Ah, ingrowns. They're painful, they look unpleasant, and they have a nasty tendency to show up in your most sensitive spots. Especially since bikinis and short-shorts are only a few weeks away, there's no better time to find out how to prevent them from happening. Yani Cifuentes, a waxing professional from LA's Stark Waxing Studio, talked to me about what we can do to keep ingrowns from rearing their ugly heads. To get her advice, just keep reading.

If you've always wanted a hair consultation with a top stylist, you may just get your chance this Summer. For the next few months, John Frieda's Style on Site Tour is taking its mobile salon to a bunch of cities all over the country, and anyone can come in for a free consultation — complete with a styling session and a 15-minute lesson on making the best of your hair type. You can find out if the bus is headed to your town, and where it will be, at the salon tour website.
And if the mobile salon isn't coming to a city near you, don't fret. You can sign up to win a one-on-one Skype session with my future husband, adorable stylist Harry Josh (that's him on the right, styling Audrina Patridge on the NYC stop of the tour). You know I'll be lined up when the salon hits SF, but what about you?

If you thought the story about 6-year-olds in the UK wearing makeup to school was bad, then I've got some unpleasant news for you: adult makeup use in children has jumped sharply in the US as well. Eighteen percent of kids ages 8-12 are using mascara, and 15 percent are using eyeliner and/or lipstick — all more than five percent increases over the numbers from just two years ago.
If makeup usage among small girls continues to grow at this rate, one-third of all third-graders could be wearing makeup on a daily basis five years from now. And this month, a study from Mount Sinai Hospital revealed that girls with early onset puberty had abnormal levels of the phthalates found in some beauty products, possibly suggesting there may be a link between childhood makeup usage and unhealthy development.
Interestingly, though, there seems to be a backlash brewing among teens, as the "How to Apply Makeup Like a High School Girl" YouTube phenomenon and its many tribute videos suggest. What do you think? Should makeup come before puberty? And do you think this is a fad that's about to be on its way out, or will second-graders be giving smoky eye tutorials in Show and Tell by 2020?

Yesterday, Gap launched its latest scent, Stay ($35), and yesterday, I pedaled my way to the nearest store to sample it. As temperatures hovered around the mid-70s with clear blue skies above, I really couldn't have picked a better time to try out this light, refreshing, Summer-inspired fragrance, which, I might add, almost has a laundry detergent essence about it. See what else I thought of Stay when you read more.
With hints of floral, citrus, and a subtly sweet whisper of powdery notes — although not one particular aroma standing out from the rest — Stay can best be described as cool, breezy, and lightweight, but with plenty of depth and lasting power. Even the bottle has a dewy quality in both shape and color (a nod to Pantone's color of the year, turquoise).
If you're familiar with Gap's Close, Stay is meant to be its lighter, well-suited-for-the-daytime counterpart. Top notes of green hydrangea, dewy lemon flower, and freesia lend a crisp, feminine feel; middle notes of blue lotus, bluebell, and white peony make for a softly sweet, watery effect; and bottom notes of musk, sandalwood, white amber, and driftwood provide the faintest hints of a sexy, subtly spicy finish.
"With Stay, we wanted to embody the freeness and freshness of a Summer evening," Gap's designer extraordinaire, Patrick Robinson, said in a statement. If you're into the crisp, floral scents that are typical of Gap, I think you'll like this lofty scent. And as for this bike-riding sweaty, er, dewy gal, while Stay wore a little heavy in the heat, it mellowed out to a sheer, musky scent by the time we fired up the grill for dinner.

Let's face it: nail polish removers stink of chemicals, and when formulated with harsh, drying ingredients like acetone, toulene, and DBP, they're not exactly earth- or body-friendly, either. Recently, the folks from the Philly-based skin and makeup boutique, A Beautiful Life, sent over a sample of their naturally-based, three-free Soy Polish Remover ($20). See what I thought of the eco-friendly product when you read more.
Formulated with citrus extracts and essential oils, this polish remover, which smells a little powerful in the bottle, settles into a mild and pleasant-smelling grapefruit scent once it hits your fingers. To be fair, I used the remover with both the brand's nontoxic, soy-based Nail Lacquer in Rockstar ($12), a subtly shimmery purple, along with a somewhat similar — albeit sparklier — not-so-natural offering from Milani called Purple Outline ($4).
While I found that I had to let the remover settle in a moment or two longer than a traditional formulation, once the pigments were loosened, I was left with a squeaky clean nail. I discovered that instead of wiping away the polish, I had to wiggle it away with a bit more pressure, although surprisingly, I didn't have to use more product than I'd normally would. Bonus? The polish lifted off right into the cotton pads as opposed to being redistributed in a thin watered-down layer all around my nails and surrounding skin. While it's a little pricey at $20, since this soy polish remover is gentle, effective, and free of harsh ingredients, it's well worth it. Have you tried a soy-based remover?

Hair Color Accoutrements
I'll admit that with a few exceptions, most beauty supply stores are not the place to go for your glamorous upscale shopping. Whether it's megachain Sally's Beauty Supply or the local beauty emporium down the street, the majority of you said you're fans of these types of establishments — and with good reason. We at Team Bella love them too, and that's why we compiled a list of five of our favorite beauty supply store items.