The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - #150: Babes On A Budget with Lauryn Evarts -Favorite Finds Under $50, Beauty Products, Skincare, Gift Ideas, Food & More.

Episode Date: November 16, 2018

On this episode Lauryn is solo and talking about some of her favorite finds under $50. Lauryn talks about beauty and wellness products under $50 and how she shopped when she was working 3 Jobs and putting herself through school. She also talks about food, health, gift ideas, and more and how to find great items on a tight budget.  To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) For Detailed Show Notes click HERE This episode is brought to you by Misfit Wearables and their brand new smartwatch, Misfit Vapor 2. This smartwatch has it all. Right now for our listeners, Misfit is offering an exclusive offer of 5 FREE replacement straps with purchase. Just head over to misfit.com/theskinnyconfidential and enter promo code SKINNY to redeem.   This episode is brought to you by Pure Romance, Pure romance helps women love their lives through bath, beauty and bedroom accessories. Pure Romance's dedication to women’s sexual health sets them apart. To try Pure Romance visit pureromance.com and use code SKINNY for 10% off your purchase.    

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. this smartwatch has it all. Not only can you track your steps every single day, you can also track your workouts via Google Fit, read your emails, get texts, see the weather, listen to music, and even make payments. And it's all on your wrist. Right now for TSC listeners, Misfits is offering an exclusive offer of five free replacement straps with purchase. All you have to do is head over to misfit.com slash slash The Skinny Confidential and enter promo code SKINNY to redeem. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie.

And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to The Skinny Confidential, him and her. All right, we ditched Michael today. It's just me. Well, Taylor's in the background, but it's just me. There's no one else. It's a solo episode, and we are going to get specific, okay?

I had a dream last night to do this episode and I can be such a creative where I just wake up and I like have to do something. And so I woke up this morning after the stream, which was to do a whole podcast for babes on a budget. And I just woke up and I was like, I have to record this. Sorry, Michael move. So here I am. I text Taylor. I said, Taylor, I need to get into the studio. And I'm doing this on a whim. I just feel like that this is a post that's been a long time coming. Some of you have DM to me on Instagram asking me about products that I love that are on a budget. So before I get into this, I just want to tell you that my whole entire life up until about five years ago, I was on a very serious budget. So even in high school and

elementary school, and when I was a bartender, I had to get really, really creative. So going back to elementary school and high school, I grew up in a very, very wealthy area, but my family was not wealthy. So that made me get really, really creative. I had to find all these angles and figure things out for myself. If I wanted something, I had to go work for it. And I think that that's set me up to do what I do now. I think that everything about my job is figuring it out, finding angles. So when it came to the way I dressed or the skincare I used or the food I ate, I had to find ways to get crafty. And I still use those angles now. So I am a huge, huge fan of mixing highs and lows. I don't think it always has to be, you know, astronomically expensive. I think

that you can find ways to get really creative. And whenever I go on a vacation, I like to really plan my outfits out in a fun, festive way. And so I went on this vacation recently to Cabo and I did all my shopping for the trip under $200. I found all these different outfits and hats and accessories. And anyway, so that's what's inspired this episode was babes on a budget for if you're out there and you're listening and you're on a budget and you want to find ways to make it work and get creative. But it's also for the girl who, you know, likes maybe the high life. She's a little bougie, but she also likes to mix low in pieces. Okay. So it could be for either girl. How we're going to do this is pretty simple.

