The perfect coat can transform a look; it is the ultimate power piece in a wardrobe. You might remember Veronica Beard sent me an ivory wool coat last year (exact style here; available in more sizes in gray here; similar current season option here) — every time I wear her, I feel instantly polished. (See above and below – me on Christmas Eve!)
Some styling notes:
01. Think about silhouette — if the coat is baggy/slouchy, it can be harder to pull off a baggy/slouchy pant; I feel sort of sloppy and overwhelmed by it. I’d prefer to pair a big topcoat with a straight leg.
02. Experiment with colors and patterns — I feel like most women gravitate towards a black coat because “it goes with everything,” but colors and patterns on a top layer are more wearable than you think, and can more or less be the entire outfit. Let it do its thing. I’m imagining a faux fur for a date night or a bubblegum pink wool for a Galentines brunch with girlfriends.
03. Texture is key. Layer with materials that afford a bit of contrast — mix silks with wool, wool with cotton, fur with denim, etc. This gives a sense of depth and dimension.
Sharing some inspo below styled with a tried and true base layer of jeans and a white tee.
and the happier circumstances in which the same unknowable essence of life reveals itself —
say, waking up with the first lines of an essay at the tip of your tongue,
or smiling at a stranger out of the blue,
or hitting every green light on the way to work,
or any of the other dozens of tiny windfalls that happen to us every single day with no seeming rhyme or reason —
maybe part of life is knowing when to back off from logic and let the unexpected wash over you,
lest we find ourselves shoehorning the magic into the wrong shape.
Mary Oliver has words on this that resonated:
Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood.
How grass can be nourishing in the mouths of the lambs. How rivers and stones are forever in allegiance with gravity while we ourselves dream of rising. How two hands touch and the bonds will never be broken. How people come, from delight or the scars of damage, to the comfort of a poem.
Let me keep my distance, always, from those who think they have the answers.
Let me keep company always with those who say “Look!” and laugh in astonishment, and bow their heads.
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+Reminder that Veronica Beard’s sale section is insane right now. A lot of you smartly bought this striped sundress last week — $149 and sooo good! I wore this to many special occasions last summer!
+Been doing a good job with my fitness regimen so far this month. I haven’t been able to run much thanks to snow and cold temps (if it’s less than 20 degrees outside, I just find it miserable). I’m now trying some of the Physique57 videos — have you tried? God they are hard, but I love the pace — it’s like you blink and you’re done. Anyway, constantly hunting for new fitness outfits: love this Alo tee, this $34 activewear jacket in the ice blue, and this Beyond Yoga featherweight top. I got the latter one — it’s so soft!
+My best friend always has fancy European breath mints on her, and I always pilfer from her supply when we’re together. Going to surprise her with my own (peach and pepper!) next time we are together!
+This butter yellow jacket…! I’m telling you, these retro pastels are it for spring. This Prada scarf is so gorgeous and would be a great seasonal accessory. Style with a white tee, a baby blue sweater…
+I had the occasion to sit down (virtually) with some of the team at Vintner’s Daughter last week and they reminded me why I absolutely love their serum. Everything they do is so intentional, thoughtful, artisanal, and — most importantly — really works. Their serum is incredibly hydrating, and the quality is unmistakable. A true “fewer better” mentality: they only have three products and each takes 3-5 weeks to produce, which is unheard of in the beauty industry. I’m eager to try their essence and cleanser next. I’m currently using the three-part Outset cleanser-serum-moisturizer trio and I love that — it’s very light, gentle, delicate. Will be curious to see how the Vinter lineup compares after using something a little more minimalist / lowkey.
+I’m going to write a full review with all thoughts on my red light mask next month — I want to have been using it routinely for at least six weeks prior to publishing anything final — but I have to say one thing I’ve noticed this past week is that breakouts / abrasions / etc resolve themselves so much more quickly with regular use of the LED mask. I had a blemish on my chin that literally disappeared in two days. I think this is because it stimulates collagen production. I mean, I am astounded! (JEN10 gets you 10% off the mask I have.)
+This heart patterned sweater for Valentine’s Day! (And beyond!). So delightfully kitschy. (Look for less here; look for your little love here.). I actually have these heart-embroidered jeans that I am planning to wear or I’d probably snag that sweater from The Great!
+If you’re more of a sweatshirt girl, how cute is this heart style from Sezane or this Je T’aime motif one from Z Supply? I’m not usually much of a words or icons on my clothing gal but every now and then it’s fun to throw a surprise in there.
