My 10 Beauty Secrets + The Result Nobody Talks About After They Work

Looking hot isn’t purely a privilege; it’s a practice.

In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on the 10 beauty secrets that actually keep me hot and healthy, and the results nobody talks about when they work.

You’ll learn:

• Why I refuse to call being hot a "privilege”
• The real reason some women stay stuck looking and feeling drained no matter what access they have
• The Secret Weapon Beauty Hack that most women completely overlook
• What actually happens to your face, your waist, and your energy when you're under-slept 
• My honest take on Ozempic and why it'll make you smaller but not sculpted
• The real cost of Ozempic and what you can't get back with a pill
• Why your chronic bloating might have nothing to do with what you're eating
• Why 10,000 steps does something your vibration plate literally cannot
• The exact makeup products I use, the brushes that changed my whole application game, and when I hand it off to a professional
• The style philosophy behind "chic elevated athleisure" and how it affects your identity, your habits, and how you show up every single day

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You're listening to Becoming Her, the show for ambitious women who want more for their health, purpose, and life. Every week, we're diving into real conversations with women who are building impact, healing, and creating lives they're excited to wake up to. In my world, it's about becoming the strongest, oldest, and brightest version of you. I'm Leslie Jackson, your four-time certified functional nutritionist and integrative health practitioner. And if you're ready for the stories, strategies, and truth that actually uplevel your life, you're in the right place. Welcome to another episode of Becoming Her by Leslie Jackson. I am your host, Leslie. I'm gonna jump right into it today and share with you that there is an advantage of root cause healing that most of my clients never typically share publicly. You know, they talk about how their skin becomes more radiant, they're starting to fit better in their clothes, they're, you know, feeling more energized, but this is the thing that they typically share with me that they're not comfortable sharing publicly. And it is that people start to treat them differently. And they mention that people start to listen more when they speak, their presence is more acknowledged when they walk into rooms, and they're sensing a higher level of respect from the people around them. And for me, I'm like, yeah, you treat you differently, you respect you more, and it shows when you raise your standards for you, it forces everything and everyone around you to rise to the occasion to function at that same frequency that you've brought yourself to. I have a bit of an unpopular opinion, and it is that I don't think that all aspects of being hot or pretty is a privilege. I think it takes hella fucking effort to be in great shape and to look radiantly beautiful from the inside out. Sure, there are some parts of being in great shape that I think are a privilege, but even if you have access to more than most, you still have to take the initiative to leverage your access. Like I can't tell you how many celebrities I've seen with the highest level of access to the best food, the best, the best mentors, the best health and doctor access X, Y, Z, yet they still don't put in the work to create that inside-out radiance, even though they have the access. Being a radiant presence takes work. And I think it's time we acknowledge how much effort it actually takes to be in the best shape of your life, to have a radiant, confident, grounded presence where the effort that you put into your physique, the effort that you put into your skin health, the effort that you put into your mental clarity is acknowledged and respected because that shit takes work. There's certain levels of well-being that you you truly cannot access unless you put in the work. I acknowledge there's nuance here, but I also want to acknowledge that you gotta work for this shit. And I have hella respect for anyone that puts in the work to be able to walk into rooms and know who the fuck they are and know what they bring to the table and know how beautiful they are because every single day they wake up, they get the workouts in, they hydrate, they are particular about the people that and the energy that they have in their space. Like that takes a real elevated level of self-respect and discipline. And again, work. And I respect work. Because I'm not a gatekeeper. I'm gonna share with you my top 10 beauty secrets. And as I go through these, you're you may start to pick up on the fact that a lot of my beauty secrets are actually health tactics that create beauty because I think that radiance and beauty and glowing and energy and feeling grounded and secure again comes from doing the work. Not just, not even just physically, but also emotional development, mental development, so that you can keep the stress low and you can keep the vibes high. There's a lot that goes into this, but I've narrowed it down to my top 10 prioritizations that truly keep me in my best physical and mental state that allows me to respect me. And when I respect me, I notice that the people around me respect me more. Number one, dropping right into it. Getting my sleep. Okay. There ain't nothing cute when I'm underslept. Nothing. I crave sugar, I'm short-tempered, I get bags under my eyes, I look puffy, um, my brain's all over the place. Like, there's nothing cute about being underslept. At a minimum, I get seven to eight hours of beauty sleep every night. It keeps my sugar cravings away, it keeps my brain clear, it keeps my face and my waist snatched, it keeps my workout stronger, it keeps my patience full. I am just a more beautiful person inside and out when I am well slept. And that's not a Leslie thing, okay? That's a human being thing. If you want to wake up and look well and feel well, you gotta get sleep. There's no workout, there's no supplement, there's no meal plan that I could give you that can make up for not getting enough sleep. Being underslept will make you ugly, period. And I'm not exempt from that equation.