I am just going to kind of word vomit on you guys. I'm going to tell you all the different ways that I get creative when it comes to spending money on products or clothes that I love. Now, instead of making you guys sit here and like take notes or something, because that's obnoxious and you're probably driving or doing your nails or cooking or baking or running or walking, I am going to put everything that I talk about in a blog post. So I already have an Amazon shop, which is very efficient for everyone. It's amazon.com slash shop slash the skinny confidential. And within this shop, I'm going to create a sub list that's called babes on a budget. And essentially it will have everything that we talked about in this episode that's available on Amazon. So you guys will just have a very clear,

simple guide of what we're discussing. Okay, so you don't have to take notes, you can if you want, I mean, grab your composition notebook by all means. So with that, we will get into it. This is not in sections, I'm just going to talk and tell you about how I get creative with angles and how I shop on a budget. Okay, this is what I did in elementary school and high school when I was bartending. And even now, all right, with that, the first thing that we're going to discuss is we'll talk about facial massage since this is so prevalent on the skinny confidential. And it's something that so many of you guys ask me all the time. I did a whole entire YouTube video on how you can do facial massage with your hands. So everyone out

there who's listening can do facial massage for free. Okay. That's what I would have done. I would have grabbed some oil, maybe some cold pressed olive oil from my kitchen and done it for free. You just go outward and down the neck. Make sure you go down the neck because you don't want a headache. However, there is something on Amazon that you can buy. Okay. That's just like a Clarisonic facial massager, but it's for a babe on the budget. And it's something that I use all the time. And that is a vibrator. Okay. Like a sexual vibrator. The one that I like is pink. It's in my Amazon shop. It's 11 bucks. And it says it's for sexual wellness, but you can use it on your face. Okay. Works just as good.

In fact, I feel like Taylor is writing this down right now and he's going to use this first tip. So you can use this vibrator on your face with oil. I wrote a whole blog post on it on the skinny confidential. Just Google the skinny confidential vibrators for your face. That is something that me and Mimi discovered and we're very excited about it. All right. So the next thing we're going to discuss is Fashion Nova. Have you heard of Fashion Nova? This is not sponsored. I just love Fashion Nova. It has the best dupes for trendy clothes.

So if you see on a Kardashian this hot pink neon Yeezy moment that's eight million dollars you can go to Fashion Nova and they will have a dupe for it and their stuff is stuff that you can only wear a few times like it's not stuff you can put in the wash but their stuff is so cute you guys they have all different sections on their site basically it's like it has everything like all laid out for you how you would want it. It has all the basics. So if you want everything black, they're very trendy. It's not like classic pieces that you would invest in. Obviously, it's stuff that's under 50 bucks. There's so many promo codes going on to where they like slash 30% off. I shopped on Fashion Nova for my New York trip and my Cabo trip and I got a lot

of pieces that maybe I would only wear twice on Fashion Nova. Highly recommend. Another site that I love is Pretty Little Things. Pretty Little Things is another one of those sites where you see this girl rocking this really expensive like coat or dress on Instagram and you go to pretty little things and they have it like it's not the exact one. Okay. It's a dupe, but they have so many good ones. Remember when Kendall Jenner wore Paris Hilton's 21st birthday dress, they have that on there. So Haley Baldwin just did a collaboration with them and she designed with them like a bunch of cute stuff. I'm looking at the site right now and they have like latex dresses, very trendy stuff, biker shorts, all the stuff that's probably going to go out of trend, but it's all stuff

that's under 50 bucks. So if you look at my Instagram, it's like neon and purple right now. Basically, all that stuff was from pretty little things. I spent $214 on getting my Cabo outfits ready to go. And I got so much stuff. You wouldn't even believe it. It looked like Michael was like, Oh my God. Like he thought I spent like a million dollars. No, it was pretty little things. So the other site that I would recommend for clothes, just while we're on the subject is where NCLA. And I've talked about this site a lot on Instagram story. And I just feel like this, this site has so many affordable pieces. And these are a little bit more classic. I think they're doing a Black Friday sale right now. And just go and shop and look around. I even curated a page on their site. It's under Lauren Everett's if you just go down and scroll down and I curated my favorites and what I picked out and what I would

pick out. And there's like this like leopard bomber on there. It's really good. It's $90. So that one's a little bit more pricey. But if you want something that's under $50, I picked this white crew neck t shirt that I have. And it's 21 bucks. And it's something that I wear all the time with track pants. So there's some there's some more kind of classic staples on where NYLA as opposed to Pretty Little Thing and Fashion Nova, which is more trendy. There's also this really cute mini dress that's leopard that I feel like everyone needs to own on this site. So those are my three go-tos when I'm mixing high to low pieces.

