Month: April 2021

By now, you are well aware that sunscreen is important. And if you aren’t, consider this yet another friendly reminder that you should be wearing it every day from head-to-toe through all seasons. That includes those dark and gloomy winters when the sun tends to hide and trigger the seasonal depression many of us fall victim to. Beyond simply remembering to slather on the SPF, deciding on the type of sunscreen you’ll use is also essential. For many, mineral sunscreen is the clear winner.

Generally speaking, there are two types of SPF that most products fall into: chemical and mineral. The biggest difference between the two is how they interact with the skin. Chemical sunscreens literally infiltrate the skin upon application, fully absorbing under the skin (and in some cases, to the bloodstream) where it then provides protection.

In response to an obvious roadblock to people getting ample protection and the growing interest in clean beauty, mineral sunscreen has become the SPF du jour for many. Unlike its chemical counterparts, mineral formulas use natural ingredients that sit on top of the skin and reflect UV rays away from the skin instead of absorbing them. They’re so popular in fact, that beauty junkies like us reference the EWG’s sunscreen list every year for the latest and greatest options.

Ultimately, your choice comes down to personal preference. To help you decide, here are some stellar mineral options.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Bare Republic.

Bare Republic Mineral Gel Lotion

Don’t sleep on this ultra-sheer, unique gel formula made with rose oil and calendula oil help calm and soothe skin.

Olay.

Olay Regenerist Mineral Sunscreen Hydrating Moisturizer SPF 30

Get sheer protection against broad-spectrum UVA/UVB rays with zinc oxide, as well as hydration with vitamin B3+ peptides.

Alastin Skincare.

Alastin Skincare HydraTint Pro Mineral Sunscreen

This luxe pick is packed with antioxidants to further protect the face from sun damage and has a hint of a tint that compliments all skin types.

C’est Moi.

C’est Moi Gentle Mineral Sunscreen Lotion

Made with sensitive skin types in mind, this fragrance-free lotion is also safe to wear in water, though you’ll want to reapply about 40 minutes after you towel off.

Buy: Gentle Mineral Sunscreen Lotion $14.99

DERMA E.

Derma E Ultra Sheer Mineral Body Sunscreen Mist

This easy-peasy spray is infused with green tea and vitamin E to provide a soothing effect to the skin as it’s being applied.

Erbaviva Organic Skincare.

Erbaviva Sunscreen SPF 30

This coral-safe, zinc oxide sunscreen will feel like a dream, thanks to an infusion of essential oils and aloe.

Love Sun Body.

Love Sun Body Natural Mineral Sunscreen

This hypo-allergenic, sweat-resistant formula holds the rare distinction of the Environmental Working Group’s highest rating.

Buy: Natural Mineral Sunscreen $23

TropicSport.

TropicSport SPF 50 Mineral Sunscreen

This one passes the 80-minute water resistance test and is infused with vitamin E, Tucuma butter, and aloe for added hydration.

Buy: Mineral Sunscreen Lotion $19.99

Unsun.

Everyday by Unsun Body Lotion Sunscreen SPF 15

Unsun, founded by Katonya Breaux (fun fact: she’s Frank Ocean’s mom), has been around for a few years. However, this Everyday line is a partnership with Target and includes affordable sun protection products. It includes this water-resistant SPF for the body.

EiR NYC.

EiR NYC Surf Mud Pro

This SPF product is truly one of a kind. In addition to being made with a reef-safe (aka safe for ocean water) zinc formula, its packaging is also biodegradable. Another key ingredient, chocolate (!!), provides deep hydration to the skin.

As a beauty editor, I pretty much have the world of products and procedures at my fingertips. I regularly test new launches from makeup to skincare, but have always steered clear of receiving any actual aesthetic treatment. All of that changed when I discovered a surgery I had honestly never heard of before: dimpleplasty, a minimally-invasive surgery that creates dimples. 

 “OK, how?” I asked myself as I went down a rabbit hole of research. What was this sorcery that could bestow dimples upon the previously smooth-cheeked? I decided there was no better time than during a global pandemic to find out.

