WITH many families up and down the country struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, one woman has revealed how her business, that she started from her kitchen counter, has enabled her to earn a fortune for her and her family.
Zoe Trigwell, 29, from Newport, who is currently living in Cwmbran, Wales with her partner, Gareth, 35, and their two boys, aged eight and two, is the founder and CEO of Trigwell Cosmetics – famous for their velvet powder puff that quickly went viral on TikTok.
Zoe revealed that thanks to the creation of her powder puff in particular, her beauty business has had six figure months consecutively for the past five months, and the business even made sales of £42,000 in under six hours.
Opening up about her business success, the mum-of-two told Fabulous: “I started the business in May 2020, so almost three years ago now. It was in the midst of a lockdown.
“I used all of my savings, my last £1,500 to start it up.
“Financially it’s grown every month. We are on track to hit £2 million worth of sales this year, by September.
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“In November 2022, for Black Friday, we launched a limited edition, red powder puff and we sold out within five and a half hours. We made just under £42,000 in five and a half hours.
“Our best month was in January 2023, we did six figures. We made just over £400,000 in the month.”
Zoe explained that prior to the launch of Trigwell Cosmetics, she was a make-up artist, running a training academy, but things went downhill as a result of the arrival of Covid.
She said: “I was a make-up artist at the time but I had had to close my make-up training academy, in Newport, because of Covid.
“It was always in my plans to start a brand. For me being so interested in make-up, it was a natural desire for me to want my own line.
“But I think because of lockdown and obviously a lack of income and not being able to do anything, I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs and I thought, now is the perfect time, let’s get the ball rolling and just go for it.
“So I had £1,500 worth of savings left in my bank account and to be honest with you, it was a bit of a sore subject in my house.
“We obviously had no income from myself due to Covid and so we were living on my other half’s furlough money. But I said do you know what, I’m just going to do it. What’s the worst that could happen?
“I just thought, let’s go for it. So I used all of my savings to start it up.”
Financially it’s grown every month. We are on track to hit £2 million worth of sales this year, by September.
Zoe explained that she had already had her own brand – Luna Lashes – which she then rebranded as Trigwell Cosmetics.
She explained: “I previously had a brand whilst I was running the make-up academy and doing my make-up bits, which was called Luna Lashes.
“I started that back in 2015 and the business had become a bit stagnant. Where I had put all of my attention and energy into the training academy, the business had died down a little bit. I was doing a little bit here and there but wasn’t promoting it or doing anything major with it.
“So with that business, we had a pair of lashes which were quite popular at the time – they were called Harmony.
“So I started off and rebranded the business to be Trigwell Cosmetics, and I went with just the one pair of lashes that I knew were popular anyway, so I knew that I could sell them locally and to people that I knew.
“So I bought 1,000 pairs of these Harmony lashes. I put the rest of the money into making the website and that’s how it all started.
“For me, I was thinking, what can I do that will make this business stand out? Is there a product we can put our own spin on?
“I was getting a fair bit of orders but nothing groundbreaking so I thought I needed to create something.”
Zoe explained that she came up with the idea of creating her own powder puff, after seeing their popularity in the US.
She continued: “I had seen that people in the States were using a velour powder puff, an Amazon, bog-standard one. So I ordered some of those to try with my clients.
“I think it was a lightbulb moment because there weren’t any make-up brands talking about powder puffs or anyone really doing anything with powder puffs, so I thought, let me create my own.
“The Amazon one didn’t feel very luxurious, so I tried to put my own stamp on it to make it better and that’s where the powder puff was born.
“I sent the specifications to my manufacturer. I wanted it to be more of a microfibre material. I knew that it held onto the product better so I went to them and asked them to make me some samples.
“After about four or five different samples and some back and forths, I thought, that’s it, let’s go for it.
“We launched it on 31st March 2022. First of all, it performed really well. We saw a bit of an overnight success with it.
“From March, we were doing around 200 orders a day, which for me at the time was absolutely overwhelming because I was only doing 200 a month prior to that. But it got to May and the orders were flooding in, in their thousands, every week.
“Two months after launching it started to go viral on TikTok.”
What started out on her kitchen table soon skyrocketed and Zoe soon found herself in need of some help.
The entrepreneur noted: “I needed more help. I had been pulling all-nighters to pack them all.
“It started out with me packing and sending them out from my kitchen table in my house.
“I’ve got an integral garage built into my house so we ended up converting that into a packing room.
“We quickly grew out of that, by the time the powder puff went viral on TikTok. But from March to August, we were still doing it from the house.
“It was me predominately and then my partner would do the Royal Mail runs and things like that.
“He has always been really supportive and encouraged me to do what I want to do. He knows the type of person I am. He knows I won’t give up until I make something happen. So he didn’t really want to do it but told me to try it and see what happened.
“But he definitely changed his mind very quickly. By the time the powder puff was selling really well he was thinking, this actually could be something.
“When we launched the powder puff, I was working around 10 to 12 hours a day, solely on the packing.
“There were three days where I literally had about two hours of sleep a night and then I would start packing again because it was just me packing at the time. It was crazy.
“My youngest son was one, he was home with me most of the time and it was hard work. It was a labour of love, definitely.
“At the time, my partner was working in a factory environment for a brewery but then he joined the business at the start of the year.
“Including myself and Gareth, there are eight, soon to be nine of us.
“There’s been a lot of quick growth. Things haven’t slowed down, we’ve got busier and busier.
“In August we signed a lease for a fairly small warehouse, but we’ve just taken on another two premises, so in total we have three warehouses in South Wales.”
Zoe explained that the business has been extremely successful and the company has had six figure months since last November.
She revealed: “Financially it’s grown every month. Our best sales were in January, which I was not expecting at all.
“We are on track to hit £2 million worth of sales this year, by September.
“In November 2022, for Black Friday, we launched a limited edition, red powder puff and we sold out within five and a half hours. We made just under £42,000 in five and a half hours.
“Our best month was in January 2023, we did six figures. We made just over £400,000 in the month.
“We have continued to have six figure months, every month, from November 2022.
“There’s been some challenges, especially towards the latter part of last year, with Black Friday and Christmas time.
“As a new business, we haven’t really got the infrastructure or the staff to cope with the amount of parcels that we are having to do. The challenging part at Christmas was getting everything out on time.
“We were all working overtime, working weekends and evenings, so that was a challenge, because we didn’t really expect it to blow up as quickly as it did.
“But everything has been really positive. We’ve had growth month on month, product awareness, brand awareness, we’re really pleased with everything.
“I’ve invested most of the money back into the business, but it has changed my life immensely.
“I’ve been able to give my partner a job in the business, which is so much more flexible for us with our two children. We can be present with taking our children to school and things like that.
“Financially, it’s done us the world of good. There’s been treats here and there that I’ve been able to give my family which is a really great feeling.
“I’ve been able to take my family on holidays. I was able to take my mum and dad away on holiday in January for my dad’s 60th. It’s little things like that I am now able to do that I never would have been able to do previously.”
For those looking to start their own side hustle, Zoe shared her top advice.
She advised: “My advice would be, don’t think about it too much. If you have a dream and want to pursue it, go for it.
“I’ve always been a believer in not planning too much and I know that can be a bit controversial in business, but sometimes if you go with what you feel is the best option for you, if you put the work in, it will work out in the end.
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“If you’re dedicated and you put the work and the time into it, it should pay off.
“It’s not for everybody, to be an entrepreneur, but if you’ve got the willpower and the tenacity to make something happen, they are really key things that you need to have when running a business.”
