10 Life Hacks For The Softest Face, Cleanest Laundry, The Fizziest Champagne and More

Today we have Jule from Jule The Bee sharing her top 10 life hacks with us.

Jule & I were introduced by our friend Ingrid de la Mare-Kenny ( who is fabulous ). Ingrid raved about Jule & told me I had to meet her & that I would absolutely love her. When Jule was featured on Julie Lauren’s podcast Hashtag No Filter, I immediately fell in love & started watching her Instagram Stories. After watching Jule, I saw she had a real gift of connecting with her audience on a fun level. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, & she gets it. She’s smart as a whip, she’s fucking funny, & she’s totally someone I would hang out with in person if we lived on the same coast. 

ACTUALLY !!!! We did hang out in person. We met at The King Cole bar in New York City. I’ll let Jule tell that story….

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I’ve only met “The Skinny Confidential” once. For one perfectly time-blocked hour on a brilliantly sunny late afternoon in June ( with zero humidity I might add, which made for a pretty good hair day ). I drove into NYC for a meeting with her. A drinks meeting ( thank G-d ) given that my sitter had canceled at the last second which meant I threw my stilettos in a bag, picked up my two boys from school and high-tailed it to New York, kids in tow. Once in the lobby of The St. Regis Hotel, I handed them off to my incredibly supportive husband Barry, also known as Bazz, also known as their father, and I shoved them out the revolving door of the hotel to do, well, I truly didn’t give a frog’s fat ass what they did. Trying to find my inner zen ( I have none ), I swapped Converse for Louboutin’s and glossed my lips with some pale pink lippy. I was ready.

This past March I was hosted for the second time by Julie Lauren on her podcast “Hashtag No Filter.” On the episode she asks me what other podcasts I enjoy listening to. Breathlessly I begin to gush about “The Skinny Confidential.” Little did I know that “The Skinny Confidential” herself was actually listening.

It’s rare to find a true “girl’s girl” in this social media dripping world. People throw around the term like confetti, but few actually fit the bill. Lauryn does. So when she asked me to do a blog swap with her, I almost jumped out of my SoulCycle onesie.

Up until the exact moment that I walked into The King Cole Bar and sat down next to her the plan was to do a blog swap about marriage. That all changed after I ordered my drink.

“Stop it right now!” Lauryn exclaimed after our waiter George had taken our drink order. “Mimi! Did you hear how she ordered her drink!?!” In case you’re living under a rock, Mimi is Lauryn’s Creative Editor for “The Skinny Confidential” and right-hand everything. “Jule, let’s do a blog swap on marriage another time. Everyone needs to know how you just ordered that drink. You need to share your Top 10 Jule The Bee Life Hacks.”

Who was I to argue…

How To Order an Aperol Spritz “Jule The Bee” Style

I fell in love with The Aperol Spritz three summers ago when Bazz and I took our two little boys to Italy for the first time. An Italian cocktail, the drink traditionally consists of an Italian aperitif called Aperol, Prosecco, and a splash of soda water, garnished with a slice of orange. Neon orange in color, the drink is all together bitter, sweet, bubbly and refreshing AF. The Prosecco headache it generates the next day, however, I just cannot have. Blissfully I have since discovered that subbing Champagne for the Prosecco not only eliminates the headache factor for me but cuts the sweetness as well. And while I would never dream of messing with the Italian’s original recipe if I’m on the Amalfi Coast, I’m quite happy ordering my pain in the ass version with a smile and an apologetic wink stateside. Sorry George!

How To Keep Your Champagne Bubbly

I’m not gonna lie, it’s rare for me to open a bottle of champagne and have leftovers. I don’t need to find a special occasion to open a bottle or to finish one for that matter. I’m not that fancy, I swear! But I do love an ice cold glass of champagne with everything from a hot dog at a casual barbecue to the “Crispy Salmon Sushi” at The Inn at Pound Ridge. So, on the very rare occasion where a glass or two of bubbly remains, what’s a champagne guzzling girl to do? If you wrap it in aluminum foil it’s dead in a day. Pour it down the drain? Bite your tongue! Lean in, sweet readers, I’m gonna tell you the best kept champagne secret. Go into your kitchen drawer and locate one small metal spoon. Go on! The bubbles are dying! Hurry! Now insert the spoon stem side down into the neck of the bottle. Ahhhhhhh you saved her! That was close! Now report back to me tomorrow night, and the next and the next. Your bubbles are good for about five days. Yay! See! Reason enough to celebrate and open another!

How I Make My Morning Coffee

You were starting to think I’m a lush weren’t you? Well maybe just a touch…But this next one is all about my morning coffee routine. You know what? I just realized, I’m your beverage bitch! I’ve been using Ingrid De La Mare Kenny’s “Simply Inulin” for a few months now in my coffee religiously. And here’s what I’ve found…I’m less hungry, my nails are no longer weak and peeling, my skin has never been better, my periods have never been more manageable, and my psoriasis has disappeared. No joke. On one particularly lazy morning instead of stirring in my usual 3 teaspoons of “Simply Inulin” directly into my coffee I added it to my milk frother instead. Cashew Milk Inulin Coffee perfection. Guess what? Turns out your hot pink guru Lauryn over at “The Skinny Confidential” does the same. Great caffeinated minds think alike it seems. For more on Ingrid and her magic dust you can read about her here.

