8 Beauty Tips from Giada de Laurentiis

1. She Hearts Olive Oil: If you are a fan of Giada’s Food Network show, you know she uses olive oil in almost every dish she whips up. It turns out olive oil is more than just her BFF in the kitchen. “Olive oil to me is sort of a key to feeling good, to great skin, to great nails [and] to just shiny hair, so I try to include olive oil for all of that,” Giada told NewBeauty.com.

2. Skip the Gym: “The idea of being strapped to a treadmill every day is my worst nightmare,” she dishes on Food Network’s Healthy Eats blog. Instead, she enjoys morning yoga, paddle boarding and taking walks on the beach. Exercise doesn’t have to mean running for miles. Follow Giada’s lead, and turn an activity that you like into your exercise routine.

3. Exfoliate Your Skin: Every time she talks about her beauty secrets, Giada almost always mentions her exfoliating routine. She shared the recipe to her DIY exfoliant in the “My Skin Diet” issue of Giada Weekly. The only ingredients you need are three tablespoons of rice flour and two tablespoon of olive oil, mixed into a paste and applied to your face. Do this routine every night before putting on your face and eye cream, and the excess oil and dirt on your skin will be gently removed.

4. Protect Your Skin, Rain or Shine: Giada sticks to this fundamental beauty rule: Always wear sunscreen. She wears SPF 30 every day, rain or shine. Ever since she lost her younger brother to melanoma in 2003, she makes sure to apply sunscreen to her face, neck and chest. She’s been spreading the word on how important it is to protect your skin every single day.

5. Go Beyond Hair Masks: Giada shared her hair secret with Women’s Health Magazine, revealing that she applies a homemade avocado-olive oil hair mask to her hair for 15 minutes before taking a shower. While taking a shower, Giada gives her hair a cold rinse, which locks in the shine. Before blow drying her hair, she makes sure the dryer is on a cool setting so her hair doesn’t get too hot and dry out.

6. Stay Hydrated and Moisturize: Giada can’t emphasize enough how important it is to stay hydrated and moisturized. According to her interview with InStyle Magazine, she constantly moisturizes her face, hands, feet, body and hair. Since she spends a lot of time in the kitchen, she uses a little bit of olive oil and coconut oil for her fingertips and cuticles, and even on the tips of her hair to give them shine.

7. Eat Beauty Foods: Giada believes you are what you eat, and makes sure to eat whole foods like avocados, nuts and dark chocolate. She shared her avocado-chocolate mousse recipe with , saying, “It’s just avocados, unsweetened cocoa powder, a little bit of agave and bittersweet chocolate. I put it all in the food processor, make it smooth, and then I put it in the fridge to chill in little cups. That is my indulgence. It’s so good for you, and you don’t taste the avocado.”

8. Go Natural: Giada shared her favorite skincare brands with her weekly magazine readers. She loves Tata Harper, Kjaer Weiss, Ilia and RMS Beauty. If you want to take all-natural beauty to the next level, try DIYing your own exfoliant, face mask and hair mask right in your kitchen. You’ll feel good knowing exactly what you are putting on your skin.

What do you think about Giada’s beauty tips? Which will you add to your beauty routine? Tell us in the comments below.

(Photo via Ethan Miller, Frederick M. Brown/Getty and Giada Weekly)