The Hat That Makes Me Look Like Paddington Bear

I am always one purchase away from the one SSENSE sale/sunscreen/candle that will change my whole life. It never happens, but sometimes through word of mouth, a friend, a random list, an overheard conversation, I find something that changes my life in some small meaningful way. (The Nike shorts I put on every morning to walk Remy, or the candle that I start burning when it’s time to work.) I love reading The Strategist’s What I Can’t Live Withouts and Maybe Baby’s lists of Best Things; this is like a summer specific version. None of these products are affiliate links or spon, but three were gifts (noted with an asterisk).

Please remember: The only thing you need to do summer right is an Italian villa with your troubled significant other, your horny ex, a sullen rando, class anxiety, a dead body, and no AC. Alternatively: a lazy summer afternoon with a lemonade, doing absolutely nothing. None of these products are affiliate links or spon, but three were gifts (noted with an asterisk).

Tower28 SOS Daily Rescue Spray, $28
Summertime glasses wearers — occasionally me and even less occasionally Martin Scorsese — know: it is hard to get rid of the whiteheads that pop up on the bridge of your nose, where your glasses rest. I picked up this Tower28 spray with hypochlorous acid on the recommendation of a Sofie Pavitt esthetician. It’s strong but not too drying, like exactly what I need after a midday face wash, when my skin has been suffocating under sweat and sunscreen.

*Succession Season Three: The Complete Scripts, $28
Stop me if you’ve heard of this before: there was a show on HBO called Succession, and it’s pretty good. I’m learning so much from reading these scripts, not just as a Successionista, but as a writer. (There are other books for the other seasons, but this S3 is my favorite, and this is the only one I’ve started reading already.) 

Scala Large Brim Bucket Hat, $39
The exact sun hat that shades all my hyperpigmentation from the sun and makes me look like Paddington bear (slide 5) isn’t available on Amazon anymore. This Scala hat looks like a close enough dupe: wide brimmed, soft, packable in a beach bag or a tote. This hat is so plain, so basic, so everything that I want in a hat: it says responsible, it says don’t bother me, it says no UV ray formed against me shall prosper. 

Tickets to a New York Liberty Game, ~ $35-$150
On a whim, I joined Peyton for a New York Liberty-Phoenix Mercury game. (Slide 5) When I tell you this was one of the most fun times I’ve had all summer: one popcorn, one High Noon, and a great game! 

(On the subject of Liberty MVP Breanna Stewart: yes I do the cooking and yes I do the cleaning.)

Supergoop Watery Lotion, $34
The best sunscreen, an honestly kind of rude and somehow Simu Liu-loving dermatologist I follow on Instagram says frequently, is the one you wear. “Watery lotion” is such an off-putting name for a moisturizing spf that I love putting on. It’s spreadable, blends quickly, and has a chemical-chrorine-y smell that I am obsessed with. (I really avoid scented anything, except for body wash.) I prefer watery lotion for big sun/beach/pool days: it has SPF 50 compared to Unseen’s SPF 40.

*Sofie Pavitt Clean Clean Cleanser, $34
The most significant shift of my skin care regimen over the last year has been how I cleanse. The Neutrogena oil free acne wash has held me down for over a decade, starting when I was 15 years old and a patient of Tulsa’s Skin Care Institute. My skin was drying out and I started using another cleanser, but then I was breaking out and I tried the iS Clinical cleanser but that’s too harsh for daily use, and then an esthetician recommended an oil cleanser (even typing it out makes me afraid I’m going to break out), but this Sofie cleanser is the only one that I really look forward to using. It’s a gentle, simple cleanse. The description calls it foamy but I prefer sudsy.

Nike Mens Shorts, $50
Another holdover from last summer. These are Jambys equivalent for the outdoors, perfect for running errands, sweating outside, pulling on over swimsuit bottoms.

Activist Manuka Honey Mask, $65
I got a facial at Carrie Lindsey beauty a few weeks ago and when the facialist rubbed this into my face to calm inflammation I immediately asked what it was, and bought a tube on the way out. Honey is non-comedogenic (meaning it won’t clog pores) and is super healing. This is a spreadable/buildable mask that I add a little water to and wear as an overnight moisturizer. I think it smells great but Andrew thinks it smells gross. Because it’s honey if I get a little on my lips as I’m spreading it around my face it tastes kinda good too. The best part is that whenever I put it on, I think about Laura Dern cooing “It’s the manuka honey” in Marriage Story.

Share

DS & Durga Tomb of the Eagles, $70
Begging to be sponsored voice: do you want your home to smell like a very clean spa? Do you want your living room to smell like the kind of store that you randomly walk into and the clerk says not “Hey” but “Welcome in” and you immediately know this is a four dollar sign establishment? Do you want your home to smell like beach, in the Barbie sense? I have a candle for you, DS&D’s Tomb of the Eagles. “In the far north, where Orkney eagles carried Stoneage souls beyond the jagged cliffs, clover, sea pinks, sweet cicely, the sonorous sea,” reads the site’s description. It sounds not-not like something I’d overhear from two men cutting me in line at Metrograph, but whatever, sure. Jagged cliffs, sea pinks, me googling the word “orkney!” That’s what this candle smells like.

J. Crew Rope Tote, $89 (mind you, everything at J.Crew goes on sale sooner or later)
A Chrissy Rutherford recommendation — I saw it on her IG story in white and ordered one in black. A nice easy pool/beach tote! I’m not into most crochet things right now — that’s not a crochet bikini that’s a second grade craft project — but this has a little more structure than I expected. Beware that the holes are the perfect size for a chapstick to slip out of, which I’m constantly worrying about.

*YouSwim Poise Two Piece, $139
Something about one size fits all swim seemed a little too … Gen Z … for me. (I didn’t fight through the trenches — the Newbury Street Brandy Melville — to go back to those trenches.) This set in lavender was a free gift from YouSwim and oh my god. I’m a convert. I want this in every color. It’s casual, no weird cutout tan lines, cute cheeky bottoms. I love this swimsuit!

Mikoh Ulupa Dress, $186
Mikoh sent me the shorter version of this dress last spring, and I take it on every trip and every pool day. It dries quickly, goes with everything, and doesn’t feel hot or heavy to wear for a couple hours in the sun. 

Agolde Fusion Jeans, $228
I have tried expensive denim and inexpensive denim and I come back to Agolde — which I have only recently realized is pronounced a-gold-E — every time. I feel very Gen Z when I wear these, like I’m about to order an espresso martini and take flash-on pics with someone’s Canon Powershot. These are baggier than the Levi dad jeans, but the low rise feels very Rihanna to me.

Gucci sunglasses, $284
I have to have sunglasses on me at all times. I always get cheaper ones, because I have gotten expensive sunglasses exactly twice and lost both pairs. Sunglasses say who is she, where’s she going, look at this mysterious creature out in the sun! I personally do not believe in expensive sunglasses for me (I am rough with my glasses, rx or not) but these are so nice to be seen. If you’re looking for a summer splurge, these look so cool, and are currently on sale.