Darlings, Trinny Woodall has arrived in Dublin. Her Irish Trinny Tribe were out in force to welcome the TV star turned beauty entrepreneur who is a literal Rolodex of all the best in skin and makeup.
Her 4 million-plus social media followers – many of whom are post-40 women at an age when often they feel lost or invisible – love her passionately.
Bianca Luykx is one of them…
Trinny, to think this beauty empire began in your bathroom less than a decade ago is crazy. Could you ever have imagined?
No! But I remember when I started going to meet Natalie Massenet, founder and chair of Net-a-Porter, and from day one she said, ‘Think you are a global brand’. So I did and then a global brand appeared! Now we’ve got 16 locations in Ireland and the UK and, we’re growing that to 31 next year. In Australia we have 5; America is next.
We love your book Fearless, it’s so instructional and helpful. Are you fearless, Trinny?
I probably am. But I wouldn’t jump out of an aeroplane! But do I take risks? I think I do.
Did you always?
No, not always. I probably started taking risks after life hadn’t gone the right way for me. My 20s were shitty, not good, didn’t feel good about myself, I started over at 26.
Your energy is hurtling. Even this press trip (it’s 4 days and hectic) must require boundless energy. Where do you get it from?
I need a minimum of seven hours of sleep. I do have a fast pace of life and I love giving it my all but, there’s no way I could have survived in this business by going out three nights a week. I take more time out now. There was a time when I’d say yes to everything because I was afraid not to.
What do you do in your time out?
I either hang out with my daughter Lyla and listen to loud music or we just go wandering around the streets.
What music do you listen to?
Her music now; I know every line of Taylor Swift! She’s just now found the Rolling Stones – the music I grew up on – so now we have a mix, which is nice.
What do you listen to before you nod off to sleep?
I listen to podcasts, to Andrew Huberman’s Huberman Lab. Also, Mo Gawdat who used to be the chief business officer at Google and who lost his son aged 21 and wrote a book called Solve For Happy about happiness. I love AI and science and Mo on his podcast interviews people but, he’s very introverted yet he’s elegantly emotive and analytical. I like that type of conversation to go asleep to. I’m not so good with the likes of Deepak Chopra, though I do do a meditation every day.
Are you an introvert, extrovert or ambivert?
Hadn’t heard of ambivert before, interesting, a mix of both? I’m probably that! Before, if I went to a big event by myself and don’t know so many people, I used to always go to the loo and sit there for a bit and have that as my security blanket. But now what I do is I go into the room I go up to a smaller group of people, introduce myself and make my own group and now at 60 I can do that. At 40 I might have been shy to do that.
You look amazing. We need to talk skin, immediately! Biggest beauty lesson you’ve learnt over the years?
I tried absolutely everything for acne because I had bad acne from 13 to 30. So, my most important thing is to know that in the land of beauty you have a lot of marketing talk and marketing levels of ingredients. So, you need to know what works for you and you need to listen to your skin. And if you really want to take skincare carefully, educate yourself on the right ingredients for your skin. I always say do the skincare Match2Me questionnaire on our website (trinnylondon.com) and even if you cannot afford our products; find out what products work for your skin and go and buy those ingredients in another brand that’s not going to be all non-sensey, a brand like The Ordinary is good.
What do you use on your skin?
I always double cleanse in the evening. I will always use an acid, a PHA every night. I will always do microneedling three nights a week. My most simple routine is: take off my makeup with a cleanser, clean my skin again, put a PHA and a moisturiser on and forget about it.
How much water do you drink?
Not enough. I do drink water and hot lemon in the morning which is about half a litre and I take my supplements which takes about another half a litre. I do exercise then which I know will require another half a litre so if I drink no more water for the rest of the day until my supper, I’m nearly there. But you should drink consistently throughout the day, which I don’t do.
What exercise do you do?
I do Pilates once a week, I do strength training three times a week, I do yoga twice a week.
Are you very regimented?
Very. But only because I do my exercise with the Trinny Tribe live so I have an obligation. We’ve done it since covid which has made me disciplined. Without that, I would not be!
What are you not routined about?
My poo! Sometimes I’m constipated, sometimes I’m not. I’d like it if I was more routined about my poo!
Let’s talk ADHD, how does yours benefit you?
I’m laser-focused.
The laser focus of ADHD is a bit of a gift, isn’t it?
It’s good and bad. Laser-focused means I’ll remember things that are important for me to remember and I’ll forget things that aren’t.
How is your ADHD a disadvantage?
There’s so much going in and out that I have to make copious notes at every meeting or I’ll forget. My mother had Alzheimers so I’m very conscious of that and if you’re stressed, stress eats into your memory bank. So hundreds of notes, I have hundreds of notes.
What age were you diagnosed at?
I wasn’t but my daughter was, quite badly, and I sat in on her consultation and went tick, tick, tick, tick. I don’t take meds, but I know the things that work and don’t work for me.
We’re so excited Trinny London has come to Dublin!
As am I! So happy.