French Girl Friday ~ Margarita Bloom

This week I wanted to do a very different French Girl Friday post. One thing I have learned with all the different books about the French Woman, is that they do like to pamper themselves, maybe not in an ostentatious way, but just with the best they can afford to use... and that extends to lotions, potions and perfumes. Here in the states there are those who believe the same and those that are always looking to cut corners and save a dime; are we not all worth buying the best we can afford to pamper ourselves the way we pamper our friends and family?  Years ago when I first began this blog I would on occasion do a profile of a small business that fall under the heading I am now using on Instagram " Ruby's Musings Approved" , one of those companies was run by the sweetest doll around, her name is Regina and her company Margarita Bloom. her products are simply one of the best I have tried. I have a few for myself as budget allows, and I buy them as gifts for the special ladies in my life. They are such great quality, the packaging is so pretty, prefect for the vanity top or dressing table. Recently Regina has expanded her company to now carry clothing and accessories and she has recently started doing a regular blog as well. Her sight is a delight to spend time on and you can find something for everyone you want to pamper as well as yourself. I wanted to share this wonderful company with you and introduce you ( or re-introduce you if you have been a long time follower) to this delightful gem of a lady/business.

Regina also known as Margarita Bloom

Hi there Sweets... Thank you so much for doing this! Let's get started ...Tell my readers all about yourself so we can learn about the woman behind the beauty!!

Well, to start off my name is actually Regina or you can call me Gina or Genie! A lot of peeps assume my name is Margarita Bloom (The Name of my Beauty Brand) I guess you could say she's my glamorous alter ego. lol.. Really I'm just a girl who loves beautiful things, wants to have fun and always dreamed of having her own company. Personally, I'm pretty shy, a little quiet....though when you get to know me that's when I let loose and become all goofy and nerdy. I love to read a lot ...I admit I used to read romance novels avidly ha! but I do love a good action adventure story or anything magical like Harry Potter. The color pink, magic, unicorns and love make my world go around. 

When it comes to TV...some of my favorite shows are The Blacklist (Who doesn't love James Spader!, Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (I LOVE my superheros!), Arrow, Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries which is one awesome detective series set in the 1920's in Australia!, Penny Dreadful, Outlander, among others! I love to watch old vintage films too like Marilyn Monroe's 1953 "How to Marry a Millionaire", Audrey Hepburn's "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "Sabrina", and so many others. Those glamorous gals like Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe of that time era really inspired me when it came to putting together my beauty brand, Margarita Bloom. The Glamour, the fashion! If only we still dressed like that every day life would be SO much more fun and full of adventures, don't you think? 

Speaking of fashion, I've kind of become fashion obsessed lately. Well, I've always been fashion obsessed but I was never able to fully embrace it until now. I just want to get glamoured up every day even if it's just to go to the grocery store I love it so much. I think that's why I decided to add clothing & accessories to my beauty potions now. You see, I used to weigh 130 lbs and almost became a size 8 and while there's nothing wrong with being that size, I was never really and fully happy with how I looked. I always had this dream to look like a California Surfer Girl. I guess that's one of the reasons I love California so much...my love affair with it started when I was a wee little one! Tall palm trees, sandy beaches, pastel bikinis, and the beautiful gorgeous ocean on the horizon. le sigh...What's not to love? I didn't realize it at the time but I was sooo unhealthy. I suddenly had a eureka moment a short while back and figured out what I had to do to lose almost 30 pounds and I have never felt healthier and happier in my own body...which meant more freedom to express myself with my fashion...ergo that inspired me to add gorgeous, utterly adorable & inspiring fashions to our shop. I'm just so excited about it I have to share it with everyone. 

I love to dabble in cooking and am quite obsessed with food!! which I think is one of the reasons I was able to start leading a healthier lifestyle. I'm more aware of what I'm eating and trying to stay away from processed foods as much as I can but that doesn't mean I don't love ice cream or pizza! heehee... 

I've recently started getting into blogging, photography and yes, outfit posts a bit more with my new blog www.cherrylipsblondecurls.com and am always looking to collaborate with amazing companies of all types. You'll see me posting about things I love on there like outfits, accessories, my beauty brand and new fashions we've added to our shop, as well as other beauty/fashion products or services that I'm currently using. It's not just a blog about my brand but everything and anything that I love or want to share with my readers. 

