Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know Lauryn from The Skinny Confidential. She’s an OG blogger who has been talking all things wellness, beauty, business, and style over on her blog, and she and her husband have an insanely popular podcast called The Skinny Confidential: Him + Her. She’s built an incredible business including books, products, a cult-like following and community–and is just such a fun follow and cool, intelligent, KIND woman.

We met a little over a year ago when we were both on Alexis Haines’ podcast, Recovering from Reality, and I instantly understood why she has the empire she does. Yes, she’s curious, informed, a really strategic, smart hard worker; but she is also SO supportive of others whether they’re in the blogging, Instagram or podcast world, or have a small business–you name it. She is always using her platform to shine a light on others which is really rare in the digital world, and I felt that support from her from day 1.

Now that my podcast is part of Dear Media (her husband’s podcast network), which I’m thrilled about, we thought it’d be fun to do a blog swap (podcast swap to come!). You can head to TSC to see my article and you can keep reading for all of Lauryn’s At-Home Tips & so, so much more.

What are your favorite at home beauty hacks?  (Tips and/or specific products)?

That’s easy. My top 3 are for sure facial manipulation, ice, & oils.

Totally obsessed with facial massage. I had double jaw surgery a few years ago & facial manipulation ( massage & lymphatic drainage ) was the thing that made the biggest difference. & I tried it all, let me tell ya! Doing it at home is so easy too. You can use a vibrating device, an actual vibrator ( yessssss like for down there lol ), gua sha tools, or your hands. One thing that’s really important when doing facial massage is to drain properly. So you always want to take it out to the side of your face, then down your neck to drain all that fluid. That’s what’s really going to depuff, debloat & leave you contoured like a Kardashian. 

One of my favorite kinds of facial manipulation is a buccal massage. I know! WTF is buccal massage?!. Well, It’s basically a massage of the inside of your mouth. You get right in there & massage the inside of your cheeks & jaw muscles. Honestly, it’s like a free facelift.

ICE ICE ICE, gimme all the ice all the time. I love anything cold on my face. This could be an ice roller, ice globes, even a measly ice cube. It freezes wrinkles, shrinks pores, brings down swelling, & some other benefits are:

♡ A cold massage that tightens up pores/wrinkles while giving you kind of a lymphatic drainage.

♡ Minimizes redness, swelling, discomfort, &/or irritation while fighting fatigue.

♡ Prevents wrinkle formation & lifts your face. YES.

♡ Roll it on your eyes: puffy eyes are a bitch. This literally helps so much with any eye puffiness. If you just had an eyebrow wax? Use it on your eyebrows to fight any swelling or redness.

♡ I also roll it on my neck & chest. It seriously revitalizes & lifts EVERYWHERE.

I even have a skin fridge especially for my beauty products where I keep my eye pads, face masks, ice globes, ice roller & gua sha tools. Not only is it so good for your skin, it also feels so damn good.

Oils are my ride or die beauty tip. When I was in high school I read somewhere that Korean girls were using olive oil on their skin so I went to the store, bought a huge-ass bottle, & the rest is history. Any oil that’s organic & cold-pressed is great, however my all-time favorite is grapeseed oil. It removes your makeup, you can use it over your whole body, put it on your collar bones for a pop, it’s really a jack of all trades. It also won’t clog pores, is great for sensitive skin & can help with scars. 

Favorite book you’ve read in quarantine?

This is really weird & I’m totally not political at all, I actually feel like I don’t know enough about politics to speak eloquently on it, but someone recommended Ivana Trump’s book to me (his ex-wife, not his daughter Ivanka). It actually has some really good tips on raising children. I remember watching her in The First Wives Club & she was such a boss. She said this amazing quote: “Don’t get mad, get everything!”

Her book Raising Trump is juicy, but as I said, also full of really good parenting tips. She talks all about Donald’s affair he had on her & raising children in a European way. It inspired me to buy her books from the 80s & 90s, The Best is Yet to Come, For Love Alone & Free to Love.

I’m also reading a book by Seth Godin called Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us & it’s all about leadership & the sacrifices that you make as a leader. Then of course I listen to podcasts & a lot of books on Audible. Right now listening to Tony Robbins, Robert Greene, & Lewis Howes School of Greatness podcast.