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Okay.

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Number two, eating nutrient-dense foods, another non-negotiable. There is no amount of concealer. There's no, there's no surgery that can be done that can make, there's no capsule or ozempic or any type of a medication that you can take that will take the place of the role that eating nutrient-dense foods does, and how much that impacts your, the, how bright your complexion is, how energized you are, how clear your skin is, how how toned your physique is. Like nutrient-dense foods are the cornerstone of your beauty. And that is really what helps me to keep my toxic load low and my nutrient reserves full. Because I prioritize nutrient-dense foods for a lot of reasons. We're talking about beauty right now. But when it comes to mental stamina, mental performance, mental clarity, speaking well, thinking clearly, nutrient-dense foods have to be a cornerstone in your every single day life. So what I do very simply, because I can't make this entire episode about this bullet point, although I absolutely could, I don't eat ultra-processed dead foods. I don't put dead food into my lively body. I put real whole foods that are alive, that can decay. That's how you know the difference between real alive food and dead food is real food will decay, it will mold, it is alive, it has energy, it has nutrients, it has minerals in it. And when you put it into your body, it gives you energy, it brings you life, it activates your beauty. But when you put ultra-processed foods that are barely even considered food anymore, and they're so shelf stabilized that they could sit on a shelf for 10 years and not look any different between days one and day a thousand, that is going to make you feel and look less alive. So ultra-processed foods, no. Alive, whole, nutrient-dense real foods, yes. That is a cornerstone of my beauty secrets. And produce is truly the anchor of my diet. Yes, I absolutely prioritize lean quality, well-raised animal proteins, but 75 to 80% of my diet is produce, local, organic, in-season produce. Number three, working the fuck out. Okay. I work out six days a week. I do three to four strengths training sessions a week. I do one to two Pilates sessions a week, andor one to two cardio sessions per week. And nothing can replace the role that this plays in building a sexy physique. Like even the Ozempics and all that shit, like, yeah, that will burn fat off of your body. It will make you smaller. It will make you skinnier. But personally, for me, this is my preference. My preference is to have a luscious physique, one that just exudes strength. I love having a physique that exudes strength and is well sculpted. I love a sculpted physique. And you can't get that with Ozempic. I'm gonna tell you this right now. Because when Ozempic is reducing the amount of nutrient intake that your body asks you for and is suppressing your appetite, the same way that your fat gets starved, your muscles also get starved. And that's why a lot of people tend to lose the lusciousness of their physique when they are doing the Ozempics. You can tell when somebody be working the bug out. You can tell because it's not just their physique, it's their aura, it's their energy. It's you can tell that they are their body is well supported, it's maintenance, it's kept up with. And that takes a certain level of self-respect and self-discipline, and it builds confidence because the type of person that can wake up, show up for themselves six days a week and do things that make them feel uncomfortable, they're unfuckwithable. Like you can't fuck with them. Like they put themselves through pain and discomfort every day for their greater picture. And that just takes a certain level of maturity, discipline, and self-respect. And that breeds a very high frequency of confidence. Number three, absolutely gotta give it to it. It is high up there in terms of what I prioritize to keep myself feeling and looking beautiful. Number four is walking. And I think that this is largely understated in terms of keeping the inflammation low and being able to keep that lean physique look because working out, if you're doing it correctly, like strength training intentionally creates inflammation in your body because it breaks your muscle and it forces that inflammatory response to activate so that your muscles can heal and come back even stronger. So, in that approach, you will feel and even sense some inflammation, which is why sometimes I'll go one to two weeks of taking a break from strength training so my bot my muscles can deeply recover. And I'll just do Pilates, mobility, walking to subtle my inflammation. I actually have a client right now who's preparing for her wedding, and I built her