+I bought Mr. Magpie a theragun mini for Christmas and he’s obsessed with it! He uses before and after using the stationary bike and before bed most nights. It comes with an app with all these different routines for you to follow – he loves them! Great gift if I don’t say so myself.
By: Jen Shoop
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Earlier this week, someone on Instagram shared this prophetic paragraph from Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem —
“It is hard for people who have not lived in Los Angeles to realize how radically the Santa Ana figures in the local imagination. The city burning is Los Angeles’s deepest image of itself; Nathanael West perceived that, in The Day of the Locust; and at the time of the 1965 Watts riots what struck the imagination most indelibly were the fires. For days one could drive the Harbor Freeway and see the city on fire, just as we had always known it would be in the end. Los Angeles weather is the weather of catastrophe, of apocalypse, and, just as the reliably long and bitter winters of New England determine the way life is lived there, so the violence and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana affect the entire quality of life in Los Angeles, accentuate its impermanence, its unreliability. The wind shows us how close to the edge we are.”
The words are a smarting on tender skin this week.
I had already been reflecting a lot on place, and permanence, and possession, and dispossession, but Didion’s words made me think about the ways in which the environment, and especially the weather that governs it, shapes our experience of home. Per Didion: what is your hometown’s “deepest image of itself”? And how does the environment and its weather affect the quality of life where you live?
I don’t mean to transfer this week’s tragedy into an intellectual exercise; I think these questions are as critical and non-trivial now as ever. How do we embrace the things we love about our hometowns in the imperfect now? How do we steel against their vicissitudes?
I have lived in Chicago, and I have lived in New York, and Charlottesville, and briefly Lyon, France, but home has always been Washington, D.C., and specific corners of it carry disproportionate weight in my casting of it. It’s like a caricaturist’s sketch: North Georgetown, Rock Creek Park, and now a specific corridor of Bethesda are the gargantuan nose, eyes, and ears in my drawing of the metropolis. And if you have lived in any of those corridors, you know how densely green they are, how lush and overgrown, even in manicured Georgetown. On R St (where I lived in graduate school), and 35th St (where I attended high school), and Dent Place (where I nannied), and 32nd Street (where I both interned in high school and lived after grad school), and 37th Street (where I attended grad school), it is as though brick is at constant war with ivy, and grass is lobbying an aggressive campaign to overtake the pavers, and trees want to extend through windows and walls. In the spring, cherry blossom petals lay like snow, obscuring the manmade. And the Potomac glitters just at the feet of Georgetown, drawing the mind out to the Atlantic, and its impossible expanse. (Above: me at Dumbarton Oaks in summertime — in some ways, the apotheosis of Georgetown’s aesthetic.)
Meanwhile, Rock Creek Park, a stone’s throw from my childhood home, is not the demure green belt of Central Park. It is thick and forested and, in its own way, wild. As a child, this gave me the impression of a porous line between home and greenspace. My Dad has always loved fly fishing, has always made time to visit with the woods and mountains, and sometimes I felt this odd because I already felt that our backyard was a kind of Walden, that Rock Creek Park down the street was a proper woodland, and that none of it was governed by anything but wildlife and clear pebbles of rain and the oppressive heat of August. In the summers, D.C. screams with cicadas. Every seven years, their hatches are Biblical, and this, too, made me feel my own proximity to the uncontrollable urges of the natural world. D.C., and the way it lays so obviously on the land, unable to obscure its wilds, has always given me the impression of my own smallness, the way we are forever neighboring with other, probably more important, universes.
If you are a journaling mood this Sunday, take a minute to write about your hometown, and to try to answer: what is your hometown’s deepest image of itself?