Stories and statistics assert that injectables and plastic surgery have proliferated during the pandemic. Call it the Zoom Effect: people have never before spent so much time staring at themselves, and in some cases, fixating on perceived flaws. Although it might play a slight factor, I can assure you that my own mounting interest in the surgery table isn’t really correlated with Zoom, or even the lockdown.

In fact, my predilection with dimples dates all the way back to 2006. When the movie ATL premiered in theaters, a cultural reset ensued. Actress Lauren London and her character New New became staples in entertainment. Her dimples were just so deep—and way too cute. Consequently, many women wanted to be “New New rocking the new, new shit”— her film character’s motto. Simultaneously, due to the sudden pervasiveness of reality television, I saw women with tattoos and piercings in unique areas. I felt drawn to the look and envisioned myself growing up to have sleeve tattoos, face tats and cheek piercings. I wanted to give a bad-ass/slightly rocker tease.

Source: Instagram

However, as time progressed and life dawned on me, I grew past that yearning. I just couldn’t see myself wanting to walk around with ball piercings in my cheek in order to get a dimple (which would also impart a little hole mark on the cheek that I don’t want on my face). With dimpleplasty, sutures are stitched inside of the mouth, leaving no external scars and producing a natural-looking dimple after the healing process is completed.  

“There are different layers of tissue in your face,” explains Dr. David Shafer, MD, FACS, the doctor who I called up to explain this seemingly unknown method. “Some of those layers are interconnected in some people more than others. People with dimples have more connections between those layers,” he elaborated.

I needed more of an explanation.

“Think of it like a quilt that has buttons along it or a tufted couch,” Dr. Shafer maintained in visual explanatory form when we met in his Fifth Avenue office.“With dimples, you have a connection between all of those layers. With dimpleplasty, all you’re doing is taking the area you want more connected and you’re artificially doing that with dissolvable stitches. You are not removing anything. You’re just cutting through the layers and then just sewing them together.” 

The biggest allure about this surgery— because let’s be clear, it is a surgery—was the fact that it doesn’t fully go through my cheek. There is nothing being put in my body, and there will be no scarring or holes left in my face. There is also a high chance that your body will heal and revert since it’s an act of trauma being caused to the muscle in your cheek— it’s not unlikely that your body may just heal it. 

“The surgery is short, about 15 minutes” said Shafer, which sealed the deal with me because let’s face it—the idea of undergoing surgery is scary. During the pandemic, the protocol also requires all clients receive an in-office Covid-19 test within four to five days of their scheduled procedure. I went for mine on a Monday and scheduled the procedure for Thursday. I was beyond ready to finally have dimples. 

Walking into the office on procedure day was a bit surreal. I removed my shoes and donned the equivalent of hospital socks. They handed me an operating gown that I wasn’t expecting. It frightened me.

Noel Cymone Walker.

Once we took the “before” pictures, removed all of my jewelry, and marked areas of my cheek, the nurse drew back a curtain, and a fully certified surgery operating room was in front of me. I was shooketh! I guess I was thinking it would be done on a surgical chair, but no baby. This was a whole set. It was like walking into a scene from Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts” video and my emotions began to run rampant. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

After numbing my cheek, tools went flying back and forth between the doctor and the nurse right in front of my eyes. I laid with my mouth open not feeling a thing. At some point, there were so many tools being passed that I thought it better for me to shut my eyes. They were giving me anxiety. From one cheek to the other, I would guess I was in the operating room for about 40 minutes in total. As they finished and I rose to a face mirror, I was so damn shocked that I just had surgery. I could visibly see the stitching on both cheeks. There were two stitch divots on each side of my cheek that legit looked like a set of baste stitches. I immediately expressed my concern to Dr. Shafer, and he assured me they would disappear within the month of healing. A MONTH!

Throughout the day as the local numbing wore off, my mouth did hurt and it swelled a bit. I took the prescriptions that were waiting for me and I pretty much tapped out. I needed to rest. 