Favorite recipe you’ve made?

My favorite recipe during quarantine is probably like a spread kind of situation. We’ve been doing a big Greek salad with lots of cucumber, sliced cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives, arugula, red onion, Greek feta cheese with What’s Gaby Cooking’s Mediterranean dressing. I’ll make croutons out of sourdough with a bit of olive oil & garlic. On the side we’ll have sliced melon & prosciutto. Along with a glass of chilled wine or an aperol spritz, the whole situation feels very European & makes me feel like I’m sitting in a restaurant ( I can’t wait to sit in a restaurant! ). We’ll have this on our rooftop patio with some twinkle lights & candles. It’s so romantic & special & I just love sharing food in this way.

Favorite show/movie?

Right now I’m loving the show Hollywood. It’s about a male gigolo & it’s really juicy. Ryan Murphy is the creator. He also did American Horror Story & is a genius when it comes to TV content.

I am also a huge fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Sopranos & Breaking Bad. But sometimes I just want to tune the fuck out & watch a Real Housewives & see a plate being thrown across the room. Other cheeky shows I like to zone out to are Vanderpump Rules, Shahs of Sunset & Working Moms. 

What podcasts are you loving right now?

I need to be learning when I listen to a podcast, so if it’s not educational I’m passing on it right now. I’m listening to things that expand my mind & make me a better human, mother &/or business woman. I don’t really listen to podcasts just for entertainment. I get that from all the shows I mentioned above! So I’m strategic with the podcasts I listen to. 

When I wake up I want something that’s going to provide me value. That could be The Ed Mylett Show, Ask Gary Vee, or Lewis Howes School of Greatness ( listen to the episode with Joe Dispenza, it’ll blow your mind ). I also like Tim Ferriss’ & Rachel Hollis’ podcasts too.

Of course I love The Blonde Files too! We couldn’t be happier to have you as part of the Dear Media team ( my husband’s network ). Other DM shows that deserve a mention are The Bitch Bible with Jackie Schimmel, Taste of Taylor with Taylor Strecker, Work Party with Jaclyn Johnson ( the creator of Create & Cultivate ).

Favorite at-home workout?

I love low resistance workouts right now. They don’t spike my cortisol & work the deep muscles, not just the superficial muscles. High intensity is out, low intensity is in. 

Big fan of Pilates too. I try to do it at least once a week. It’s tightened & toned my body in the best way. I like to do mat & reformer Pilates with Betsy of Parker Pilates.

I walk a lot too. I have this theory that running sags the skin, knees, thighs, face, elbows, everything! So I do a lot of walking instead of running. I’m very cognitive of preventative beauty & pounding the pavement every day for run just doesn’t sound good in the long-term for me. While I walk I’ll take phone calls, listen to a podcast, walk to get coffee. A few weeks ago I walked to a friend’s house with our empty dog stroller. No dogs, no baby, just a big ass skinny margarita in a Hydro Flask, a picnic blanket, huge hat & umbrella. We walked to a nearby park for a distance drink. Basically any chance I can get to walk, I’ll take it. 

My trainer Kim Kelly also does Instagram Live workouts every Wednesday at 9am PST. So if you’re into fitness check out the @tscbody Instagram. The workouts stay up for 24 hours.

Favorite follow at the moment?

I really like Tim Grover. He has this brand called Attack Athletics & I think he has really solid advice when it comes to building a career. He wrote the book Relentless & it’s all about not taking NO for an answer. He has a really cool outlook on excuses & discipline.

The Daily Stoic run by friend Ryan Holiday is also a favorite of mine. Whenever I want to start my day with a little motivation I’ll head to @thedailystoic instagram.

& I love following you & your cookies! Those damn cookies make me hungry all the time.

Productivity tips?

TIME-BATCHING: This basically means ‘batching’ certain tasks into one. It’s not efficient for anyone to be going from task to task all day long. For instance, I like to schedule all of my work calls on one day of the week. Typically Wednesday is filled with phone meetings for me. I don’t want to be working on a project then have to stop & restart to take a call. You can batch phone calls, emails, & returning texts & DMs. It takes a person an average of 15 minutes to regain focus when stopping the task at hand. Batching reduces the start-up & cleanup time of what you’re doing, gets rid of unnecessary clutter, & really helps with focus. If you know a certain task only has 30 minutes allocated to it, you’re going to give it all your attention. If I’m working on something creative for the brand, I can’t stop to answer each email that comes through. I put aside an hour in the morning & an hour at night to answer emails & interact with my community on social media.

