Spending time with Trilogy's Sarah Gibbs

One of New Zealand’s most high profile beauty brands – and a conscious, good for you one at that – Trilogy was founded in 2002 by the super sisterly duo of Sarah Gibbs and Catherine de Groot.
In just eight years the sisters have built their business from a boutique local skincare operation into a recognised and admired international brand sold in 15 markets worldwide, and they are still as passionate about it today as they were all of those years ago.
From the outset Sarah and Catherine set out to create skincare products that not only perform better, but are better ethically, aesthetically and environmentally. This is now a given with many new organic ranges launching today, but back in 2002 they were real pioneers. Their creed of ‘maximum effect on your skin, minimum effect on our environment’ is right in line with the way that I like to view my time spent in front of the bathroom mirror, and talking to Sarah one windy Ponsonby afternoon was a rather inspirational time.
Trilogy launched with just five products, and today the range has over 40 for face, body and hair. Collections on offer include the Age Proof range to combat the signs of ageing, Natural Actives For Men and Sensitive Skin for intolerant complexions – one of the few on the market that has been given the thumbs up by pretty much everyone who tries it. My personal favourite is their multi-purpose Everything Balm, of which there are no less than four pots scattered around our house! The idea for the Trilogy range came to Sarah and Catherine after they fell in love with Rosehip Oil, a truly magical little number that Sarah discovered after setting up a company to manufacture ingredients from plants for the natural supplement and cosmetic industries. Knowing the oil extracted from rosehip seeds was rich in skin-loving nutrients and that it had been used for centuries to heal and rejuvenate skin, Sarah developed a new way to extract the purest elements from this oil and the sisters knew they had discovered a future cosmetic star. Their still-fast selling Rosehip Oil was born, and they’ve never looked back. When I ask Sarah if all those years ago she envisioned the company expanding to be a global beauty force, she says, “in hindsight I think we did. We were quite strategic in that those first few products we launched came with packaging that conformed to international standards and had formulations that were ready to export at any time”.
New Zealand is known internationally for the quality of its all-natural and organic beauty brands, which are popping up on more than regular basis. Why does she think that we do it so well? “I think it’s a lot about our New Zealand-ness, our go getting nature. We like to think globally and we also have some amazing manufacturers here that we can partner up with to bring our projects to life. Our natural supplements brands are revolutionary, too.”
After all of these years, do she and Catherine still take the time to test each and every new product themselves? “We do, and all of our staff use Trilogy as well,” says the statuesque blonde, “our testing process is long and its rigorous, and we work with as many people to trial the product as we can.” So, does she have a personal favourite product? “That is such a hard question to answer!” she laughs, “and it really depends on the time of year. At the moment I’m really into the booster serum from our Age Proof range, and I use the Botanical Body Wash all year round. It’s just too hard to pick!”