Yesterday (June 14), fashion slayer La La Anthony sashayed through NYC to Mulberry Project for a summer kick-off soiree hosted by Arm & Hammer Baking Soda. The beauty and lifestyle expert offered up plenty of tips and tricks to get the season started off right over refreshing cocktails and a bit of pampering. BET.com was on the scene and caught up with the star about all things going on in LaLa land. She’s had an eventful 2017 to say the least, but it isn’t over just yet. With Season 3 of Power set to premiere June 25 (her birthday, FYI) and a lineup of new projects, she’s got it going on!

On her bargain beauty finds…

So, I recently discovered Arm & Hammer baking soda makes a good body exfoliator, which I thought was a really great use since my skin is a little more on the sensitive side and a lot of times when I use your regular exfoliators, it really irritates my skin. It’s just kind of crazy that one little box could be used for so many different things — cleaning, cooking, brushing your teeth, making your skin smooth — like, there's so many different ways. And I'm just learning that I haven't even scratched the surface on the hundred-plus things that you could actually do with it.

For me, when it comes to beauty products, like, I've never been one that's into the super expensive stuff. I go to Duane Reade and can get everything I need. Neutrogena makeup wipes I can't live without, and even like Olay for my face lotion sometimes. Everything is Duane Reade. I don’t have to go to Neiman Marcus or these other stores. I feel like I find all the best stuff in places like that.

On how she keeps that waist so snatched…

Honestly, I've tried to cheat the workout but you can't. Like, there's no way. I always try to find the easy answer, but there's no magic pill to this. At the end of the day, it really is getting in the gym, working out and really trying to eat right. So I work out as much as possible and I really try to do a better job of watching what I eat. The food is 80 percent, workout is like 20 percent. So I've really just gotten more focused on being consistent with both.

When I can, I try to stay away from carbs, and I know that's not something you should do all the time, but it works for me to try to really minimize my carbs. I don't eat pork — it's just not what I do. I'm also a really big fan of flywheel, which is like a spin class, and you burn so many calories in such a short amount of time. You're on the bike for 45 minutes — usually I'm biking like 24 miles in 45 minutes and burning a lot of calories.

On her bestie Kim Kardashian’s upcoming beauty line (KKW)…

Her stuff is dope. I’m definitely excited for her to launch. She knows beauty, she knows what people want, what people need and also she knows how to make a face look great really quickly, and that’s what people want know. They want to be able to get a dope look quickly. No one wants to sit for two hours of makeup. So, it’s dope that she created something that lets you do that. I’m super excited for her.

On who she was rooting for during the NBA Finals…

Well, you know I always say I root for friends instead of teams because I have so many friends in the NBA. You want your friends to all perform well and do well. So for me, you know LeBron [James] is a close friend, JR [Smith], Iman [Shumpert], KD [Kevin Durant]… I just root for my friends. But I’m happy that the Warriors won and KD, Steph [Curry] and the rest of the guys are having a good moment and they deserve it.

On what’s next…

I’m working. So obviously Power is coming out. I just wrapped a movie with Tessa Thompson and Whoopi Goldberg called Immersed in Furlough that should be out soon. And I’m launching my clothing line with Lord & Taylor at the end of the summer, which I’m super excited about. I came to them and presented what I had and they were really into it. And I’m excited to give women of all shapes and sizes an opportunity to have really cool clothes. So let’s just say I’m busy [laughs].