Exfoliating for Glow, Pelvic Floor
Exercises, and the Best Mascara
Lauren Napier |
founder and CEO of Lauren Napier Beauty, cofounder of Consider Something Better, and makeup artist
At forty, Lauren Napier looks astonishingly similar—poreless, sculpted, way too luminous and rested for a person running multiple businesses—to the way she looked when we first met her ten years ago. At the time, she was a sought-after makeup artist—Lady Gaga, Zoë Kravitz, and Gloria Steinem were clients. Since then, she’s founded the hugely successful Lauren Napier Beauty brand in her tiny Manhattan apartment with a credit card, a tax return, and no other funding, and more recently, she cofounded Consider Something Better to raise money to fund Black-female-led businesses. “They’ve been historically underfunded, and Black founders are less likely to have the generational wealth to launch a start-up,” she says. “According to Forbes, businesses with CEOs who are women of color get less than 1 percent of venture capital funding each year—even though Black women dominate much of consumer spending.”
Napier runs both companies from home right now, and burnout often feels imminent. To safeguard against stress—and its ill effects on her skin and well-being—she wakes up early to settle into the day.
5:15 a.m.: I was a flight attendant right out of high school and worked 5 a.m. shifts with no caffeine for years. Then, when I became a makeup artist, I had to be on film sets by 4 a.m. some days, so all of that has informed my body clock. I lie in bed and do thirty minutes of horizontal office work, checking for priority emails and then scrolling social media for a few minutes—not healthy, but it’s an unshakable habit.
5:45 a.m.: I roll out of bed and light candles, and I’m onto my yoga mat. I meditate or at least try to—I start out resolutely but often end thinking about something I said to someone in high school. I also say a prayer and speak, out loud, my desires for the day. It’s vital to my sanity to acknowledge my feelings so that I can move past anxiety.
6 a.m.: I stretch for about fifteen minutes to get my blood flowing or do some core and pelvic floor exercises. I’m really into Halle Berry’s Re•Spin app. I also use the Bala power ring and Bala weights: They’re very chic and made for women; they’ve been a shelter-in-place godsend.
6:15 a.m.: I drink a glass of hot water with lemon, take in the news, and check my to-do list. I make a fresh-fruit-and-veggie smoothie and add a little Sakara plant-based nutritional supplement powder or some INBLOOM, Kate Hudson’s new plant-based vitamin and mineral powder. I have oatmeal with berries and nuts or a BLT on wheat with avocado when I need something more. I answer more urgent work emails, then take a walk to get a latte or to the market to get a few steps in early.
7:15 a.m.: I get in the shower and dive into my skin care. I wash my face with goop’s Microderm Instant Glow Exfoliator—it is powerful, one of those products where a little goes a long way. Other mornings, I wash with Dr. Sturm’s cleanser. It makes my skin feel immediately smooth and invigorated.
I’m obsessed with the Luv Scrub mesh body exfoliator cloth and Terra-Tory mint soap cube.
7:30 a.m.: Out of the shower, I sweep on G.Tox toner. It’s like coffee for my skin! I’m a huge fan of the Leland Francis face oil—it’s so nourishing and brightening, and I mix it with my moisturizer.
I’m obsessed with the Luv Scrub mesh body exfoliator cloth and Terra-Tory mint soap cube.
7:30 a.m.: Out of the shower, I sweep on G.Tox toner. It’s like coffee for my skin! I’m a huge fan of the Leland Francis face oil—it’s so nourishing and brightening, and I mix it with my moisturizer.
Depending on how many Zoom and Google Hangouts I have that day, I put on a little makeup. I start with light foundation, then smooth on Jillian Dempsey cream blush in Bloom. It’s faintly pigmented, but it’s got enough color to brighten my entire face. I can’t live without mascara, and my new favorite is the Eye Love You one from Gucci Westman. It makes my lashes feel long and lush. Beautycounter’s clear brow gel is my go-to for shapely, natural-looking brows, and I like the tiny applicator brush for defining the tail of my brows. For my body, I love HanaHana body cream.
7:45 a.m.: I shuffle through my closet. I have a #wfhootd (work from home outfit of the day) on my @laurennapierbeauty Instagram account, so I take a few snaps, post, then have a daily call with my partner and cofounder of Consider Something Better, an initiative we created to support Black-women-led businesses by challenging corporations to both partner with and give back to the communities that build their businesses.
8:30 a.m.: I grab a snack—like nuts or dried fruit—a JuicePLNT juice, and a bottle of Kalme water, and I prepare to be glued to my desk for the next two hours. By now, I’ve had three hours to myself, so it makes it much easier to work from home productively. I make sure to take breaks—we have to pace ourselves because our stress outlets are limited right now. So I’ll go for a walk, take a power nap, or make a phone call just to break up the day. I’m still creating my new sense of normal.
