Excuse My Grandma
Excuse My Grandma As We Talk Beauty, Brains, and Business with Natasha Cornstein
Thu, 20 Feb 2025
In this episode of Excuse My Grandma, Kim and Grandma Gail learn about the beauty industry, networking, and valuing yourself from Blushington CEO Natasha Cornstein. Natasha shares her journey from doing “nitty gritty” work at her husband’s start-up, to becoming the CEO of a beauty-tech company after one life-changing lunch. Natasha tells Kim and Grandma Gail about how she evolved Blushington during the Pandemic and continues to innovate the brand. In The Grandma Report, the three women discuss the Forbes article about professional and romantic relationships. Natasha shares her personal experience with working with her husband. She says “work/life balance” isn’t a helpful term because you can’t prioritize everything –from work, family, friends– on the same day. They then listen to Grandma Gail’s Voicemail, where a listener gets tough love about being in it for the long haul with a med student. Want Gail’s honest opinion on your dating dilemma or family drama? Email [email protected] or DM us on Instagram with your voicemails! Kim, Grandma Gail, and Natasha then answer your questions about non-basic first date questions, what to do about a daughter’s boyfriend you don’t like, and nail care! To finish the episode, they play Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Dating Quiz. Grandma, who was at Natasha’s wedding, already knows the results. Natasha also shares inspiring advice from her own grandmother, including keep learning and enjoy life– with champagne! Grandma Gail then imparts her words of wisdom, telling Natasha, Kim, and listeners to have a voice and opinion on everything. Follow us onInstagram @excusemygrandma TikTok @excusemygrandma Watch on YouTubeSpotifyMusic By: Guy Kelly(00:00) Intro(00:24) Interview with Natasha Cornstein(19:05) The Grandma Report(26:15) Grandma Gail's Voicemail(33:44) Ask Grandma Anything(42:55) Grandma Gail's Old-Fashioned Dating Quiz
Chapter 1: What is Blushington and who is Natasha Cornstein?
Natasha has been at Blushington for a few years now. So she's gonna talk about that and her roles at Blushington and her journey as a CEO. So, Natasha, thanks for joining us.
Thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be here today.
And there's a lot of background here, familial relations, right?
Well, that's true because I know Natasha since she's about your age. I've seen her son grow up. I love, love her husband. So crazy. Your brother, actually, he got tickets for him in New Orleans to go to the games.
Oh, that's right. Yes.
Because Mark is friendly with the coach down in Tulane.
He represents him. Exactly.
Yes. And so we have a whole wagon, plus the fact I have a special spot for her in-laws. So it's really a pleasure.
How did you meet them?
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Chapter 2: How did Natasha become the CEO of Blushington?
Chapter 3: What are the challenges of work-life balance in relationships?
It was beautiful.
Oh, that's so nice. On December 1st. That's rare, too. Well, it was very special.
23.
All right. It's been amazing. So that's a good journey. We like that. And I also love that she's become pregnant. a woman in business. You know, she started out as a mom too, you know, let's face it. Her primary thing was as a wife and as a a mother, but she's been terrific in business, even just when in the early years supporting Mark. So I worked with my husband.
Oh, wow. I need to hear about that for over a decade. How does that differ from what you're doing now?
Well, it was completely different. It was my husband's company. He started it out of college. He worked two jobs. So he worked at the New York City Sports Commission and was entrepreneurial at heart and started his own sports agency. recruiting international players to the NBA. So he would work all day, go out. He was a real partier. And then he would set his alarm and wake up for European hours.
And that's how he built his agency.
And I think in all fairness to Natasha, she was the power behind the man. because I remember when that was an early time in your marriage, she was ever present in his business and really knew how to run it. He might've been looking and recruiting, but she was running the nitty gritty. So- Is that how you felt? Kudo to the women.
I don't know about that. I think, and that's what's really different about my business today actually is he was definitely the boss. He did all the business. He did all of the contract negotiation.
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Chapter 4: How did the pandemic impact Blushington?
I totally agree with you.
Because of the lines and all that, the makeup just sinks into those lines and accentuates it.
Or is it about the products you're using?
No, I think it's just basically faces don't do, they're not a clean, like yours is perfectly smooth. Natasha's is perfectly smooth. Mine is not. So you can't put too much on, even no matter what product. The lightest product, you have to be careful.
But can I just say also, I'm not using tons and tons of product. I'm just doing a lot of steps. I know you are. So it's not like I'm using an entire bottle on my face. No, but you're very good with the brushes. I could use a dot, but I want to make sure I'm doing... concealer, foundation, bronzer, contour, blush, lip liner, lipstick, lip gloss. I just like doing all these things.
Because you know how to do it. If I do that, first of all, I can't see in the mirrors. So basically, whatever goes on is going on. I have a big issue with, I can never go to certain hotels if they don't have a magnifying thing in the bathroom. Mirror? The boutique hotels for me are out. I'm 40 years too old for boutique hotels.
Or if there's a light switch like this, I'm not as inclined to want to stay there. It's very, very hard. But on the makeup routine, and I think that's part of the beauty of Flushington, is you will sit down with your artists and they'll, in just a few minutes, they're trained to really try to understand who you are, what type of experience you're looking for,
And I love that you have these steps and a routine. I think Grandma Gail and I have a very similar routine. I call it the five minute no makeup makeup. I use five products.
I'm in, I'm out.
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Chapter 5: What are the hygiene protocols at Blushington?
And the love, the loyalty and keeping the passion and the shared values is crucial. And I will say, you know, we've talked about women coming into the workforce. Fathers are now so much more involved with their kids. Oh, absolutely. Every sporting event, every dad is there. Right. When I was growing up, I mean, my dad was working and my mom came. And they didn't make the time.
That was not their role.
It wasn't even a consideration, like you said. It wasn't an option.
And it really wasn't anything that anybody thought about. But as the times have gone on and you're equal partners in bringing home the money, you both have to have equal relationships and stand in on certain times when the other one can't. So I think it's very, and also some men now stay home and raise families and the wife is the big friend. That's what you're better at.
Exactly. We have plenty of friends like that.
I don't think there should be any titles anymore. I really, I'm so happy that the younger generation is doing that.
I'm actually surprised to hear you say that.
You know, I think in life and in business, emotional intelligence sometimes trumps everything. To be successful in relationships, to be successful in business, you have to understand people. And I think that comes from being very, very aware. And so I would say emotional intelligence is crucial in every aspect of your life.
Do you agree?
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Chapter 6: What advice does Grandma Gail give about medical school relationships?
Chapter 7: What is the importance of emotional intelligence in business?
I've said this all the time, Natasha. I agree with you. And I think that, you know, We're always evolving. Who we were when I was 27 and Mark was 30, we're very different people today. But we made the commitment to grow together. But we dated for seven months. We were engaged for seven months. And we're married 23 years.
How old were you when you met?
I was 26. Oh, wow. Okay. I got engaged when I was 27 and married the same year. He actually proposed on my birthday.
Oh, so did my husband.
That's so cool. How did he propose? But I was 21. That's like my mom.
We didn't believe in long-term things.
It's a completely different thing.
even know where he proposed he proposed i think he took me to a show actually at uh used to be called the americana in new york and we were and he took out he didn't have a ring he was in school and he was in graduate school and he said i want to you know would you marry me whatever and i said to myself well i don't know maybe i should maybe i shouldn't and he said well here's my mother's wellesley ring so i to this day i have it in the vault and i said it's the only time i ever
And eventually I got it done. Actually, I still have the Wellesley ring and I don't have my first engagement ring.
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