An all-over-the-place assortment of stood-behind products culled from this very website that appear in the July 3 issue of New York Magazine.
Best in Class
The Strategist’s list of the best sunscreens has long been topped by EltaMD’s UV Clear Broad-Spectrum SPF 46, but the category has a lot of new players with all sorts of advanced technologies, like brush-on powders and liquid formulas applied via dropper. So recently, beauty writer Tembe Denton-Hurst endeavored to make sure we still had the story right, reaching out to her robust roster of skin-care experts. Turns out we do. This mineral sunscreen, recommended by five dermatologists, protects against both UVB and UVA rays and has a host of skin-care benefits (it’s noncomedogenic and rich in antioxidants like niacinamide, which is anti-inflammatory). Dr. Jennifer MacGregor of UnionDerm appreciates that it’s “lightweight and oil free, so it won’t clog pores,” and Dr. Dendy Engelman of Shafer Clinic Fifth Avenue points out that it contains “lactic acid, which will gently exfoliate the skin.” Perhaps the greatest endorsement is that it’s not just what dermatologists recommend: Dr. Marnie Nussbaum likes it so much she uses it daily herself.
Celebrity Shopping
“I actually started using this particular purifier very recently. A friend of mine recommended it. For me, a home appliance is something that you really don’t know how it will perform when you’re looking at it on the store shelf. You have to take it home and live with it. It’s quite quiet. And the design integrates well into our home and life.”
“If you get a puppy, it’s going to be teething for exactly six months. And so for months, you think, Oh, no. What have I done? This puppy is chewing everything. How am I going to deal with this? Have I made a huge mistake? I have a furry alligator.
I would feed her these sticks and then, like magic, at six months old, she never chewed again. These things are amazing.”
“They are the perfect travel footwear: One, they’re amazingly comfortable; two, they’re easy to kick off. Taking my shoes off in the TSA line drives me crazy. Because I’m known to wear these, friends and family often gift them to me for birthdays. I have an embarrassing array of them, but the midnight-blue ones are my standard fit.”
I Keep Seeing This
One type of light I’m seeing more of these days: lamps made from basketry and wicker. Below, a few of the best I’ve spotted. —Lauren Ro
Recommended by Experts
According to the pros. —Steven John
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Best electric
From price and ease of height-setting, to the power and variable speeds of its propulsion, to its precise cutting, this is the best mower I have ever used.
I’ve never once regretted giving garage space to the eForce.
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Best manual
There is still a place for old-school push-reel mowers for those looking for an ecofriendly, low-cost option that offers a precision cut,” says Sara Bendrick, a licensed landscape contractor. It’s a longer time commitment, but the results will look as good as the kind you get with a powered mower
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Best gas
Gas push mowers are great for large properties and overgrown grass, and this one is a workhorse: It has three self-propelled speeds; it can bag, mulch, or side- discharge; and its auto-choke feature ensures the engine enjoys steady, proper combustion.
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Best autonomous
This robot mower won’t leave patches of grass sticking up all over the place—its cutting paths are calculated meticulously, and its motor and blades are as powerful as those of any other noncommercial mower out there.
Insider Goods
Each year from mid-April to late September, roughly 8,000 hikers seek to walk the entirety of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches between the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. The trek requires specific backpacking equipment, so we talked to four PCT veterans to find out what gear sets a seasoned through-hiker apart from a first-timer. —Jeremy Rellosa
Nora Sands, who hiked the PCT in 2022, calls this tent “the Toyota Camry of ultralight backpacking.” “So many people use it, and it’s so recognizable,” she says. It’s made of Dyneema—a tough, lightweight fabric that can stand up to lots of abrasion.
Scott Wilkinson, the content-development director at the Pacific Crest Trail Association, says long-distance hikers popularized trail-running sneakers for backpacking.
He wears the Altra Lone Peak 7, known for its wide toe box, which offers room for your toes to splay out.
“If you walk around a PCT town, you just see all these weird skinny people wearing Hawaiian shirts,” says James Hoher, a through-hiker and video creator who completed the PCT in 2022. “You spot them and you’re like, That’s definitely a through-hiker.”
Harrison Bacordo, a Denver-based software engineer who completed the PCT last September, says more than 90 percent of the trail’s hikers use a plastic water bottle (it’s lighter than a reusable) and pair it with this filter because it can screw onto the bottle’s top.
Dental floss comes in handy for gear repairs. “I’ve used it to patch holes in my shoes with a threading needle,” Bacordo says. “It’s so extraordinarily strong. It’s lasted me hundreds of miles.”
“It’s such a power move to be the girl that can stand while she pees, you know?” says Sands, who calls her PStyle “the biggest game changer for me” on the PCT. She didn’t have to take her backpack off or worry about finding a private space.
I Can’t Stop
I got my first pair in 2014. At the time, I was working for filmmaker and artist Grear Patterson, who swore by Mephistos. He told me Steven Spielberg wore them for decades, and that etched their provenance in my brain. The mix of quiet elegance, hard work, honor, and quality intrigued me. I won’t say how many pairs I have now, but it’s well over 50. I am on my feet more than 16 hours a day, and I would say the Mephisto Match is a reliable, durable shoe, like a saddle that molds to your body. I work, skate, photograph, and dress up in them. I have every color including some rare duo- or tritone ones. The worst part is I even buy ones I know I will never wear, or ones not even in my size, just to put on a shelf like a tchotchke or to give to a friend as a gift. We all have to feed our spirit somehow. —Chase Hall
2x2
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