We asked designer Rosie Assoulin — who partnered with the Laundress to celebrate the fashion label’s tenth anniversary — about the French lipstick, lemon pizza, and bath salts she can’t live without.
I just love this lipstick. I could only get it in Paris and now the brand has a little shop up around Soho. I never really had any old-fashioned lipsticks in a gold case like this, so I just treasure it. I love the color. I love the intense, pure vibrancy. This is one of my favorite finds. I like high-pigment reds like this. I’m very particular about that sort of shade. It’s almost like Technicolor. I once asked a makeup artist why I could be feeling awful that day, then I put on red lipstick and I feel like it brightens up my whole face. They said that’s because the red almost camouflages the other colors, like an eye trick. I thought, Oh, that’s very convenient for me. I like that there’s a science behind it, too, like an optical illusion. I don’t carry a bag around with me, which is why I always have pockets in all of our clothes, so I probably have a red lipstick in a lot of my coats and pant pockets. I try to keep a few tucked away in my pockets.
They have this lemon pizza that I really love. It’s so good. We get it when we go out east to Amagansett. We just sit around Saturday nights with our kids and eat it outside the restaurant right out of the box. It feels like a real treat and not like you’re just getting pizza in a parking lot. I love things like that that are easy, accessible, but totally elevated. It’s basically a white pizza with lemon and it’s really, really good and tangy. I love that memory from the summer, of being with my kids and grabbing it at their Amagansett shop. I love things that feel special but also accessible and not too extravagant — things that you can bring into your everyday that’s not too impossible to get, like a little treat.
I used to live in Tribeca where Nili Lotan had a shop, and during long cold winters, I couldn’t find anything as comfortable as those cashmere sweaters. I love them. I have a few of them. The one I really love is a sort of heather gray, and it’s got a nice cozy warm turtleneck. It’s something I love every winter when it’s really cold or windy. Every time I wear it, it reminds me of those windy days in Tribeca. I don’t know if Tribeca used to be windier than other parts of town, but it felt like that when I was living there. She’s got a lot of sweaters, but I could pull this one up over my chin and my face. It was nice.
We worked together at our spring presentation, and we were lucky enough to get facials for the models who walked in our show. And I also got one. The facialist said, “Just trust me, you’re going to feel it tomorrow.” I actually had a shoot the next day, so I had hoped it would work, and it did. It felt really great, and I’ve been using it ever since. I love oils, especially at night. This one feels very light. It goes right in and absorbs right away, which is part of why I like using it. And I use it in the daytime, too. I put it all over my neck and my whole face and it doesn’t feel oily. It’s pretty light, but it definitely feels like a layer of protection between me and the elements, especially now that it’s winter and all that cold wind hits you in the face. I also like that it lasts almost all day. You’ll feel that glow all day, and it doesn’t feel heavy.
Vivanterre is a natural wine that my husband and I started almost five years ago now, but we also have friends who don’t drink, and I like to have an option for them that feels fancy, fun, and French, like our wine. Ghia’s new aperitif Berry is just delicious. I don’t know if you’re supposed to do this, but I mixed it with our wine and made a spritz. It was nice. It’s great straight, too, but I really like it with some bubbles. You can put it on the rocks, or you can have it with lemon or lime or sparkling flavored sodas. But the berry one is berry-forward, so you don’t need any other flavors.
I’ve tried a lot of different shampoos from Aveda. I really like the cherry-almond one. I also use it on my girls’ hair and they have a lot of hair, of all different types and textures, which is crazy. They love the smell, too, but I don’t let them use it. Have you ever seen kids use shampoo? They use way too much. So it’s in my shower and they have to come ask me for it.
Bath salts feel amazing on a very cold day or after a workout. Anytime you get yourself in a bath, it feels like such a treat. It feels like, Oh my God, I gave myself a bath. That’s such an accomplishment. Having bath salts that leave your skin and bones feeling so good just feels good mentally, honestly. It feels like you did more than just a 30-minute soak.
I also keep this in my pockets. I know you don’t believe me, but that’s really what I do with them. I don’t wear lip balm all year; I just wear it in the winter months. This tinted balm gives you a little color, a little pick-me-up. I can’t stand the feeling of chapped lips. I don’t like it. I try to prevent that as much as possible. I like a barrier. I want to keep the moisture in.
I like having this out. It’s delicious. Smooth. It’s a fun, funny tequila brand. The marketing caught my eye. It’s nice for when I’m having a get-together and making cocktails and margaritas. I like its mescal also. That, I don’t mix with anything though. With tequila, I love a lot of fresh lime juice, a lot of citrus, and not too sweet. Doesn’t that sound nice? I don’t get a lot of chances to drink so much, so when I do, I want it to feel nice after. So I use as much lime juice as possible. Not straight up.
I love the newly relaunched formulas. I actually started using them with my kids. Those first few months after they were born, I bought a bunch of delicious little cashmere blankets and hats and things like that, just because they’re so sweet and delicate. I used the Laundress to wash all the little cozy things like that, which felt very nice and almost luxurious at the time, when you’re doing so much laundry. Now I use the Laundress cashmere shampoo on my wool and cashmere sweaters. You get a little bit of the soap, not too much of it, and you get it nice and sudsy and you just sort of rinse your knits in there and you lay it flat to dry. It’s something that, until you do it, you didn’t know you could. You just need a little bit. At first I didn’t know that; I think I probably used more than I should have. Everything comes out so soft and smells so good and fresh. I don’t know if you’ve got knits that you haven’t washed in a while, but they don’t smell or feel very fresh. It’s nice to put on a sweater on a cold winter morning that feels a little bit softer and fresher than an old sweater. I don’t wash mine every single time I wear them. We’ve been doing this for ten years, so we have pieces from the collection that I don’t want to look worn or older than they are. I want to take care of them. It’s nice to use the proper care for the garments, the way you do for anything that you want to have longevity.
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