So in New York, I wore this beautiful Saint Laurent trench coat that I'm mixing high to low pieces. So in New York, I wore this beautiful St. Laurent trench coat that I'm obsessed with. That's something I'll have for the rest of my life. That was truly an investment piece. And I wore it with so many different things from all three of these sites. And it just, it looks chic because you're mixing high and low. You're not succumbing to everything has to be so expensive or everything has to be low end. You're just mixing and matching classics with stuff that's a little bit more trendy. So those are my go-tos. If I was in elementary school or high school right now and these sites were alive, I would be going fucking crazy.

I wish that these sites were around when I was a bartender because it would have made my life so, so much easier. Okay, so like I said, I'm kind of a fanatic about getting my 10K steps in. All right. Sometimes it's even 15K if I'm being overzealous. Anyway, I just went to New York and I had the opportunity to test out Misfit wearables. They have this brand new smartwatch. Okay. It's Misfit Vapor 2. And I got the rose gold, of course. I'm sure you're not surprised. Anyways, I wore it around New York City. And not only could I track my steps, I could also track my workouts via Google Fit. I thought that was amazing.

I could also read my emails, get texts, see the weather, listen to music, and make payments all on my wrist. I mean, this is incredible, you guys. You can do all these things at once. I feel like this was made for TSC readers. So the product itself is really, really cute. It's chic. It's nothing like ugly, okay? You can wear it to the gym and then go to happy hour and you won't feel like you have to change it out or be embarrassed by an ugly fitness tracker. It's really like cute and I feel like it's very on brand. Anyway, you can also change out the straps so easily. It's very quick too. All you have to do is match your watch to an outfit. So I wore a lot of black in

New York. So the rose gold made sense for me, but they have lots of different colors. If you go to the site, they have two sizes. I went with the bigger size cause you know, I like intense, but they also have one that's a little bit smaller and they're swim proof. So if you're a swimmer, get on it. So right now for my listeners, Misfit is offering an exclusive offer for five free replacement straps with purchase. All you guys have to do is head over to misfit.com slash the skinny confidential and enter promo code skinny to redeem. So again, I would recommend the rose tone with the rose beige sports strap. It's really cute. You could also do a black strap. It's fun how you can switch it out. And I think it's really, really great for trips like a New

York trip because you're running around, you're eating a lot of pasta and you can look down at your wrist and see exactly how many steps you're walking. Again, I'm like very much a fanatic about counting my steps. You guys know this if you read the Skinny Confidential. So this watch is really, really perfect for me. Moving right along. So we're going to go into something that I saw asked over and over on Instagram, and that is affordable skincare. This one is actually not as tough as you think. There's so many things you can do to get creative with skincare. So for those of you who don't have a skincare routine because you think maybe it's too expensive or too bougie, I'm here to prove you wrong. All right. So the first thing that everyone can do at home that's on a budget that I have truly done since I was 16 years old is oils. And you don't have to go to, you know, Sephora or

Ulta and get this like high end, hoity toity oil. You can go to the grocery store. You can go to Amazon and you just want to look for cold pressed organic oils. Taylor, hopefully you're taking notes here because you asked me about skincare. You can look for oils that are avocado oil or olive oil, even grapeseed oil. And what these oils will do is one, they'll remove your makeup, throw away your wipes. And two, they will leave your skin so dewy and glowy for the next day. And I swear it's, it's like the key to youth. It fills in fine lines and wrinkles. And if you don't have oil on hand at all times, I don't, I don't know what to say. It's one of my biggest tips. I put it all over my body. I don't care about my sheets. Like, sorry, Michael, get over it. It's the, it's the key to