COLOR-CODED CALENDAR: Everything in my calendar is color-coded. My team is super cognitive about color-coding & we use certain colors for certain things: all my beauty appointments are in light pink, all my blog post due dates are in red, all my workouts are in yellow… This is such a great tip. It makes your calendar not so overwhelming.

As far as my week goes, I know that Wednesdays are blocked for calls. The entire day is for conference calls, team meeting calls, strategy calls- all my calls are on Wednesday. I like to do this after 10am so I have a personality and my last call is around 6:30pm. I also do my Skype interviews this day so I know that I’ll be talking all day and it’s time to turn my personality on and drink a big cup of coffee. This ties into time-batching above. 

TIME-BLOCKING: When you come up with your batching schedule, get yourself a little time-cube ( a kitchen timer works great too! ) to keep yourself accountable. So if you set aside 45 minutes to answer emails, when that timer goes off  YOU STOP! It’s time to move on to the next thing on your list or calendar. This really helps you prioritize tasks, focus on one thing at a time, & can motivate you to start bigger projects by chipping away each day.

QUARANTINE MORNING PLANNING: This is something new I started doing during quarantine. You fill in one page each morning in a notebook ( obsessed with ban.do notebooks & planners ). It really sets the tone of the day & just helps things run smoothly. Here’s how to do it:

♡ Write the date at the top.

♡ List out your podcast, book, workout & music for the day. For example, one day my podcast was Robert Greene, book was Tools of Titans, workout was P.volve & walk, & music was Coffee Talk on YouTube.

♡ Then write down some things you’re grateful for. I like to do 3-4 things & they can be anything, get super specific.

♡ Then there’s a ‘must get done’ list. These are different from your general to-do list. These are non-negotiables that need to happen that day.

♡ Write down how you want to feel. One day I wrote productive, funny & focused.

♡ Next, write down 3 people you’re sending thoughts & happiness to. It can be anyone.

♡ Lastly, your to-do list. Personally, I like to write down 7 things in order of importance. Whatever doesn’t get done is moved to my to-do list the following the day. 

This new way of planning my day has made all the difference in quarantine. It takes all the guesswork out of “what will I do today?”

PASSIVE MULTI-TASKING: This means basically doing something that is passive while doing something productive. For instance taking a work call while going for a walk, folding laundry while doing an interview on the phone, walking on the treadmill while you respond to Instagram DMs. I love passive multi-tasking. You aren’t doing 2 productive things at once, you’re just doing 1 along with something passive. This is something that really helps me get things done.

What is 1 thing you think everyone would benefit from incorporating into their day?

Breathwork. I do William Hof’s breathwork in the morning. It sets the tone of my entire day & I think everyone can benefit from breathwork & meditation.

Stoicism too. I talk about this a lot but it’s because it’s had such an impact on my life. Stoicism is essentially overcoming or enduring hardship without getting caught up in feelings & complaining. There are things that will always be out of your control & all you can control is your reaction. I think everyone can benefit from quiet time, looking inward, reflecting & planning. It makes a big difference when it comes to building a business, or a family for that matter. I also try to take one day a week off of my phone to just read ( a real book !).

What is something you’ve learned from this whole situation?

I’ve learned that it’s ok to stop & sit with my thoughts. And I’ve also learned it’s ok to put my phone away & just be present with my daughter & husband. 

Also, a lot of good comes out of every bad situation. I knew that before all of this, but now I think I’ve really learned it. There are a lot of pros that have come out of this situation for me. My husband & I have been able to take a longer maternity/paternity leave than we planned, we’ve been spending more time with our daughter, it’s an opportunity to create new content, to connect with others around the world. No matter how rich or poor you are, or where you live, we’ve all been affected. I think it’s also strengthened my adversity muscle. If you don’t experience adversity, that muscle & the way you cope gets weak. Working it makes you more resilient.