Trinny Woodall
The British style writer and What Not to Wear co-host who, in her early fifties, taught herself DTC and launched Trinny London in 2017 — a stackable, age-agnostic makeup brand built around her live-styled Facebook Lives and a custom shade-matching engine. Reportedly £80M+ revenue and Unilever Ventures-backed.
"We're not appealing to an age group, we're appealing to an attitude."
— Trinny Woodall
Trinny Woodall built her early career as a British style writer and television presenter, best known for the long-running BBC series What Not to Wear with Susannah Constantine. After her TV career and a documented period of personal upheaval, she pivoted to social media in her late forties — building a daily Facebook Live audience for her makeup styling tutorials.
She founded Trinny London in 2017 at age 53, launching with a stackable Match2Me color system designed around skin tone, hair and eye color rather than trend. The brand was DTC-first, scaled rapidly off her owned audience, and has since opened US distribution.
Trinny London has raised institutional capital (Unilever Ventures, Index Ventures), reportedly crossed £80M+ in revenue, and remains founder-led with Woodall as CEO.
Age as the wrong axis — segment by attitude, skin and lifestyle, not birth year.
Owned audience as the launch channel — stackable products that fit a daily styling demo.
- 1990s–2000sStyle journalist; What Not to Wear with Susannah Constantine
- 2010sBuilds large Facebook Live makeup tutorial audience
- 2017Founds Trinny London
- 2020+US launch; Unilever Ventures and Index Ventures funding
"We're not appealing to an age group, we're appealing to an attitude and a state of mind."
Trinny Woodall: 'Now I'm 60 I love myself'
interviewThe Telegraph ↗Trinny Woodall on building 'a brand she can live the rest of her life with'
podcastGlossy ↗Exclusive: Trinny Woodall, Founder Of Cult Make-up Brand Trinny London
interviewThe Carousel ↗Trinny Woodall, Founder, Trinny London
interviewCreativebrief ↗