What began as a fun and personable approach to beauty and fashion during the pandemic has turned into a multiplatform audience for host and creator Yuri Lamasbella. With millions of followers, the Florida native captivates audiences across the globe with her story times, opinions and some spot-on Kardashian impersonations. Currently expecting baby number two, Lamasbella is also dedicated to vocalizing support for autonomy in motherhood, using her voice and platform to share her experiences.
Most people know you for your Kardashian impersonations; I’d love to hear where it all started.
I always knew I was a little bit different and the corporate world was just not for me. The nine-to-five was not for me. Back when I started, content creators and influencers weren’t a huge thing. It wasn’t necessarily a way to make money—it wasn’t a lifestyle that you could live off of.
But I knew I wanted to be a beauty influencer, so I started creating content on YouTube, focusing on all things beauty and skin care. That’s really where my heart is—it’s still my first love. But back in 2017, the beauty industry and the beauty-creator world were really saturated. If you were any kind of influencer, you had to be a beauty influencer back then. TikTok wasn’t around. Short-form content wasn’t being consumed that often.
Then the pandemic hit. And it felt like the world needed some sort of comedic relief. There were a lot of bad things going on, a lot of sad people and a lot of unfortunate events. I just felt like if I could create my platform so people could go and laugh and have fun and forget for 45 seconds what was going on in the world…it would help. So, I started getting into reality TV and doing parodies of reality TV shows I liked and that was The Kardashians at the time.
I would do some videos of the Kardashians—really mocking the reality TV aspect of it. People loved it. The good thing about the pandemic was that TikTok was blowing up. Everyone was on TikTok. Everyone was at home, consuming the short-form content. It was like people were just consuming these videos of mine. The virality really hit. I realized that this is what people need. They need that sort of comedic relief. I just took it and ran with it. I continued to do it. Now, we’re branching out into other comedic reality TV shows and stuff and it’s a lot of fun. But that’s how we got started.
Your impersonations are really spot-on. A big part of it is, obviously, in your voice, but are there any kind of beauty moves you do to get into these parts?
Yes, I basically think everything is a prop. For a parody to really hit and make sense and to make it even funnier, I just overexaggerate the truth. If someone wears a lot of blue eyeshadow, I will smear my face with blue eyeshadow and maybe have some blue eyeshadow on my fingertips to let people know that I was applying blue eyeshadow. That’s really how beauty and makeup and skin care get into these concepts and scripts, especially with the wigs and all of that. I love the props. I think that’s why my parodies are a little bit different—they really nail the humor aspect of it in terms of exaggerating the look with the hair or the wigs or the makeup or the skin care. It’s super beauty-focused.
And now you are expecting baby number two. I know you’re into beauty and skin care and all that kind of good stuff in your real life, too. How do you change up your routine to make it pregnancy-safe?
Well, honestly, since my first son, I got into reading about a bunch of products that aren’t good for you. In my opinion, if it’s not good for you while you’re pregnant, it’s probably not good for you! I really gravitated toward that in my first pregnancy.
With this baby, nothing has really changed. When I first got pregnant, yes, I removed retinol from my routine. And I really focused on my wellness in terms of the type of water I was drinking. I got out of drinking purified water…and I really did my research with the FDA and the EPA on tap water versus bottled water. I really, truly believe that it starts with what you consume and that starts with the type of water you drink. It’s not about drinking 100 milliliters a day. It’s about the kind of water that you drink that’s going to keep you hydrated and it’s going to keep your, in my opinion, mental stability afloat as well.
Are there any skin-care brands you feel very safe using that you think are doing a really amazing job in this space?
Absolutely. I love the Native brand. Native deodorant is what I use. My favorite one is the coconut and vanilla. That one is aluminum-free, paraben-free, vegan and cruelty-free. It’s really safe and it changed my body chemistry as well.
This probably sounds weird, or maybe it’s TMI, but now I don’t have to put on deodorant every day. Granted, I’m not running around outside 50 miles a day, but ever since I switched to that deodorant, my body odor has gone down significantly. There are days I don’t put deodorant on at all! And I don’t smell at all. I absolutely love that deodorant. It really helped with my body chemistry. I love that it has a lot of natural ingredients.
