Georgie Greville grew up all around the world, having a father who had a job that required travelling and a lot of moving to new exciting places, entitled Georgie to explore and develop her creative mind. She finally settled in New York and continued her work as a creative for many different lines of jobs including MTV and within fashion until she started working with Milk Makeup.

PD: What is your title at Milk Makeup?
GG: Co-Founder, Creative Director

PD: Tell me about the name of the Brand, Milk Makeup, for people who are confused about the name and that it is Vegan and cruelty-free.
GG: Milk Makeup got its name from being born out of Milk Studios, a cultural hub in NYC that has been bringing together all sides of the creative community for over 26 years. Since Milk has always been at the forefront of culture, it only makes sense that we would have progressive NYC values. We are all about good ingredients and epic payoff. Being cruelty-free, 100% vegan and non-toxic are givens for us as a modern, conscious brand. Milk itself is an inclusive space with a vibrant creative community, so we naturally wanted our products to be able to speak to a wide range of people. We hope that by promoting that inclusive spirit and representation, more brands and people will do the same.

PD: Please tell me more about yourself, where you are from, where you have lived, career, work, and done up until the moment you started a beauty brand? And why you choose to join a beauty brand.
GG: I grew up overseas moving around from Australia, Singapore, London, New York, and Boston because of my (British) father's international banking job. My first jobs were working for fashion/culture magazines and then being a writer/director in the MTV On-Air Promo department from 2001-2007. MTV was my marketing and film school. I learned how to combine pop culture with modern values that resonate. From there, I co-founded Milk's in-house, multi-media creative production company called LEGS Media where I directed and creative directed a variety of work from music videos for Florence and The Machine and Selena Gomez, to fashion films for Rag and Bone, advertising for Evian and Paco Rabanne, and interactive installations for Target and Made Fashion Week. It was a wild ride, and I learned so much from each different job, but I yearned to spend more time bringing one vision to life- to create something over a longer period of time where I could really nurture it and bring it to life. That is when I joined forces with Milk to think about what Milk would do if it had a beauty line. I had worked so closely with Milk, that it was second nature to me to intuit both the Milk values and what a savvy, modern customer expects in a product. The rest is history…

PD: When the idea was born, to start a makeup line, what did you see was missing in the industry that needed Milk Makeup?
GG: There was a real void between efficacious color products like MAC/NARS and more hippie natural brands. We wanted to be the holy grail of color and skincare products that combined both clean ingredients and great efficacy so that you didn't have to sacrifice anything for the looks you want. We also weren't seeing many gender-neutral brands — everything was still very binary in terms of packaging and marketing. We wanted our product design and ethos to be chic, minimal and truly inclusive (genderless). Not only is the product design more aesthetically relevant and chic, but there’s also no one telling you who you need to be in order to use the products. I wanted to demystify beauty and make it as approachable as art supplies while also delivering clean, high quality, unisex products. Products that are as highly functional, spontaneous and fun as New Yorkers are. The thing that really sets our products apart from other than the gender-neutral packaging is the quality — they’re ingredient-conscious (non-toxic, cruelty-free, paraben-free, vegan), user-friendly, and deliver an instant payoff.

PD: I absolutely love the cooling stick, which Milk product can you not be without?
GG: KUSH Mascara!

PD: Your beauty routine and favourite products of all time?
GG: My beauty routine starts in the shower. I will cleanse skin with our amazing, gentle ‘Vegan Milk Cleanser’ and do one of our mask sticks depending on what my skin needs that day — usually the ‘Watermelon Brightening Mask.’ Then I apply ‘Matcha Toner’, ‘Vegan Milk Moisturizer’ and ‘Hydro Grip Primer.´ I wait 1-2 minutes for the primer to set, then apply ‘Sunshine Skin Tint’ in ‘Honey’ under my eyes and my T-zone, blending it out with my fingers. I then apply ‘KUSH Mascara’ ‘KUSH Brow Gel, Lip + Cheek’ in ‘Rally’ on the apples of my cheeks, a bit of ‘Matte Bronzer in Baked’ on the cheek contours, again blending it all in my fingers. Finally, I will apply a coat of our Lip Color in ‘Hype’, ‘OG Red’ or ‘Wifey’ depending on the outfit.

PD: What inspires you the most, in your work as a creative director?
GG: The vibrancy of New York City's creative community. I love meeting new people in the city and constantly challenging my perspective on art, aesthetics, beauty, philosophy etc. I ride my bike everywhere, which is super inspiring.

PD: What is your first beauty moment/memory?
GG: Pinching my cheeks to flush them before going into a middle school class to see a crush. I later got the same effect by using a cherry flavoured chapstick or a red lollipop.

PD: As a creative, is there a dream project you would like to do?
GG: I would love to direct a TV show and/or feature film.

PD: If you would choose a different line of work, what would that be?
GG: Holistic Wellness Guru

PD: Do you have any tips for someone who aspires to work as a creative director?
GG: I think being a spiritual person and being constantly curious are huge factors in doing good work as a Creative Director. If you develop your spirituality, you can truly tap into your unique POV on the world and hone your unique style from there. I also constantly read and experience live art.

PD: Were there any products that were difficult to produce?
Dianna Ruth (COO): KUSH mascara was the most difficulty, based on packaging and formulation.