Triona McCarthy

Our expert invites you to #grwm as she gets her glam on for a red carpet event, and shares the tools and products that she uses to create a head-turning look

We need to talk a bit about fashion this week. As I always say, beauty is my duty but fashion is my passion.

I’m a qualified beauty therapist, as you all probably know, but I also studied fashion at college, going on to work as a fashion buyer and as a designer, and basically anything involving dressing up really! So you can imagine my delight when — drumroll please — I found out I’m up for a VIP style award. I was nominated for Most Stylish Online Influencer — feel free to vote for me if I tickle your fashion pickle!

I inherited my love of fashion and beauty from my mum Margaret who was my biggest inspiration growing up. I also want to give my auntie Katie, who lives in Dungarvan, a mention here as well, as her fashion sense is sublime — she even matches her specs to all her outfits.

Fashion and beauty, I say, are like two lovers who can’t take their eyes off one another — you have to have one with the other — so here are the perennially stylish beauty favourites I’ll be using when I rock up to the awards.

I wear my hair down a lot so I’m a big fan of the Dyson Airwrap Multi-Styler and Dryer (€549, dyson.ie), as I can create all sorts of red carpet looks with it in a jiffy. Reports of the new Dyson Supersonic Nural Hair Dryer (€449.99, dyson.ie), which will be available from May, have me intrigued as it apparently has lots of new futuristic features that will make hair drying a much better, speedier experience, as well as protecting scalp health and enhancing hair’s natural shine.

I’m all about investing in your teeth as we wear them all the time!

The Spotlight Oral Care Sonic Pro Toothbrush (€149.95, eu.spotlightoralcare. com) is a must for me. Sisters Lisa and Vanessa Creaven, who are practising cosmetic dentists and experts in their field, know their stuff so of course there’s a teethwhitening setting on it as well as a tongue scraper.

While my clothes are bursting out of my wardrobe at home, I regularly do a little cull to pare things back in my lipstick wardrobe. But it always features a bright red lipstick for a big night out and my favourite is Armani Rouge d’Armani in shade 401 (€38, brownthomas.com, below left).

My go-to eyeshadow is Chanel Les 4 Ombres —

Warm Memories (€53, boots. ie), a really stylish palette of four eyeshadows that blend really easily and they combine to give my peepers every look, from smoky to luminous.

And finally, I always have the YSL All Hours Hyper Finish Powder (€53, brownthomas.com) in my handbag for touch-ups. It mattifies and sets the complexion for up to 24 hours, blurs imperfections and minimises the appearance of pores, while smoothing skin. I love its finely milled texture, and it can also be worn alone to enhance a ‘no-make-up’ make-up look.

So that’s my glam sorted for the night — now all I need is to find my killer outfit.