place you can physically
Speaker 1: get it in person is at the DFO. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: is huge, and I think a lot of people were
Speaker 1: surprised that she had signed such a lucrative deal with
Speaker 1: chemist Warehouse because it seems like it would be a
Speaker 1: very long process to get your products into a huge
Speaker 1: chain like this, and it would be this person I
Speaker 1: can think of that how to deal with Chemist's Warehouse
Speaker 1: was Gina Liano with her fragrance. Oh I forgot that
Speaker 1: she had her own perfume. I think that this partnership
Speaker 1: really surprised a lot of people because again, as we've
Speaker 1: touched on, Emmy Lou isn't known for skincare and she
Speaker 1: doesn't have millions of followers. She's got around one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventeen thousand, so her community must be very, very
Speaker 1: engage for her to get this deal over the line.
Speaker 1: Because I read an article about Daniel Kitty, who is
Speaker 1: the founder of a sugar free lolly company, and in
Speaker 1: the article he spoke about how he convinced Chemist's Warehouse
Speaker 1: to stock his products and how difficult it was to
Speaker 1: actually get in there, and he said that it's no
Speaker 1: easy feat getting into Australia's largest pharmacy chain. So he said,
Speaker 1: in order to secure a stockist, sometimes you've got to
Speaker 1: go straight to the source and knock on their door literally.
Speaker 1: Now for Emmy Lou, she clearly has contacts already there
Speaker 1: because she's attended a couple of Chemist Warehouse events before.
Speaker 1: And Daniel also pointed out that when you're pitching to
Speaker 1: a new stockist, you need to have a point of
Speaker 1: difference and that they're looking for innovative products. Well, that's
Speaker 1: quite interesting because the skincare market is quite oversaturated, but
Speaker 1: perhaps Emmy Lou was bringing the relatability, yeah, and the diversity,
Speaker 1: and also the fact that she doesn't take herself too seriously,
Speaker 1: where a lot of skincare brands are, as we touched
Speaker 1: on before, very aspirational, like this is something a little
Speaker 1: bit different. And what she does seem to have above
Speaker 1: all is a very loyal customer basis, seems to be
Speaker 1: very invested in what she's doing. She must have been
Speaker 1: able to prove that to Chemist Warehouse because they're not idiots, Like,
Speaker 1: they're very savvy business people. They're not going to work
Speaker 1: with someone who they don't think will get them results. Well.
Speaker 1: They do a lot of promotional work with Martha Califatitis
Speaker 1: and her mum again, people who are relatable. Yeah, I'd
Speaker 1: be really interested to know how this agreement works, like
Speaker 1: what percentage is Chemist Warehouse getting. How much input did
Speaker 1: they have into the design of this brand, or is
Speaker 1: this a product that Emmy Lou came to them and said, look,
Speaker 1: we have this, these are the designs we want to
Speaker 1: sell it at your store. I definitely think they must
Speaker 1: be getting some sort of percentage and cut in all
Speaker 1: of this, because they have an absolutely massive activation at
Speaker 1: Chemist Warehouse at Southport. So when you walk in the door,
Speaker 1: there are huge stickers on the floor which are her products,
Speaker 1: and they lead you to the activation and there's this
Speaker 1: massive sign with Emmylou's face on it, and there's also
Speaker 1: a really cool test a bar where you can try
Speaker 1: out the products. It looks very sleek and professional. The
Speaker 1: branding actually reminds me a lot of the ordinary, like simple, yeah,
Speaker 1: but then the actual products themselves are quite colorful. There
Speaker 1: has been a lot of discussion around the price point
Speaker 1: because this is being sold at a discount Chemist. So
Speaker 1: the products range from forty nine ninety five to fifty
Speaker 1: four to ninety five, which is quite pricing for skincare
Speaker 1: at Chemist. So are we talking like fifty dollars for
Speaker 1: a serum or yeah, so, I mean they're regular sized serums,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it is quite expensive. The marketing has been
Speaker 1: quite clever though, because they've been selling a skin kit,
Speaker 1: so that has all of the seven products in it
Speaker 1: as well as this neoprene bag and that's two hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty dollars when it would usually be valued at
Speaker 1: four hundred and twenty four dollars. There has been a
Speaker 1: lot of discussion as well online about Emmy Lou's marketing campaign.
