It’s hard to write a post about a manicure or nail polish when you’re in St. Maarten, distracted by the fresh island air and crashing waves. The Beauty Bug has tried about 3-4 times, but keeps drifting off in an island daze. That’s what vacations are for, yes?
In preparation for Her vacation, The Beauty Bug opted for a half-moon manicure – something to show off Her tips while toasting mud slide after mud slide. See the series of photos below to see the step-by-step process of Her half-moon manicure.
Most mothers and daughters bond over shopping trips, long weekends away or movies. But not Sheri Poe and her daughter Danielle Birritella. They bonded over beauty and together, they created a skincare line. Pretty much blows every other bonding activity out of the water, yes?
Overwhelmed by the vast array of skincare offerings and of-the-moment ingredients, they embarked on a mission to simplify skincare. And so, POE (Purity of Elements) was born.
The paraben-free line is packed with pure minerals, antioxidants, botanicals and other super-charged ingredients including copper, zinc, algae, avocado, pomegranate, ginger root, pumpkin, ginko biloba and a special tea and berry blend. POE reflects its founders’ holistic approach to beauty and is rooted in the philosophy that balanced skin is a reflection of a balanced life.
The Beauty Bug has long written about Her love of washing Her face; coming home and washing away all the stresses of the day. Instant satisfaction via a face wash or cleanser. Yes, that’s a lot of pressure to put on one product – to wash away the angst of any given day – but, POE’s Daily Purifying Polishkills it. One whiff, and it will make sense. You’ll want to schmear it all over your face too (it smells like a creamsicle). The cleanser is packed with antioxidant tea and a blend of berries, making almost good enough to eat but even more delicious to smell. The exfoliating micro-beads help to gently sweep away dead surface skin cells, leaving skin soft, smooth and healthy. Key ingredients include Jojoba Oil (restores skins natural lipid barrier), Mandarin Orange Peel extract (anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-bacterial), Soybean Germ extract, and Vitamin E. It’s mild, yet effective, and calms and clarifies. The polish feels great on skin and can be used everyday. Call on the power of the micro-beads to combat flakiness, exfoliate and freshen skin, or just when you need that clean fresh-feeling fix, as The Beauty Bug often does.
Spring, you’re the best. You bring us splendid beauty powders that are always too pretty to use and bite-sized pops of color to lift our spirits and make us forget about winter. MAC’s Spring Collections will turn heads, and turn-over makeup bags. Here’s a breakdown of what’s to come from the brand this month.
BAKING BEAUTIES - available April 18th
Cupcakes, macarons and icing, oh my! This delicious pastel collection is sure to satisfy any sweet tooth with it’s cupcake patterned face powders, lustre drops and the aptly named lipsticks – devil’s food cake and raspberry swirl.
FASHION SETS - available April 4th
The bold and the beautiful, and no, The Beauty Bug isn’t referring to the soap opera. Fashion Sets features four distinct color families/sets all containing bright shades that pop with a vivid edge. Very, pop-art of MAC, yes?
IN EXTRA DIMENSION - available April 4th
Seeing double never looked so good – these creamy, silky shadows, blushes and face powders are mega. They sculpt, highlight and define. The collection is one The Beauty Bug’s favorite. The formulas are flawless – creamy and near-fluid - and they leave a smooth, second-skin finish. Perfection.
Because the weekends are for relaxing and recharging, The Beauty Bug will review a mask every Friday. Sit back, relax, put your feet up, run a bath, light the candle and slather away!
In anticipation of Her upcoming travels to Florida and St. Maarten, The Beauty Bug is dreaming of beaches, palm trees, tropical fruity drinks and …algae. Yes, algae. If you want to get technical, algae is a large group of simple nonflowering plants containing chlorophyll but lacking true stems, roots, leaves, and vascular tissue. But to The Beauty Bug, the certified organic seaweed that She’s schmearing all over Her face is a dream exfoliant and brightener. She’s had algae on the mind after using OSEA (Ocean Sun Earth Atmosphere) Skincare’s Black Algae Mask 2 times over the past 2 weeks. The potent exfoliating treatment clarified Her skin and eliminated dead surface skin cells in a matter of minutes, certainly living up to its promise.
Ingredients include pure fig extract (extract eliminate surface dead skin cells and stimulate circulation), black marine silt, malic acid (targets wrinkles, fine lines and a dull complexion) and micro black jojoba spheres. The fun begins after about 10 minutes, when the mask dries and is ready to be washed off. The Beauty Bug wet Her fingers and gently massaged the mask off Her face, revealing a baby pink glow from stimulated circulation. Skin was soft and fresh. After Her first application, the glow as more pronounced as compared to Her second, but skin was equally smooth and bright!
The OSEA Black Algea Mask is available at OseaMalibu.com for $48.