workout protocol to incorporate cardio, strength training, and Pilates for um, we built like a six-week protocol for her. For four weeks, it's all three. And then those final two weeks, we eliminated strength training and we focused 100% just on cardio and Pilates so that the inflammation that is created from strength training gets to tone down, flush out, and her physique will be even more lean, not as not inflamed or puffy at all when it comes to her actual wedding day. In terms of flushing out water retention, toxic load, cortisol, the things that cause that puffiness look in your face, the puffiness look in your midsection, um, everywhere throughout the body, staying in motion. This is another thing that cannot be replaced with anything. No supplement, no medication, no meal plan can take the can take the role of your body just being in a consistent state of motion because we are human beings that were thankfully designed to be in movement, to be in action, to be in activity. Our bodies were designed to be able to carry us long distances every single day. We are so much more sedentary today in our modern lifestyle and society than what our bodies were designed to be able to post for us. And so, all of that to say, I get my 10,000 steps a day. And when I don't, baby, it shows. My face is puffy, my midsection is puffy, my energy is lower, my frequency is lower, and I just I absolutely don't feel as beautiful. You know, everybody's getting these uh vibration plates today, and I cannot. I cannot with these vibration plates. If you don't take your ass outside and move them feet and put them feet to pavement to get your lymphatic system moving, unless you're already getting 10,000 steps a day, I don't want to see you with a vibration plate. No, because you need to be actually moving this vessel in forward motion and your feet hitting the pavement, is what creates that lymphatic activation. And that lymphatic system, which is where your body flushes out your toxins and mobilizes them to get out of your system to keep your inflammation low, to keep the puffiness down, it comes from movement. That is number four in terms of a high priority of my beauty secrets, which is another health hack to keep my physique snatched. Number five, supplementation. So I'm gonna tell you right now, I will never share publicly what my full supplement regimen is because my supplement regimen is 100% tailored to me, myself, and I. And it would be a disservice for me to say, hey, this is my supplement regimen. Here it is, you go apply it to your body because my supplement regimen could not be supportive to you. It likely is not what your body needs. Everyone's body has different strengths and areas of opportunity to optimize. And that's exactly why for all of my VIP clients, for my alumni circle clients, for my She's a force clients, they all have a 100% tailored to them supplement protocol. But of course, there are some supplements that I take to keep my skin clear, to keep my skin bright, to keep my energy high, to keep my overwhelm low. And that is just at a baseline, a multivitamin, omega-3s, vitamin D, vitamin C, and for me, a nocitole. Those are the top five go-tos that I have almost every single one of my clients on. Because a multivitamin just makes sure that you are you have enough coverage in your day-to-day vitamin intake to reduce the likelihood that you're going to run into nutrient deficiencies. So at a baseline, I do recommend a multivitamin to everyone for a million reasons. We are just not getting enough nutrients in from our diet today, and our soils are not as well treated. So the soil's less nutrient dense, which makes our vegetables less nutrient dense, which makes our bodies less nutrient full. So I take a multi, and one of these is really important for beauty and like a skin glow, skin moisturization from the inside out, and that is omega-3s. I have helped hundreds of women clear their skin, get brighter complexion, and to really heal their internal inflammation. And there has never been a client to date who has had sufficient omega-3s, A in their diet, or B in their in their labs or in their supplement protocol. So omega-3s are so pertinent for lubricating your body from the inside out. There's no amount of moisturizer. 