Speaker 1: And when I saw it, I thought, wow, she's done
Speaker 1: a great job because there's a lot of diversity in it.
Speaker 1: There's different sexes in it, there's I don't know. I
Speaker 1: just thought, wow, they've actually done a really good job.
Speaker 1: But a lot of other people didn't think so. Yes.
Speaker 1: Strangely enough, there was some outrage that a white model
Speaker 1: wasn't featured in the campaign, surely looking at a photo
Speaker 1: of a white woman with red hair out of the products.
Speaker 1: So that's what I was going to say, because people
Speaker 1: were saying it's a curious approach to exclude the most
Speaker 1: common skin tone in Australia, and some people thought that
Speaker 1: maybe because Emmy Lou was the main model, she was
Speaker 1: showcasing lighter skin. And I just found this whole conversation
Speaker 1: very unnecessary and uncomfortable because Emmy Lou is mixed race.
Speaker 1: So on her website she hasn't about me section and
Speaker 1: she gives more detail about her life growing up and
Speaker 1: she explains that she grew up in Perth, but her
Speaker 1: mother is Vietnamese and her father is African. And I
Speaker 1: also just don't understand where this is coming from Amy because,
Speaker 1: as you said on her Instagram, there is a model
Speaker 1: with very pale skin and red hair. Also in her
Speaker 1: professionally shot campaign, there is another white woman with brown hair.
Speaker 1: The same people who were criticizing her would have said
Speaker 1: if she only had white women, wear's the diversity. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there has been a lot of discussion as well around
Speaker 1: the outfits that Emmy is wearing in the Saint Stage
Speaker 1: photo shoots, and they have been very bright and in
Speaker 1: your face, and it had kind of a retro vibe
Speaker 1: to it because in one of the shots, Emmy Lou
Speaker 1: had crimped hair, she had a hot pink body suit
Speaker 1: on floral yellow hills, sunglasses with pink shades, and she
Speaker 1: was talking on an old school phone that had a chord.
Speaker 1: And in another photo shoot she was wearing a clear
Speaker 1: blue visor and had a light blue meshler tut on
Speaker 1: which did have a pink G string underneath it. And
Speaker 1: she is known for wearing outrageous things, but these outfits
Speaker 1: definitely caused a stir well. They were on brand for
Speaker 1: her really now. In the video of her wearing the
Speaker 1: pink G string, she wrote, if you're afraid you'll fuck up,
Speaker 1: I'll save you the suspense you will and we all
Speaker 1: do it at some point, multiple times. The good news
Speaker 1: is bouncing back is real and that we are totally
Speaker 1: allowed to do it. People will always judge you, criticize
Speaker 1: and opinions whether you play it safe or take bold risks.
Speaker 1: So why not live your truth and do what makes
Speaker 1: you happy? For me that spending time with my family,
Speaker 1: building my business, and rocking a pink g string onset. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: it's your journey story and moment to shine. I take
Speaker 1: that caption as being fuck you to the haters, and
Speaker 1: if you think about it, I was listening to this
Speaker 1: podcast the other day, I think it was Diary of
Speaker 1: a CEO, and they were talking about marketing and they said,
Speaker 1: in order to be a successful business person with a brand,
Speaker 1: you actually only really need to have twenty percent of
Speaker 1: people that like you. It doesn't matter if eighty percent don't.