I also just got introduced to Fresh Beauty’s Black Tea Advanced Age Renewal Eye Cream. It works; I love it and I’ve really noticed a difference. I’ve been using it for probably a week and a half and my dark circles just aren’t as dark anymore. I put it on in the morning and at night.
A good eye cream is definitely a necessity when you’re pregnant because you’re really tired and don’t get a lot of sleep. You’re just restless; you have insomnia. It’s tough, especially when the baby is kicking at night. I love this new eye cream. I gravitated toward it because this eye cream doesn’t have retinol. A lot of eye creams out there do have retinol in their formula. If anyone has ever looked, any pregnant woman, or anyone just trying to stay away from retinol in general and wants a really good, effective eye cream, this Fresh Beauty one is what I would recommend.
Great stuff.
Yes and then I also love Drunk Elephant. These are products I use when I’m not pregnant as well, and they changed my skin tremendously. I love them. The first one is the Protini Polypeptide Cream. It’s the moisturizer from Drunk Elephant.
It has so many peptides in it and it’s fragrance-free. I try to stay away from anything with fragrance, but some things I use have fragrance in them. I use it morning and night. It lasts me a long time. I would say it lasts me probably about a month. It is definitely my daily ritual and it keeps my skin really moisturized.
Your skin chemistry also changes when you’re pregnant. In this pregnancy specifically, I learned that my face is just so red. I don’t know why it gets really red. It’s not even like a blemish. I don’t know. I wake up and I almost look like a tomato. It looks like I ran five miles in the sun and that’s not the case. I don’t really know what’s going on. Pregnancy hormones will change your skin chemistry.
This cream really, really helps to make sure that I don’t look like a red tomato. I love it. I’m on my fourth jar and I refuse to stop using it. I will try other products, but I tell people it’s also really important to understand that your skin is an organ, right? If you get your skin used to a product, that product is just going to work. It doesn’t mean that the Clarins Double Serum isn’t still a godsend, or the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream isn’t really effective. It doesn’t mean that those things aren’t going to work.
Your skin wants what you’ve been feeding it for the last six months. For me, it’s been the last, I would say, three years the Protini Peptide Cream from Drunk Elephant. I always like to start with that disclaimer because what works for your skin probably won’t work for my skin, but it’s because I haven’t gotten my skin accustomed to it. Does that make sense?
Yes. That’s a smart way of looking at it because there’s so much out there, right? It can be overwhelming.
Yes, so much. I think that it’s also important that you don’t try to use every viral product. Don’t try to use everything that you’re recommended! My mom worked in the sun a lot. She was a migrant farmer worker, working out in the fields, picking tomatoes and the fruits. She did that work until she was probably 22, 23 years old. And she did a lot of sun damage to her skin. She has tried every viral product.
But she ended up burning her skin. Her scars got even worse. That’s a permanent thing. I also learned from her experience that not everything works and trying everything could also damage your skin. It’s really important to say: Read the ingredients that are in these products. Listen to your skin chemistry.
It’s true. I always say the more I use, the worse I end up looking. My last question, I know you’re busy and I know the baby’s coming, but is there anything else you’re super excited about as the year closes out in two months, either professionally or personally?
Professionally, I’m so excited to jump back on the work train because I love staying busy. I love getting my hands into new things and new experiences. I’m excited to travel again, but I also cannot wait to dive into the chaos of what is going to be two children. I tell my boyfriend that I want four kids and he thinks I’m insane. But I think I want to engulf myself in the flames of what is chaos.
I want a chaos-y household; I want all the toys on the floor. I want to be overwhelmed that the house is never clean. I’m looking so forward to that.
In my personal life, I’m looking forward to seeing my son become a brother. I’m so curious to see how he is going to change. Then, professionally, definitely getting back into the swing of things of work, work, workload because we work a lot. I’m excited to see how we can balance that.