 Over the next couple of days, I intensely stared at the stitch in my face. By the fourth day, the stitch did start to loosen up and began to look like it would disappear. The dimples no longer looked like two separate baste stitches on each side, but one indentation. When I went back to Dr. Shafer a week later for my follow-up I was feeling so much better about the trajectory. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

As of one and half weeks post-surgery, I love the dimples. I do have some scarring and hyperpigmentation where the stitch was on the right side of my cheek. But ultimately, I’m very happy with the results. And I look forward to my three-month follow-up: will the dimples last, or will I have to get them redone? Only time will tell.

As a beauty editor, I pretty much have the world of products and procedures at my fingertips. I regularly test new launches from makeup to skincare, but have always steered clear of receiving any actual aesthetic treatment. All of that changed when I discovered a surgery I had honestly never heard of before: dimpleplasty, a minimally-invasive surgery that creates dimples. 

 “OK, how?” I asked myself as I went down a rabbit hole of research. What was this sorcery that could bestow dimples upon the previously smooth-cheeked? I decided there was no better time than during a global pandemic to find out.

Stories and statistics assert that injectables and plastic surgery have proliferated during the pandemic. Call it the Zoom Effect: people have never before spent so much time staring at themselves, and in some cases, fixating on perceived flaws. Although it might play a slight factor, I can assure you that my own mounting interest in the surgery table isn’t really correlated with Zoom, or even the lockdown.

In fact, my predilection with dimples dates all the way back to 2006. When the movie ATL premiered in theaters, a cultural reset ensued. Actress Lauren London and her character New New became staples in entertainment. Her dimples were just so deep—and way too cute. Consequently, many women wanted to be “New New rocking the new, new shit”— her film character’s motto. Simultaneously, due to the sudden pervasiveness of reality television, I saw women with tattoos and piercings in unique areas. I felt drawn to the look and envisioned myself growing up to have sleeve tattoos, face tats and cheek piercings. I wanted to give a bad-ass/slightly rocker tease.

Source: Instagram

However, as time progressed and life dawned on me, I grew past that yearning. I just couldn’t see myself wanting to walk around with ball piercings in my cheek in order to get a dimple (which would also impart a little hole mark on the cheek that I don’t want on my face). With dimpleplasty, sutures are stitched inside of the mouth, leaving no external scars and producing a natural-looking dimple after the healing process is completed.  

“There are different layers of tissue in your face,” explains Dr. David Shafer, MD, FACS, the doctor who I called up to explain this seemingly unknown method. “Some of those layers are interconnected in some people more than others. People with dimples have more connections between those layers,” he elaborated.

I needed more of an explanation.

“Think of it like a quilt that has buttons along it or a tufted couch,” Dr. Shafer maintained in visual explanatory form when we met in his Fifth Avenue office.“With dimples, you have a connection between all of those layers. With dimpleplasty, all you’re doing is taking the area you want more connected and you’re artificially doing that with dissolvable stitches. You are not removing anything. You’re just cutting through the layers and then just sewing them together.” 

The biggest allure about this surgery— because let’s be clear, it is a surgery—was the fact that it doesn’t fully go through my cheek. There is nothing being put in my body, and there will be no scarring or holes left in my face. There is also a high chance that your body will heal and revert since it’s an act of trauma being caused to the muscle in your cheek— it’s not unlikely that your body may just heal it. 

“The surgery is short, about 15 minutes” said Shafer, which sealed the deal with me because let’s face it—the idea of undergoing surgery is scary. During the pandemic, the protocol also requires all clients receive an in-office Covid-19 test within four to five days of their scheduled procedure. I went for mine on a Monday and scheduled the procedure for Thursday. I was beyond ready to finally have dimples. 

Walking into the office on procedure day was a bit surreal. I removed my shoes and donned the equivalent of hospital socks. They handed me an operating gown that I wasn’t expecting. It frightened me.

Noel Cymone Walker.