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Rag&Bone saw how many of us are buying and loving their Sofie jeans (truly my most-worn pair ATM) and offered us a custom 20% off code sitewide with JEN20. // Alice Walk launched a new style of cotton sweater — I love her! (You might remember I am a huge fan of their weekender style — I own in two colors. So soft.) // Julia Amory is offering an extra 30% off sale items with code HAPPYNEWYEAR, including my favorite summer caftan (such an interesting color!), their fun Babe pants (I own in a brown pattern – so cute with a white tee and simple leather sandals), and elegant Jane dress (just throw on a big statement necklace and you’re done). // Wow – Rent the Runway is giving us 45% off any resale items over $60 with code SHOPMYXRTRJAN. I just mentioned this last week, but had no idea they have such a big resale collection. I bought this BA&SH coatigan and love her! Grab yours for 45% off! Also love this APC bag and this Alemais dress. // Have been using this volumizing shampoo and conditioner set for the past few weeks and love it. Sometimes I swap out the conditioner for the Lolavie formula, which I slightly prefer — it makes my hair so incredibly shiny and soft! — but the volumizing shampoo is great because I have fine, flat hair that’s never done an interesting thing in its life. // The brushed cashmere sweater, now on sale. Get in ivory! // This moisturizer came up from Magpies a few times in response to my post on the best winter moisturizers, and (as of time of writing this!), it’s 50% off. // Newly obsessed with French brand Soeur — these pants, this jacket!
By: Jen Shoop
Image via. The following content may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links below, I may receive compensation.
+SUPPORT FOR LA: All our love to California this week; like everyone else, I’m in disbelief at the devastation. I can’t process what I’m seeing; I can’t imagine how residents must feel. I checked in with one of our Magpie Angelenos and she wrote: “There’s a specific trauma in watching your hometown burn and not knowing when it’ll be over. Aside from donations (clothes, supplies, support to our fire foundation), the emotional support and holding space are of great comfort. Sometimes, we just need to know that others are collectively rallying around us, I think. Add that to the list of kindnesses from strangers?” Holding a space for her and anyone else in this community impacted by the fires. My sister works for Doen, headquarted in LA, and has said many of her colleagues have lost their homes and are still in a situation of deep unknown.
Please send me an email or leave a comment if there is something we as a Magpie community can do to help any Magpies impacted. There are lots of resources online on how to support, so not sure how helpful or redundant this is, but my family and I contributed this week to World Central Kitchen, Baby2Baby, and a restaurant called Le Great Outdoor, which is delivering meals 2x a day to firefighters.
Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction. Practice resurrection.
Oddly prescient, as I was just looking out the window this morning, noticing the fox tracks through the snow. At one part directly below my studio, it appeared as though they’d run in circles with one another. “More tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction” — yes! Whether drawn by curiosity, play, or perhaps just error, I was charmed by their wayward paw prints. I was reminded in turn of an Anais Nin quote: “In life, you will make mistakes. And those, too, are correct.” I was also reminded of a fabulous snippet of an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert in which she asserts that in any creative life, one must “routinely choose the path of curiosity over the path of fear. Not like twice or three times or four times, but daily.” This is likely true of any life artfully lived, not just the life of a practicing artist, by the way. Whether you’re contemplating a big life change, confronting a difficult problem, even just reading a book that challenges you — the creative spirit will lean forward with curiosity versus shrinking back in apprehension. It will ask questions; it will meet the text or the problem or the person where it is; it will say “well let me take a look.” Of course the admonition also had fine-fingered resonance with my experience of writing: be weird in your expression; let the language loose; reach for specificity.
+MY SON’S FOX DRAWING: We are just a den of fox lovers over here. My son painted this watercolor of Frederick this past week and I’m going to have it framed:
+MORE ON THE IMPERFECT NOW: The theme of this week was: meet yourself where you are. I wrote about this vis a vis the concept of fractionality earlier this week, and then I begrudgingly went downstairs that same day and my Peloton instructor said: “Be proud of the version of you that showed up to this ride.” I had been feeling unsatisfied with my fitness — getting back into the swing of things post-holiday, at the age of 40, has been neither easy in undertaking or fleet-footed in progress. I feel slow, cumbersome, creaky in new and jarring ways. And yet here was this stranger telling me: “The current version of you is just fine. She’s here, and she’s trying.” Later that day, I came across this quote by Anne Lamott:
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. Stop. Rest. Breathe. Start again. Each day is a reset, a clean slate, and a chance to meet yourself exactly where you are. You don’t need to fix everything today. Some things will untangle themselves when you stop pulling so hard.”
I was struck by the language around “not fixing everything today.” I mean, maybe we don’t need to “fix” anything tomorrow, either, you know? Maybe the current model is doing exactly what it should be doing. Food for thought!
+BESTSELLERS: So many of you bought my favorite swimsuit this week — just in time for winter getaways! You will love it. Flattering, comfortable, sexy, fun. Run — nearly sold out! A lot of you also bought my favorite Clemence necklace. I wear this in the 16″ length daily with my heart ID necklace. It’s my signature stack!