youth. So go to Whole Foods, pick up some grapeseed oil, cold pressed organic, and start using that on your skin all the time. So a brand that is a skincare brand that's dedicated to high quality, amazing products that is not too expensive is The Ordinary. This has been talked about so many times in the Skinny Confidential secret Facebook group, and their products are just like tried and true by everyone. I've heard so many great things. I've used a bunch of their products. I think that their products are quality. They decided to take their money off of marketing and pushing their product and boxes and packaging

and put it just towards the ingredients, which I think is really badass. So if you're starting with products from the ordinary, just know that they're not going to break the bank. I would personally start with the vitamin C. I think everyone needs vitamin C products in their skincare routine. Dr. Dennis Gross has been on the podcast multiple times, and he said that too. So if you go to their site, you can just see there's like a whole list, and it tells you why vitamin C is important. and you can kind of start anywhere. You can't really go wrong and it really breaks down all the ingredients. And I just feel like they have a lot of integrity and they're the right price. So check out the ordinary. Now, if you're shopping at Target

and you are on a budget and you're looking for some fun skincare products, I would definitely pick up some bliss sheet masks. Okay. My friend, Vanessa, shout out to Vanessa, sent me a bunch to try and I tried them my entire trip recently on the plane. And I just felt like they were really, really hydrating and something that everyone that's in this community will really, really like. There's this one that's called the Hangover Fix and it's $3.99, you guys. So go buy 10. That's $13.99. You'll have 10 sheet masks. This brand makes really nice products for a girl on a budget. And I think that Target, Target is always the way to go. You know what? If I'm a billionaire, I'm going to Target. I feel like you walk in for one thing, you walk out with 80 million things.

I mean, I'm always the one walking in for like flaming hot Cheetos. And then I have like a whole cart full of everything. So you'll definitely want to add some bliss, okay, products to your cart. They also have a peel detox mask, which is not a sheet mask. It's a peel off mask. So again, you don't have to spend $800 on a peel off mask. Just go to Target. If you're a woman, you have to check out Pure Romance. Okay. I've been stalking the site. First of all, Pure Romance helps women love their lives. And let me tell you how. It's more than a party, guys. It's more than a bedroom accessory. It's more than a job. It's an experience. It's a very sassy, sexy how. It's more than a party, guys. It's more than a bedroom accessory. It's more than a job. It's an experience.

It's a very sassy, sexy experience. It's the full experience and their dedication to women's sexual health truly makes them amazing. They have so many fun toys on there, okay? There's personal massagers and bedroom accessories. Fun to spice it up in the bedroom. Luxurious bath and beauty products, premium bedroom products that are very, very fun for Cabo. Just saying. Enhancement creams, books, games, and more. They also have sexy parties, if you know what I mean. Anyway, if you're like me,

you'll want to check out the toy collection. It's the Calypso toy collection, their bedroom accessories. And basically these Calypso accessories vibrate at an ultra penetrating low frequency, and they're designed to help you experience deeper, longer lasting orgasms. So fun. Big plug your ears. Their Calypso collection has lots of different speeds and pulsating patterns. And I'm just saying, if you're going on vacation, you should probably bring one. And lastly, my favorite part of Pure Romance, they offer parties. So they have this premium line of relationship enhancement products that you can showcase at in-home parties. I feel like with social media, we're so much on our phone. And back in the day, our parents used to do sex parties.