You are just so cute, I loved learning even more about you my long time friend and now do tell us about your wonderful company! Tell us about Margarita Bloom.....

Margarita Bloom is my beauty and now...fashion company. *wink* It has a fun, whimsical and retro flair to it with many themed collections from our Mademoiselle Collection to our Retro Queen Collection. We carry an array of pretty potions like soap, body oils, skincare, lip balms, body balms, sugar scrubs and we'll even accept custom requests from peeps who might be looking for something special or want a whole array of specially scented potions just for their boudoir! We currently have two websites. Our main website here... www.margarita-bloom.com and our other shop here where you'll find our fashions & accessories as well as some more beauty potions... margaritabloom.storenvy.com. We also have a blog that I mentioned before called Cherry Lips Blonde Curls...I guess you can figure out how I came up with that name. lol... www.cherrylipsblondecurls.com  There you can see our vast and loooong list of social media sites that you can follow us on!  Though here are a few that you can click to right now.

Facebook .... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Margarita-Bloom/28087812273?ref=mf

Twitter .... https://twitter.com/MargaritaBloom

Tumblr .... margaritabloom.tumblr.com

So exactly how did you get started ?  

I guess it was just kind of natural! I've always wanted to have my own company...it kind of was like fate or destiny. It never occurred to me to work for someone else. It did take me awhile to figure out what I was passionate about and I kind of flip flopped from one thing to another until I discovered my love for beauty products and then I was never bored ever again. I had found my calling and I guess it was a good thing that I have a natural eye for design as that's something essential to my beauty brand. From there it was just research, research, research and here I am. 

Margarita Bloom Cupcake SOAPS with glitter!

That is so wonderful that you were so motivated, driven and could then take your passion and turn it into something such as what Margarita Bloom has become. Speaking of, how did you come up with the name? What is the story behind it?  

It was extremely daunting to come up with a name for my beauty brand.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out what to call my company. I knew I wanted it to be original...something that no one had ever heard of before but at the same time I wanted it to be something that everyone knew! I picked the word "Bloom" because it reminded me of fleurs and everything that smells so pretty and girly just like I hoped my products would smell. From there, Marguerite popped into my head as I had always loved the name and of course you see where I'm going...Margarita Bloom! She's the alter ego of my beauty brand. That glamorous gorgeous pinup gal who loves pretty things and even prettier potions! It was perfect. Besides, who doesn't know and love Margarita's! *wink* Mission accomplished. Original and well known at the same time. 

Antoinette's Summer Palace Rose Mud Masque

So now we know about you, about how the company and it's name came about, what were your dreams for it ...

It first started with a gorgeous website....beautiful packaging...great suppliers. I wouldn't mind one day having my own Margarita Bloom boutique. I imagine I would have a blast interior decorating the boutique and making everything look soo cute, whimsical and yes, there would be lots of pink, a vintage cash register along with a modern one! and it would be just so charming. My dream was that my company would continue to grow and allow me to live out all my daydreams and night time dreams and I have a lot...which I'm still working on as we're a wee little company right now! 

I want to hear more about your wonderful products, I am positive my readers will as well...so fill us in a bit.

Oh my, where to start!? We have so many! We really try to keep the scents as realistic and yummy smelling as possible, use divine ingredients like shea butter, organic sunflower oil, hibiscus extract, roses, exotic sea salts, lavender, calendula, botanicals, cocoa butter, aloe, green tea and so much more! We like to use organic and natural ingredients in our products as well as a nice ying and yang of nature and science to create our pretty potions. We carry products like our Aphrodite line based on you guessed it, the goddess of love to our French Barbie Lavender potions. We even have a bakery line with chocolate potions. There's always something new being whipped up in our beauty lab. *wink*

French Barbie Lavender Oil 

What is your creative process? How do you come up with and develop your products?

It could start with many things. It could start out with a fragrance we're thinking of like for example...Pistachio Macaron! Who doesn't love macarons and pistachios?! In fact, it's my favorite macaron flavor. *wink* We have a lip balm with that flavor right now and are actually thinking of creating more potions with this drool worthy fragrance. Like today we were brainstorming on a body balm for a stockist and thought wouldn't it be lovely to have a Pistachio Macaron Body Balm that you could carry around in your purse and just apply to your hearts content or even just to sniff! Ahhhh...nose nirvana.  From there it goes to the stage of researching packaging, cost estimates, label design...putting everything together, taking photos and coming up with copy for the descriptions on our websites etc... Really anything could inspire a new product...from a pretty new jar we happen to come upon, to a new ingredient we've got our eye on, to a dessert we might have had a week before.

