Entrepreneurs: The gran behind Look Fabulous Forever who became a £2m make-up star

She’s a superstar vlogger whose make-up tutorial videos — with names like From Day To Evening Glamour and Define Your Eyes And Lips — have amassed more than three million views. She has almost 20,000 YouTube followers, and the make-up business she set up just three years ago brings in almost £2 million a year.

But Tricia Cusden isn’t your average Zoella spin-off: she’s a 69-year-old grandmother-of-five, with a three-decade spell as a training consultant behind her, who quit retirement to start a make-up business for the over 55s.

“It was two loves and one hate,” Cusden says of her light-bulb moment, “my love of make-up and of business, and my hatred of the anti-ageing beauty industry.

“I’ve always loved to look as good as I can, but as I got older the products just weren’t working. I spent £60 on a Bobbi Brown blusher and a Chanel foundation but when I looked in the mirror, I thought ‘these look terrible — they’re made for younger skin. I could do better than this’.”

It was the aftermath of a family health crisis that made Cusden decide to “go bonkers and actually launch a make-up business”. In January 2012, her daughter gave birth to a baby, India, who had a rare chromosomal disorder. “Doctors thought she wouldn’t survive,” she recalls. “She went through open-heart surgery and 10 months in hospital, and I stepped in to look after her three-year-old sister, Freya.”

After a very difficult year, India began breathing on her own and came home. “By January, I was needed far less,” Cusden explains. “I felt directionless, I’d given up a year of my life — very happily — to support everybody, and now I had all this spare time. I thought, ‘I’m 65 years old — I might live another 30 years. I can’t sit around doing nothing.”

So Cusden took to Google, and found a cosmetics maker in Ipswich. “I took all the make-up products I was using from about eight different brands and explained why they worked well on my older face. He made me samples of similar make-up, and I roped in friends and began testing them.”

Cusden, who lives and works in Wimbledon, also trained as a make-up artist. “I was the oldest in the class by about 50 years,” she laughs, “but I wanted to be able to do fairly professional make-overs.”

By October 2013, the entrepreneur had sourced a line of products, built a website, made videos showing how the items work, designed a logo and packaging, and thrown a launch party. She initially invested £40,000 of her retirement savings — “I asked my family, ‘am I bonkers?’ but luckily they said ‘no’.”

Three months after launch, Cusden was getting thousands of sales — and of YouTube views. “I’d originally thought that making videos was a waste of time but I was so wrong. I now regularly get invited to speak at all sorts of Google and Facebook events. I am always the oldest person in the room but I love it — I’m showing that my generation is perfectly comfortable with technology.”

Revenues hit £100,000 in 2014. A year later, a three-minute BBC Breakfast interview on New Year’s Eve helped Look Fabulous Forever to take £25,000 in eight hours. Turnover in 2015 was £500,000.

It’s now a family business: Cusden’s two daughters run PR, stock and finances while her two sons-in-law invested £20,000 each via SEIS, the Government start-up investment scheme. Four more backers have since collectively put in £110,000, and the brand is still growing fast.

About a quarter of orders are from overseas, mostly the US and Australia, a skincare line is being contemplated, and Cusden has been commissioned to write a guide, Look Fabulous Forever Style.

“I’ve used to be frightened that someone big like L’Oréal would pop up and do a range for older women, but I’ve since realised they can’t because the beauty industry claims that if you put on another anti-aging cream or serum, it’s all back to normal and all make-up is for everyone. That’s just not true. There is a difference — and our sales figures prove it.”

As for discrimination, Cusden believes her age has “been a massive advantage. I’m the anomaly. It’s quite hard to stand out in the business world — but being entrepreneurial at the age of 65 with a really successful business, that marks you out.”