Speaker 1: You just need your tribe. And it's clear she has
Speaker 1: a tribe of people who are willing to support her
Speaker 1: and buy her product. Well. The irony also is that
Speaker 1: she probably has taken these large levels of engagement to
Speaker 1: chemist Warehouse, and a lot of that engagement has probably
Speaker 1: stemmed from people who hate her, forwarding on her content
Speaker 1: or constantly trolling her. Yeah, but if you think about it,
Speaker 1: even Sarah's day, she's another very controversial influence. Sir. She
Speaker 1: has enough ride or dire people that are supporting her
Speaker 1: career that are making her a multi millionaire. I actually
Speaker 1: think it helps Emmy Lou's brand that she has so
Speaker 1: many haters, because it's kind of like it keeps irrelevant. Well,
Speaker 1: it pits the people against each other. You're either an
Speaker 1: Emmy Lou fan or you're not. Yeah. Well, going back
Speaker 1: to this outfit, her comment section was very divided, so
Speaker 1: one follower wrote, what in the world has that outfit
Speaker 1: got to do with skincare? Makes the product seem cheap
Speaker 1: and tacky, whilst another said it's actually putting me off
Speaker 1: trying it now. You don't need gimmicks like that to
Speaker 1: sell a product now. Others loved the outfit. Someone wrote,
Speaker 1: what's with the judge comments? This woman is comfortable in
Speaker 1: her own skin. If this triggers you, look within yourself,
Speaker 1: Emmy Lou, I know how hard it is to build
Speaker 1: a business and a brand, and you rock the hell
Speaker 1: out of that pink gee string. Now. Emmy did confirm
Speaker 1: though in the comment section that they were only shooting
Speaker 1: the top half for the photo, but she wanted to
Speaker 1: have fun behind the scenes. I kind of can see
Speaker 1: where people are coming from in terms of the packaging.
Speaker 1: Didn't really match that style of photographs, but it's very
Speaker 1: on brand for her, so it does kind of tie in. Well,
Speaker 1: that's the thing. Chemist Warehouse is a family friendly place.
Speaker 1: I don't think that they would be having a huge
Speaker 1: photo of her with a pink G string on in
Speaker 1: the store now. What is also interesting about this brand
Speaker 1: is it doesn't seem to be following a typical modern
Speaker 1: marketing path because generally, ahead of a big launch like this,
Speaker 1: they would give products to beauty influencers or editors. But
Speaker 1: this doesn't appear to be happening, and it seems like
Speaker 1: Emmy and Chemist Warehouse are solely relying on her followers
Speaker 1: to buy this line. I don't know if that's the
Speaker 1: best move because think of all of these successful influence
Speaker 1: of brands, their standalone brands, like Sammy Robinson with one Mile,
Speaker 1: it's not just Sammy Robinson's fans buying it. The brand
Speaker 1: has become more than that. People want it because they
Speaker 1: light the style and I feel like if you're not
Speaker 1: gifting the product out to other influencers or editors, you're
Speaker 1: kind of then just relying on Emmy's fans to purchase.
Speaker 1: And it might be why Saint Sage's new Instagram account
Speaker 1: hasn't done that well. In a couple of days, it's
Speaker 1: had over six thousand followers, but that isn't huge for
Speaker 1: someone who's got one hundred and seventeen thousand followers of
Speaker 1: their own. Well, I thought Emmy Lou had more followers. No, Well,
Speaker 1: that's also why it's quite peculiar that a big brown
Speaker 1: like chemist warehouse would work with someone who doesn't have
Speaker 1: that big of a following. What I found fascinating to
Speaker 1: watch on Friday night was Emmy Lou trying out her products. Now,
Speaker 1: this seemed very off the cuff and quite chaotic because
Speaker 1: she explained that usually she would have liked to set
Speaker 1: up in her shower because that's where she does her
Speaker 1: skincare routine, but apparently her shower is shit, the lighting
Speaker 1: is bad, and her ring light was at her garage,
Speaker 1: which is where she's been packing a lot of this stock,
Speaker 1: so she ended up setting it up in her lounge
Speaker 1: room and in typical Emmy Lou style. She was just
Speaker 1: wearing a towel while she was doing and she kept
Speaker 1: running back and forth to get water for her. It
Speaker 1: was fucking chaotic on the brand, But this is why
Speaker 1: people like her. She's packing her own products. Yes, so
Speaker 1: the whole thing is very hands on and it has
Speaker 1: real startup vibes. It kind of reminded me of when
Speaker 1: Sophie Kay she was packing her Zuu stuff. But it's
Speaker 1: the wiping of the nose. Yeah. I think she was
Speaker 1: careful not to include any of that. It's so weird
Speaker 1: because if Chemis's warehouse is stocking up, I would have
Speaker 1: thought they'd be the one sending it out. Well. No,
Speaker 1: so she showed herself in the factory where the products
Speaker 1: were being made, and she had full high viz on.
