24 Hours In Beauty With Leslie Blodgett

Welcome to Beauty Around the Clock, Marie Claire's weekly peek into the daily lives of some of the most game-changing women in their industries. Ever wonder how they get it all done in a day? Here's your answer.

If you are considering starting a beauty business, or really, any business, do yourself a favor and read Leslie Blodgett's book Pretty Good Advice: For People Who Dream Big and Work Harder. It is packed with her adventures as a badass CEO (at bareEscentuals, she pioneered QVC selling for luxury beauty brands—and would regularly run up more than $1 million in sales in her late-night time slots), no-B.S. advice, and motivational words of wisdom, a Blodgett specialty. A current angel investor and brand advisor, Blodgett is still brimming with witty insights and worthy beauty buys. Here, a day in her life.

Rise and Shine

6:30am. I plank for as long as I can hold it then have a single espresso.

Power Start

I intermittent fast. After the espresso, I eat after 11 a.m. I’ve been indulging in lock-down emotional eating extravaganzas: my special french toast, breakfast burrito, or eggs scrambled with veggies, or turkey bacon and a fresh peach. I don’t cook so actually cooking breakfast is a big deal. I also take a quarter of a tablet of Herbalife Lift-off in a tall glass of water. It has some happy “drug” in it. One of those a day.

Morning Maintenance

I'm ready in six minutes. I put makeup on only if I am doing virtual events. Everyone else sees me in sunscreen only. I use High Beauty cleanser in the shower or no cleanser at all and a bamboo pad and warm water to clean the skin. Then, sometimes I go straight to sunscreen. Lately, since I'm hiking or just outside in the yard I use Blue Lizard sunscreen and load it up so not one sun ray is coming through. My other staples are Tracie Martyn Face Rescultping Cream, Tatcha Ageless Revitalizing Neck Cream, and Nest Wild Poppy Body Cream. I haven’t used eye cream in months which is so surprising because I was addicted to eye cream for decades. I’ve been fine without it.

Leslie Blodgett's Skin Staples

Hair Help

I brush my hair then it goes up in a clip. I try not to touch it too much so I can go six days without washing. I haven’t had a haircut since December but I have colored it myself four times so I want to keep it as healthy as possible. And I always wear a hat outdoors.

Beauty Signature

This week I have been blending bareMinerals Complexion Rescue with bareMinerals BarePro for foundation. Nars soft matte concealer. Marc Jacobs Body Bronzer in Tan-tastic on my face. bareMinerals beauty blush. And oldie bareMinerals eyeshadow in Heart Cross Buns, Nars black eyeshadow for lining. bareMinerals Lashtopia mascara, The Lip Slip by Sara Happ and Fenty Beauty lipgloss in Fussy. And I have dozens of scents—all for mood setting and enhancement. I recently told Mandy Aftel that I miss the perfume she made for me 20 years and she whipped me up a new one! It is divine. I would love to launch it again. Also, I love Strange Invisible Libra and Aries, Ellis Brooklyn Fawn, and Pinrose Pillowtalk Poet.

Leslie's Blodgett's Beauty Signatures

Zoom Beauty Hack

Natural light, but not head-on. Softly capturing the contours of the face gives face shape and life without the draining synthetics of the computer camera. I’ve learned that keeping lips balmed up, lined (lines smudged please!!) and peachy rose lipstick works best. And eyebrows: defined and filled in.

Best Advice Received...

Be very informed.

...And Given

Ingenuity matters.

Hidden Talent

Crochet. I made a 25-inch crocodile this week.

Backup Career

Pre-school entertainer.

Worth It

Tatcha Ageless Enriching Renewal Cream.

Bedtime Beauty

Five minutes: Cleanse, serum, moisturizer. Done. I cleanse with Kinship or Thrive Causemetics Bright Balance 3-in-1 Cleanser. And then use EVER Youthful face and eye serum, High Beauty High Five Cannabis Facial Moisturizer. I recently tried Tracie Martyn enzyme exfoliant and love it. Once a week I do something completely crazy. I put Swedish Dream Sea Salt hand crème on my face over my night cream. It’s a thick shea butter balm and I like the shield of protection so the good skin ingredients from my serum and moisturizer can really get absorbed. And Kinship pimple potion is a retinal and salicylic acid acne treatment that I use at night as an all-over skin renewal treatment.

Evening Wind-Down

In bed, I read a passage from one of the 20 books on my nightstand. This week, The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin and Beloved by Toni Morrison. Then I watch a few episodes of Drunk History on Comedy Central.

Lights Out

9:45 p.m., asleep by 10:30 p.m.

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