By Amy Pigeon
In Dina Pugliese’s world, beauty is not about perfection—it’s about care. Not just for your skin, but for your family, your community, and the values passed down through generations. When she speaks, it’s as if you’re sitting at her Nonna’s kitchen table: laughter in the air, sauce simmering on the stove, and deep, unconditional love at the centre of it all.
From the moment I first connected with Dina via email, I knew this story would be special. Her warmth, humility, and generosity of spirit radiated through the screen—something rare and unmistakably real. By the time we sat down together over Zoom, I felt like I was speaking not to a television personality, but to an old friend. Her sincerity and kindness are the kind that don’t need to be earned—they’re just given.
Born in Canada to Italian parents from Calabria and Molise, Dina’s upbringing was steeped in tradition. Her childhood memories are the usually beautiful ones from the “blessed boot” (how she refers to Italy)–picking beans from the garden at lightening speed, and Sunday dinners where every seat at the table was filled. “We lived with my grandparents and I stayed at home with them until I was married. It was church on Sundays, dinner together every night, my Nonna making her own soap from animal fat, recycling before it was even a thing. There was no waste. Everything was sacred.”
That reverence for the land and for what we put on and into our bodies stayed with her. It only deepened as she navigated life’s harder chapters. At 40, a series of devastating health events shook her family—her husband’s brain tumour, her sister’s Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and multiple cancer diagnoses within a short span of time. “I was just constantly at bedsides, in hospitals, praying, and trying to do something—anything—to feel less helpless.”
It was this crucible that became the genesis of The Care Principle, Dina Pugliese’s line of clean, effective, and affordable beauty products.
What began as a four-piece skincare kit built around safety and simplicity has now grown into a full collection: eyecreams, hair care, serums, masks, nail polish, deodorant, lipsticks, and more—each one developed with meticulous attention and emotional intent. “I use every single product I make. And if I wouldn’t put it on my skin, or let my family use it, I won’t sell it.”
The Care Principle, unusually, was not born out of a love for beauty—it was born out of a need for safety. “I used to hate sitting in the makeup chair at Breakfast Television every morning,” Dina admits. “I’d think about all the products being layered on my skin and wonder what was actually in them. It just didn’t sit right.”
Every formula is a slow and careful labour of love, sometimes taking up to four years to get right. “I’m not a chemist. I just bring the ideas and ingredients I research—like pine bark extract, or natural peptides from France—and we test, test, test. Sometimes it takes thirty-six, thirty-seven iterations until we hit it. Then I know it’s ready.”
The result is not just a product, but a promise. Her Infinite Glo Serum is one of the line’s bestsellers, a cocktail of frankincense, neroli, rose, and seabuckthorn that leaves skin luminous and nourished. “They call it liquid gold,” Dina says with a smile. “It smells like a spa, absorbs like a dream, and works so well people forget they’re even wearing oil.”
…It all comes down to the same thing: showing up with love, and doing what you can, while you can.
— DINA PUGLIESE
Though she never imagined herself in beauty—“I was a joggers-and-scrunchie kind of girl. In my twenties, I was all grunge and secondhand clothes”—this new chapter of her career is a return to roots, rather than a departure.
“This is my Nonna’s legacy, honestly,” she says, her voice catching with emotion. “She would be so proud.” At this moment, she tears up. “The way she honoured the land, the way she reused everything. The care, the simplicity—I try to channel that into every decision I make.“
Dina is as candid as she is passionate. There’s no greenwashing here, no trend-chasing. “Everything is clean, safe, and effective. If it’s not all three, it doesn’t make it into the line.”
She remains direct-to-consumer to keep prices accessible, despite being courted by retailers. “What good is an organic apple if nobody can afford it?”
When asked what North American beauty brands could learn from Italians, her answer is simple: “It’s about letting nature lead. Clean, simple, effective. Take what the land gives you. Let the ingredients speak for themselves. Don’t overcomplicate it.”
For Dina, beauty is a conversation that starts with care. It’s the same principle that governed her childhood dinners, her Nonna’s garden, her Sunday mornings in the church choir. It’s why she donates products to cancer fundraisers, why she personally reads every message from her customers, and why she remains deeply committed to quality over scale.
“This is my calling,” she says, not with fanfare, but with the soft conviction of someone who has walked through fire and come out rooted. “Whether it’s spreading joy on TV or offering clean skincare people can trust, it all comes down to the same thing: showing up with love, and doing what you can, while you can.”
That’s the Care Principle. And for Dina Pugliese, it’s a way of life. – VV
Photography courtesy of Dina Pugliese and The Care Principle
