07.01.08
Home recipes are a cornerstone of McBride Beauty products. |
Luck of the Irish
McBride Beauty finds niche in natural skin care.
By Melissa Meisel
Associate Editor
As a first generation American whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland, native New Yorker Wini Burkeman’s Irish roots were a chief source of inspiration in the creation of her boutique skin care line, McBride Beauty. In fact, her mother, Catherine McBride is not only the namesake of McBride Beauty, but was the foundation for its formulations.
Wini turned to her mother’s Irish home recipes and remedies in founding McBride Beauty, and began to sell the salves and solutions among her friends in the fashion industry, including Soho retailer Steven Alan.
“While my mother swore by nettle leaf or buttermilk for skin irritations or steaming rose petals with eucalyptus as a restorative facial, I needed to apply the same idea to a modern skin care line that, while primitive in inspiration, is truly modern in its natural application,” says Ms. Burkeman.
She utilized raw ingredients for her first collection for McBride Beauty: a wheat germ and avocado night cream ($32), a rosewater and neem anti-aging day cream ($28), a grapefruit and aloe facial toner ($20), a cucumber and aloe soothing body lotion ($24) and a soy and coconut cleansing bar ($12). The most recent addition to the line is a limited-edition travel set ($37), featuring four 3oz. selections of grapefruit and sage-scented products—a shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion—in a cream-colored canvas toe bag emblazoned with airplanes.
McBride skin care products also tout “beauty from the inside out” with the absence of sulfates, parabens, synthetic colors or fragrance. The line is 100% natural, ideal for sensitive skin and features a variety of plant extracts in each product. Says Ms. Burkeman of the line, “I want the foundation of my line to function as tried, true and tested, and as pure and natural as possible. I think my mom would be proud.”
Now, after launching in a handful of New York boutiques and Studio at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, McBride Beauty is stepping into the spotlight as the room amenities provider for Robert DeNiro’s new Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca. The aforementioned travel kit now can also be found in the rooms at the hotel for its guests. Sounds like Ms. McBride’s international roots are coming full circle to welcome global travelers to the Big Apple.
More info: www.mcbridebeauty.com