Charlotte Ryan meets Suzy Griffin Dunne, the founder of Hildun Beauty, to talk about pivoting from writing to entrepreneurship, retraining as a makeup artist and taking the reins of her business.
When Suzy Griffin Dunne, founder of Irish beauty brand Hildun, starts developing a new product, she says she "will always buy the most expensive in that category".
"So whether that's eye shadows or lip pencils or whatever it is, I will invest in one or two of the most expensive in that category. That's my baseline for everything. I will I literally bring them to the factories with me."
From Charlotte Tilbury to Patrick Ta to Pat McGrath, Dunne says she chases after any way to get her products to live up to the competition.
"And if they can't live up to this level of pigment and performance - wearing them, how do they wear, how do they last - If they can't live up to that, I'm not doing it. Because I'm obviously not Hailey Bieber or someone who has huge followers that can just launch a product and I'll tell you to buy it and you'll just buy it. The product needs to live up to its reputation and sell itself."
Started as Dunne's passion project, Hildun has now been on the market for four years and quickly becoming a cult favourite among Irish and UK beauty lovers.
The idea came from years spent not only loving and using beauty brands, but from getting to peer behind the curtain as a beauty writer. "I'd be someone who loves going down a rabbit hole", Dunne tells RTÉ Lifestyle. "I would get really into all the pieces I was writing about different launches. I was able to then go and meet the creative directors for beauty brands."
She recalled visiting the manufacturers for beauty brands like LVMH, drinking up the details about lead times, quanities and more. From there, she developed her first product: the Silk to Set Kajal Eyeliner, in noir and chocolate.
When they were ready, she posted them to her favourite makeup artists around the world. "Then all of a sudden, you'll get a shout out one day and you'll get 100 orders. And it's like for a small business, that's a huge deal. Then I was able to take whatever profit we made from the pencils and put that back into making more colours and more colours."
Dunne was all in from the early days, signing up for a three-month makeup artistry course, which came in handy on New Year's Eve when she did 25 makeup looks on customers ranging from 16 to 86. That knowledge base, as a beauty lover, a beauty writer, a makeup artist and a founder, has massively informed the products she makes, she says.
Take for instance the eyelienrs: "I didn't want to be pulling or tugging my eyes any more than I needed to because I don't need any more lines around my eyes. So I didn't want to be pulling that delicate skin. The second I touched the pencil, I wanted immediate payoff, high pigment, creamy payoff, and that's what I got."
Having won Arnotts' Pitch '25, the annual competition from Arnotts that gives local businesses a boost with a €10,000 investment fund, Hildun has been pushed into a new era. Five female-founded brands were chosen as the finalists, with each one trading in the shop for six weeks over Christmas - a baptism by fire.
But for a brand that had made a name for itself largely online up to that point, it was a crucial step forward. "I spent a lot of time doing makeup looks on customers, so trying out different shades and finding their dream colours", Dunne says. "That stuff was just so rewarding, and they're still messaging me today. They're just building that community and meeting them in person is so important."
With such a varied career, what has it been like stepping into business? "Oh, it's hard, I won't lie", Dunne says.
"I didn't study business, and it wouldn't have been my strongest subject. But one thing I've really tried to do is not be afraid of it and not be a bit like, Oh, head in the sand.
"I have a couple of girls working with me now, and ... we have an accountant and we have a team of men who help us. But I said, No, the girls are going to own it this year. I also feel like you can't just leave it to someone else. You have to get to grips with every side of the business."