Okay. Well, I don't know. I think mine did. Maybe not. Anyway, you can throw a party and you can score free products. It's basically like the Tupperware party of sex. So when you host a free pure romance party, a trained consultant will help you throw an unforgettable sexy night of fun for you and your best girls. You also get a free gift just for

hosting plus 10% of the sales at your party. How fun. I want to be invited. If anyone does this, hit me up. So head over to pureromance.com, pick up some fun toys, definitely get the bang bang oil, and maybe even host a party. You can use code skinny for 15% off. That's pureromance.com. Use promo code skinny for 15% off. Love to keep it spicy over here at the skinny confidential. Since we're on the product of skin, let's talk about a brand that I have talked about for so long. They have this tinted sunscreen. Okay. And it's really, really good. And the consistency is right. And it lays nice on your skin and it's glow skin beauties, moisturizing tint SPF 30. This is so nice. If you wake up and you feel like you don't want to wear makeup and you want to wear something

light and you have a Brown hyperpigmentation sun mustache like me, you can just put it over it and put a hat on and you're like, good to good to go. I've raved about this sunscreen. I looked at the reviews and there's five stars. Crazy. Like everyone's obsessed with this. And they also make some really great skincare products in general. I've tried a bunch of their stuff and it's all extremely affordable and stuff that I feel like you guys would love.

Another skincare brand. This is the last skincare brand I'm going to shout out for today because I don't want to overwhelm you guys would love. Another skincare brand, this is the last skincare brand I'm gonna shout out for today because I don't want to overwhelm you, is Eminence. And Eminence is something that I have used since high school. I love this brand. It was actually recommended by Jennifer Aniston

and they have all these skincare items that are filled with superfoods. So they have like blueberry cleanser and an exfoliating strawberry situation. They have licorice root, huge fan of their licorice root because licorice root is really great for hyperpigmentation. Anyway, they just have all these different products that have these really great superfoods in them and they're under $50. So here I would recommend starting with the probiotic cleanser. This is a cleanser that I use in the shower to

this day. It's something I used in high school. And then they also have like a blueberry moisturizer that's really, really great. So definitely check out those skincare brands, especially if you're on a budget, but even if you aren't on a budget, they're all great products. Like I said, you don't need to spend a billion dollars. Okay. Moving right along. So say you have this really great outfit. Maybe it's expensive. Maybe it's not. And you need accessories. I am kind of get like bored with accessories. I feel like they're trendy. They're always changing. Of course, I like my classic pieces that I wear all the time, like my wedding ring. And I have a bracelet I always wear and a signet ring I always wear. But then I like to mix and match accessories. I like to be very on the pulse with them. So what I do is I go to Forever 21. I actually don't even go

in store. You guys, I go online and I look at their accessory section and I usually say, okay, I'm going to spend $60 today and I get so many accessories. I'll get huge earrings, hoop earrings, tiny earrings, vintage cocktail earrings, and then I'll get some sunglasses, maybe perhaps a makeup bag, maybe some hair accessories, and I'll just fill up my cart with $60 of accessories. And then I always check to see if there's a coupon code and I check out and then I get, you know, my $60 of accessories in the mail and I'm good for a couple months on accessories. I lay them out so I can see them. Sometimes I'll get like some chokers or some long necklaces forever. 21 though is, is very much on the pulse and trend when it comes to their accessories. And that is something that I have done since I was in high school and I will continue to do.

Okay, very, very, very on brand for anyone that reads TSC. You can also get cute accessories on Fashion Nova and sometimes pretty little things too. And again, they're so, so affordable. All right, let's talk about the office. So we all know I like a time cube. We've talked about that so many times. It's changed my life. I feel if you're unproductive in any way, that's something that you need.

It's very inexpensive on Amazon, and it's something that just really, really holds you accountable. Okay. So you can set your time cube for maybe, you know, 20 minutes a day in the morning. I'm going to check emails and 20 minutes a day. I'm going to make the and 20 minutes a day, I'm going to make the bed and take a shower. And you just you have like this cube in front of you to keep you on schedule so you don't go crazy on time. Another thing I like that's maybe not maybe it's not business,

but it kind of is business is a phone diva light. So if you're out and you're taking Instagram stories or you're taking photos of yourself, whatever it is on your phone, you want to invest in a phone diva light. And that is $14. And that is something that every babe on a budget needs. And I do feel like it is kind of business if you think about it. So a lot of you guys have asked me about planners. A planner is something I think everyone needs. I don't care what anyone says. There's something about writing stuff down. Where I get all my planners from and where I've gotten all my planners from in the past is Shop Bando. And this is on Amazon. I'll link the ones that I use. I have this one that's like really glittery and pretty. It's a planner. And then I have another one that has a rose on it with a light pink background

