Sally Foran: ‘When you’ve been through the worst, you don’t care what people think’

With 64,600 followers on her main platform, Instagram (and an additional 27,000 on Facebook and 3,000 on TikTok), Foran has quietly become one of Ireland’s best-known beauty influencers. We’ve met previously at events, where she was more likely to be found quizzing the dermatologists than taking selfies for the ‘gram. 

She is soft spoken, but exudes a quiet confidence. Her skin is beautiful. She has some (barely noticeable) lines. This is unlike the majority of older women I meet at beauty events. She has decided — for now, at least — not to get Botox or other invasive anti-ageing treatments.

“As a beauty creator who tests anti-ageing products, I think it would be akin to false advertising,” she says. It’s a fair point.

Her “life lines,” as she calls them, are something she’s trying to embrace — she wants her daughter to know they are OK — but they don’t mean she isn’t serious about beauty and anti-ageing.

“I was using an eye cream at 12,” she says with a laugh.

Having grown up in the ’80s and ’90s, long before TikTok and Instagram and the advent of the term ‘Sephora kids’, Foran’s fascination with beauty wasn’t driven by the poreless, ‘glass’ skin our feeds are populated with today, but by something much more organic: Watching her mother age.

“She never used anything,” she says, “not even SPF.”

“She was out gardening every day... I witnessed her age before my eyes.”

Her aunts, meanwhile, weren’t to be seen without their Lancaster suncreams, and would secretly gift Foran lipsticks and nail varnishes (her ‘free spirit’ dad did not approve). She followed their lead.

She recalls playing with their makeup and pining after a Clinique foundation, which was far beyond her budget.

“It was Rimmel for me,” she says. Cheap as chips, but did the job.

That’s something Foran’s followers won’t be surprised to learn. She’s just as likely to recommend a €5 cleanser as she is a €65 retinol. All Foran is concerned about is whether the product gets the job done.

“If something is expensive and it works, I’ve no problem recommending it. But if it’s cheap and really works, I’ll shout that from the rooftops.

“You don’t have to spend to get results anymore. Sometimes, there are formulations that might be worth spending the extra few euros, but nowadays, there are often affordable alternatives.”

Her makeup bag, which I get a sneak peek at during her photoshoot, is a real mix — Charlotte Tilbury, Trinny London, Sculpted by Aimee, Hildun Beauty.

During said photoshoot, she promises to bring me up a cleanser when I ask her for oily-skin recommendations (Skingredients Saliclicylic Acid 2%, if you were wondering), and gently chastises our photographer when she its her facial SPF lasts her nearly a year (“Two fingers worth of product with each use,” she coaches her, “and let it sit for 15 minutes before applying your makeup”).

I am not surprised when she tells me her journey to influencing came as a result of others telling her to start documenting her advice.

Working in a pharmacy in Gorey, a busy single mother with a limited amount of time for herself, Foran says the idea of starting a blog was first floated by one of her colleagues.

“People always came to me for help [with skincare and beauty],” she recalls, “And it was one of the girls who said, ‘Why don’t you set up a blog?’” At the time, Foran didn’t have a smartphone or a laptop and saw herself as a technophobe. Then, a competition win changed everything. “I won an iPad,” she says, laughing.

With no other excuses to hand, she started her blog, Irish Beauty Fairy. Just three years later, she’d left her job in the pharmacy to pursue influencing full-time.

Personal journey

When it comes to how she ended up as a full-time content creator in her early 40s, Foran feels her story is one that embodies the mantra “it’s never too late”.

“I was pregnant during my final year in St Pat’s. It was run by priests, 1997, so you can imagine,” she says, eyebrows raised.

“I’d always wanted to be a mother,” she continues. “It wasn’t planned, but I said I would make it work. And it was the best thing that had ever happened to me.”

She was “overly attached”, she its, but felt she’d found her calling.

“I wanted to be this, earth mother,” says Foran .

“Like a trad wife?” I interject, and she laughs. “Yes, probably.”

After her first child, Myles, three more followed: Lily, Luke and Padraig. Tragically, Foran lost baby Luke due to medical negligence, later proven in court (“my proudest moment was getting justice,” she says). It was the darkest period of her life — and Foran has had many.

Luke was named after her brother, who also tragically lost his life at just 23 in 2001. Ten years later, her brother Séan, a 31-year-old father of two, ed away under similar circumstances.

Both active, they lost their lives suddenly while playing sport with friends, later confirmed to be instances of sudden cardiac death. Foran has since discovered she also has the gene.

The week after we meet, between the wall-to-wall beauty events and Q&As to be answered from followers, Foran’s posts are broken up by one about Go Purple Day, An Garda Síochána’s national day for domestic abuse awareness. Foran has her own perspective, one she has also shared with her loyal followers.

“Several life-changing events have made me not afraid of anything,” she says. “It has played a part in this being my career.

“I am quite introverted, and I am sure a lot of my schoolmates can’t believe I am [an influencer]. People often ask, ‘What gives you the confidence?’

“When you’ve been through the worst thing that could ever happen, nothing scares you anymore. You don’t care what people think.”

Philosophy on beauty

It’s clear that, beneath the soft exterior, Foran has a strong sense of who she is and what she believes in, and that is also evident in her approach to beauty.

She is keen to emphasise she takes a ‘you do you’ approach to it all, though she does encourage her followers to think carefully before opting for any invasive treatments.

“Make sure it’s a good practitioner, doctor, dentist, nurse-led, just be careful... do your research.”

“I will never say never,” she says of her own attitude to such treatments, “But I don’t want to erase my face. I think we all have things we’d like to ‘fix’,” Foran muses, “but we have unique faces that are beautiful in their own ways.

“There are some people who look wrecked, myself included, and they just want to look a fresher version of themselves. And they get a little something done, and it’s so good you don’t even detect it. I think that’s when something is done well.”

From explaining trending skincare ingredients to honest reviews of the latest beauty treatments, round-ups of the best new beauty products, and interviews from expert voices, you can expect a realistic, grounded, 360-degree approach to beauty from her column.

Foran feels that there are lots of women out there who are looking to try less invasive —and costly — methods of ageing gracefully, so she will also be prioritising trialling things like cosmetic acupuncture, kobido massage, facial peels and lymphatic drainage, to offer alternative approaches to anti-ageing.

Her ion for beauty is intrinsically linked to an interest in general health and wellbeing, so you can expect an ‘inside-out’ approach which will prioritise lifestyle changes and supplementation too.

“It’s all about helping people feel their best,” she says of her approach to beauty.

“That’s where it all started. I want to help people.”

• Read Sally Foran's first beauty column in this Saturday's Irish Examiner.