Speaker 1: She had like a hannare all the gloves while she
Speaker 1: was packing some of the actual products into boxes. But
Speaker 1: it's clear that the factory does that. But then she
Speaker 1: had to pack them into the boxes which were part
Speaker 1: of the kit. So she did that all out of
Speaker 1: her ex husband's garage. It appeared, so he was even
Speaker 1: helping mami. This is a question that has been coming
Speaker 1: up a lot since Emmy Lou launched her business. Do
Speaker 1: you think that you have to have incredible skin in
Speaker 1: order to sell a skincare line? Well, I didn't realize
Speaker 1: that Emmilu didn't have good skin. Well that's a thing.
Speaker 1: Her skin has been so heavily scrutinized since this launch.
Speaker 1: I have never seen anything like it. But what are
Speaker 1: people saying? Well, trolls have been commenting that her skin
Speaker 1: doesn't look hydrated, she has wrinkles. Why would anyone want
Speaker 1: to take advice from her? Sorry, but I actually think
Speaker 1: it's less genuine when you see an influencer who's promoting
Speaker 1: a skincare product yet they've just had their botox done
Speaker 1: or their feeler. Yeah, exactly, because it's misleading. It's saying, oh,
Speaker 1: look how fantastic my skin is because I've been using
Speaker 1: all these products, when actually they've been visiting their cosmetic
Speaker 1: nurse who's been making their skin look so fresh and rejubilated.
Speaker 1: Especially when you have claims about anti wrinkle and then
Speaker 1: you're getting botox. So I mean, the team could have
Speaker 1: smoothed out Emmy's wrinkles. I mean I can't even really
Speaker 1: see any wrinkles, but they could have smoothed out her skin,
Speaker 1: but that would have been misleading. And I think if
Speaker 1: you look at Emmy's skin and you don't like it, well,
Speaker 1: don't buy the product. I just think it's quite refreshing
Speaker 1: to actually see an influencer in her forties who hasn't
Speaker 1: had cosmetic work done and who's confident and comfortable in
Speaker 1: their own skin. I mean, we're both thirty five, and
Speaker 1: we are probably in the anomaly, like we haven't had
Speaker 1: any cosmetic work done, and you do feel like it
Speaker 1: is constantly being normalized, and you're almost weird that you
Speaker 1: haven't gone and got it done. Yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 1: fine if that's what people want to do. I have
Speaker 1: no issue with people getting botox, but it's also normal
Speaker 1: if you don't want to get it done. Don't you
Speaker 1: want your skin to age grace? And I don't think
Speaker 1: people should be shamed over it. No. I mean, Emmy
Speaker 1: Lou has been proving her critics wrong because within a
Speaker 1: day her skin Kids had already sold out, of which
Speaker 1: proves that theory. You can be hated by eighty percent
Speaker 1: but love by twenty percent, and you're going to sell
Speaker 1: out your product. I don't even care if that ruins
Speaker 1: my chances of ever getting a brand deal with them.
Speaker 1: TikToker Anna Paul has put luxury suitcase brand Romoa on
Speaker 1: blast in a recent TikTok blog. Now she has been
Speaker 1: using the suitcases for a number of years and her
Speaker 1: fans will recognize the large, metallic suitcases from her vlogs,
Speaker 1: which are always covered in stickers and Ramoa's suitcases are
Speaker 1: often touted as the quiet status symbol for celebrities and
Speaker 1: rich travelers, and they're commonly seen in business class cabins
Speaker 1: as well as airport lounges. They do come with a
Speaker 1: hefty price tag, so the base model will set you
Speaker 1: back one four hundred and thirty dollars, whilst the top
Speaker 1: of the range is nine nine hundred dollars. Now, Anna
Speaker 1: revealed that they spent around three thousand dollars on each suitcase.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, it's safe to say that they have got a
Speaker 1: lot of use out of the suitcases though, because they
Speaker 1: are literally never in the country, they spend most of
Speaker 1: the year traveling the world creating content about their holidays.