+ONE HOUR UNTIL YOUR FRENCH IN-LAWS ARRIVE: I found this video by creator Ainsley Du Rose absolutely charming. A reminder it doesn’t need to be an elaborate, complex meal with lobster and homemade, hand-rolled pasta for it to be elegant and delicious and in its own way impressive! Bread, raclette, a simple dessert! I’m into this! Kelly (of Kelly Stop Worrying), I was thinking of you while watching this! P.S. Easy, elegant happy hour snack ideas.
+ON MY RADAR: Just restocked the greatest concealer of all time, Cle de Peau. I use the ivory shade. It is $$ but the absolute best. I use it as a “top coat” to completely conceal any final bumps/rednesses after applying less expensive concealer/foundation. This and a few other items on my radar…
+DESIGNER SALE: I’ve never shopped at Luisa Via Roma before but my head has been officially turned as they are offering a private 40% off a selection of high end designers with code LVR40. The sale includes high-end ski brands like Bogner and Goldbergh, which almost never go on sale — invest in a top of the line ski jacket or long-line puffer. The sale also includes fabulous cashmere pieces from Guest in Residence (Gigi Hadid’s brand) for peak, luxe winter hygge: consider these cashmere track pants or this quilted cashmere jacket, paired with some shearling-lined winter boots from Aquazzura or Bogner or layered with this sherpa vest from Soeur.
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L.A. on our minds. If you are looking for ways to help Angelenos in the midst of (in the wake of? I’m writing this hopefully a day out from publication) the wildfires this week, check out my friend Grace Atwood’s Instagram stories — she spends a lot of time in L.A. with her L.A.-based boyfriend and I found lots of ways to plug in via her feed.
***
There is a reason monochrome dressing never goes out of style: it is the lowest-lift way to look polished. This is my go-to styling trick when I am feel completely uninspired — winter whites, head-to-toe navy, etc. (Above, wearing this Kilte half-zip, marked down right now, this Rag + Bone tee, and these SLVRLAKE jeans.) But there is a fine line between neutral and boring — have you ever tried to emulate the look of those neutrals-only street style starlets and feel like you end up looking blah? Some observations I’ve made about avoiding the plain Jane trap:
01. Mix textures. I specifically like to combine cashmere or a chunky knit (something with luscious texture) with denim, silk, cotton that reads either flatter or shinier.
02. Play with different shades of a certain color to add dimension. The whites should not be identical.
03. Add contrast through accessories. Use jewelry, bags, sunglasses to add colors that read “neutral” on their own but act like exclamation points together — e.g., glossy gold; tortoise frames; etc.
Some specific outfit ideas below:
Carolyn Bessette Kennedy navy! This is an outfit versatile enough to take me from a work meeting to carpool pick up to a cocktail with Mr. Magpie. Aside: I am eyeing a new sunglass silhouette this season; do we think I can pull off the oval?! I went down a deep TikTok rabbit hole looking at women unboxing and trying on Celine triomphe oval sunglasses, and I think I can do it…! (Look for less, seen in collage below, here.)
J’ADORE a winter white look. This is probably my most-worn approach to monochrome dressing. Bonus that you can get extra wear out of white jeans across all seasons of the year.
This sleek black look is perfect for an elevated date night, fundraiser, wedding rehearsal dinner, etc. Channeling Gwyneth here. I don’t usually reach for silver jewelry but this application feels slick and modern to me. Also, can we talk about these perfect $160 heels?! We need these.
A note first — the photos of the wildfires in the California and the dispatches from those who live there or who have loved ones who do are devastating. My friend Alex Steele wrote about the experience of living close by but safe and added: “If you’re a praying person, please join me in asking your Higher Power to stay the wind, comfort the mourning, and protect the protectors,” and I’ll do just that. If you are a Magpie impacted by these fires, I am holding a space for you today.