Had you asked The Beauty Bug last week what She had thought about mineral makeup, She would have advised that you spend your money on a new lipgloss instead – or this this By Terry Hyaluronic Sheer Rouge Hydra Balm Lipstick. It’s life-changing. But Mineral makeup, for The Beauty Bug, had always been synonymous with poor coverage - especially when it came to foundation. Something that people who only shop at Whole Foods buy. You know, wannabe makeup. Just not up to par.
Then, The Beauty Bug tried MAC’s new Mineralize Moisture SPF15 Foundation. And She knows what you’re thinking, but, no,She didn’t take back everything that She’s ever said about mineral makeup. No way. But, She can confidently says that this product is the exception to the rule. One word really describes it well – lush. Unlike other mineral products, it’s lightweight yet uniquely creamy and that’s what drew The Beauty Bug to the product. It’s a fooler. And because it’s stacked with minerals, that means it feeds skin all day with nourishing hydration with its Shea Butter, emollients and conditioning extracts.
Best suited for dry skin, Mineralize’s coverage is beautifully buildable. The Beauty Bug prefers medium coverage so She uses Her MAC 130 Short Duo Fibre brush and blends until Her heart’s content and Her skin’s tone is even. And not to threaten David Copperfield, but its combination of powders create an optical blurring effect that virtually diminish imperfections.
Of course The Beauty Bug and Her palest of pale complexions uses NC15, but the shades range from the aforementioned Casper the friendly Beauty Bug shade all the way up to NW50.
The MAC Mineralize Moisture SPF Foundation is available on maccosmetics.com and at MAC counters for $33.
Two big trends to hit the runways this season were bright colored eyeliner and heavy liner/shadow on the lower lash line. This weekend, The Beauty Bug experimented with both of those trends using MAC’s Pro Longwear Liner in Mountain Air. The liner wears for 6 hours on the waterline of your eye, and 12 hours on skin. It didn’t smudge or run at all throughout the evening and the color remained as vibrant as when it was first applied. Check out the photos below – will you be trying this trend for Spring?
The Beauty Bug was thrilled to participate in NewBeauty’s Tea Time Chat today. The topic was Spring beauty trends. She joined Susan Yara (@SusanYara) and Anna Jimenez (@AnnaPJimenez) of NewBeauty, celebrity hair stylist Gregg Giannillo (@Giannillo) and celebrity makeup artist Toby Fleischman (@TobyFleischman).
Products The Beauty Bug discussed in the video include:
Escape to exotic Marrakesh with mark.’s new collection launching in May. The Exotic Beauty Face Mosaics illuminate skin for a subtle, entrancing glow. The Beauty Bug loves it’s silky feel and smooth application. The eye shadow powders are bold, rich and high-pigmented. Finish the look with the Gloss Gorgeous Stay-On Stain in Spicy – it’s applies like a high-gloss shine, wears down to a stain and is peppermint scented.
The Marrakesh Collection will be available at meetmark.com in May.
Kombucha anyone? The Beauty Bug doesn’t mind if She does…
For those who don’t frequent Whole Foods, let The Beauty Bug educate you – it’s not just an overpriced drink. Kombucha is a fermented tea known for its many medicinal uses. When used in skincare, benefits of Kombucha include: hydrating and correcting the pH of the skin, minimizing the signs of aging, tightening pores, diminishing fine lines and blemishes, refining and balancing irregular skin tones, and reducing swelling and soothing skin ailments such as eczema, psoriasis, rashes and rosacea. Enter emerginC’s Scientific Organics Kombucha Cleanser, starring, of course, you guessed it… Kombucha tea. The spa brandstacked the deck with organically scoured ingredients and potent, proven botanicalsincluding grape stem cells, algae extract, green tea, white tea and aloe vera.
The cleanser has a mild herbal/citrus scent that calms and soothes after a long day of the 9-5 nonsense. It lathers nicely and deeply cleanses, leaving skin hydrated and refreshed. After a light wash, The Beauty Bug’s makeup is easily removed and Her skin is left feeling great – never dry or tight.
Want to try a Kombucha cream to go along with your cleanser? Try a homemade one – the recipe is here.
The emerginC Scientific Organics Kombucha Cleanser is available at emerginC.com for $34.
The Beauty Bug’s addiction began early in life when She frequented the drug store every week to purchase multiple tubes of frosted peppermint pink lipstick. Fast forward 20 years, and not much has changed.. Read more ...
Most mothers and daughters bond over shopping trips, long weekends away or movies. But not Sheri Poe and her daughter Danielle Birritella. They bonded over beauty and together, they created a skincare line. Pretty much blows every other bonding activity out of the water, yes?
Because the weekends are for relaxing and recharging, The Beauty Bug will review a mask every Friday. Sit back, relax, put your feet up, run a bath, light the candle and slather away!
Had you asked The Beauty Bug last week what She had thought about mineral makeup, She would have advised that you spend your money on a new lipgloss instead – or this this 
Kombucha anyone? The Beauty Bug doesn’t mind if She does…