Speaker 1: But it turns out that they have not been satisfied
Speaker 1: with their investment. Now in a recent vlog, she put
Speaker 1: Romola on blast. So she showed herself picking up the
Speaker 1: suitcases from a storage unit and then taking them to
Speaker 1: the dump. Here's what Anna said, Anyways, Listen, we have
Speaker 1: a bunch of remoet suitcases in our storage that we're
Speaker 1: driving straight to the tip because they break like crazy. Listen,
Speaker 1: these suitcases cost one thousand dollars. Actually not let me
Speaker 1: look up how much they cost three dollars for the suitcases.
Speaker 1: They break immediately, and their selling point is like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but if a break, you can get a fixed for free. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because they break every two weeks. Don't waste your money.
Speaker 1: I don't even care if that ruins my chances of
Speaker 1: ever getting a brand deal with them. I'm just telling
Speaker 1: you they will break if you have a remote. What
Speaker 1: an absolute burn. I think the optics of tossing out
Speaker 1: a luxury suitcase in the trash is very powerful and
Speaker 1: it seems like a very purposeful move. Well, I was
Speaker 1: gonna say, I'm surprised I didn't donate them, but it
Speaker 1: seems like they're broken. Yeah, exactly. She said that they
Speaker 1: were all cracked and broken. I want to point out
Speaker 1: that this was included in a vlog where Anna was
Speaker 1: celebrating one year in business. So she runs a skincare
Speaker 1: brand called Paully alongside Sam Maignan, who we love. He's
Speaker 1: a friend of the podcast. He's a very successful businessman,
Speaker 1: and it is very clear that she's making big money
Speaker 1: from her brand and also from only fans. So unlike
Speaker 1: other influencers, she doesn't have to rely on brand deals.
Speaker 1: She doesn't have to keep remote happy. Is she genuinely
Speaker 1: doesn't like the brand, Well, she can pick and choose
Speaker 1: who she works with, like when she worked for Stacks,
Speaker 1: and that was a huge thing for Stacks to have
Speaker 1: Anna Paul endorsing their brand. Yeah, that was her first
Speaker 1: proper collab, and I think it was really the catalyst
Speaker 1: of her starting her own brand. It's really clever of
Speaker 1: Anna to call out brands that she doesn't genuinely like,
Speaker 1: because it means that when she does endorse things, her
Speaker 1: followers know well, actually she really rates that idol. Well,
Speaker 1: it's something called deinfluencing, and it's when influencers tell their
Speaker 1: followers which products not to buy. And I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: sure the sixteen year olds who follow her probably couldn't
Speaker 1: afford the three thousand dollars suitcase But the thing is,
Speaker 1: I think that deinfluencing builds a lot of trust. And
Speaker 1: I also think that a lot of Anna's popularity comes
Speaker 1: down to the fact that her content isn't always infiltrated
Speaker 1: by ads. It's always organic content about her life, and
Speaker 1: you don't always feel like she's pushing something on you. Well,
Speaker 1: she doesn't need to, does she. I wonder if Anna knows, though,
Speaker 1: that Ramoa is part of the world's largest luxury goods
Speaker 1: conglomerate because it is called LVMH, which stands for Louisveton,
Speaker 1: Moe and Hennessy, and it is owned by a guy
Speaker 1: called Bernard Arnott, and he is the world's third richest person.