****
The other week, I took my son to Starbucks while my daughter was at her guitar lesson. We bought two hot chocolates, one for him and one for his sister, and then he insisted on waiting the entirety of the lesson so he could drink his while she was drinking hers. (Little brothers! Emory is his everything. He would cross coals for her.) Just as he went to take his first precious and now ice-cold sip, he dropped the cup and spilled it everywhere. Enormous crocodile tears spilled down his cheeks. He’d waited so patiently, and now this — ! I decided I had to go back to Starbucks to get him another. We re-entered Starbucks just at the moment in which about 4000 girls from a nearby school flooded into the shop alongside us. Suddenly, we were at the end of a long queue of teens ordering complex, enormous pink drinks and heated food orders one at a time, with only two frenzied and surly baristas to address the onslaught. We waited twenty minutes in line, and with every passing moment, my son became wigglier and wigglier. (If you have a boy around five that has been told to wait in a slow-moving line, you can imagine — he was knocking displays over with his unzipped coat, dragging his body on the floor, complaining, etc.) A well-dressed, older gentleman was directly in front of us, and I kept intercepting my son millimeters before he’d be jostled by my son’s squirms. I found myself hyper-aware of how annoying we must have been for this man waiting in line for his afternoon coffee: we were loud, I was constantly asking my son to move closer to me, or move out of the way, or be careful, I’m sure my son bumped into the man more than once, and I was chirpily trying to engage my bored son in conversation. After about fifteen minutes of this, the older man turned toward us. I found myself steeling for a complaint, or a “would you mind…?” Instead, he said: “I have two boys, but they’re now 30 and 32. I miss this age. It’s a great age. All that wonderful energy and curiosity.” And then he proceeded to play a version of hide and seek with my son, where my son would hide behind me, peeking around, and the man would give him a sly side-eye, and my son would dissolve into laughter. When he finally made it to the till, the man bought my children packages of madeleine cookies (“is this OK, mom?”) and praised them for their patience before saying, “You’re doing great, mom.”
I could have wept! The unexpected compliment, the fact that he saw that I was white-knuckling my way through the line and eased me out of it, his sweet way of making space for my children just as they are, at their current ages, his reminder that our kids are only ever this young today.
I was drawn back to something a gentleman said to me years ago when I’d just moved to New York City. The move was a botched mess: our real estate agent had made an enormous mistake in communicating timelines with us, and we’d arrived in NYC before the board of our new building had technically approved our move-in date, so we were, for a time, homeless in a new city. We had to re-route all of our possessions underway from Chicago to New York to a temporary storage unit in God-knows-where (which felt eerily similar to lighting money on fire) and scramble to find a hotel that could accommodate a large dog — not easy in Manhattan. I also had an eight month old who was still breastfeeding and not sleeping through the night, and my husband was starting a brand new job. Poor Landon. Can you imagine going to your first day of work while living out of a tiny hotel room after moving across the country, with in an uncertain housing situation and a very sleep-deprived wife? I was not a good version of myself. One morning, I strapped my daughter to myself in a carrier and went to take our 65-lb Airedale Terrier, Tilly, out for a walk in the cold. I
I took the photos in this post to capture the moment, which was…trying. Tilly was — shall we say — energized. I mean, the poor dog had been cooped up in a hotel room after a long cross-country drive — and she hated the car, would sit broodily upright in the seat as though so annoyed with us she refused to make herself comfortable — and NYC is basically a king’s ransom for a dog bred to be a ratter. (I once read you are never more than a few feet from a rat anytime you are in Manhattan. Or maybe that’s a cockroach. Probably both.) So you can imagine that I was struggling to keep Tilly in check while also concerned about being pulled into a street while wearing my baby. As I strained to make my way out the door, a man held it open for me, and said: “Let me get that for you. You have your hands and heart full, don’t you?” I’m sure every mother has been unhelpfully told, “You have your hands full!” but the twist he added at the end made me feel so seen, and reassured, and reminded of my own blessings. It completely changed my outlook that day.
What a gift, to have crossed paths with these strangers who turned out to be angels just at the moment I needed encouragement. I am thinking right now of a quote from Vonnegut:
“What made being alive almost worthwhile for me, besides music, was all the saints I met, who could be anywhere. By saints I meant people who behaved decently in a strikingly indecent society.”
I’m curious if you have any great stories of kindness at the hands of strangers? Please share below; let’s create our own canon of everyday saints.
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+Fun tweedy moment for $129 — love the unexpected, oversized cuffs! Gives it just a touch of edge/modernity.
+Veronica Beard’s sale section is incredible. You must consider their wear-forever blazers for only $209 (this, this), this “bib”-style button down, and their gorgeous preppy summer dresses for only $149 apiece. I own both this and this and they are SO flattering and classic and elegant on. I often get questions on sizing. I’m a true 0 and I usually go down to a 00 in most of their blazers and dresses. The dresses are occasionally a snug fit in the 00 so I find if it looks super narrow, I’ll go with my true size. I take my true size and sometimes a size up in the jeans/pants — I find those run much more narrow/slim.
