Summer's almost here, so instead of ordering you to pick up some bronzer and get out the bleach, I thought I'd offer some natural alternatives that work just as well for a fraction of the cost. Ever since I tried raw ingredients for a month, I've had a keen interest in easy beauty treatments made with edible ingredients. First up: sun-kissed, natural-looking highlights that won't leave your hair Read more

It's time for another Bella experiment in the spirit of my The Natural series. This time, though, instead of making my entire beauty routine organic and edible, I'm taking things a little slower and testing out the popular Oil Cleansing Method. The OCM uses a combination of household oils (most commonly olive and castor) to remove makeup, grime, and surface sebum without dehydrating your skin. Read more

Hi! It's been a few weeks since I last talked to you, and though I've been testing out tons of beauty products and working on Fashion Week, you'll be happy to hear that I've pretty much stuck with my natural hair and skin regimens. Shortly before The Natural ended, though, I dropped antiperspirant in favor of natural deodorant, and changing over has been an experience. Now that I'm a couple Read more

It's been a month, and boy have things changed. I've totally overhauled my hair and skincare regimens, learned how to make my own makeup, and even gotten rid of antiperspirant. Today, I put on concealer for the first time in five weeks and it felt utterly strange (but awesome). Looking back over all my posts, there are a few things I'd change, and though I'm definitely wearing makeup again, Read more

As promised, the other night I made my own eyeliner from a recipe given to me by reader Little Pepper. It sounded pretty simple; just burn an almond and use the soot to make eyeliner. Turns out, things require a bit more prep than that, but the results were lovely: a highly pigmented carbon black that was very smooth and not at all irritating. I modified the recipe a little bit and created this Read more

Hi! I'm just one week away from having been natural for a full month, and a ton has changed since I started. If you want to see what beauty recipes I'm using now and see how a cheek and lip stain made of cherries looks, just check out my mid-week post from a few days ago. Since then, everybody's been on deck at Sugar HQ for all the award shows we've been covering. This week, I kept my goals Read more

I promised to post the results of my experiments with using cherries as cheek and lip stain this week, so here they are. I literally just walked around rubbing some bing cherry halves on my face, much to Mr. Bella's bemusement. The results were pretty great, and the rest of the bag of cherries was delicious (om nom nom nom). The color was really natural and lasted several hours, and although it Read more

Welcome back, dear readers, to another week in Natural Land. I've switched up my routine a bunch, and things have changed, as you can see — though in a few bizarro ways, too. I've got a lot to tell you, so to hear about what I've been doing, just keep reading. Read more

Since I've gone natural, lots of people have written in with great tips and ideas about fixes for my skin and hair. Recently, reader Tlsgirl tipped me off to this great recipe of hers from the Do-It-Yourself Beauty group. I tried it last night and it's l-o-v-e. She's totally right about the dripping, though. Here's what she has to say: I just started using this mask a few weeks ago and I'm a Read more

Hi! It's a new year and the end of my second week using only natural, edible skin- and haircare recipes (that means no makeup, too). To wit, there are a few things my hair is now: great smelling, soft, shiny, and manageable. And a few things it isn't: fluffy, voluminous, thick, or any word even tenuously related to one of those terms. My skin's looking better, too, although you might notice that Read more