Katie Sturino Just Wants to Clear Her Inbox

The entrepreneur and author talks shutting down negativity, her must-have hair tool, and her brand new book.

Beauty
(Image credit: Daniel Wikey)

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.

Look around: Katie Sturino is everywhere. The entrepreneur is on your Instagram feed, posting real, body positive content like her viral #SuperSizeTheLook series. Megababe, the confidence-oriented beauty brand she founded, very well might hold a place (or three) in your medicine cabinet. She's in the App store on Boob Sweat, her weekly podcast about taboo topics for the millennial set, and now, she's on the shelves in the form of Body Talk, her brand new book about self-love and thriving in the face of societal negativity. Here, how she manages to find time to accomplish it all (while still looking and feeling great).

Rise and Shine

I usually wake up at 5:50 a.m. If I'm lying, I will tell you I meditate first thing. And if I am not lying to you, I'll tell you that I get on my phone and I check my texts, emails, and Instagram DMs. But then, I do actually get up and meditate; I use the MyLife app.

Signature Look

I'm more of a night time skin routine person, so I usually just let my nighttime skin ride [in the morning]. As for makeup, I'll start with a Clé de Peau Beauté under eye concealer, and for the last six-to-nine months I've been doing a Stila glitter eye shadow. After that, I'll use Saie's Brow Butter, and I've been trying Kosas Air Brow, too. I go between Wander Beauty and GrandeDRAMA for mascara. I like the concept behind GrandeDRAMA, because it's supposed to help your lashes grow. It all takes me like three minutes.

Shop Sturino's Makeup Routine:

A.M. Hair Sitch

I don't do anything to it if it's dry and clean. But if my hair is dirty, then I've got to do my whole thing. I try out multiple shampoos, so I don't have a go-to, but the main magic behind my hair—not that my hair is really magical looking—is the Dyson Airwrap. It's really changed the way that I approach my hair. I used to have to get a blowout, or have some glam squad come over, or go to a Drybar. But now that I have the Airwrap—which was expensive, and I will emphasize that—it really has allowed me to do my own hair. That is a first for me, because while I figured out how to do my makeup, I truly have never understood how to do my hair.

Strong Start

The work day usually will begin for me around 8:00 a.m., and then I've got my team coming in at 9:30 a.m. I try and get through e-mails first because once the day starts, it's all calls and shoots. I've got to talk to my sister 20 times a day. There's all these things that happen during the day that make the inbox hard to get to, so that's why I try to clear my inboxes before we start. My business partners are all in different time zones, too, so I usually get to respond to their stuff in the morning.

Mindful Moment

I like to do like a mid-afternoon group meditation with the team, which either people pretend to like, or they actually do like. I think it's cool! Your first inclination is to be like, "I don't have time. I can't do this," because you're in the middle of something. But I think that taking that moment is the exact reason that you might get through the rest of the day in a calm way.

Sweat Sesh

Working out is on my morning to do list, and it happens about twice a week. I do walk my dog in the morning, but I don't really call it out like a workout. I just call it movement. Personally I would just like to get to it one more day a week. I do Obé Fitness, and virtual classes by Megan Roup and Marnie Alton. And I got these ankle weights that I really love; I think ankle weights are very much back.

Personal Mantra

Not to sound insane, but I live Body Talk. My book is just is my brain on paper. It's so funny, because in times of high stress, it's really easy to turn to old habits of feeling unworthy or not good enough. The past few days, I've had several moments of feeling like, "Oh, you don't look good in this," or, "You look ugly today." I don't usually experience this kind of negativity on the regular anymore, but I have had them. So I've literally gone back into the book instruction and been like, "Nope," and totally flipped my thinking, so that has been really cool.

Dream Podcast Guest

I mean, isn't everyone's answer Oprah?

Beauty Muse

Katie Jane Hughes. I love her tutorials. I love the way she does her eyebrows. I love her fun makeup. I love it all.

Nightly Wind-Down

My husband and I watch a lot of TV. I live in New York City, but it's like I'm a suburban shut it, just taking in content on the couch with my husband and my dog. We sunk into Mare of Easttown, which was a very depressing show—from the weather to the people to the concept, it's all depressing. I'm watching Cruel Summer, too—also depressing and not that good, but just can't stop watching it. And I've seen Ted Lasso three times.

P.M. Routine

I do my skin care right at the end of my day, around like seven o'clock. I've been washing my face with HoliFrog's acid wash before using Goop's vitamin C serum and La Prairie's serummoisturizer, and eye cream. Oh, and I love putting Megababe's Le Tush mask on my face sometimes. It's a facial grade butt mask, but I usually use it head to toe before I shower.

Shop Sturino's Skincare Routine:

Lights Out

We go to bed so early now. We start looking at each other at, like, 9:00 or 9:15, we're like, "I think we've got to turn in." My former self would have been like, "You're crazy," because I used to I loved working until 10:30, and watching TV until 1 a.m. I've just found that my mornings are pretty special now. And if I can't fall asleep, I go right back to meditation.

Taylore Glynn is a former beauty and wellness editor for Allure. Previously, she served as beauty and health editor at Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar, and her work has appeared in Refinery29, Town & Country, Compound Butter, and RealSelf. She holds a master's degree in English and Creative Writing from Monmouth University. If you need her, she’s probably at the movies, braising a chicken, or evening out her cat eyeliner.