"The first time I moved to LA I literally only lasted four months. I grew up in Salt Lake City, and right after graduating high school I shacked up with friends in Studio City. I wanted to be in entertainment, but at 19, the city was so intimidating. I would wake up and look outside, and it was enough to put me to bed. I moved home and enrolled in community college, which made me realize I actually wasn’t willing to live a normal life. So at 23 I went back and started doing commercials and fit modeling, which is basically where they take somebody with a very generic body and have them try on clothes. I will never forget when I went to an audition for a Target commercial, and the sign-in sheet suddenly had a section to write down how many followers you had on social media. Up until that point, I didn’t think social media mattered. But a lot of the girls had hundreds of thousands of followers. I left the audition and went to the restaurant my best friend worked at to get slammed.

Lisa Vanderpump happened to be there, and just like that, this opportunity dropped into my lap. I liked reality TV, but I never wanted to be on it. That seemed like torture. But I thought it might help grow my following and get my name out there, so I took the opportunity and ran with it. Eventually it did—someone approached me to do a collaboration with a beauty line, and I said that I wasn't interested in a collaboration but I was interested in starting my own brand. But something that a lot of people, including myself, get wrong about reality TV is that even though it can be a springboard, you can't be chaotic just because it makes for great TV. It’s only fun to watch someone be a hot mess for so long. Watching seasons 4 and 5 were so cringeworthy, but that also helped me evolve. Being on TV does not make me anxious, and maybe that’s because I’m with friends that I feel safe with. Plus, I know it’s going to be edited. I can kind of lean on that. I feel way more exposed on social media. People are mean. Trolls are mean. So I’m like, ‘Are they going to talk about the fact that this eyebrow is higher than that one?’ I just pick everything apart.

I’m over three years sober now. Not drinking, for me, was a must. But alcohol dries you from the inside out, so when I gave up drinking, I got this glow. I’ve definitely noticed a difference in my body, my skin, my eyes… Everything. I cannot wash my face unless I am fully submerged in water. There’s something about the water running down my hands that sends me into a spiral. So I take a bath every single morning and night. Am I single-handedly responsible for droughts? [Laughs] I love to get in a warm bath covered in Johnson and Johnson jelly baby oil, and let that soak. At night, I add in Tamra Judge’s Revitalizing soaking salt. It has 300mg of CBD plus jojoba oil, and it sends you straight to heaven. I wash my face with Give Them Lala Skin So Clean, which I developed while I was pregnant and dealing with cystic acne. It was a nightmare, and this helped. On my body I use the Dove Coconut Body Wash, and I’m obsessed with the body scrub from my friend Kristina Kelly’s line called Heartspring. You can get it on Etsy, it’s absolutely fantastic.

Once I get out of my bath, I use the Mario Badescu Rose Water Spray. It makes me feel like I’m closing up my pores. Then I smack my face with my Seaweed Toner, and go for the throwback: Pond’s. My grandmother used it, my mama used it, and it’s very inexpensive. Same thing with Vaseline, which is my favorite eye cream—I will fight crow’s feet at all costs. I use my Coconut Kisses lip mask, both before bed and to prep my lips before I put on my liner. And in the morning, I use SPF. To this day, if you go to Utah, tanning beds are still popular—I don’t think people realize the importance of SPF. A lot of times sunscreen can leave a film, or it balls up when you start putting your foundation on, but Kiehl’s wears beautifully under makeup.

I’ve had makeup artists make me look like a drunk porn star, so I usually like to do my own full face. Everyone asks me what foundation I use, and it’s actually Catrice True Skin. I hadn’t heard of the brand when they sent it to me. The bottle lasted the entire year, and when I finished it I was so bummed because I assumed it was expensive. Even the packaging is beautiful. I went online to look for it, and it was 11 freaking dollars. I used to use Dior Airflash, and that’s done—I’m serious. Give me the $11 goods. Contrary to what people think, I do pay my own bills and have to work. If I’m not doing foundation, I like these Fenty Beauty Match Stix. They blend really well. I also really like the Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Foundation Powder. Some powders leave a big blotch when the brush picks up too much, but this one is very blendable. It gives that flawless finish—every time I like someone’s makeup, they’re using this.