How to Enjoy Drinking More Water

Anyone who knows me knows that I love SoulCycle. And most people who know that, know that I ride with one instructor, @lm_cascino or “L” as she is known. When I was finally able to get back on a bike after my summer of Lyme ( I’ll come back to that later ) I realized that my lower back hurt more post Lyme diagnosis. “L” kept my back stable and pain free. Now she is a friend who also happens to try to kill me on a bike multiple times a week. And I love it. AND I am also 46 years old AND I also happen to have wildly low blood pressure which means that on occasion I’ve seen those black spots behind my eyes and have almost fainted post class. Ya know how there are super syrupy sports drinks that hydrate and provide a flood of electrolytes while you work out hard? While I am no calorie counter I do know that it makes zero sense to drink a 140 calorie drink filled with dyes and chemicals all the while pedaling furiously in an attempt to do something good for your mind, body, and soul. At the same time, I have a hard time chugging plain water in that dark, rainforest hot room. Enter NUUN. Each electrolyte tablet has only 1 gram of sugar, 15 calories, and delivers a whoosh of fizzing natural electrolytes to your begging for mercy body. They are my security blanket in that room. They are my Woobie on that bike. I play a head game with myself while I’m on the bike. I’m not allowed to leave the room until I have finished my water. NUUN makes that easy. Now most classes I drink two. Go Bee!

How to Make Magic While Cooking

People say that “food is life.” If that’s true, then this is truly the life hack of all life hacks. This is for anyone who loves to cook but hates to clean and even for those who hate to cook. Because here’s the thing, we all gotta eat and whether you enjoy the process of getting it to the table or not; this item is an absolute must for your kitchen. I discovered these pans a few years ago after I had a breast cancer scare ( I know, not my usual light-hearted blog banter, but real life reared its ugly head as it sometimes does ). I was drawn to them for their amazing nonstick cooking abilities without the toxic nonstick coating that makes me hold my boobs in fear. Too much info? Too bad. Best part is, as it turns out, they produce the most perfect French omelettes, crisp up chicken to golden perfection, caramelize onions to a mahogany glaze and there is virtually no clean up. I sound like an infomercial, don’t I? I don’t give a rat’s ass. I only wish I had helped fund the company. Instead, I recently partnered with them for a giveaway of my four favorite pans of all time. They are literally all I use. Did I mention that I graduated from the French Culinary Institute? Ok, fine my diploma looks like it was dipped in tea leaves it’s so fucking old (which means I’m so fucking old, but still, I did  )! So, while my knife skills may be rusty, and my kids would rather have nuggets than nougatine ( who are we kidding so would I ) I know a good thing when I spot it. And these pans are a really good thing. You can go ahead and shop them here. You might be rolling your eyes and thinking “Ew she’s shameless.” Guess what? A) You are correct. I am. So while I’m already being obnoxious I guess this is where I can slip in that my Instagram followers now lovingly refer to it as the “Jule The Bee Magic Pan.” and B) When you use yours, you’re gonna thank me, especially after you see the price. No formal thank you note needed; a simple DM letting me know that you worship me is just fine. Winky face.

How I Baby My Face

There is no better feeling at the end of the day for me than taking off my makeup and washing my face. Ok fine, maybe taking off my bra actually but that’s not a life hack and the following is. Clean skin is everything and baby washcloths can help you to achieve the softest, cleanest skin ever! Whatever your favorite facial cleanser is, removing it from your face with a baby washcloth is sort of skin changing. The key though is that it has to be a washcloth made for infants. Tearing at your skin with harsh exfoliants or a rough cloth can break capillaries and be really rough on your skin. But the softest of terry cloth or muslin washcloths remove makeup, pollutants and deep down dirt all while babying your face. I have piles of them from when my boys were babies and the more I wash them the softer they become. One use only please, because like yuck! Then into a white vinegar wash they go with our other towels to kill all the dirt and bacteria. That’s right! I said white vinegar. Of course I’ll explain! Keep reading!

How I Get My Clothes “Jule The Bee” Clean

Once I had my babies I slowly started to tune into more safe and natural options for laundry and general cleaning around my home. That’s not to say that on occasion I’m not pushed to use an atomic bomb of liquid bleach cause let’s be honest if you’ve ever had a 4 year old projectile vomit after eating pasta with Parmesan cheese, you’d know white vinegar just ain’t gonna cut it. But most days, a thousand times a day I reach for a bottle of distilled white vinegar. Correct. The kind you find in the grocery store, the kind that is found with the salad dressings. We buy mega jugs of it. Kitchen counters, bathrooms, windows, mirrors, and best of all stinky laundry. There’s pretty much nothing that it can’t handle, including killing Salmonella and I am TERRIFIED of SAL. Into the bleach compartment of my washing machine it goes. If it’s SoulCycle clothing I’m washing or anything super sweaty I throw a massive glug of it into the bin of the washing machine as well. And like I tell my Instagram followers who seem to care deeply about stinky laundry the same way I do, “always aim for the crotch!” Don’t be embarrassed, we don’t have to discuss it at great length, just do it. Ok? Excellent!

