Alicia Moreno

I grew up in Savannah, Georgia, where the summer humidity has strong opinions about your hair and your polish. By my early teens I was the girl with frizz, chipped nails and far too many questions. My first big experiment was a box of drugstore dye that promised a soft caramel brown. It made me very orange instead. I still laugh about it, and I still think it was one of the most useful mistakes I ever made, because it taught me to read the box, do the strand test and keep my expectations honest.

Nails came next. Over the years I settled into doing gel manicures at my kitchen table, with a small LED lamp, a timer for cure times and a drawer stuffed with cotton pads and cuticle oil. I keep a running list on my phone of what I tried, how long it lasted and what I would skip next time. I usually buy the cheap version of something first and only upgrade when it clearly lets me down.

That habit shapes how I think about beauty in general. I get tired of vague before and after photos, routines with seven steps that do one job, and the idea that basic care should feel like a project. When I look at a skincare routine, a hair problem or a treatment, I want to know how little you can do and still end up happy with the result. Honestly, the answer is usually less dramatic than the ads suggest.

Make Up Bloom is where I share that approach across skincare, hair, makeup, nails and treatments. I would love for you to skip the expensive and embarrassing errors I made, and to feel normal about wanting realistic results. I will tell you what I would try first, and when I do not know something, I will say so. For anything medical, I will point you to a dermatologist or licensed clinician, because that decision belongs with them.

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