Editors Note: Our contributor Alexis Wolfer has been making quite a statement with her recent launch of the Makeup Free Mondays movement!  We couldn’t be more excited to support the positive image she is promoting throughout the world and hope that our Bella women will jump on the Makeup Free Mondays band-wagon.  Leave your comments below and let us know, Would You Go Naked On Mondays? ~Nitika~

As much as summer beauty trends are about finding the perfect coral lipstick and latest nail lacquer to bring color to your life, it is equally about paring down your beauty routine. Sure, this is partly to prevent the unfortunate foundation meltdown that comes with the heat and humidity of the summer months, but here at Bella Life we also like to scale back out cosmetic consumption in order to allow our inner color to shine through. Recently, we’ve taken this one step further by encouraging women to participate in Makeup Free Mondays.

Originally started by The Beauty Bean, an online magazine to beauty inside and out, Makeup Free Mondays is a movement meant to promote inner beauty and comfort in one’s own skin. In asking women to forgo wearing makeup on Mondays, we hope to empower women to recognize their inner beauty, as well as the inner beauty of others, and expand the definition of outer beauty and show the world what both look like.

Makeup Free Mondays isn’t meant to discount the allure of cosmetics or the power of beauty. We fully understand and appreciate the power that makeup has to empower women and boost self-esteem. We love painting our faces as much as anyone else! We hope to show women that adding color to their lives is about much more than rocking the latest red lipstick, but rather about radiating color from within.

Remember that moment when you were little and tried on your mom’s makeup – maybe it was mascara or a bright lipstick – and, no matter how beautiful or grown up you thought you looked, you also felt like you didn’t look like you? We want women to feel comfortable without makeup. We want women to be able to look in the mirror without a swipe of blush or lip-gloss and appreciate their natural beauty. We want women to be able to take the five, ten or fifteen minutes or more they usually spend on Monday mornings “putting on their faces” and instead recognize the beauty of the faces they already have and use that time to reflect on the parts of them, and other women, that really make them beautiful. Ultimately, we want women – and you – to participate in Makeup Free Mondays in an effort to remind yourself and others of the importance of real and inner beauty. And, we want you to appreciate your own beauty.

With the hope of spreading this message, we encourage you to take action to help ensure greater steps towards, and conversations about, real beauty.

Here are a few action steps you can take today:

1. Don’t wear makeup on Mondays (or use less for those who need to do this in baby steps).

2. Stop apologizing for not wearing makeup, no matter what day of the week it is.

3. Organize official Makeup Free Mondays at your school, place of employment or with your friends.

4. Encourage conversations about real beauty and better body image within your own families and friendships.

5. Share your makeup free photos with The Beauty Bean via Facebook and on Twitter with the hash tag #MakeupFreeMondays.

6.Donate unopened and unexpired makeup to your local women’s shelter, Dress for Success chapter or similar women’s program. Although the focus is on inner beauty, we know that the confidence a polished look can give is something all women deserve.

To learn more about how the movement was conceived and how it’s growing, please see TheBeautyBean.com!