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In my opinion, small daily pleasures are the best kind. They give otherwise mundane moments and routines a little lift, brightening a grizzly mood or distracting from a mounting to-do list. Everyone’s little treats are different and I love to hear about them! I also love to talk about them, clearly. Below, a list of things that have been bringing pleasure to my life lately.
I recently test-drove a large pile of bralettes to find the very best ones, and while this Fleur du Mal one wasn’t my overall winner (that was a more practical Everlane one) it has really captured my imagination. For starters, it’s the closest thing I could find to the ultra-minimalist black bralettes worn onstage by Haim, who seem to have forgone tops completely. Then, there’s the fabric — silky-soft cotton that feels really, really expensive. And finally the shape. It’s not going to contain anything above a B cup during any kind of exertive physical activity, but it is super flattering in a string bikini kind of way.
Fleur du Mal bralette, $95, fleurdumal.com
I always want mineral sunscreen on my face for the stable protection and lack of sting; I always want it to feel nice to apply and not require 10 minutes of rubbing in; and I always want it to leave a nice hydrated finish with no white cast or greasiness. I also want it to be a reasonable enough price that I don’t feel I have to ration my use of it and feel comfortable recommending it to friends who ask me which facial sunscreen they should buy. This one is it. It smooths on in seconds. It’s SPF 30 with 14 per cent zinc oxide, which is a decent percentage of zinc for such a light formula. And it’s $40, which isn’t nothing, but it’s also not outrageous.
Last week, while I was putting together a well.ca order of Substance baby sunscreen sticks, Yorkshire Gold tea bags and other useful items, I impulsively threw these supremely elegant French hair pins from hairstylist Kristin Ess into my virtual cart. They came and I’m in love. Although I plan to watch a bunch more tutorials to figure out all the tricks for using them, they’ve already turned my half-up topknots into delicately twisted, mussed, gold-glint-revealing structures worthy of the term “updo.”
Kristin Ess Mini French Pins, $11, well.ca
I’ve been loyally wearing the late great Issey Miyake’s 1992 fragrance, L’eau d’Issey, since I was 14. Miyake, creative in countless different ways, designed the conical bottle himself — the shape was based on a view from his Parisian apartment of the moon behind the Eiffel Tower. I collect the many, many limited-edition flanker versions of L’eau d’Issey, but my favourite is still the original eau de toilette, the water-inspired original with lotus, rose and marine notes.
Issey Miyake L’Eau d’Issey Eau de Toilette, $138, nordstrom.ca
I spent a morning with Dr. Barbara Sturm recently and was quite fascinated with how she moves through the world, imparting her medically based philosophy of skin health everywhere she goes (while wearing extremely high Balenciaga heels). Her products are coveted, on all the fanciest top shelves, but the one that I’ve come back to again and again is her face mask, which is truly the best face mask I’ve ever used, combining the best qualities of a soothing hydration mask (aloe, camomile, glycerin) and a cleansing clay mask (that would be the kaolin). It’s expensive, but it’s such a generous jar that I expect we’ll be happy together for a long time to come.
Dr. Barbara Sturm Face Mask, $155, sephora.ca
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