400, the$400 moisturizers cannot make up for a lack of internal moisturization with omega-3s. Omega-3s keeps your skin moisturized. And I see a lot of women that are dealing with like eczema, dry skin, um, dry scalp, like all these things are typically, I mean, there's a lot of other things that can be causing those, but this is a part of the equation that's always applicable, which is not having enough omega-3s. Gotta keep the omega-3s into the system, vitamin D and vitamin C, especially vitamin C. Vitamin C is one of the richest antioxidants that the body can use to keep inflammation low, to be able to mobilize out of the system toxins, and just be able to address the things that typically cause us to feel dull, uh, like for our complexion to feel dull and for our energy to be low and uh to keep our skin barrier clear. Vitamin C, omega-3, vitamin D, and I use a nocitole to keep my blood sugar nice and stabilized because I know that when my blood sugar is stabilized, my nervous system is stabilized, and everybody wins when both of those two things are regulated. Let's get into some things that aren't so much health related, but absolutely a part of my beauty routine. Makeup. Okay, so I was watching a reel the other day, and it was this girl that was talking about how men should absolutely be the ones to pay for a date because if she just added up the makeup that she applied to her face to go on that date, it was worth like$70. And I was like, you know what? Hell yeah. This is one of them ones where I'm like, the not only the investment into the product, but also the time investment into acquiring the skill of being able to apply a good makeup is underappreciated. Like, period, it is underappreciated. But it is definitely part of my beauty approach. I'm gonna share with you guys a few of my go-to products. Although I'm not the makeup guru, I have just watched enough reels and watched enough YouTube videos where I've gotten good enough at it that I do feel beautiful once I apply. But anytime that I do like a brand shoot or a something big, like a big like speaking event or something like that, I do hire a professional makeup artist. And if you're looking for a good professional makeup artist here in Austin, Texas, Sophia Artistry, best of the best. She is who I count on to support me with my professional makeup when I need it. But the makeup products that I use at home are typically NARS. I use the NARS bronzer, like creamer bronzer for that contour look. Uh, I also use the color science tinted moisturizer today. I really, I'm actually just really bad at finding a foundation that actually matches my skin. So I just resorted to tinted moisturizers to get the job done. And the color science one is the best. It's also non-cabitogenic, and I wear it every single day. It also has a great strong SPF, and I do totally support keeping SPF on your face daily. Eyeshadow palette is by Makeup by Mario, and I've probably had mine for two years at this point. I'm obsessed with it. I love like the clay tones of it. I'm a big like neutral girl. I'm not a big like color pop type of girl, especially when it comes to my makeup. And my other tried and true is the Anastasia eyebrow liner filler. I love a bold structured brow. If I only do three things of my makeup, it's typically my tinted moisturizer, a little bit of bronzer, and brows. Like I'll do brows before I do mascara and eyelashes. It just makes my it just makes my face feel put together. Um, and then I also fell for the current trend, the BK Beauty brushes. I understated how big of a difference having quality brushes makes. And I used to just like buy the Amazon brushes on a swivel because I'm not great about cleaning my brushes. So I'll just get the cheap ones and keep on purchasing over and over again. But I decided that I was going to try out like a higher investment, better quality brush. And when I tell you, it makes the biggest difference in application and also just like how balanced and smooth the makeup actually looks when it's applied with a quality brush. I'm like, damn, I wish I would have done this earlier. But the BK Beauty brushes are wonderful and worth cleaning and just like keeping up with. And really, that's like the extent of my makeup. I just have so much respect for the skill set. I like it is absolutely an artistry to apply makeup and it makes the biggest difference in your energy and how you feel. Like, if I need a pick me up. I'm putting a face on. Like, definitely doing a beat so that I can feel more put together. Number seven, style wardrobe. If I wasn't so obsessed with root cause healing and functional nutrition, I would probably, I wouldn't be a stylist because I have my best friend is a stylist and I know the difference between appreciating style and being a style expert. And styled by me tell, Mimi, she's a style expert. But maybe I would be like a fashion influencer. I love fashion. I also think that fashion and the way that you present yourself does have an impact on your health and well-being. I do think when you feel put together, you do more for yourself, you move differently, you present yourself differently. It's very important for your relationship with yourself to actually feel sexy and well put together because it does affect that identity. And identity absolutely impacts your