and they're super affordable notebooks. And the best part about them though, this is so weird. If anyone else does this, tell me. I don't like a notebook or a planner that does not have a spiral spine. You know what I mean? I need a spiral spine. It's because I want to open it and I want it to lay flat so I can write. I don't want to have to hold it open like a book. So I just feel that you got to go with the spiral situation. I also am going to link an oil diffuser. And I think that that has to do with business because I think it sets a vibe when you're working. You could get one at your desk. Okay. Even if you work from the car, there's one that goes in the car and you can basically diffuse oils while you're working. You could do peppermint, tangerine, and there's this one that I really, really like, and it's super affordable. It's,

I think it's like $29 and it's kind of like a humidifier. It's white, it's's, I think it's like $29. And it's kind of like a humidifier. It's white. It's chic. It's tiny. And you could put it in your office. You could put it at your at-home office, anywhere you want. And it just creates like a very, very nice vibe. Taylor actually had a really great recommendation too.

Taylor told me that he's obsessed with his Alexa home. It's under $50, the one that he has. And Taylor's not a babe on a budget. Taylor, what are you? I feel like you're like a stud, a stud, a Viking on a budget, like a, okay. Like a murder on a budget. Um, uh, maybe a, I don't know, like quagmire on a budget. Remember when Scotty called you quagmire? That was so epic. Anyway, Taylor recommended an Alexa home. And this is great for work because first of all, you can order things off Amazon. It's under $50. And you, I think you can listen to our podcast too, which is really fun or any podcast. You can get quotes of the day. You can turn on boss and over. And again, it's under $50 and it's saving you time. So shout out to the Alexa home. I'll link

the one that he loves. Uh, we also talked about something that kind of has to do with business as well, which is a tile mate. Now I'm one of those people that always loses everything. I would lose my head if it wasn't attached to me. I'm always losing everything. So this is actually for your keys and it's under 50 bucks. And I think this is a great gift for people too, that are forgetful. So if you're on a budget and you're always losing your keys and you're in your office with your under $50 oil diffuser, listening to bossa nova on your Alexa home that under $ under 50 too you're going to be golden okay i sat down with my team before this podcast and we discussed just a lot of random things that were under 50 that we all do so i talked to mimi and emily and val and these are the recommendations

that we came up with together so So we all like First Aid Beauty. I really like their coconut primer. It's like a makeup primer. Totally recommend. We're all fans of Supergoop sunscreen. We really like the mist one. It's like this body mist that you can throw in your bag. So again, if you're on a budget and you need sunscreen, this is something that's going

to last you a long time. I keep this in my purse. I spray it on Michael when he's not looking. And it's just, it's, it's really, really nice to know you have a body sunscreen or face sunscreen in your purse at all times. We also all love the tinkle. Okay. We've talked about this 800 times. It's, it's a little tiny tool to shave your face. If you're not shaving your face, you got to go read the article on the Skinny Confidential that's about dermaplaning. It makes your makeup lay flatter on your face.

It removes the hair from your face. And when you remove the hair from your face, it just allows your skincare to penetrate deeper into the skin. So we love that. So the whole team talked about coconut oil. That was like a major one too. Kopari makes really affordable products, but if you can't do Kopari because you're trying to save money, I would definitely go for a nice cold pressed raw coconut oil at your local grocery store. Okay. Take your makeup off of it. If you want the whole team is obsessed with H and M tank tops. We all wear them. My friend Kim Kelly loves them too. Their tank tops are just awesome. They're so affordable. There's stuff that you can buy online. If you do go into stores at H&M, and this was Kim Kelly's tip, and I think it's genius,

know that the best stuff is in the front. And there's super affordable stuff there. You just go to the front, really look. When I was in high school, I used to spend hours in Forever 21 finding the right outfits there. I would come out with these like crazy finds because I would really take my time to look. Now, if you're busy now, because I get it, I haven't been to a Forever 21 in forever. That's like a pun because I shop online. But if you are out there and you're listening and you need to find like a really cute dress or a really cute outfit or a really cute tank, actually go to Forever 21 and spend an hour digging through stuff because you'll find something cute.