Margarita Bloom Antoinettes Rose Garden Sea Salt soak

Your business has grown so much over the last few years from just beauty potions and lotions etc to now include clothing ,accessories, and so much more... tell us about the new division and where you see it going....

I touched upon this in one of your other questions. The idea to add in fashions and accessories got started because I had finally achieved my life long goal of losing some weight that had been making me unhappy and not very comfortable in my own skin. And really life is too short to be unhappy so when I achieved that and I say that loosely because I still have goals I want to achieve, (Ahem, currently trying out a new exercise routine and trying to stick with it! grrr...) I discovered this excitement and passion I had for fashion and I wanted to share it with everyone! It was just natural to add it into my shop. When I'm passionate about something I can't help but share my excitement and peeps seem to respond to that enthusiasm with their own. I would love to continue to add in more cute outfits, sunglasses, purses, stationary items, coin purses (Oh, yes MACARON shaped coin purses will be coming soon!!! ) and more and eventually create a website where I would include both fashions and beauty. Right now all of our fashion and accessory items can be found on our storenvy shop... margaritabloom.storenvy.com 

Margarita Bloom Paris in Spring Apple Vinegar and Aloe Toner

What sets your products and business apart from other such companies that are out there? 

What sets us a part I think is the fact that I sell items that I would truly buy myself and use. I'm not going to sell something I don't like. Also, our packaging, label designs and names of products are very original & I think that sets us apart from other companies and brands. Our customer service. We truly try to go above and beyond to make sure our peeps are happy with their purchases and when they're not happy (which is extremely rare!) we want to do everything we possibly can to take care of them. After all, where would we be without our clients and customers! We love them.

Gorgeous Gardenia Brown Sugar Smash Scrub

You are all about pampering others, adding beauty to their days via social media posts and of course your wonderful products, how do you pamper yourself? 

I have been known to spend hours in the bath. (I may secretly be a mermaid!) Okay, maybe not that long but I love my bubble baths and long hot showers. I love to cook and try out new recipes ...though clean up is never my favorite part! lol...I love trying new foods out. I love lingerie...that's a new guilty pleasure I never used to be interested in but again I find myself obsessed with now. Late at night I love to zone out to one of my favorite tv shows maybe with strawberries and whipped creme to keep me company. I'm quite looking forward to the new shows DC Legends and Supergirl.  

I love to buy myself something new every once in awhile even if it's just a small trinket for a few dollars or maybe a new pair of platform sneakers I have my eye on... *wink* I'm really trying to pamper myself more these days as I was the exact opposite before I lost my weight. There were a lot of things that I missed out on during that time in my life and now I realize you've got to enjoy life and try to experience as many new things as you can and believe me I'm trying! It can be a bit daunting when your pocketbook doesn't match your expectations (Oh, Paris my love...one day we will meet!) but baby steps... 

Give us a final quote that sums up Margarita Bloom and the woman behind it....

“I am going to make everything around me beautiful...that will be my life.” ― Elsie De Wolfe 

I want to thank Regina for this very fun and informative interview, and just again proving what a sweet doll she is, is offering a special discount for my readers ....... good across BOTH web sites!!

20% off with code 

RUBYSMUSINGS 

As Regina mentioned above you can find her on many social platforms, some she listed above, the rest you can find links to such as twitter and Instagram on her websites..... Thank you again to ...

Regina  / Head Glam Girl at Margarita Bloom

Margarita Bloom | Retro Vintage Skincare & Beauty 

Visit her at : http://www.margarita-bloom.com/

StoreEnvy:  http://margaritabloom.storenvy.com/

Blog:  http://www.cherrylipsblondecurls.com

Well there you have it my lovelies. I hope you enjoyed this little departure from the normal French Girl Friday posts. I want to thank all of you who read my Ruby's Musings by Request on Tuesday and sent me private messages or left comments... it means the world to me to be able to share my journey with you. It lifts a weight off of my shoulders to be able to share and let go of some of my feelings. 

I did find a new book in which to journey through on Fridays, so look for that, and I also from time to time wish to use Fridays for Fashionable Fridays, so look for that as well in the future. I hope you will also join me on my Facebook page and now I am also on Instagram, you can find the links in the side bars.