habits and how you show up every day. But let me put y'all on a few of the brands that I'm loving right now. One that I am like hyper fixated, obsessed with right now is Joa Brown. My best friend, Mimi. Again, I mentioned she's a wardrobe stylist, and she helped me kind of like define what my unique style is. And she chose the words chic elevated athleisure. And I was like, you know what? Hell yeah. That's exactly that's exactly who I am because I work from home and I am always moving, but I also am on camera a lot. So like I want to feel put together, but I also want to feel functional, but I also want to feel hot and sexy and cute at the same time. And Joa Brown is just the one that is meeting all of my fashion needs right now. Man, I gotta stop shopping um at Joa Brown, but they just they I like literally I have almost every single piece of their collections. So that's who I'm getting most of my clothes from right now, if you're wondering. The other ones that I've been leading into is Baby Boo. Baby Boo has some fire snatched waist like mini dresses and gowns. I have some weddings coming up, so I probably will be looking at Baby Boo for a wedding guest dress from there soon. Um, also naked wardrobe. They're typically for like a taller stature, but I still love their style. It's like minimalistic, it's not really like color poppy, it's neutrals, it's like silhouette accentuating, and that's what I love. So naked wardrobe, I also will dabble into like Amazon and Shein for just like basic basics. And um, my number one favorite bikini brand right now is ARC swimwear. So one of the things that I do inside of Shoes of Force after we finish one of the most challenging aspects of the program is I challenge the ladies to not resort to going and doing some big binge eating sugar celebration after we finish their detox. I challenge them to find a different way to celebrate that still feels really significant to them. And I always share with them like one of my favorite things to do to celebrate rather than celebrating over food is buying a new workout set or buying a new bikini. So if I'm buying a new workout set, it's probably from Aloe or CSB. When it comes to bikinis, it's arc swimwear or hard swimwear. Those are the two, my two like favorite favorites. Okay, now number eight of my beauty hacks is skincare products. Because let me tell you that you can have balanced hormones and you can have a really well-functioning gut microbiome. But if you're not using the right products on your skin topically, your skin barrier can still be compromised. And I personally have very acne-prone skin. So I can't use not non-competogenic products, and I have to keep serums on my skin because my skin tends to get dry. And when my skin gets dry and I don't exfoliate properly, it's just grounds for cystic acne to uh resurface. So the two primary skincare products that I use right now are Color Science, like I mentioned, their tinted moisturizer and clear stem. I use ClearSTEM's full product line and uh I use at AM and PM. I use Cleanser in the morning with a Mendalic serum, which is their Clarity Serum, and a hyaluronic acid serum, which is their like hydrating serum plus their moisturizer. I also love their skin spray. It's really like antimicrobial and keeps my skin fresh, clean, and clear and moisturizes, like hydrating feeling throughout the day. And then in the evening time, I do a double cleanse. I will do a physical exfoliation and I will reapply the mandelic acid, hyaluronic acid, and moisturizer. Like, this is what I'm saying. The shit that we do, the shit that we do to look beautiful and to feel beautiful, it's a lot of fucking work. So that's what I'm sitting here. That's what I'm here to say today is that I recognize that it's work. Like, do not undercut that it is work to be able to feel your best and to feel pretty and beautiful. That's number eight. Number nine, okay. Circle on back to a health-related beauty hack, which is to stay hydrated. People underestimate how ugly you will be if you are chronically dehydrated. Like you will feel dull. Like your energy will be lower, your mental clarity will not be present whenever you're dehydrated. Your brain relies on hydration like no other. And in order to keep your skin clear, and also this is one of the most underrated number one causes of chronic bloating is being chronically dehydrated. Because let me explain to you that our stomach has a pH, and our stomach's pH staying balanced relies on having enough hydration. If your stomach does not have enough hydration, your pH will get so potent and dense that it causes anything that goes into the system to ferment and cause that gas-related experience where you feel and see that stomach distension. So it also hydration is one of the number one things that your