POPSUGAR BeautySource: Expert Tips For Buying Eco-Friendly Makeup

Greening up your makeup bag might sound a little daunting, but if you're looking to make more eco-friendly choices this Earth Day, we have some advice on how to find the right Earth-friendly beauty buys for you. Sasha Plavsic, founder of the luxury natural beauty brand ILIA, gives us her green beauty tips, when you read more.

Know what works with your skin.
"There are various forms and levels of natural and organic makeup on the market, and everyone's skin usually reacts differently, depending on tone and sensitivity," Plavsic explains. "More often products with less natural and organic ingredients will perform better, so finding a give or take in this area is completely subjective."

Do your research.
"Reading reviews are a big help in finding something that you might like, yet it's also important to remember that when seeking a more natural and organic product, the first step is to read the ingredients before making a purchase."

POPSUGAR BeautySource: Your Personalized Guide to Contouring For Your Face Shape

Contouring. Just the word strikes fear into many hearts, but this technique shouldn't be left only to the pros. A simple swipe of bronzer and highlighter in the right places can bring light to your best features (and detract from others). All face shapes are beautiful and unique in their own right, but artists try to give the illusion of a more oval face by creating shadows on the face. "The key to a perfect contour is proper blending and remembering that light accentuates the face, while shadowing recedes it," Floriane David of Make Up For Ever Academy says.

In order to contour at home, choose an eye shadow, foundation, or bronzer that is about one shade darker than your complexion, and grab an angled brush. Get your personalized guide to contouring based on your face shape when you [break]read more.[/break]

Square: Women with square face shapes have a very prominent jaw, so in order to soften this area, create a

POPSUGAR BeautySource: 10 Tips For a Nearly Painless Bikini Wax

We're convinced only masochists look forward to a bikini wax, but the thing is, it doesn't have to hurt quite so badly. There are ways you can reduce the pain. If you're new to waxing, start out with a professional to see how it's done. After a few times, you might want to try doing it at home to save a few bucks. Either way, to learn how to keep pain at bay, keep reading.

• Plan to wax after your period. Your pain threshold is higher in the week after your period than beforehand. Think of it like this: if sappy commercials make you cry when you're premenstrual, having wax applied to your dainty bits certainly will.
• Lose your self-consciousness. Yes, a stranger is going to see you wearing, at most, a paper thong. Don't worry about offending her or feeling embarrassed. It's nothing she hasn't seen before. The less anxious you are, the less you'll worry about pain.
• Start off slowly. Your first bikini wax is not the

by Lexi Novak


WWD/George Chinsee Of all the things that make life just a little bit sweeter--DVRs, heated car seats, Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Collide--DNA testing doesn't exactly spring to mind, unless you dream of appearing on a dramatic paternity-reveal episode of Maury. Yet without it, couples couldn't screen their future children for medical disorders, and dog owners couldn't boast that their mutts are descended from Shiba Inus. Now, we can add a new benefit to the list: A company in Scotland has developed a test to determine whether people carry the genes that produce redheads, according to CBS News. All you have to do is spit into a plastic tube, send it off to ScotlandsDNA, and await your results.

See more: Celebrity Hairstyles That Will Make You Look 10 Years Younger

Apparently, it takes a couple who both carry the recessive gene to produce a wee ginger, and even then, there's only a 25 percent chance. But here's the cool part: Neither parent, as Amy Poehler and Will Arnett can tell you, need

by Alexandra Tunell


You see this freakishly split split end? It came from the head of an Allure editor. An editor with gorgeous, glossy, healthy-looking hair--and a bathroom full of damage-repair masks and heat-protecting serums. The lesson? Split ends happen to everyone. I asked hairstylist Ruben Colon of Sally Hershberger Salon how we can best minimize the damage. "Split ends happen primarily for three reasons," he says:

See more: The Secret to Anti-Cellulite, Super Soft Skin

1. Using the wrong comb or brush. "Never use a brush with wire or plastic bristles. I like the Mason Pearson brush because it has natural bristles that are gentle on hair and reduce breakage," Colon says. The only way to safely detangle hair is in the shower, with conditioner and a wide-tooth comb.

2. Wearing tight rubber elastics. "Go for nylon instead," he says. We love Emi Jay hair ties, which look just as good on your wrist as in your hair.

See more: The 12 Best Eye Creams

3. Overdoing the heat styling

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Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.

Martha Stewart

Our favorite multitasker is serious about her skin care. While products are crucial (these have all won a coveted spot near her sink), it's just as much about process -- and discipline.

More from Martha Stewart:
7 Steps to a Flawless Face
Trendy Hair Braids

Morning

Mask
Martha gets up at 5 a.m. to put on a facial mask for 30 minutes; she alternates between Yonka Gommage 305 ($42, dermstore.com), Susan Ciminelli Hydrating Gel Mask ($75, susanciminelli.com), and Mario Badescu Super Collagen Mask ($18, mariobadescu.com).

Cleanse
Then she jumps into a hot shower for seven minutes. The steam removes the mask. From the neck down, she uses Chanel Fresh Brightening Foam Cleanser ($60, chanel.com) or Mario Badescu A.H.A. Botanical Body Soap ($8, mariobadescu.com).

Tone
Next Martha tones: first in the form of a 20-second blast of cold water at the end of her shower and then with Mario Badescu Facial Spray ($7, mariobadescu.com), Yonka Lotion ($41,

Soft Curls! There are really a handful of ways to achieve soft and pretty waves in your hair and even more tools on the market claiming to create the sought-after look, but sometimes it's difficult to know which to use to get exactly what you want. And I'm 100% positive that if you watched the YouTube video of the poor girl trying to demonstrate how to use a tapered curling iron and burning her hair off in the process, you were a little timid to use your heat styling tools for a few weeks after or ever at all, but really, that should never happen. Please note, if you have fine hair and plan on using small sections of hair like the girl in the video did, please turn the heat down on your iron. Most newer irons and wands allow you to adjust the heat, which is what makes them work so well!

But if you know how to do it correctly, you can really achieve these soft and pretty waves in your hair with almost any of the available curling irons and/or wands as long as they're of the professional variety.