I fell in love with green beauty and healthy eating about five years ago. My first role models in this field were Kimberly Snyder (The Beauty Detox Solution) and the smart ladies at No More Dirty Looks. These women (and others) demonstrated that you can live a healthy lifestyle with a modest financial investment. For example, Snyder reminds us that we don’t have to break the bank or search high and low for superfoods—lemons, kale, parsley, broccoli, avocados—and other relatively affordable foods—are staples in her dietary recommendations. The same can be said of green beauty: while there’s plenty of room for luxury (like $100 facial oils), you can get a lot of mileage out of a basic mineral foundation and sweet almond oil.
Also among those who have inspired me to go (and stay) green is Amanda Chantal Bacon (founder of Moon Juice), who, unlike Snyder and co., has a reputation for living a mind-bogglingly unattainable healthy lifestyle, which includes lesser-known ingredients like ho shou wu, ashwagandha, pearl (pearl is edible?), lion’s mane (a kind of mushroom you just have to see), and shilajit (a tar-like substance found in the mountains, according to my 5-second Wikipedia search).
These mystical-sounding items are the stars of Moon Juice’s collection of “Moon Dusts,” which retail for around $20.00 an ounce. Often ridiculed for her rare-food-filled lifestyle and deemed a “pretentious hippie,” Bacon has taken the criticism of her expensive diet gracefully: “When you strip away the bad manners, the questions that are coming up are valid and intelligent: ‘Does it work? Is it safe? Is it too expensive?’”
But we’re not here to discuss the kind of budget you’d need to live exactly like Bacon. Believe it or not, Bacon’s beauty regimen includes several affordable staples. To glow like Bacon, read on! (Moon Dust optional.)
For Bacon, beauty comes from the inside out, which means maintaining a greens-filled healthy diet: As the business owner told Into the Gloss, “I’d always been juicing, especially when I was working in a kitchen where there’s so much wine, salt, and fat. It was definitely not cool to drink juice in the kitchen, so I did it secretly to keep me going.
“Green juice changed my life. You can have one green juice a day and keep drinking caffeine, keep smoking cigarettes, keep eating hamburgers, but that one juice will feel so good in your body that eventually you’ll be like, ‘ Mm, I kind of feel like two green juices a day.’ You’ll accidentally maybe stop drinking so much coffee, and maybe the cigarettes will go. It’s a snowball effect. When your body gets those live enzymes and minerals, it just turns something on, and then being healthy becomes effortless.
“You’re going to think it sounds silly, but I rely on green juice for beauty. It’s great for staying calm, staying sane, and for getting glowing skin.”
Green juice certainly doesn’t need to include fancy ingredients. This low-sugar, simple green juice recipe contains only five basic ingredients. If you’re worried about the wasting the extracted fiber from the juice, fear not—you can make delicious crackers with juice pulp.
Bacon also recommends ditching dairy for clearer skin—and eyes! “When you clog them with dairy, for example, it can be terrible for your skin. But if you flush out the mucus and get rid of dairy, the whites of your eyes will sparkle more.”
In addition to green juice and dairy-free foods, Bacon’s diet it rich in other beautifying ingredients: “It’s spiked with adaptogens, probiotics, proteins, and amino acids that come from delicious foods,” she explained to Byrdie.
We certainly don’t need to rely on expensive supplements for these kinds of ingredients, fortunately. Fermented veggies (like kimchi and sauerkraut) are excellent sources of probiotics—you can even make your own! Furthermore, there are countless sources of vegan protein. Finally, while some adaptogen powders have a hefty price tag, Tulsi, one of the most revered adaptogenic herbs can be enjoyed in the form of affordable teas and supplements.
Of course, it’s no surprise that Bacon favors natural skincare products—or “skin food” as she calls them: “I wash my face with this really gentle Dead Sea Mineral Warehouse Soap for Combination Skin [$7.45]. It’s made with minerals from the Dead Sea and clay. And once or twice a week, I’ll use Earth Tu Face Face Wash [$18.50], which smells like roses. I also travel with the Earth Tu Face, because traveling with bar soap is a pain in the ass. To exfoliate, I like the Dead Sea Warehouse Amazing Minerals Mud Mask [$24.95]. It only takes three minutes, so I’ll put that one while I’m getting into the shower.”
Bacon’s beauty regimen stops with her skincare: “That’s usually enough for me—I don’t wear makeup, and honestly, don’t really know how to do my own makeup.” If your natural skincare regimen doesn’t fully heal your skin’s inflammation, however, Bacon recommends drinking or applying organic rose water: “I like to add it to water, lemonade, or a smoothie—or dab it directly on skin to help soothe red spots,” she told Glamour.
Bacon’s night regimen is refreshingly simple. In addition to doing the occasional mud mask, Bacon enjoys a luxurious, pre-bed hair routine: “I’ve started actually brushing my hair, which I never did before. I used to let it do its own thing!” she told Parachute. “But with all the beauty foods, my hair has grown really long and wild. I started to do a nightly brush, and I have found that the scalp stimulation along with a little puddle of Brahmi Hair Oil [$20.13] is extremely relaxing, puts the day behind me and encourages luster.”
Sounds quite relaxing to me!
Do any of Bacon’s tips sound enchanting to you?
Related: The 2 Secrets Behind Natalie Portman’s Healthy Glowing Skin
Why ‘Scandal’ Star Bellamy Young Has Stayed Vegan for 28(!!!) Years
How to Make the Best Low-Sugar Green Juice Recipe
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Photo: @MoonJuiceShop via Instagram
