If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what everyday stuff famous people add to their carts — like hair spray or an electric toothbrush. We asked gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Laurie Hernandez, who will be attending the 2024 Paris Olympics as an NBC correspondent, about the felt-tip eyeliner, energy bars, and curl diffuser she can’t live without.
I have used this eyeliner since I was 16 years old. Any photos from the Olympics of me as a teenager with eyeliner on, it’s this one. I love it because it’s waterproof. It’s got a felt tip. I always liked the black one. The color is a matte black, it’s a really strong black — it feels like I’m getting more bang for my buck. The color’s potent and doesn’t smudge over time. As soon as it’s on, it’s on. When I’m putting it on, I have to have a makeup wipe near me in case I jack up my eyeliner wing. But that rarely happens because of the felt tip. It angles like a paintbrush, so depending on how much pressure you put, you can get that precision and that thickness. It’s a little guy, so I can easily put it in a little purse.
Of all the Nike hiking shoes, these are my favorite because of the supportive soles. I have a lot of problems with the arch of my foot because of gymnastics. I basically have a ballerina’s foot, so my toe point is just completely curled and arched. So I need to have really strong arch and ankle support. I typically lean toward neutral workout clothes, so it’s fun to have a pop of color, especially in shoes that I know are going to feel good for me. I think the closest hiking I’ve gotten to do in New York has been Cold Spring and Beacon, which is so beautiful. But I did a ton of hiking in these shoes in Northern California and the Redwoods. It feels like they have my back and like I can push myself to keep going because I know my feet aren’t going to feel so bad. That’s huge for me.
I’m a coffee fiend; I go to bed looking forward to having a cup of coffee in the morning, and this is my favorite one. It’s called Bianco Piccolo. Compared to other Nespresso coffee pods, it’s pretty tiny, but there’s a ton of flavor in there. The fun part for me is always frothing the milk, and this espresso is specifically formulated to pair well with milk. I love making my coffee in a glass mug so I can see what it looks like when it’s getting poured because it looks all pretty.
Since I’ve retired from gymnastics, it has been really important for me to relax a little bit on nutrition and just to instinctively eat foods that make me feel good. And most cereal bars weren’t filling or they made me feel a little bit bloated afterwards, or I was just obsessing over the amount of protein and things that were in them. But with GoMacro bars, which taste really good, I took one peek at the nutrition section and I was like, “Yeah, that’s good enough for me.” They’re perfect for days when I don’t have time for breakfast or when eating a lot just feels too heavy in the morning. Not all bars are the tastiest thing in the world. But these are. I like eating them the normal way, or sometimes I’ll roll them into little balls and put them in the fridge. Just putting it in a different form is, I don’t want to say comforting, but it’s nice.
I love all music genres, and I mean that quite literally. I have probably hundreds of playlists on Spotify for all different moods. Some of them are what I would listen to before competitions, with a lot of high beats per minute, high energy, usually just made you want to dance around and be with friends. One of my favorite things about Spotify is the curated playlists. Recently, I’ve been listening to this one playlist called “Sad Movie Instrumentals.” It’s all my favorite songs for reading that don’t take me away from the book. I listen to it when I draw too. I like how specific it is. The other day, as soon as I opened the app, it said, “Me in the Morning,” and started playing “Espresso,” by Sabrina Carpenter. And for “Me in the Afternoon,” it was one of my favorite scores from Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse movie by Daniel Pemberton.
I use the unscented original. I’ve noticed with scented deodorants, and I’m sure if it’s like this with many people, but especially with me, if it’s a scented deodorant, I usually smell pretty gnarly at the end of the day. My sweat and scented deodorant do not mix super well. But I also don’t like the way my armpits chafe without it. This softens my armpits and keeps them comfortable. If I want to smell good, I’ll put on perfume, but even then, I don’t like smelling aggressively a certain way. That’s why the unscented Secret deodorant is my favorite. It’s a powder one. I tried the gel and it wasn’t my favorite. I am very particular about sensory things, so the powder one was more up my alley.
I brought this Drybar Diffuser and a Drybar foldable hair dryer with me to Olympic trials. And that made me realize how important traveling with a diffuser was for me, especially with curly hair. I like this one specifically because it’s light. It’s pretty big in its circumference, so it does take up some space, but it’s worth it. Each prong varies in length, and that helps with the different curl textures in my hair. My hair is so big that I know people are going to look at it. It plays a huge part in my confidence, especially if I’m going to be on TV. Everyone knows me with my ponytail up in gymnastics, so for the last few years, especially since retiring, it’s been important for me to figure out a routine that works where I’m comfortable wearing my hair down.
Now that I am a student at NYU, I have not taken my MacBook Air Pro for granted. It’s so thin and light and it lets me take a smaller tote or a smaller bag. Whether I’m taking the train to classes or if I have to hop on a plane and travel for work, it’s so convenient. There’s a Baggu tote bag that has a zipper and a shoulder strap; that’s been my go-to school bag. It’s a really sturdy canvas material, and it was pretty expensive, but it has lasted a very long time.
I had already started using Olay’s vitamin C moisturizer before partnering with them, so when I heard about the Cleansing Melts, I was excited to try them. Basically, it’s a tiny square cleanser, maybe an inch, half an inch in size. You soak it in water, and then you rub your hands together to activate it, and then you start to wash your face. I was really shocked at not only how compact it is and how easy it is to use, but also how clean my face felt. Sometimes when I’m using cleansers, it feels like there’s either a film or almost like it’s trying to add its own moisturizer or oils or something’s getting added when I’m trying to take things away. And I notice that after using it, my face seems really bright.
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