Caroline Hirons: ‘My celebrity crush? Colin Farrell. I hope he reads this – I hear he likes an older woman’

Born in Liverpool, Caroline Hirons, 57, moved to London at 17. In 1997, she joined the Aveda counter in Harvey Nichols and went on to train as an aesthetician. She started a blog in 2010 and, 10 years later, published her first book, which won the nonfiction lifestyle prize at the British Book Awards in 2021. In 2022, she launched the Skin Rocks app and skincare line. Her new book is Skin Rules: Expert Advice That You Can Trust. She is separated with four children, and lives in London.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I can be a tad impatient, and my team would say that’s an understatement.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
I have a long list: misogyny, homophobia, rudeness, greed, arrogance, ignorance.

Aside from a property, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought?
I do like a handbag. The brand begins with H and ends with èrmes.

What is your most treasured possession?
My trio of wedding rings I wear every day – my mum’s, my grandmother’s, mine. I’m separated, but still have the ring because it gave me my kids.

What makes you unhappy?
Running out of HRT.

Who is your celebrity crush?
Colin Farrell – and I hope he reads this. I hear he likes an older woman.

Which book are you ashamed not to have read?
I don’t do shame.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I strongly advocate looking at what we like about our appearance rather than what we don’t like.

Who would play you in the film of your life?
Queen Latifah, and the menopause years would be played by Denzel Washington.

What is your most unappealing habit?
Interrupting people. I have ADHD and I sometimes have to physically bite my tongue and cover my mouth because my instinct is to join in.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A midwife. And then I had a baby and thought, sod that.

What is the worst thing anyone’s said to you?
“I’m very sorry but your mother has passed.”

Have you ever said ‘I love you’ and not meant it?
No, I’m very tight with “I love you”.

Which living person do you most despise, and why?
So that I can still travel, I would say the majority of old white male politicians.

What has been your biggest disappointment?
My marriage ending.

If you could edit your past, what would you change?
In the words of Helen Mirren, I’d tell more people to fuck off.

How often do you have sex?
I’m comfortably single.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Leaving school at 15 and going on to found and run two multimillion-pound businesses.

What keeps you awake at night?
Nothing. I’m old, tired and on progesterone so I can sleep.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
That it’s fucking short. Don’t have any fear. Crack on.