How Trinny Woodall Went From Reality Star To Beauty Mogul
The beauty of being fearless
By Penelope Pelecas | 6th February 2024If you were a teenager or young adult in the early 2000s, chances are you grew up watching the hit makeover reality show What Not To Wear starring iconic fashion duo Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine (and if you didn’t, sorry to say, but you most certainly were living under a rock!). Notorious for their unapologetic, and at times, humorous commentary, Trinny and Susannah were a global success. Flash-forward 20-something years and Trinny is still on a mission to empower women through fashion and beauty.
The reality star turned fashion and beauty mogul was recently Down Under to promote her new self-help book Fearless (she also runs a podcast of the same name), and we were lucky enough to not only meet her in person (yes, she’s as fabulous as you’d expect), but get a glimpse inside her beauty empire that is Trinny London.
“I’ve tried to take all the little gems of knowledge I’ve given over the years and put them into one place,” Trinny says. “[Fearless] is a mixture of practical advice on clothing, skincare, and makeup, along with emotional advice that has helped me grow as a person.”
While fashion is still an integral part of who Trinny is and what she does, we couldn’t help but ask why the switch to the beauty industry.
“What’s interesting is that when I started Trinny London, I contemplated doing skincare first,” she says. “My obsession with skincare happened before makeup because I developed very bad acne when I reached puberty, and it stayed until I was 30.”
“I launched Trinny London makeup first probably because of all the makeover shows I did when I left England… the ones where I travelled the world and met women of every different skin tone, age, and body shape. And for those women, makeup was the first thing they saw before they saw clothing or hair. So, I thought, let’s start with makeup. The mission of Trinny London is to change how women feel about themselves.”
Trinny founded Trinny London from her kitchen table in 2017 with one goal in mind — to help all women feel their best. And she’s done just that. The premium beauty brand is not only changing the way women feel about themselves, but how they think about makeup in general one decanting pot at a time (further down). Trinny is a big believer in less is more and allowing your natural beauty to shine through, and this is transparent in the beauty and skincare products (yes, they do skincare too!) she has created. Our favourite part? The brand utilises state-of-the-art technology to pinpoint what makeup and skincare truly suits you – we tried it, and it’s crazily accurate!
“I think most of our customers would say we are more than just a beauty brand to them,” she says. “People in this day and age want more from a brand than just a new lipstick and we do offer that.”
“We also never launch a product just because it’s fashionable. A huge amount of research goes into deciding what we should manufacture and formulate. We’re lucky as a brand that we have five or six hero products.”
One of those hero products being their iconic stackable, cream-based makeup range. “I came up with the idea after years of decanting my own makeup into little pots so that it was easier for me to access,” Trinny says. “It just made life so much easier, but they didn’t stack up together beautifully.”
All their makeup products are cream-based, meaning they can easily be applied using your fingers – perfect for touch ups on-the-go.
With two stores already in Australia (Melbourne and Perth), Trinny hasn’t ruled out the possibility of more popping up this year – we can only hope! “We are hoping to see more in 2024! However, I can’t confirm anything yet.”
BONUS: Get a glimpse of Trinny’s morning and evening skincare routine…
Day
“Taking care of myself first thing gives me the energy to get up and go. I wake up between 6.30/7am and start with a face massage using my Trinny London Be Your Best Enzyme Balm Cleanser and Foreo Luna 3 Facial Cleansing Brush. Next, I work out, then have a shower before applying Trinny London Tiptoe In PHA Exfoliant, Trinny London Boost Up 30% Vitamin C Serum, and Trinny London Energise Me Niacinamide Moisturiser – it’s like a supercharged shot of hydration for my skin. I follow with four pumps of Trinny London BFF SPF 30 Cream Skin Perfector. Anyone using retinol must use SPF! The difference between an SPF 30 and SPF 50 is only about two per cent, but you have to top up SPF 30 more often.”
Night
“As much as I love makeup, there’s nothing better than taking it all off at the end of the day. I double cleanse – I use Trinny London Be Your Best Enzyme Balm Cleanser, really working it in all over, followed by Trinny London Better Off AHA/PHA Gel Cleanser. When it comes to applying my leave-on products, I let each sink in for a bit to avoid diluting the ingredients. First comes Trinny London Reveal Yourself AHA Exfoliant, then I go and make my supper. Acid exfoliants are one of my ultimate skincare essentials. Next, I put on my Trinny London Overnight Sensation Retinal+Serum – this one is incredibly clever and doesn’t leave you with that flaky croissant-like skin.”
Shop the Trinny London range here.