How I Keep My “Produce” Fresh

I can hear my mother’s voice in my head as I type this. Her thick southern drawl, laughing in mock horror at what I’m about to share. “Julianne! You’re NOT going to discuss that!” If she were still here with me I’d throw my head back and laugh with her. I’d tell her to grab her smelling salts and clutch her pearls because “Yes Ina! Of course I’m going there!” You haven’t experienced true freshness downtown until you’ve used “Always Thong Daily Liners.” You heard me. Purple box shaped like a thong. Not every drugstore carries them so when I do find them, I have been known to sweep an entire shelf worth into a basket and run, head down to the register avoiding eye contact at all costs with the cashier. They are as important as brushing your teeth, tongue brushing, flossing, washing your face, and showering BEFORE and AFTER SoulCycle. Ok, fine I’m weird, but I’ve got a fresh peach too, so there! I cannot live without them. Period. And no, you don’t have to have THAT to appreciate them. Get it? Period. That’s Thong Panty Liner humor, sorry.

How I Keep Our Bed Tick-Free

Exactly three years ago this summer I was bitten by a tick. HARD. I didn’t feel him, see him or even feel the bite, but a few days later while on vacation with Bazz I passed by a full-length mirror in our hotel room after showering and noticed an angry bright red small bite on the back of my thigh. It hurt to the touch, but I thought little of it until two days later when we were back home and I spiked a 105 degree fever. Something in my head nagged at me to check that bite. Too weak from the fever to stand up and look I asked Bazz to turn me over in bed and look at the back of my leg. Bullseye! No, I mean literally bullseye. Like Lyme Disease bullseye. And now I’m a bit of a loon. Ok, fine, I was a loon before and now I’m a bigger loon. But I won’t apologize for that. Ever. I was not hiking in the woods, gardening or rolling around in a field. Chances are this fucker was waiting for me on a towel on my lounge chair or our puppy Norman deposited that tiny terror in our bed where he snuggles up next to us every single night. Since that bite, a few things have changed in our tick protocol. And while I have to accept that I live in the woods of Westchester, NY where Lyme runs rampant, I still choose to fight hard. Not just because I got violently sick for months but because my family is constantly exposed as well. The smallest and least expensive change in my protocol begins every day with a sterling silver handled lint roller that we use to roll over our sheets twice a day. Once when the bed is made in the morning and once when I get into it at night. I peel back the masking tape on the roller and roll the whole damn bed. I roll the duvet, the fitted sheet, and then I roll everything in between. Usually I roll the dog too. Cause I’m that kinda nuts. And sterling? A girl’s gotta be a little fancy sometimes.

How To Get A BEEautiful Glow

A few years ago I was having lunch with a girlfriend of mine who has the most beautiful skin. On this hot sweaty August afternoon she looked almost airbrushed to dewy perfection. How fucking annoying I thought as I sat next to her sweating like a barnyard animal, I could feel my tinted moisturizer sliding off my face. I complimented her and she told me that after lunch she was taking me around the corner to buy her favorite foundation. See, another “girl’s girl”!

“I hate foundation,” I told her, “it makes my skin feel like it’s suffocating.”

“I hate it too,” she told me, “but I promise you’ll love this one.” That same day I bought my first jar of Natura Bissé “The Cure Sheer Cream.” It was love at first glowy application. Insanely hydrating, it melts into your skin like ghee onto a “Jule The Bee Magic Pan.” And ready for this? It’s lightly pigmented and adapts to any skin type and skin tone. I shit you not. I was radiant, I glowed, and then it was gone. Like “Gone Girl” gone. Poof. And then I panicked. After grilling the 97th saleswoman over the phone from 115 different stores as to why and where and when it would be back, I got an angel on earth (another “girl’s girl”) on the phone and she told me to come right in.

“You found a jar?!?” I screamed into the phone.

“Oh no,” she sighed sadly. “There’s not a jar to be found, but guess what? “The Cure Sheer Eye Cream” is the same exact formula just without the SPF, so you can use that, all over your face! And we’ve got plenty of them! I’ll put one aside for you,” she said sweetly.

“Not one, twenty please, I’ll be right in!” ( Insert screech of tires as I peel out of my driveway ). I’ve been happily applying it ever since that day two years ago. And while my skin is far from perfect, my “Sheer Cure Eye Cream” kinda makes it look pretty darn close. Rumor has it the big jar is coming back. Yet another reason to open some champagne!

Xx Bee

Shop my favorites here.

All illustrations are by @courtneycoloring.

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Thank you so much to Jule for sharing those amazing hacks. The baby wash cloths were the most insane hack ever- I’m just obsessed. So much so that it deserved it’s own post.

Be sure to check out my 10 life hacks on Jule’s blog too!

x, lauryn

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