+A great product for when you’re in between manicures / don’t have time for a manicure. Impossible to screw up but just make your nails look finished/clean.
+My favorite organization tools: these bins, which are in every cabinet and closet in my home (the large is somehow the perfect size for everything – pantry, laundry room, beauty, gloves, etc), and these shallow trays which are in every drawer and medicine cabinet. I just bought this hat organizer for my closet as a solution — previously, had been jamming my ballcaps into a bag and kept forgetting about the ones at the bottom!
+OK, changed my mind on this Tula eye balm stick. I’ve always loved the application style (so easy — I know it’s not, like, taxing to dip your finger into a pod of eye cream, but this just feels effortless?) but at first felt like it didn’t slick on easily enough / wasn’t hydrating enough. I now think I just had to get through the top layer and now it glides so beautifully and I LOVE IT. Great for the winter — heavy hydration. Strongly rec.
+A Magpie reader wrote to share she’d just gotten a new job, and asked what she should treat herself to! I suggested a fabulous work bag big enough for a laptop. I lovethis Bottega and this Metier. Quince has an incredible look for less for the Metier for $149 (versus $2,450). Finally, this chic Toteme tote is under $500 here!
+Reminder that this collagen-generating skin gadget is still 20% off, but only for a few more days. I think collagen is the through-line between a lot of the wrinkle-reducing products I’m testing.
+Loving my Inuikii boots during this cold, snowy week! You can get the look for less with these from H&M, and Saks has a few styles in very limited sizing on super sale here.
+The holidays were so indulgent, and then we were flying by the seat of our pants this entire week since our kids were unexpectedly out of school for 3/5 days this week thanks to snow, so I scheduled Sakara to be delivered for three breakfasts/lunches next week. I could use the reset (and the lack of decision making around what to eat). Try code JENSHOOP – I think it still gets you 20% off. They also have a new detox option if you’re into those kinds of things and wanting to do a full reset.
+After I mentioned this $28 vitamin c product, so many of you wrote to say it’s among your secret “beauty heroes.” It really is a great value for a fantastic product – I think it’s just as effective as products multiple times its price.
By: Jen Shoop
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OMG! I did not know until today that Ann Mashburn runs sales twice a year, and their first of 2025 is now live. If you’ve been following for the past few months, you’ll know that Ann Mashburn has recently become one of my favorite brands — elegant, sophisticated, beautifully made. These pieces have legs. I know I’ll wear for decades! I am especially in love with their iconic shirtdresses; the exact one I own, seen above, is now 30% off. It is even more spectacular IRL — I was stopped twice the first time I wore it. The colors, the draping, the material! Also available on sale (for even less) in a Liberty print. I’m currently sitting here with this beyond chic wool gray dress in my cart. So fabulous with a suede boot and a chunky knit around the shoulders. This dress reminds me of Grace Kelly.
Unrelated to Ann Mashburn, but I keep coming back to two investments I’m kind of wanting to make this month: Celine Triomphe Oval sunglasses and this Toteme bag (on sale for under $500!). I keep going back and forth on the Toteme tote because I have been wanting to invest in a Celine tote or bucket bag for a long time…and this just seems like a middle step that will defer that purchase. But the price, and the style! So chic. Meanwhile, can I pull off an oval shaped pair of sunglasses?!
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I have been thinking a lot lately about fractionality and its virtues. Last week, Mr. Magpie mentioned the concept of a “fractional CMO/CFO” — the idea is that you pay a tenured, likely retired, executive a fraction of her annualized salary for a few hours of strategy and counsel each month. You might not be able to afford the full-time commitment of an experienced CMO or CFO for your small business, but you can get something. And something is better than nothing. In just a few hours of consultation, she might point your nose in the right direction; she might offer the prized introduction you’d never have scored on your own; or she might help you shortcut your way through a learning process by referencing her battle scarred ledger. My point is that we can’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough. I’ve been carrying this insight with me everywhere. Has this ever happened to you: you finally work up the begrudging energy to exercise, and you hate every minute of it? It’s an unsatisfying session: your body and mind riot against your every movement; you skip the final abs section; you scowl into your sweaty towel. But the truth is, you did more than you think. Some exercise is better than no exercise. A middling effort is better than zero effort. So, like, shed that perfectionism!
