Beauty entrepreneur and author Trinny Woodall recently joined Patrick Kielty on The Late Late Show. Ahead of her interview, Danielle Farrelly went backstage for an enticing Q&A.
Trinny Woodall will be known to many as the fashion guru who hosted makeover reality television show, What Not to Wear, alongside her pal Susannah Constantine. In recent years, though, she has built quite the successful media empire.
Trinny has had the last laugh for those who dismissed her in the boardroom for being "too old" at age 50 to start her own make-up brand. Her business is reportedly now worth £200 million, and she employs over 250 people.
Not to mention the 1.3 million followers on Instagram, the Fearless podcast, a new book, and her loyal following of 'Trinny Tribers'.
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Born Sarah Jane Woodall, the Londoner got her nickname following an incident where she was sent home from school for being naughty. As it happened, the author of the St. Trinian's books was in her house, and said she reminded him of the naughty characters in his book - the nickname of Trinny stuck.
Her bold personality led to a successful TV career, a spot on The New York Times bestsellers list, and appearances on Oprah. And yet, all of a sudden, she seemed to disappear from our screens.
At the time, Gok Wan was crowned by the media as the new fashion darling, and Trinny and Susannah were no longer flavour of the month. Ever the entrepreneur, Trinny refused to stay down for the count. Behind the scenes, the self-confessed skincare addict had a business plan to create her own product line.
Trinny London was born out of her love for mixing her own make-up when she went on her travels around the world for work. She built the brand up from her own bathroom, knowing that woman over the age of 35 were being forgotten about on cosmetic counters.
She felt so strongly that she had a worthwhile business that she sold her own clothes for £60,000 as well as her house to help fund her cosmetics venture. It was a gamble that paid off as it is now reported that a bottle of her BFF Skin Perfector sells every 30 seconds.
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Trinny was recently in Dublin to launch the brand in Brown Thomas and to promote her new book, Fear Less. I caught up with her backstage before her interview on The Late Late Show.
Trinny, you have taken over Dublin the last few days. How has it all been going?
I think we have ended up taking over Brown Thomas! 100 women, all at the same time, at the counters, which has been crazy. All different types of women coming up to Dublin. I met four nurses carpooling from Cork who carefully invest their pennies in beauty. You love those women as they trust you.
Then you have the wonderful Brown Thomas customer who come along and says, "What's all this noise". It's great to have that whole gamut, and I think the biggest thing we get is people feel it brings them joy. We had to get people over from London to help at all the counters. It was madness.
The last time we spoke, your company was in its infancy and you had just six staff members.
It has grown a lot in just a few years; there are now 250 people working for us. I started creating make up pots as I was travelling. I noticed it wasn't just women in England, but all over the world thinking, "what will I do next". I love that moment where women are thinking of a reset. They find us during that reset period and they stay. Trinny Tribers are very loyal.
Marian Keyes said last week on The Late Late Show that women of a certain age feel invisible. Do Trinny Tribers feel like you are making something for them as they have felt forgotten by cosmetic brands?
I think that is it. The traditional industry has all been about airbrushing and using 18-year-old models. Then you get to that stage where you feel you can't relate to that model. When we started, we never airbrushed and we used real women, and they feel they see themselves.
With beauty, you want aspirational, but you don't want to buy into an inaccessible dream and cake yourself just to be acceptable. We should still try to be ourselves.
We aren't for everyone. Some people want that heavy look, but I am for someone who says 'the person in the mirror still looks like me'.
Are you over all aspects of your business from the formula to the finished look on the shelves?
What do you think? I look at everything. I am COO (Chief Operations Officer) and everything develops from my concept of what that should be. There is a team of 27 in product development, so I'll say, 'I want this and I want these ingredients in it'. We have our own lab so we start putting it together.
In the marketing department, we have 44 people, and I still drill down and see how we can do things better. I am big into tech; I embraced it, I love it. One area I am a little bit removed is backend operations.
If you had to have just four products in your make-up bag, what would they be?
SPF 30, Plump up, Sheer Shimmer and Microneedle.
When do you feel most beautiful?
I think it is when I am relaxed on holiday, and I'm not thinking about work and not sending emails. Your face relaxes and you look better.
Where do you stand on fake tan?
I think we shouldn't go there... the ingredients that are used to make fake tan dehydrates skin and blocks your pores and I think Irish women have amazing skin and they should live in the colour they are in. Use blusher and nice tinted serum to bring health and glow that they feel might be missing on a dreary rainy day.
What do you say to someone who is lost and doesn't know where to start?
I would say do Match at Trinny London as we researched 3,000 women. If you are feeling low, try to find where you get your love.
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In your new book, Fear Less, there is an interesting section on imposter syndrome...
I think men, if they know 20% of something, they will talk like they know 80% of something. Women might know 80% of something, and they will talk like they know 60% of it. If you are in a room and you don't feel like you know stuff then go away and learn more stuff. The next time you are in that room, you will know more, and you will have a voice and have an opinion.
Is there a moment where you thought this is going to work and be ok?
Two moments: when I got finance to research and then finance to start the business. I left the meeting knowing this time they would invest. I had been to 50 meetings before, and I knew this one was different.
Another moment was when we went live, and we saw the sales. Someone actually understands what we are doing and they are buying. These people are 35- 60 and you can see Shopify and hear the ping.
You are 60 now, what gifts does that bring you?
You know what you don't want - and that is very liberating. In your 50s you don't mind what people think and, in your 60s, you know what you don't want. It's refreshing.
Do you fear less or are you fearless?
I fear less but I am FEARLESS.
Fear Less by Trinny Woodall is out now and Trinny London is available in Brown Thomas.
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