Trinny Woodall is known for her frank but fair advice on mature beauty, and she’s got a candid new message she wants to share. Women over 40: you need to avoid this one incredibly common mistake unless you want your skin to look exhausted.
And the reason she knows? Because she’s been guilty of it herself in the past.
‘Perimenopausal and menopausal women are so aware of suddenly sweating that they think they should mattify everything,’ she tells us, when we meet at her Trinny London flagship store. ‘But then you’re absorbing all the light on your face, and you look tired, wan and worn out.’
‘I used to do it years ago to cover my skin,’ says Trinny, 62. ‘I didn’t know then that glow is a reflection of light on your skin and that’s what looks healthy. So that discovery for me in my early 40s, that glow was so amazing for skin, made all the difference.’
That’s one piece of the 40-plus skin puzzle, and one she’s already addressed with luminous Trinny London favourites like Miracle Halo highlighter and BFF De-Stress skin tint. However, she knows from personal experience that mature skin needs more coverage to deal with menopausal skin problems like pigmentation and redness. And covering those without smothering radiance under cakey layers is another problem to solve entirely.
‘I see a lot of ladies who still wear the base they wore in their 20s, but it doesn’t reflect how their skin has evolved,’ Trinny says. ‘The lipid content in our skin changes from perimenopause onwards. A thick foundation will blend into my daughter Lyla's skin and look okay because she’s 22. But when I put it on, I go, “That’s f***ing caking me.”’
Trinny’s answer to the tricky art of luminous coverage without creasing has arrived in the form of Fearless Skin Tint Drops, a foundation she’s specifically created for 40+ skin. We’ve had preview samples in the Good Housekeeping office and it’s been a hit across the beauty team for its flattering finish and hydrating feel.
Trinny London FEARLESS Skin Tint Drops
‘It’s a foundation that’s like a serum,' Trinny says. 'We have to remember the skin underneath is drier, so we’ve put in things like ceramides, lipids, niacinamide, peptides and hyaluronic acid. We’ve also found a technology that suspends the colour pigments so they really sink into the skin and don’t sit in lines. It’s coverage, but it’s not covering everything. You want things like freckles to show through.’
And for the glow? She’s got a grown-up way to deliver that, she says. ‘Instead of putting in a shimmery pigment like mica, we’ve used a Japanese plant extract that actually stimulates skin circulation, so it gives you the radiance from within.’
While the pigment percentage is slightly higher than her other bases, Trinny says the luminous finish plus the buildable, blendable texture makes it incredibly versatile. ‘I wear this whenever I do TV, or for going out in the evening – it’s my polished look,’ she says. ‘But I also use it very buffed out during the day. It can be worn very sheer.’
She’s hoping Fearless will also live up to its name for women who’ve abandoned foundation completely, worried that it’s a product that no longer suits their skin. ‘People are scared of wearing foundation when they get to a certain age,’ she says. ‘I’m saying, “Come on, wear something that’s really easy and it’ll make you look great.””
Trinny’s tips for foundation without the fear
Stop with the wishful shade-matching. ‘One thing women do so much is they put on the shade they want their skin to be,’ says Trinny. ‘You want to be matched to the correct colour, which is your actual skin tone. We want to say, look, we’ve got 30 amazing shades, very cleverly thought through, cool, neutral, warm – matching that is what looks good.'
Matching foundation to fake tan is another no-no in her book. ‘The colour gets caught in your hairline,’ she says. ‘I say to women, try a few days with your natural complexion. You can use bronzer and blusher to add extra colour.’
Discover the tool that suits you best. Fingers are fine; ‘But some people need a brush to push foundation into skin and other people are better with a sponge if they have something like rosacea,’ says Trinny.
Lose the f-word to describe your foundation goal. ‘Filter is a bad word for me, because I think nobody needs to filter themselves, she says. ‘This product just gives you such a good evenness. I think we should use that word instead of “filter” because otherwise everything becomes an Instagram filter. And you don’t need to filter your skin – or your life.’
See Trinny Woodall at this year's Good Housekeeping Live x Country Living Market on 12 November. As well as the chance to get a head start on your present buying at the artisan Christmas market, the show is packed with celebrity talks, food demonstrations, craft workshops and more... Tickets are selling out fast so buy yours now!