Let me also propose the concept of a fractional date. A midday lunch, a thirty minute errand, an hour of quiet conversation while your thirteen year old niece plays a card game with the little ones in the basement. I myself went on two dates with Landon last week. Neither were planned or exotic – I simply got to a point in the holidays where I thought some time alone would be restorative, asked our teenage neighbor if she was available, and off we went for happy hour cocktails, 10 minutes from our home, twice in a week. We didn’t have reservations; we didn’t stay for dinner. We were just two tired and mainly happy parents sitting at a bar, letting our hearts spill out over cocktails.
This is the truth: love doesn’t fret over the furnishings. Connection can happen anywhere. The magic of a marriage will show itself in a parking lot, in a hospital room, in a medium bar with medium drinks, in the dim light of a midnight nursery with a crying newborn. Life, and love, are happening right now, in the imperfect present. This is all we can safely say we have: today, with its bad timing and its broken dishwasher and its hint of an incoming cold. Today, with its Invisalign trays and unfinished housework. Today, with the people we love as they are right now.
Which is to say: call the sitter, make the date. Put your love first.
+I know Warby Parker has been around forever but I was just looking for some chicer glasses options than my optometrist offers and I realized they now have filters for “extra narrow faces” and you can even do a virtual try-on on their site! I am going to order these! (I only wear my glasses during the 10-20 minutes after I’ve washed my face but before I totally wind down for bed, so this is a nominal time but why not have a cute pair?)
+These trousers remind me a lot of La Ligne’s Colbys, but come in petite lengths and are more wallet-friendly.
+My kids would love these Valentine’s Day decorate-yourself mailboxes!
+Appointed sent me an acrylic stand with calendar cards this year (now sold out, sorry – they do still have their wall calendar, and/or this is similar, and my girlfriend Inslee illustrates the most spectacular ones each year, too) and I can’t believe how often I use it. Like, hourly? I swear I’m constantly trying to schedule things / quickly get a sense of which day is what, and it’s such a helpful cue! I’ve also been crossing out the days on which I exercise (even if it’s “a fractional workout,” ha), which has been strangely satisfying. Strongly rec!
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Exactly what I want to be wearing right now, styled into a few different looks. I am really lusting after a pair of Le Monde Beryl Regency flats (seen above, bottom left), but I found the BEST look for less this week here!
The children are happy and healthy, and still willing to climb into my arms;
There is bonus coffee downstairs;
The only thing between me and my goals is effort;
My mother is a phone call way;
The sun will rise tomorrow, and the trees outside my studio window will dance in its rays while I work, and the redbirds in our yard will visit their branches, and I will continuously remember how immaterial my worries are in the face of these generosities;
Mr. Magpie will fold me wordlessly into his arms when I go to him;
and today is not the final draft.
Post-Scripts.
+This post started as a quick note on my iPhone (screenshotted below). I needed a little extra oomph to help me get into the ambitious fitness and writing routines I’d set for myself this month. I realized after I began expanding on it that the list was, formula-wise, a subconscious riff on this poem by Thich Nhat Hanh, which I wrote about previously here. Publishing the good news! Amen!
+New colors available for these chic, practical kitchen chairs. (We learned the hard way about upholstered dining chairs and small children.) Love the unexpected green! 20% off and free ship right now. Also love this simple bobble-base tea table (also 20% off and free ship). We have been waiting patiently for our Oomph tini table to come (to the tune of 24-28 weeks in production time…) but this would be very chic and quicker to arrive. This one is also really fun and more similar to Oomph — the quatrefoil shape of course reminds me of Van Cleef and Arpels!
+The Mother Science moisturizer I was raving about yesterday launched!
+Found my Varley longline fleece 25% off here! This is such a great piece because it covers the rear in leggings but cinches at the waist for a flattering silhouette.
+Micro-mini new year’s resolution: I WILL wash my makeup brushes more routinely, using this cleaner. Just created a recurring calendar invite to remind myself! (All my favorite makeup brushes here.)
+New popcorn bowl for my popcorn addiction. (Importantly, it’s melamine so my kids can enjoy it on the couch!)
