Three Favorites Under $30
For your chapped winter lips, your linen closet, and your bedtime routine
Shitters. I went against all medical advice to take my not-sprained-but-in-pain ankle out on the town last weekend (in these—true to size and the most worn pair of boots in my closet by a mile), and honestly, it feels better than it has all week?? Who needs RICE when you can have an ice cold martini…!
I wish I could see who votes Vesper, mostly so I know who to avoid… My preference is Hendricks (dirty, always olives—do twists not remind you of Lysol??, and blue cheese if the mood is right), but I’ve come to see the benefits of vodka on select occasions.
Today’s newsletter has not a single thing to do with any of the above, but smooth transitions are overrated! Here are three newer favorites under $30 (a Grey Goose martini at Bemelmans unfortunately clocks in at a dollar over budget, but they do bring you a very full sidecar if that counts for anything?):
Le Chouchou Lip Softening Balm: I have about 85 million lip products, but this is the one I’d recommend above all else. It goes on like a gloss and keeps your lips hydrated for hours, but the real selling point is that it does this while exfoliating any dry/flaky skin on your lips. It’s super gentle, so you won’t feel it working (a welcome change for anyone whose been personally victimized by a plumping gloss), but if you deal with dry, chapped, or peeling lips, especially in the cold, this sloughs it off like no other. My lips tend to run dry, so this is a no brainer for me in the cold months, but I also like to exfoliate before using lip color (especially ones with more pigment, like liner or lipsticks), so this is in my rotation constantly. It comes in several shades if you prefer to wear yours like a gloss (my preference is the clear option, butter mochi, on its own or top of lip liner—Minky forever), and every name is more delicious-sounding than the last! It’s technically available via Sephora, but it’s almost always sold out on their site—I buy direct from Eadem instead. You can get 10% off if you sign up for emails, keeping it under $30 even with tax/shipping.
Linen Organizers: If you’re an adult, you probably have more than one set of sheets. If you are an adult with small humans living in your home, you likely have many more more sets! This is an easy way to keep all of those sheets, pillowcases, shams, and duvets organized and stored compactly, instead of in messy piles somewhere in the back of a linen closet. Before I got these, my sheets were taking up two of the Elfa drawers I originally got to give myself more closet storage, which was two too many. Now we’re down to a neat stack of these next to the drawers (which are filled with my never-ending sweatshirt collection), but they would fit even better in an actual linen closet. With these, when you go to change your bedding, all the pieces will be together in one place (especially helpful if you’ve delegated this task to a partner or outside help who may not be as familiar with the nuances of your personal organizational system as you are). The zippered boxes come with labels so you can write out the color, size, or room that they’re for, and a small window so you can easily see what’s inside. If I found these to be THIS neat and helpful in my tiny apartment, imagine how someone with an actual house might feel!
Sleepy Tie: If it’s a choice between a good hair day or good makeup, I’m picking hair every time—I could walk out of the house without a lick of makeup, but if my hair’s blown out, I feel on top of the world! I have my at-home blowout down to a science lately, but the one thing that eluded me was how to maintain it. Of course a lot of it has to do with technique—there’s a reason most salon blowouts last longer than the ones I used to attempt with my Airwrap—but how you’re keeping it while you sleep is also key. At night I’d wrap my hair on top of my head loosely, secure with a clip, and sleep on a silk pillowcase (these are so brilliant), but most of the time I’d still wake up to frizz or an errant wave, even when the blowout was done by a professional. I bought this thing on a whim to see if it could help at all, and I was honestly shocked at how well it’s worked. Even on nights when it comes undone in my sleep, I wake up with my blowout pretty much entirely intact with bounce and volume. I knew from day three or four that this thing was good, but when my friend Kenzie stopped me before our morning safari drive to ask what the hell I was doing to waltz out of bed looking ready to go, I figured it was time to share with the class!
This is essentially a soft tube covered in a satin scrunchie that secures your hair in a donut bun at the top of your head while you sleep. Do you look like you’re from Whoville? Yes. It also looks way too big when it arrives—I ordered the size medium and was convinced I didn’t have enough hair for it—but I think the size is key for volume. It took me more than a couple views of this tutorial to get the hang of securing it, but now that I have it down, its on my head pretty much every night. It’s prolonged my wash/heat styling schedule (along with some assists from this miracle dry shampoo), and has saved me so much time that I used to spend redoing my hair in the morning or before a night out. 10/10, amazing purchase!
Related Reading:
Two out of the three things in last year’s three under $30 were Best Buys of 2024—I have a feeling we’ll have some more this year!
Also of note: I’ve had no less than four conversations about red light masks in the past week—I’ve seen improvement/notice my skin looking more even after using, but I still think it’s only worth it if you’ll really be consistent. More thoughts + a discount here! Esthetician to the stars (and me!) Sofie Pavitt came out with a moisturizer that is at once the richest cream I have ever tried, while also being completely non-comedogenic?! Eat your heart out, Augustinus! My J.Crew order arrived and this wrap is just as good as I was hoping it would be (now I have my eye on this featherweight cashmere tee…). Deeply devastated that my favorite chili crisp brand is closing up shop. Buying up every bottle while I still can! I’m late to The Traitors, but I am HOOKED!!! (Also, is Tom Sandoval maybe the dumbest person alive? I’m not a Bravo girl—someone enlighten me in the comments.)
Below the paywall: The under-$90 omakase that dare I say just became a new NYC favorite?! Gatekeeping because I’d still like to be able to walk in!