Okay. Another thing that we all love, we're all obsessed with this, is at Victoria's Secrets, you can get five pairs of underwear for $25. Again, been doing that since high school. Taylor, don't pop a boner over my underwear, but that's the truth. They have so many cute, cheeky pairs too. Like right now I'm having a moment where I want to have an aesthetic with my underwear. So I think I want it all pink, black, and white. So I just go to Victoria's Secret and I spend 50 bucks and I get 10 new pairs of underwear. It's like a lucky Michael. We all are huge fans of everything but the bagel seasoning that you

can buy off Amazon. It's from Trader Joe's. And if you're on a budget, you should totally shop at Trader Joe's. This everything but the bagel seasoning goes on everything. I put it on lox. I put it on chicken.. I put it on chicken. You can put it on eggs. So good on eggs. If you're looking for something a little bit more elevated, my friend What's Gobby Cooking also made like a like a almost like a more elevated version of this that's really good too. So both of those you can't go wrong. Trader Joe's shout out to Trader Joe's. It was one of those stores that I shopped at all the time when I was in college. It saved my life. I would go in and spend 20 bucks and get groceries for a week. I still do that. I

love Trader Joe's more than life. I feel like if you really look too, they have the best stuff. I would recommend getting like the raw Brussels sprouts. Oh, they're so good. And pomegranates, and you can mix the pomegranates with the Brussels sprouts and make like a really good salad with a mustard vinaigrette. Do like olive oil and maybe like red wine vinegar and like a good mustard from Trader Joe's, and then use the olive oil on your face later in the day, okay? You're getting creative here. You're finding your angles. That is what the Skinny Confidential is about, right? It's finding the angles, finding things that works, and figuring things out. Always want to be a resource. So anyway, go to Trader Joe's, stock up on groceries, and definitely grab everything

but the bagel seasoning. That's something that's a non-negotiable. Things to fill up your cabinet with that are superfoods, okay? So everyone says, oh, I don't have the money to be healthy. There are ways to get creative. Okay. I will add my favorite ground flax seed. That's $8. My favorite chia seed. That's $10. My favorite hemp seed. That's $10 all to this page. I also have like a college and beauty greens that I love. I have, um, this really great nutritional yeast seasoning. There's ways that you can get stuff like that,

that lasts for a really long time and you can get creative with them. I mean, even if you wanted to grab a zucchini at Whole Foods while you're grabbing your olive oil and make zoodles out of it and add, I don't know, maybe some olive oil and add, I don't know, maybe some everything, but the bagel seasoning, maybe like a little bit of lemon. You could even make your own pesto. There's just so many ways that you can get creative to eat healthy. I'll also add my favorite organic coconut milk, which is in cans. So it's super affordable. And I'll even find you guys like a raw almond butter. There's this one from Trader Joe's that isn't too expensive. So if you get those things that last a long time that don't go bad, that's the way to go. That's

the way I went in college. I would always I would find my staples that I used all the time and I would cook with minimal ingredients like chili flake and lemon and and make my own pesto and do things that were just really simple, but things that I could keep going back to. Here's a hot tip. If you are looking for gifts for people, okay, so say you're busting your ass, you want to find something affordable for your friend, maybe it's even under $30. Okay, this is what I do. I go to Sephora, like sephora.com, and then I'll look and there's this little button that says gifts. And then you can find gifts under $10, gifts under $25 and gifts under $50. I love this. It's a way that sort of weeds out the bullshit. So what I'll do is say

that I have 10 birthdays that month. I'll go to Sephora. I'll look at gifts under 25 and I'll buy like some cute sets. Like there's this set that I'm obsessed with personally, which is glow skin beauty. And they have this, like, I think it's like $39 and it's this limited edition watermelon jelly tote set. And I got it for a bunch of my friends. It's pink and it's like a lucite bag. And in it is it is one of my favorite watermelon masks. That's only $8, by the way, and a bunch of their products and they're pink and cute and fun. So there's always ways to just make it work.