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I’ve mentioned this a couple of times in the past few months, but I have been doubling down on moisture for my skin ever since I had a facialist tell me (much to my surprise) that my skin was dry! I honestly had no idea — it’s not flakey or red or anything, just runs dry. I’ve tried probably a dozen moisturizers over the past few months, and these are my absolute favorites:
01. InnBeauty Extreme Cream — Mr. Magpie and I both love this and for most of the summer and fall I used this as my daily moisturizer (currently using The Outset, mentioned below, but will definitely toggle back to this in future months). Don’t let the slightly garish packaging put you off; I was initially deterred by the marketing because it read very “Gen Z” or younger to me (sorry, but it’s true!), but this is an excellent daily moisturizer. It’s very similar to Augustinus Bader, which I’ve also tested in the past — Bader is a great moisturizer but I just couldn’t get over the price tag especially when I find InnBeauty so similar. InnBeauty might be a tad more oily / unctuous / heavy than Bader but overall a similar product. Deeply hydrating, almost has an oil-gel-like feeling when applying, scentless. Mr. Magpie says it’s like “wearing a filter” because it makes your skin glow.
02. UBeauty Super Hydrator (seen above) — A Magpie once wrote to say she had a makeup artist do her makeup for her wedding, and she ran off to apply this before they got started, and the artist was absolutely shocked at what it did to her skin and begged to know the product. I think about that random anecdote every time I apply this. It leaves your skin so plump and glossy! I don’t think this hydrates skin as thoroughly as InnBeauty but it leaves the top layer of your skin looking like a glazed donut. It also works beautifully beneath makeup IMO.
03. The Outset Nourishing Squalane Moisturizer* — The week before Christmas, I simplified my morning and evening skincare routine to The Outset’s three-step micellar gel cleanser, collagen serum, and squalane moisturizer (sold as a bundle here). This is ScarJo’s brand and she swears it is all she uses on her face. I am very impressed, and very happy. It’s a very gentle, nourishing sequence, which appealed to me because I am now using the LED mask (several weeks in, I’m a believer in this) and Dr. Dennis Gross peels in a strict regimen and want to otherwise keep my skincare simple. (I do, though, layer on extra moisture after the three step process.). I really love the moisturizer. This is a great product if you want something simple, clean, gentle — it’s much lighter than moisturizers one and two above but does a fantastic job all the same. Not as heavy but absorbs invisibly and really seals in moisture.
04. Mother Science Molecular Genesis Moisturizer. Technically I’m not supposed to share this until tomorrow but giving you an early scoop – this incredible moisturizer will be released tomorrow but I’ve been using as the last layer in my moisture routine for several weeks now and am completely obsessed. It’s thicker than the previous three moisturizers, and is clinically proven to “effectively repair the skin barrier for dramatic smoothing, firming and hydration of the skin.” I cannot stop touching my skin, which I know is terrible, but it is SO unbelievably soft and conditioned thanks to this moisturizer. I use in the AM after Vitamin C and the Outset trio, and in the PM after the Outset trio and a layer of this facial oil. It is so rich and soothing. I love the way it feels like you’re sealing in all the goodness. Huge fan!
Runners up: I use these final three items more sparingly / specifically, but I really appreciate both of them for specific use cases.
+The first is Rhode’s Glazing Milk, which I use like a primer right before I apply makeup on most days. My process is often vitamin C, The Outset trio, and the Mother Science moisturizer, and then I make breakfast, work out, etc, and apply this just before putting on makeup. It’s more of a fluid but it really feels like it “sets” your skin for makeup, and evens out the canvas.
+The second item is Ursa Major’s Alpine Rich Cream which I use when I’m feeling super dry and/or sometimes apply as the last layer before bed, almost like a sleeping mask. If you need something super heavy, this is the Mac Daddy. Thick, rich, deeply hydrating.
+The third item is Dr. Dennis Gross’s Blur + Repair Cream. This has such a beautiful, almost whipped, texture and sometimes I’ll apply before redoing makeup in the evening or even as a top layer over makeup to sort of refresh things if I don’t feel like redoing everything. It’s a beautiful product but I find I prioritize 1-4 as daily moisturizers and will use this more sporadically. I do think it creates a halo-like or filter-like effect on your skin, blurring imperfections.
Related note: my favorite eye cream remains UBeauty. I know, it’s $$, but nothing else compares to how it hydrates non-greasily. When my eyes are puffy (or when I’m traveling and short on space), I love the $20 caffeine eye cream from BeYou. Totally incredible for depuffing. Recently, I have been using the Tula stick recently, and I do love the application style (so easy to swipe on) but I don’t find it’s quite as hydrating.
What about you? What are your favorite moisturizers?
