Trinny shares her cleansing secrets for your best skin yet (and other skincare hacks you actually need to know)

We know and love Trinny as the queen of the quick glam-over, creating a full face with fingers, no brushes required, and only one product to hand. With no holds barred when it come to beauty, she’s happy to go bare face and share the secrets to her glowing skin, Botox and all. And it’s clear she loves skincare and knows her AHA’s from her BHA’s, from incorporating serum ingredients into her tinted moisturiser and under eye concealers to sharing her facial scissoring technique on social. 

And when you put all that makeup on, you have to take it off, right? So, expect to see Trinny’s face washing tutorials up next, as she launches a duo of Trinny London cleansers that she worked on during the lockdowns – plus wash cloths to use with them. “I wanted to start skincare with cleansers as I feel it’s something everyone needs to do properly. It’s the foundation of good skin.” 

Ahead of the launch, we chatted and literally washed our face on Zoom with Trinny to try out the new luxe cleansing textures, while quizzing the beauty boss on her best cleansing and fresh faced skin hacks. And a warning, it includes washing away the morning ‘witches brew’ and maxing your skincare routine while on the loo! We admire her resolve to never to miss a beauty opportunity and now you needn’t either.

You can only get away without cleansing properly for so long…

“I spent my twenties sort of sleeping in my makeup and doing all those shitty things. And I woke up age 30, realising why I had to clean my skin before I even considered any other skincare. Then I became obsessed with what I should use and how I should do it. And I think no matter whatever you do, say you do Botox which I’ve done for years, if you don’t clean your skin every morning and night you’ll see it. I can look at people’s skin and know how much they clean their skin and if you go down that path, there becomes a tiredness to skin. I don’t worry about getting older. I worry about looking in the mirror and feeling tired, which affects my whole day and my energy to do what I want to do. For me, it’s the most important thing that I want to give to people [with the launch of my cleansers], for them to look in the mirror and see energy and vibrancy in their skin again.

Go for the double cleanse

“I have been a double cleanse believer for 30 years, because back when I had very bad skin, I wore a ton of makeup. I had SPF, I had dirt. I lived in the inner city, so I had to get that all off. And I realised when you look at what’s left on a cloth and you think, ‘Ok that’s off,’ it doesn’t mean skin is really, really clean, it’s just the surface that has come off. So now I need to *actually* clean my skin so that all those actives that I put on afterwards are going to really work. 

Mix and match your cleanser

“I’m a balm and cleanser girl. I’m a ‘normal’ skin type and my skin is not really dry or really oily. So in the morning I’ll use the balm [Trinny London Be Your Best Enzyme Balm Cleanser, £3] and use fingers to really work it in to get that experience. We have lots of massage techniques on the site to help you open up lymph nodes or knock out whatever is frustrating you in the day. I love the ritual. In the Summer,  I’ll use the Better Off AHA/PHA Gel Cleanser [£28] in the morning and then in the evening I’ll use the balm followed by the gel. You know, it’s all depends on what experience you want. 

You’ve found the cleansing one if…

“Skin feels amazingly clean, nourished and firm but not tight after using. There’s a real balance it’s shouldn’t leave a film or be too stripping, but it needs to have actives that will clean, but I certainly don’t want to feel like if I smile I’ll get a hundred more crow’s feet because my skin feels dry. And actually I think your cleanser should smell nice because cleansing is a ritual.

Don’t believe the hack about not cleansing in the morning 

“I think that we do too many hacks. And you might think, ‘Oh do I really need to clean my skin in the morning? That’s my hack. I can get away without cleaning my skin in the morning.’  But I’ve known since I was 25 about the ‘witches brew’ that appears on skin in the morning. I was told by somebody once and I never forgot it, that you need to let everything come up at night when your body is regenerating. So I have never in my life worn a heavy night cream to allow the toxins and whatever needs to come up, to come out. So no slugging! And while the witches brew might look like a glow, you do then need to wash your face. So I can’t give you cleansing hacks, but I can tell you why you shouldn’t always take the shortcut!

The Facial Workout (to do on the loo)

“I’m obsessed with doing facial massage in the morning as we need to oxygenate our skin. You can do it with just your fingers. It’ll help if you feel a little puffy under the eyes like I do or if you love to eat dairy [that tends to causes puffiness]. Don’t just rub the face, but focus on lymphatic drainage, working from the clavicle with two fingers and pressing in a butterfly motion before releasing. Do this twenty times and then go up under the chin and push in and slightly pulsate. Then move up to the nose and push slightly either side. Then I go into the corner of my eyes and work along under my eyes, gently pressing and releasing. It’s a daily ritual I’ll do when sitting on the loo!

Exercise your eyelids

“By a certain age most women I know have a hooded lid, unless they have a deep hollow in the eye socket. So this is my suggestion for dealing with the overhang. Place your finger just under the middle of the brow and push it up, then open and close your eye 30 times and you’ll tighten the skin between your eyeliner and brow. Again it’s good to do when when sitting on the loo in the morning. It’s like a Facegym routine for the eyes.

Laugh yourself happy

“I am a very back and white person, but then there’s these things I’ll discover and I’m like, ‘Yes I like that, I’ll take it onboard.’ And right now its laughter therapy. I first did it on a Live with @Katie_Brindle and I have done it every morning since. I now even make people do it with me on Zooms. If you stand up and laugh for a minute it feels so good, by the end your whole system is tingling with the endorphins released. When you feel flat it can give you a renewed energy and all that smiling lifts and tightens the muscles around your cheekbones.

Less is more with skin

“Love your skin and don’t feel the need to mask it. Don’t make it an issue. I realised I’d been coming at it from my heritage of my skin paranoia. For me I spent aged 13-30 with acne and then covered it up with MAC’s Studio Fix for the ten years after that, then woke up one morning and thought, ‘WTF am I doing?’. I learnt from my daughter’s approach and when she says Mum, ‘I like my spots,’ it’s so refreshing. A light tinted base, like our BFF De-Stress Tinted Serum [£39], will look way fresher than masking it.

Some rules aren’t made to be broken

” Always always wear SPF! Don’t even think about it, just take my word for it, as one day you’ll wake up and think, ‘Why didn’t I wear it?!'”

Want to know which Trinny products her loyal tribe swear by? Scroll down to see the Trinny London best sellers we all need in our makeup bag.

And want to see more from Camilla Kay, GLAMOUR’s Beauty Director?  Follow her @camilla.kay