I’ve been a Tweet-aholic for the last month but so remiss about posting on my blog. I know you all have great questions for me about sunscreens, mineral makeup, etc. and I have been a bad, bad, blogger. The basic reason is that I will be starting a new job (in natural skin care, hooray!) and moving, so life has been busy. And it’s been summer and finally got hot here so I needed to enjoy that. Frankly, I’ve also been spending a ton of time of the excellent No More Dirty Looks blog, which you should all check out, but please keep tabs on me, too, OK?

Speaking of heat, I wanted to let you all know how I’ve been hydrating this summer. I have completely fallen in love with Dr. Ayala’s Herbal Waters (which I got samples of because we covered them at the magazine I work for). These beverages are lightly accented with a combination of essences, from lavender to lemongrass to ginger and cinnamon, and they really go down easy (as you can see from my pile in the recycle!). But unlike sodas and other drinks, they are totally calorie free and just basically water. I’m not a huge bottled water person (hate the waste, hate the price), but these drinks I would actually buy. If you have trouble getting enough water daily, I do suggest giving them a try. (Go online and sign up for their newsletter, and you’ll get a coupon for $5 off.)

So, I just had to participate in the No More Dirty Looks Summer Hair Challenge last week. And since I found out about it late, Friday was the day to wash, condition, and go—no product allowed. Only problem? I’d been scheduled to shoot a sponsored video for the magazine where I work. I have to admit, I was nervous not doing anything to my hair when I knew I was going to be recorded. I hate being photographed anyway. But fortunately time was on my side. Or not. Because I basically had to rush out the door to make my train so there was nothing more I could do than leave with wet hair. Also, I don’t own a hair dryer. I actually think it looks pretty nice in the pic at left, taken on set at the video shoot. And I’m going to try a tip from their blog that I think would make it even nicer (spraying with aloe juice). All weekend I brushed well and put argan oil on the ends and that was it, and I feel like I was a lot happier with how it looked than I usually am when I put gel in it. Let me just say, though, that a good conditioner is key. I actually used a hair treatment after washing rather than an ordinary conditioner, left it in for 5 minutes as directed on the label, and then rinsed it out with lukewarm/coolish water (which is supposed to help the hair cuticle lay down, or something like that. I’m not a cosmetologist, OK?). Can’t wait to try this tomorrow for the second time when I wash again (yes, that’s right, I go five days between washes).

And while you’re reading, check out Newsweek’s beauty issue online. Great stuff in there, recommended by the author of the excellent blog Beauty Schooled Project.http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thesk0f-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0738213969&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Raisa Ruder’s fun book of DIY beauty treatments, Babushka’s Beauty Secrets, is a totally entertaining read chock full of tips. Ruder is a trained esthetician whose grandmother taught her all kinds of homespun beauty secrets back in the Ukraine, which she now uses on her celebrity clients!

Because she’s an esthetician to the stars, Ruder has great ideas to prep for a big event. I normally advise caution before something major like a wedding. In fact, my favorite pre-wedding tip is to do regular yogurt masks for about 6 weeks before, basically a series of mild lactic peels so your skin is super fresh. But I say knock off on those at least a week before the big event.

Ruder has masks, on the other hand, that you can do immediately before a party. I tried this date night mask (she cutely names them “souffles”) in the morning before an evening out with my hubby, but now that I’ve seen the results—smooth skin, a gorgeous glow, I was so renewed and fresh looking—I would save this for right before a big date or party.

The combination of cocoa, cream, and honey, in almost equal parts, with ground oatmeal, smells tasty (don’t eat it!) and goes on easily. After 20 minutes, you rinse it with lukewarm water and then a cotton ball dipped in milk (I think to get out some of the color from the cocoa). Then you rinse again. Your cheeks will have a delicate flush and your skin will be baby soft. Now that’s delicious!

I’ve just been diving into this week’s beauty blogs, and natural beauty expert Christy Coleman has a post about runway trends from this summer to try. Usually, I would never even bother imitating model looks; I have my ways I like my makeup, and I don’t really change them much. But fancy that two of the new looks—rosy cheeks and hot pink lips—are totally easy to replicate with one of my favorite products, Rosie Jane Cheek Gloss in Rose. Now, I can’t speak to this product’s green-ness, I’ll say that first off (and Coleman recommends a great natural option), but I just love Rosie Jane’s makeup. The cheek gloss is in a tiny compact with a mirror, so it fits in a purse bag with your lip balm or nail file or whatever, and is a perfect dewy pink me up for skin any time. Rosy cheeks add freshness and glow—the makeup artist who invented the line was mimicking those glow-y cheeks of 30s actresses. And amazingly, the color lasts a long time, both on your skin and in the package. A little really does go a long way. I rub my finger lightly in the compact, then pat each cheek and massage in to blend. That’s it. And if you’re liner challenged, try her Eye Defines. These pencils are rectangular and don’t have to be sharpened; the formula smoothly applies in a neat line and doesn’t look harsh.

But before tasty summer desserts get me off track, I want to tell you about this film.

First, for those of you who don’t know this soap, for me, the smell of Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castile Soap in Peppermint always reminds me of backpacking trips with my family. It was our go-to soap when camping because its all-natural composition made it less damaging to lakes and streams (of course, now they say don’t use any soap at all when you’re in the wilderness, but this was the ’80s). My husband and I now use Magic Soap for a number of its 18-in-1 uses: for washing dishes, to clean floors, etc. Hubs even showers with the almond version.

Now if you don’t camp and aren’t a crunchy type (the documentary was, after all, an official selection at the Mill Valley and Seattle film festivals, not Cannes), you may only know the soap by its crazy label, which is large and literally covered with quotes and advice from Dr. Bronner himself (check out their website for a humorous mad scientist photo of him). He used his business to promote his ideas of unity—look for “All-One” anywhere on the package—and something he called the Moral ABCs, a belief system based loosely on the writings of Thomas Paine and… a bunch of other stuff.

OK, he was a bit of a nut (there is a priceless scene in which he rattles on about his philosophies, while another women is being interviewed in the foreground), but he made some darn good soap. And the sweetest part is that his family is still running the company, making the soap, and all along has done some truly heroic things for the natural personal care industry, namely inventing the first plastic bottle that is 100% post consumer recycled, and using all organic and fair-trade ingredients. All-one, indeed.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thesk0f-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00120VWJ0&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

I recently promised you I would write a few tips for this month’s Handmade Mondays based on two great new books. I’ll start with green goddess Sophie Uliano’s latest tome, Do It Gorgeously, which is chock-full of skin care recipes as well as DIY tips for everything from fitness to clothing. What I like most about her recipes is that they’re for pretty simple stuff that you’d use every day, and she has preparation tips to make sure you’re creating the safest at-home cosmetics (since we don’t use preservatives in our own cosmetic kitchens; read my short version for staying safe here).