Once we took the “before” pictures, removed all of my jewelry, and marked areas of my cheek, the nurse drew back a curtain, and a fully certified surgery operating room was in front of me. I was shooketh! I guess I was thinking it would be done on a surgical chair, but no baby. This was a whole set. It was like walking into a scene from Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts” video and my emotions began to run rampant. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

After numbing my cheek, tools went flying back and forth between the doctor and the nurse right in front of my eyes. I laid with my mouth open not feeling a thing. At some point, there were so many tools being passed that I thought it better for me to shut my eyes. They were giving me anxiety. From one cheek to the other, I would guess I was in the operating room for about 40 minutes in total. As they finished and I rose to a face mirror, I was so damn shocked that I just had surgery. I could visibly see the stitching on both cheeks. There were two stitch divots on each side of my cheek that legit looked like a set of baste stitches. I immediately expressed my concern to Dr. Shafer, and he assured me they would disappear within the month of healing. A MONTH!

Throughout the day as the local numbing wore off, my mouth did hurt and it swelled a bit. I took the prescriptions that were waiting for me and I pretty much tapped out. I needed to rest. 

 Over the next couple of days, I intensely stared at the stitch in my face. By the fourth day, the stitch did start to loosen up and began to look like it would disappear. The dimples no longer looked like two separate baste stitches on each side, but one indentation. When I went back to Dr. Shafer a week later for my follow-up I was feeling so much better about the trajectory. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

As of one and half weeks post-surgery, I love the dimples. I do have some scarring and hyperpigmentation where the stitch was on the right side of my cheek. But ultimately, I’m very happy with the results. And I look forward to my three-month follow-up: will the dimples last, or will I have to get them redone? Only time will tell.

As a beauty editor, I pretty much have the world of products and procedures at my fingertips. I regularly test new launches from makeup to skincare, but have always steered clear of receiving any actual aesthetic treatment. All of that changed when I discovered a surgery I had honestly never heard of before: dimpleplasty, a minimally-invasive surgery that creates dimples. 

 “OK, how?” I asked myself as I went down a rabbit hole of research. What was this sorcery that could bestow dimples upon the previously smooth-cheeked? I decided there was no better time than during a global pandemic to find out.

Stories and statistics assert that injectables and plastic surgery have proliferated during the pandemic. Call it the Zoom Effect: people have never before spent so much time staring at themselves, and in some cases, fixating on perceived flaws. Although it might play a slight factor, I can assure you that my own mounting interest in the surgery table isn’t really correlated with Zoom, or even the lockdown.

In fact, my predilection with dimples dates all the way back to 2006. When the movie ATL premiered in theaters, a cultural reset ensued. Actress Lauren London and her character New New became staples in entertainment. Her dimples were just so deep—and way too cute. Consequently, many women wanted to be “New New rocking the new, new shit”— her film character’s motto. Simultaneously, due to the sudden pervasiveness of reality television, I saw women with tattoos and piercings in unique areas. I felt drawn to the look and envisioned myself growing up to have sleeve tattoos, face tats and cheek piercings. I wanted to give a bad-ass/slightly rocker tease.

Source: Instagram

However, as time progressed and life dawned on me, I grew past that yearning. I just couldn’t see myself wanting to walk around with ball piercings in my cheek in order to get a dimple (which would also impart a little hole mark on the cheek that I don’t want on my face). With dimpleplasty, sutures are stitched inside of the mouth, leaving no external scars and producing a natural-looking dimple after the healing process is completed.  

“There are different layers of tissue in your face,” explains Dr. David Shafer, MD, FACS, the doctor who I called up to explain this seemingly unknown method. “Some of those layers are interconnected in some people more than others. People with dimples have more connections between those layers,” he elaborated.

I needed more of an explanation.

“Think of it like a quilt that has buttons along it or a tufted couch,” Dr. Shafer maintained in visual explanatory form when we met in his Fifth Avenue office.“With dimples, you have a connection between all of those layers. With dimpleplasty, all you’re doing is taking the area you want more connected and you’re artificially doing that with dissolvable stitches. You are not removing anything. You’re just cutting through the layers and then just sewing them together.” 