On my eyes I usually go for Give Them Ocean and then Cruisin’ With My Baby from my Baby Palette. They are pinky blush shades... sexy and sultry. If I want to do a wing I use Inglot Eyeliner Gel, which a makeup artist told me about. It is absolutely five stars. But usually I use the Laura Mercier black powder liner to do a smudgy line, and then for the inner corners, my go-to is this little white shimmer from Colorevolution. It just makes me look alive. I wear it with every single eye look. And then I use my own mascara. I love a silicone wand—I always have, I always will. I just feel like the precision is a lot better, and I don’t end up with those spider lashes.

The first modeling agency that I signed with in Utah told me that the eye area has the least amount of elasticity in your face. Any time it’s pulled, it does not go back. So I became terrified of waxing, and now I only pluck them. I like doing it on my own. Refy Beauty is my new obsession to fill in the gaps. Their brow pencil has a little comb on the end, and it makes my eyebrows look freaking amazing. When I’m getting full glammed and want a more dramatic look, I trace my brows with the Refy pencil and fill them in with the Sigma Brow Duo. I used to use the Anastasia Beverly Hills pomade, and still like that one too, but I’m trying to finish the Sigma before I go back to it. A brow and lip liner are two things I can’t live without. My favorite from my line is It’s Everything, because I literally wear it with any lip color. I’m obsessed. Right now I love to wear it with Snowball, which is my frosted lip oil. It’s such an effing vibe. I also use the Glossier Holographic lip gloss, which was actually my inspiration for Snowball because I loved it so much.

My go-to face doctor’s name is Dr. Diamond. I do laser and PRP, which is where they take your blood, spin the platelets, take the plasma out, and microneedle it into your face. It’s a game changer for collagen. I haven’t been able to do that for a while though, because I’m breastfeeding now, so I do a lot of masks at home. My favorite is the Aztec mask. It’s very inexpensive. I mix the clay with apple cider vinegar, and as it dries it purifies my pores. If I’m struggling with some spots that I want to get rid of, I use it as a spot treatment. It dries that little fucker out. Just make sure you don’t use anything metal to mix it up—they say it deactivates it or something. I also really love Mario Badescu’s Rose Hips clay mask. That one is not as intense as the Aztec mask, so I can use it more frequently. And if I want a sheet mask, I use my Stay Calm Masks, which are aloe-based. I also can’t get filler while breastfeeding, so I give myself bone structure with my Havana bronzer. By the way, can we talk about blush for a sec? For so long, I was like, ‘Who wears blush anymore?’ When I was a little girl, my mom would get the green Clinique blush with the brush inside, and it was so pink. It horrified me! I’m realizing that the key to blush is to get one with more of a purple-y undertone. I don’t like pink undertones, really, on anybody. I use my new Dew You Boo setting spray to finish, which is a very fine mist. I found that every other setting spray made my face too wet—I would literally hit my face with a blow dryer on low to get it to dry faster.

I used to go back and forth between blonde and jet black, which I’m still paying the price for. But I like being a blonde—everyone acts so bubbly to me when my hair is light. For cut and color, I see Bradley Leake. He is amazing with blondes. I try not to put heat on it or wash it too often, so usually I just smack it with Batiste Dry Shampoo and Living Proof’s Vanishing Oil. One little drop calms down the breakage or flyaways, and it doesn’t leave a film. If I need some volume I use Got2B’s Powderful, which is a powder that makes your roots gritty. Or hairspray. Most people don’t dig hairspray at all—but I dig it. Come on, I grew up in Utah! The big hair is the only thing I can’t shake. I use Big Sexy Hair to make myself super sexy. [Laughs] I don’t know why.

I used to think that my life was going to be so planned out, and I knew what the future held, and I knew what I wanted to work on. I’ve come to realize that the universe’s higher power really doesn’t give a fuck about what my plans are and what I want to do. I’m trusting in that, and putting all of my energy into my brand and my baby. I’m protecting them, I’m working hard on them, and I’m just so excited to watch them grow into incredible things."

—as told to ITG

Lala Kent photographed by Katie Thompson in LA on November 12, 2021.