What Bevy Smith Can’t Live Without

So here’s the thing with Spanx and all that stuff — no minimizer is going to make you smaller, so good luck and God bless. What I have found, though, are that bodysuits can smooth out your lumps and bumps while keeping the good lumps and bumps, and making sure your booty doesn’t get smashed in. This one from Wacoal, which is a bit of a minimizer as well, does just that, and is also good for romantic situations, too. When you take off your dress, you still can have a sexy Beyoncé leotard moment.

I like to be very well-moisturized. And this African Shea Butter from Ghana makes you super shiny, and it lasts the whole day. I found out about it maybe 12 years ago, at a really great African boutique on 125th Street, and they told me about shea butter, which is even more intense than cocoa butter. I grew up using cocoa butter, but shea takes it to another level. Now, Vaseline makes a shea butter and all this kind of madness, but I like the pure, unadulterated shea butter from Ghana.

The Tribute is Saint Laurent’s classic sandal, and it’s just perfect and divine. It’s the highest and most comfortable shoe known to man, and never goes out of style. Every season, they have a new version of it, with a slightly different fabrication. It’s the perfect shoe when I want to go out dancing, and feel sexed up, but also comfortable. I have them in a myriad of colors and fabrics.

Editor’s Note: This Saint Laurent Tribute T-Strap Platform Sandal is no longer available in rose, but it is still available in several other colors (including nude rose).

Who doesn’t love a tin? I love a tin! I used to buy the large-size ones, and I’d put everything in those tins, from safety pins to condoms. But then they released these tiny tins, and they can fit into even the tiniest evening bag. If I’m on the red carpet doing a lot of talking, I want to have fresh breath. And if someone is interviewing me who has bad breath, I’ll offer him one of my tiny Altoids and it makes everything better.

I started buying Diptyque candles back in the day. It was the type of thing, before they were everywhere in America, that you had to go to Paris and load up on. I’d go to Colette, God bless, and always get them there. Anyway, as I mentioned, I travel all the time, and even though I try to stay at nice places, you never know what it’s going to smell like. Some of these places I’ll stay at, they’ll have vanilla-scented or gardenia candles. I don’t want any of that. These travel-size Diptyques are potent, and fit perfectly in my bag. I go with the traditional standby Baies.

So what I love to do when I’m on holiday (I try to do it even when I’m not on holiday) is to journal. I’m always journaling. And when I’m journaling, I also paint and draw with Brilliant Brush markers, which are amazing. They’re basically a combination of a brush and a pen, they come in a myriad of colors, and they’re not messy. Usually, I’m just painting my surroundings; if I’m at the beach, I’ll do the sand, water, the sky, sort of a Rothko kind of moment.

At the beginning of the year, I buy a Smythson journal, which feels very fabulous and chic — I sort of feel like you want to start the year the way you want it to go. But when that one runs out, I’ll get a Moleskine notebook in a great color — I never buy a plain black one.

Editor’s Note: The annual Smythson Soho Agenda is now available in the 2019/2020 mid year format here.

I have really good skin, but I do have dark circles under my eyes — if I didn’t have dark circles, I would never wear makeup. I use MAC Pro Longwear concealer in NW45, and it is the best concealer out there. It goes on light, doesn’t crease, and matches my skin perfectly. I just apply it on my circles, put a light powder on top, and some lipstick, and I’m good to go. When I’m on TV, I wear five pounds of makeup, but when I’m not, my MAC concealer is my go-to.