The biggest allure about this surgery— because let’s be clear, it is a surgery—was the fact that it doesn’t fully go through my cheek. There is nothing being put in my body, and there will be no scarring or holes left in my face. There is also a high chance that your body will heal and revert since it’s an act of trauma being caused to the muscle in your cheek— it’s not unlikely that your body may just heal it. 

“The surgery is short, about 15 minutes” said Shafer, which sealed the deal with me because let’s face it—the idea of undergoing surgery is scary. During the pandemic, the protocol also requires all clients receive an in-office Covid-19 test within four to five days of their scheduled procedure. I went for mine on a Monday and scheduled the procedure for Thursday. I was beyond ready to finally have dimples. 

Walking into the office on procedure day was a bit surreal. I removed my shoes and donned the equivalent of hospital socks. They handed me an operating gown that I wasn’t expecting. It frightened me.

Noel Cymone Walker.

Once we took the “before” pictures, removed all of my jewelry, and marked areas of my cheek, the nurse drew back a curtain, and a fully certified surgery operating room was in front of me. I was shooketh! I guess I was thinking it would be done on a surgical chair, but no baby. This was a whole set. It was like walking into a scene from Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts” video and my emotions began to run rampant. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

After numbing my cheek, tools went flying back and forth between the doctor and the nurse right in front of my eyes. I laid with my mouth open not feeling a thing. At some point, there were so many tools being passed that I thought it better for me to shut my eyes. They were giving me anxiety. From one cheek to the other, I would guess I was in the operating room for about 40 minutes in total. As they finished and I rose to a face mirror, I was so damn shocked that I just had surgery. I could visibly see the stitching on both cheeks. There were two stitch divots on each side of my cheek that legit looked like a set of baste stitches. I immediately expressed my concern to Dr. Shafer, and he assured me they would disappear within the month of healing. A MONTH!

Throughout the day as the local numbing wore off, my mouth did hurt and it swelled a bit. I took the prescriptions that were waiting for me and I pretty much tapped out. I needed to rest. 

 Over the next couple of days, I intensely stared at the stitch in my face. By the fourth day, the stitch did start to loosen up and began to look like it would disappear. The dimples no longer looked like two separate baste stitches on each side, but one indentation. When I went back to Dr. Shafer a week later for my follow-up I was feeling so much better about the trajectory. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

As of one and half weeks post-surgery, I love the dimples. I do have some scarring and hyperpigmentation where the stitch was on the right side of my cheek. But ultimately, I’m very happy with the results. And I look forward to my three-month follow-up: will the dimples last, or will I have to get them redone? Only time will tell.

Guys have been wearing nail polish forever but on celebs we’ve typically seen some chipped black polish and that’s about it. As of late though, folks of all genders have been playing around with nail art. And why not? It’s a fun, easy way to show your creativity. Machine Gun Kelly has even been showing off longer nail extensions on his pinky fingers, as well as some colorful nail art. It makes sense his next venture would be a nail polish brand.

According to Page Six, the “Bloody Valentine” singer teamed up with Unlisted Brand Lab on a line of nail polish called UN/DN. It’s being marketed as a “unisex” brand but isn’t all nail polish for any gender? Makeup, skincare, haircare, nail polish—it’s all genderless. Or it should be. There isn’t a ton of info on UN/DN yet but we know it’s set for a fall launch. And there’s a great chance it’s going to be much more than black shades.

“We’re honored to be working with MGK on this rare opportunity to build a brand that will progress a category to embody a cultural shift that has been a long time coming,” Unlisted founder and CEO Candy Harris said in a press release.

Source: Instagram

Aside from making music and launching beauty brands, MGK is lighting up tabloids for his relationship with Megan Fox. Rumor has it, they’ll be moving in together once Fox’s divorce is finalized from Brian Austin Green. Fox filed for divorce from Green on November 25, the day before Thanksgiving, after more than 10 years of marriage.