Image Source: Getty / Jamie McCarthy
There’s a moment in season seven of “The Real Housewives of New York City” when Bethenny Frankel is criticized for being a know-it-all. “Maybe I know it all,” she retorts, dueling with Heather Thomson by the pool in Turks and Caicos. “So if you would like to know any of it all, come to me and I’ll tell you.”
Frankel is of course being sarcastic, but this level of unbridled confidence is exactly why millions now tune into her TikTok for her unfiltered reviews and de-influencing approach to everything from Chanel to Costco. Love her or hate her, she knows her stuff — and she’s entertaining to watch. It also explains her new gig with Yaysay.
Yaysay is a new shopping app that curates sale items informed by each user’s shopping habits. The app presents personalized discounted products each day, but like Instagram Stories, these expire, only to be replaced by fresh fashion and beauty picks the following day. “It’s effectively the treasure hunt of online shopping,” Frankel tells POPSUGAR.
The entrepreneur and former reality star was brought on to Yaysay as an adviser. When she joined the team, she thought to herself, “Do any of these people here really shop how I do, where I am equally as knowledgeable about Hermès as I am the dollar store?”
Frankel says the app’s strength is its selectiveness. “I do find online shopping has now gotten tedious,” she says. “Everything is available, but that’s not necessarily great.” Yaysay, however, offers only a limited number of selections each day, and once a user starts scrolling, they have just 30 minutes to decide to check out. Frankel compares it to dating apps where “there are a bunch of guys that sort of look average, and then you get excited about one.”
Image Source: Yaysay
So far, Frankel’s used Yaysay to buy a metallic L’Agence duster cardigan, Hanky Panky underwear, and studded Saint Laurent slides priced at $300 off. She doesn’t consider these to be basic wardrobe staples, and that’s kind of the point. “The items can’t be too overly sensible, otherwise you’re not gonna get so excited,” Frankel says. “There’s a lot to the psychology of shopping, and I think I understand that.”
“I don’t like to be ripped off.”
Where does Frankel get her frugality? After all, she sold part of her Skinnygirl empire in 2011 for a reported $100 million, so she’s certainly not short on cash. She puts it simply: “I don’t like to be ripped off.” Frankel adds, “I like value and I spend a lot of money on a lot of things. I have luxury items that are astronomically expensive, but they are always an investment. They always hold their value.”
It should come as no surprise, then, that Frankel also has plenty of opinions about holiday gifting. “You have to create stories,” she says. “I give out gifts, and each one is specifically designed to what’s going on in the person’s life.”
She has a friend, for example, who was recently talking about choosing to not get any cosmetic procedures done. “This is who I am,” the friend told Frankel, who then went out and found the friend an embroidered Lingua Franca sweatshirt stitched with the expression, “I am me.”
Presentation is important when it comes to gifting, Frankel says. “Everyone has a bottle of wine they’re gonna give someone, but why don’t you get a cute ornament with it? Or put wine with some good cookies or nice chocolates? Or coffee with mugs and make it a coffee basket?”
Frankel is also in favor of holiday shopping at the drugstore: “I’ve found so many things at the drugstore that are better than high end.” She loves the Maybelline Lifter Gloss, as well as the L’Oréal Age Perfect Cell Renewal Midnight Cream, which she refers to as the “rich b*tch cream.” (See here for her TikTok review, which has over 700,000 views.) “I’ve been really impressed by the luxury of L’Oréal. That’s actually a good tagline,” she quips.
Sticking with beauty recommendations, Frankel also endorses the Sephora Favorites Perfume Sampler set, which allows the recipient to test fragrance samples, pick a favorite, and redeem for a full-size bottle. That said, Frankel does have feedback. “They need to be better in explaining the instructions on the box. I would’ve just opened the perfume and gotten rid of it,” she says. “Note to Sephora.”
Frankel has received feedback of her own, namely that her reviews, many of which hinge on affordability, can feel out of touch given her tax bracket. Frankel shrugs it off: “There’s not that much criticism, and who cares?” She adds, “Yesterday someone was like, ‘Your teachers don’t want your dollar-store gifts.'” After many of her followers came to her defense, Frankel replied with something to the effect of, “Someone urinated in her cornflakes, but that’s her problem.”
And contrary to her TikTok schtick, Frankel does still splurge. An expensive gift she stands by is a Baccarat crystal ornament, which can cost around $150. “Every year you’re gonna look at it and you’re gonna take it outta the box and it’s the only expensive ornament you have and it’s a memory,” she says. “You’re opening the red ribbon and they give you a card with it. The shopping bag is gorgeous, and it’s an experience.”
It’s easy to think you know Frankel — especially if you watched her eight seasons of “RHONY,” her two spinoffs, and her eponymous talk show — but she still manages to surprise. Gift cards, for example, she loves. One might think they’re a phoned-in last resort, but that’s precisely the point. “It’s a filler gift,” Frankel says. “You gave someone something you’re not so excited about so you round it out with a gift card.” She’s got it all figured out.
