ÁMEZING NEWS #32: BUGS ARE BUGGING
+ Red Blush & Cherry-Chocolate Perfume
This month’s post is inspired by a shocking bee sting that truly kicked my ass. Ok, so I’m not afraid of bugs except mosquitos. I remember a big environmental school trip to Kauai circa 2004. It was my first time in Kauai and 13-year-old me didn't put together the weather variables. Island + water + humidity= mosquitos. Long story short, my bites turned into massive welts that were so red and inflamed that it totally ruined my trip. Plus it was embarrassing. Needless to say, I’ve blocked out most of my memories from the trip (including why we were really there in the first place). This is a tangent, sure, but I wanted to give you a little context regarding my history with allergic reactions.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. I was relaxing pool side, chatting with a friend, and all of the sudden I felt a pinch. My friend gasped and told me I’d just been stung by a bee. I didn’t think much of it. I pulled out the stinger and kept it moving. Mind you, I love bees. I let them land on me all of the time, because I don’t want to fluster them and provoke a sting. I heard my friend say what happened, but I didn’t think twice about it.
The next morning, I woke up and my ankle was huge. The site of the sting was super red. Hot to the touch. My ankle got so puffy it looked like a sprain, and the red was turning purple. It hurt to walk. Turns out I’m moderately allergic.
Luckily, I was able to visit Tori of Lark Acupuncture, who put numerous needles around the site and did some lymphatic work to help aid the stagnation around the sting. There was even some old blood that was released, which gave me immediate relief. Here’s what I learned and would love to pass onto you:
Histamines are helpful! Obvious one but sometimes I’m cocky and try to not take medicine unless its bad. Let me tell you, this was bad. Zyrtec saved me. I ended up taking Zyrtec for 5 consecutive days. The itching and swelling was so uncomfortable, and this absolutely helped.
Understand your history with bites and allergic reactions. This was the silver lining of it all. Now I know that I am moderately allergic to bees. Keep in mind how your body reacts and changes with bug bites of all sorts. I hadn’t been stung in over 20 years, so this was all very new bodily information for me. Now I know to avoid bees in order to avoid an even more severe reaction, and to seek treatment right away when and if I do get bit again.
Experiment with topical solutions. A lot of people would reach right for hydrocortisone cream, and that’s what I did too. I applied an over the counter, maximum strength cortisone cream from Walgreens and I can honestly say it made my symptoms worse. I can’t explain exactly why, but it just didn’t feel right. I opted for no topicals for the four days after that (although the itching and swelling did not let up and it totally sucked). Maybe a topical antibiotic like Neosporin would have been better? I ended up using a natural antiseptic ointment.
Icing! This helped tremendously. There was a lot of swelling and heat from the sting. It was so hot to the touch. Icing at an elevation felt incredible.
Do lymphatic drainage and acupuncture. Tori did some additional lymphatic work because I already have a slow lymphatic system. This quite literally flushed out the stagnant blood and residual bee venom. It is no surprise that 45 minutes later, the sting site decreased in size, color, and swelling. Tori taught me about the “big 6” which is a lymphatic drainage protocol I’ve done nearly every night for the last two years.
Try natural topical remedies. Tori suggested I buy the Bach Rescue Cream which you can find at health foods stores. I used this Tea-tree oil antiseptic balm I picked up at L.A Grocer. If you remember Tierney’s wedding beauty post, I made bug repellent for the guests. Anything with tea tree, cedarwood, eucalyptus, lavender or lemongrass will be useful in repelling bugs (including bees) and relieving any kinds of bites and stings.
45 minutes post treatment, the perimeter of the sting site was less defined and redness had decreased. 
This was the topical solution that I started using around day 4. I would recommend this post bee sting or bug bite.
As always, for appointments email: bookings@amezskin.com
TIERNEY TRIES
Ok, this is Tierney, editor of ÁMEZING NEWS. This is my new column where I try beauty things and report back to you here. I mean, it’s not all the way new because I already do this here, but it’s new because now we’re calling it TIERNEY TRIES.
First up is the RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek in the shade Beloved.