body relies on to detoxify. So if we're feeling puffy, bloated, dull skin, are we chronically dehydrated? Because the other thing that is is really problematic with being chronically dehydrated is your body is not going to be releasing your toxic load, aka. You're not going to be having bowel movements. Your digestion is not going to be on your side and you will feel it energetically. You can see it physically. And you can't be your most beautiful self and be chronically dehydrated, period. Okay. Number nine, stay fucking hydrated if you want to feel beautiful. All right, number 10 is my beauty hack that is not as commonly known. And it is what I would consider my secret weapon. And it is quarterly detoxifications, quarterly detoxing my system. And this is the thing, I don't obsess over low-tox living. Like, yes, I filter my water, I try to find low-tox products, I use low tox cleaning products, like all the things. I try my best to stay low-tox. But I also just on the other end of the script, I am proactively setting up my body to be able to detoxify efficiently, effectively, and consistently. That is the key, is setting up your body to be able to detoxify efficiently and consistently so that as we're always going to be exposed to toxins, your body can release them. And so every quarter, I am executing a detox. And speaking of detoxes, I want to invite you to join my live 10-day detox challenge, Lethal Beauty, where you'll get live coaching with me plus lifetime access to 10 days of transformative trainings and meal plans. And guess what, babe? We start tomorrow. And it's not too late if you're just now hearing about this. So, what to expect after this 10-day detox is a complete reset of your cravings, energy, and relationship with food. An experience that feels like you're able to move through your day without constant fatigue, without constant sugar cravings, because those will sabotage your beauty goals or mental noise around food. You will see after 10 days a visible glow up because I'm going to train you on how to actually release your toxic load, to restore your nutrients and reserves, and to apply all 10 of the strategies and techniques, little beauty secrets that I just shared with you here, so that after 10 days, you can visibly see a difference in your complexion, in your energy, and your radiance, in your physique. That's how quickly the body can respond when you actually detoxify right. I know that detoxification has been run through the mud with all kinds of different marketing campaigns. There is bullshit detoxes, but there are real detoxes. And when you do detoxification right, it's life-changing. This is going to be a full-body metabolic reset. This is not going to require calorie counting or macro obsessing, just a body that begins to function and feel the way that it was designed to, because it's not inundated with toxins. It's getting the resources that it was designed to run off of and it's being protected from the things that cause inflammation, puffiness, acne, and or bloating. So a few of the primary focuses of this detox is to help you have a flatter stomach, a brighter and clearer complexion, and less sugar cravings. That's what we're going to accomplish over these 10 days. It's going to be simple, it's going to be structured with habits that elevate how you show up daily. And it's going to require you to up-level into the woman who follows through and who has high standards and stays locked in. So the real transformation isn't just physical, it's who you become in the process. So inside of Lethal Beauty, you are going to receive daily voice note trainings that you can plug into anytime and live coaching calls where you're going to be able to tap into my brain in real time. Also, a step-by-step execution plan so that you know exactly what to do each day. And lastly, a community of women who are done making excuses and are also ready to rise. This is a 10-day full-body detox designed to help you have a flatter stomach, brighter complexion, and put an end to the sugar cravings. The investment into this detox challenge is$77. We start tomorrow. So if this has sounded like exactly what you need right now, pop into the show notes. The link is there for you to go ahead and lock in your spot. And we're going to start tomorrow. So I hope that this episode was supportive. I hope that you can take some of my beauty hacks and apply them into your daily your daily routines. ASAP. And babe, I'm going to see you on the next episode. If you love this episode, share it with a friend and leave a quick review. And if you want to go deeper, everything you need, resources, programs, and ways to connect is in the show notes. And don't just save this episode. Pick one thing, apply it today, and let it come down. I'll see you next time.