We write about hundreds of products every week. Here, in our version of the Sunday circular, we’ve plucked some of our recent favorites: expert-recommended essentials, life-changing stuff you didn’t know you needed, newly launched gizmos, and very good deals we uncovered while trawling through the vast online-shopping universe — including Maguy Le Coze’s lightless alarm clock, a strangely spidery office chair, and floral jewelry that will never wilt.
The conditioner Tawny Cypress uses to tame her curls
When we asked actress Tawny Cypress about the items she can’t live without, she told us she’s been using TreSemmé conditioner since she was a teenager. Though she acknowledges that “hairdressers are really gonna hate me for this one,” she says she has found that “thick, cheap conditioner works for my curls as styling lotion”: “My hair doesn’t want to be bothered. It’s a lot like me — we’re both lazy.” After she showers and towel-dries her hair, she applies a healthy amount and lets her curls air-dry. She says stylists try to give her curly-hair-friendly products all the time, but curly hair “is like fingerprints. Me and my sister don’t have the same curly hair, so what works for me won’t work for other people.”
An Olsen-twins-approved swap for Sambas
The latest installment of Chris Black’s column sees him suggesting alternatives to Adidas Sambas in response to a reader’s lament that, owing to the “TikTok fashion girlies, Adidas Sambas are sold out and played out.” The question hit close to home for Black, who has a closetful of Sambas and is also suffering from the “oversaturation” — so he proposes these good-looking New Balance 574 kicks, which “have been around forever,” he says. “They were a Champs Sports classic when I was in high school.” Plus, the ultrastylish Olsen twins have been spotted “blasting cigs in head-to-toe The Row with a clean pair of gray 574 sneakers,” Black adds.
A florals-for-spring collaboration
J.Crew and the cultish New York–based brand Dauphinette have teamed up on a spring capsule collection featuring the latter’s signature florals. The line includes swimsuits, cover-ups, and dresses in two punchy prints designed by Dauphinette founder Olivia Cheng, as well as earrings and necklaces featuring real flowers encased in resin. We anticipate a sellout, so if you want to snatch up one of these spring-ready pieces, don’t dillydally.
Plant-based nuggets as good as the real thing
Eve Jobs can’t live without these vegan dinosaur-shaped nuggets, which she calls “the best plant-based alternative I’ve found” for the chicken variety. They have the same texture, “crisp really nicely on the outside,” and make for a great snack or lunch, Jobs says, adding that “they’re super-quick and really easy to make — just toss them in an air fryer and shake it twice, which is great for me because I am not the greatest chef.” Jobs was raised vegan for the first ten years of her life before heavily rebelling but has lately found herself falling back into “a more plant-based diet” to make her “stomach feel the best and wake up with the most energy.”
Shatterproof drink pouches for your next all-ages party
With Easter coming up next week, we asked CeCe Olisa, founder of Cocoa by CeCe, to walk us through how she plans and executes a kid-friendly Easter brunch party that’s fun for all her guests. The very first thing she does is take stock of her dishes and table linens. “I reuse serving plates I’ve collected over the years or sometimes leftover paper plates from the previous year,” Olisa told us. And in place of plastic cups or glasses, she sets out “these Capri Sun–like pouches” that eliminate any worries over breakage and can be used by kids and adults alike. She’ll order a pack of 100, more than enough to make running out a nonissue. If she ends up with extras, she says she’ll “use them throughout the year on beach and pool days.”
Brooks running socks endorsed by Des Linden …
For our “On the Run” column, we spoke to Des Linden, a heavily decorated professional long-distance runner who, in 2018, became the first U.S. woman in 33 years to win the Boston Marathon. Apparently, Linden is very particular about her socks; when running faster paces in a workout shoe, she says, these Brooks High Point socks are the right weight with padding in all the right spots around her forefoot, toes, and heel. “They’re really balanced well,” she says: tight enough to support her arch but cushiony enough to provide softness upon impact.
… And Brooks Brothers shirts repped by Bob Mackie
Costume and fashion designer Bob Mackie, the mastermind behind Cher’s iconic looks over the years, has been wearing Brooks Brothers button-down shirts since 1957. He recalls when he was around 17, he went into a Brooks Brothers and bought a shirt that was “too expensive, but I liked it. I realized how much nicer it was than the ones I was buying in the men’s store in the mall.” The style was called “regent,” which “sounded very collegelike” and has a well-fitting collar that “sits in the same place.” Plus, the fabric has more than held up over time; Mackie still owns shirts that are “almost 20 years old that look brand-new.”
A soothing oatmeal bath for itchy babies
If Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Amerie were to redo her baby registry, she would include this Japanese oatmeal bath treatment. Her son, River, was constantly scratching because of eczema when he was younger, “so we were trying to think of anything that could help,” she recalls. The treatment comes in a cotton sachet that she says “acts as both a soak and a loofah but a very gentle one” and contains yomogi, an anti-inflammatory Japanese herb. She would stick the tiny bag into the water and let the oatmeal soak through, then use it “to clean him up … It’s very puffy, like a small pillow. It’s very gentle on babies’ skin,” she says.
The alarm clock Maguy Le Coze takes everywhere
Maguy Le Coze counts this Timex alarm clock among her very favorite things, declaring that its diminutive size allows her to take it with her wherever she travels. “Generally, there is always one in my suitcase. I bring them to France, to Mustique, when I am on a boat trip,” Le Coze says. Since she doesn’t have “much luck with the internet or computer or anything like that,” she doesn’t use the alarm on her phone, and the alarm clocks in hotel rooms emit too much light: “I need total darkness to sleep. So I unplug their alarm, set up my portable, and voilà, I’m good.”
A funny-looking (but highly ergonomic) office chair
Strategist contributor Natalie So could never find a way to sit comfortably in an office chair — “I couldn’t sit in one position for too long before something in my body would start to ache,” she writes — until a Pilates teacher told her about the Pipersong Meditation Chair. It boasts an extra-low platform that “swivels 360 degrees around the seat, allowing its sitter to position their legs (mostly!) however they want,” she says. She’s constantly changing positions when sitting in the chair, which “feels far more natural and intuitive to me,” and has even tricked it out with an electric heating pad to warm her feet when she’s sitting cross-legged.
The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best acne treatments, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, natural anxiety remedies, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