You know what I mean? Don't think that you have to go and search through all this stuff to find a gift. Find your go-tos where you just go and you know you're going to find something cute at your price point. So since it's the holidays, I'm going to give you one of my favorite hacks. This is a hack that I've actually talked about on the Skinny Confidential and it's called the two minute fake cake. Okay. This is a fake cake. So say I want to bring a really nice, um, I don't know, housewarming gift or it's Thanksgiving and I want to make sure I'm contributing. I used to have literally no money in my bank account. So

I would be a bartender and have literally $40 in my bank account and I had to bring something to an event. Okay. So what I used to do, and I still do this all the time is I would go to Vons and I would buy a already made angel food cake. It's like four bucks, $4.99. I like the round one. There's something about it that just looks like it's homemade. So I would buy this round cake and then I would buy a funfetti frosting. And if you don't know what funfetti frosting is, I don't know if we can be friends. I mean, fun, Freddie frosting is like, there's nothing better. Anyway, I bought this frosting. The frosting is like two 99 and I would go home and I would frost the cake. Okay. Then I would take flowers. Cause I would, I would buy flowers like earlier in the week from trader Joe's that

were like three 99 and I would cut them them so I didn't get any water in the cake. And I would put them on top of the cake. So I had this like beautiful homemade looking cake with funfetti frosting on it with flowers on top. And every single person that I would bring this cake to would pull me aside and be like, Oh my God, that cake is so good. And I mean, I didn't lie. I'd be like, thank you so much. And like do a face like I was slaving away in the kitchen. Anyway, it's, it's, if you want to even go even more major, you could buy two angel food cakes and put frosting in the middle and then stack the other one on top. And if you want to make it even bougier, you could go big on the flowers. Like you could go to Ralph's and get like tons of roses. But when I was bartending, I used to like, you literally use baby's breath because Trader Joe's had it on sale for like $2.99.

So you can get creative. So I feel like it's the holidays now, especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas that I need to come back and do another solo episode that's solely dedicated to just gifts because I have so many fun, different ways to get creative. I have a big family and when I was in high school and elementary school, my boyfriends always had big families. So I have a lot of tips and tricks of ways to give a really beautiful, meaningful gift under $50, under $25, sometimes even under $10. So if you guys are interested in hearing that episode, let us know. You can let us know by following at TSC podcast, commenting on our latest Instagram, or just DM me, whatever works. And with that, I'm going to sign off. I know that was a lot of information, but we are

going to put up a blog post with this bear with us probably next week. And we will have an Amazon store live ASAP. If you're into hacks like I am, then definitely rate and review the skinny confidential him and her podcast on iTunes, because if you do, you will get five of my favorite beauty hacks straight to your inbox. All you have to do is screenshot your review and email it to ask Lauren at the skinny confidential.com. That's ask Lauren with a Y at the skinny confidential.com. And I feel like that's being a babe on a budget. You get five hacks straight to your inbox and they're all affordable. All right, guys.

Thank you so much for listening to my solo episode. I will see you on Tuesday. Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. Happy Friday. This episode is brought to you by Misfit Wearables and their brand new smartwatch, Misfit Vapor 2. So you guys know that I love to get my 10K steps in every day. And some days I even aim for 15. Don't mean to brag. I also love multitasking and efficiency. And let me tell you, this smart watch has it all. Not only can you track your steps every single day, you can also track your

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