Red blush has been trending for the last year because of a clip of RMS beauty founder Rose-Marie Swift that went viral in June 2024. Rose-Marie Swift (RMS) is an iconic makeup artist and one of, if not the first, to launch a clean-beauty brand. I know this because I used to write Amanda DeCadenet’s newsletter from her Valley Village home circa 2011-2012. Her husband from The Strokes would be playing his bass in the other room, her redhead assistant who I vaguely knew of from our Cobrasnake party days would be typing away on one desk, I’d be on the couch, getting paid as an intern in pieces of vegan banana bread the chef whipped up and early, unbranded RMS samples before the line was officially on the market (I loved the Luminizer, which is still one of her hallmark products, and absolutely loved this work environment). Nobody I knew was talking about clean beauty except for Amanda, who was conscious of it as a former model and current photographer / talk show host who knew makeup was part of the game. RMS was apparently the best.
Anyway, in this viral clip, RMS talks about how the secret to the 2000s glow we associate with Victoria’s Secret and Sports Illustrated models is RED BLUSH. This shocked a lot of people who think about that look in terms of its bronzed, supernatural glamour. Much more exaggerated than “natural,” but still a lot more softer and lived in than the stark contrast the idea of red blush typically connotes.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
People are already weird about red lips, so red blush? But RMS was the makeup artist for those beloved shoots and their beloved models, so people clamored to try it for themselves. This not only kept her own product sold out in the shade BELOVED off and on for a year, but also inspired tons of brands (from Tower28 and Patrick Ta to Haus Labs and e.l.f.) to come out with their own red blushes.
Here’s the thing. I wanted the real deal, the shade RMS knew was universally flattering for the sun kissed look we love. I waited for Beloved to become available instead of trying other formulations, which range in the exact shade of red they offer. RMS describes Beloved as a “true red with just a hint of poppy to suit all skin tones. Gives cheeks a natural rosiness and stains lips with a desirable youthfulness.” It’s a neutral red with just the subtlest hint of orange that makes skin look juicy and fresh.
It looks so good with bronzer, and you only need to use the tiniest bit to pick up the pigment. Scrape a tiny bit from the bot, dab on the top of your hand, and warm the product up to loosen the texture into something super blend-able. Apply with your fingers from there, or a clean, fluffy brush if you want an even less pigmented look.
Want to know a nasty little secret? I bought mine from QVC, where you get two full-size products for the price of one without any membership fees or commitments. Too good to be true? I know, right? Y’all can pay double at Credo and Le Pink (where it’s $40 for one of these instead of $49 for two, and I got mine even cheaper as part of a 4th of July option). I’ll be enjoying my Lip2Cheek duo all summer long (Beloved was paired with Lost Angel, a “seductive coral pink with lush golden undertones”). Don’t enjoy the soothing ASMR sounds of QVC playing on TV? That makes one of us. But don’t be silly, you can shop it on their website or in their app. Believe me, it’s full of beauty deals…RMS, Peter Thomas Roth, fucking Givenchy lip balm in the color Black Magic, Josie Maran body cream by the gallon, exclusive sizes of Tatcha and First Aid Beauty…If you’re reading this, it probably killed Andrea to keep it the draft…she’s too chic for all of this QVC talk…
Next, we have to discuss CENTERFOLD, the new fragrance by Maddie Phinney and Hollywood Gifts.
Maddie Phinney co-hosts the podcast NOSE CANDY, which we featured in our 420 issue last year, and writes the incredible Substack PERFUME ENJOYER. She’s collaborated with Hollywood Gifts, aka the other Maddy, aka Madeleine Kunkle, as the perfumer behind the beloved brand’s first perfume. They describe CENTERFOLD as a “heart-shaped box of milk chocolates, amaretto-soaked cherries, almond brittle, and praline” with bottom notes of “floaty mimosa, pretty-girl musk, styrax, Fancy Mixed Nuts, and earthy patchouli.” IT’S DELICIOUS. It sold out right away, but you can preorder a bottle for when it restocks next month here. I’m hoping to write more about CENTERFOLD at length, but in the meantime, I’ll leave you with my favorite Fragrantica review of it:
xo Tierney