Speaker 1: And his portfolio includes seventy five luxury brands and they
Speaker 1: span across fashion, cosmetics, and alcohol. And some of the
Speaker 1: big brands include Louisvton, Dior, Sephora, Tiffany and Co. And
Speaker 1: Fenti Beauty. So she is potentially making herself a very
Speaker 1: powerful enemy in calling out Ramoa, particularly because she buys
Speaker 1: frequently from designer brand But that's the key. She buys
Speaker 1: the bags. It's not like they're gifting her stuff. And
Speaker 1: do you know what if I'm the third richest man
Speaker 1: in the world, and an influencers calling me out. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't care. But the thing is, she could find herself
Speaker 1: in trouble if she potentially wants to get Paully into
Speaker 1: a big cosmetic retailer like Sephora. So I wonder if
Speaker 1: she was aware of the connection they're getting into Anna's
Speaker 1: claims about the suitcases breaking every two weeks. An interesting
Speaker 1: selling point of Remoe is that they offer a lifetime
Speaker 1: warranty and free repairs, So they started offering lifetime warranties
Speaker 1: in July twenty twenty two, with the CEO saying that
Speaker 1: they're analyzing the repairs they perform every week and that
Speaker 1: they keep tweaking the designs to prevent future incidents. This
Speaker 1: kind of says, way to set guys, We're really sorry.
Speaker 1: We know they keep breaking every second, and we need
Speaker 1: to put out a marketing message that conveys we're trying. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I do think that's the case. And it's quite interesting
Speaker 1: because TikTok is full of people giving their honest reviews
Speaker 1: on the suitcases, and a lot of people are asking
Speaker 1: are these suitcases worth investing in? And a lot of
Speaker 1: the reviews will mixed, so many people complain that they're flimsy,
Speaker 1: whilst others said that they swear by them, and some
Speaker 1: said that the whole appeal of remoe is that they
Speaker 1: have to be banged up, because if they're all banged up,
Speaker 1: it shows that you're well traveled, and that the scratches
Speaker 1: pretty much seen as a status symbol. I actually remember
Speaker 1: when we traveled to Sydney at the start of the year.
Speaker 1: I forgot to borrow my mum and dad's suitcase because
Speaker 1: I've got like little carry on bags and stuff, but
Speaker 1: I don't actually own a big suitcase anymore. And Dale
Speaker 1: and I were so disorganized that Dale was like, Dolorry,
Speaker 1: I've got a suitcase in the shed, but it's got
Speaker 1: all of my motorbike gear and it like pads and helmets,
Speaker 1: and I was like, okay, well we'll just use that.
Speaker 1: He brought it inside. It was so banged up. It
Speaker 1: was dusty. They looked like the zips were broken. I
Speaker 1: was embarrassed to get it off the conveyor belt like
Speaker 1: it was just it looked like we were these darrows.
Speaker 1: How you should have been quite proud, proud because it
Speaker 1: looks like you're well traveled and well cultured. I've actually
Speaker 1: said today when never traveling with that bag again. Well,
Speaker 1: on that note, I think that is all we have
Speaker 1: time for today. Thank you so much for joining us
Speaker 1: for this episode. If you have enjoyed it, could you
Speaker 1: please leave us a five star review as it really
Speaker 1: helps us out. And thank you so much to everyone
Speaker 1: who has left us a nice review. It honestly makes
Speaker 1: my week. Yeah, we got some really nice reviews after
Speaker 1: our subscriber episode where we opened up about the pressures
Speaker 1: of having the podcast. I felt bad when I was
Speaker 1: listening to it back because I was like, oh god,
Speaker 1: I hope so feel I don't sound like we're having
Speaker 1: a pity party for ourselves. I asked you to send
Speaker 1: it to me because we recorded it and you edited it,
Speaker 1: and I hadn't listened to it in two weeks because
Speaker 1: we did record it early, and I was like, fuck,
Speaker 1: what'd we say? It was like word vomit. But don't know,
Speaker 1: we're having a counseling session with each other. Don't worry.
Speaker 1: We're still going to be releasing three episodes a week.
Speaker 1: I know that was someone's fear, but we're just going
Speaker 1: to be better organized. About it. On that note, thank
Speaker 1: you so much again for joining us. This episode was
Speaker 1: recorded on the traditional land of the Ghana people of
Speaker 1: the Adelaide Planes. We pay respect to Elder's past and
Speaker 1: present const have the man standing tables