Bloomingdale’s is offering 25%+ off some amazing brands that we love in our home and that can be difficult to score on sale, including…
MINI CUISINART (MARKED DOWN TO $39 PLUS AN EXTRA 20% OFF — HONESTLY, I PREFER THIS SIZE TO OUR BIG ONE MOST DAYS! SO HANDY AND EASY TO PULL OUT TO USE FOR MAKING SMALL BATCHES OF HUMMUS, PUREEING VEG, CHOPPING NUTS, ETC)
STAUB COCOTTE — USED AT LEAST ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK IN OUR HOME…THE BEST
Bloomie’s is also running $25 off every $150 spent on beauty, which means you can score La Mer for $25 off, or buy a few Diptyque candles at a discount.
UPDATE: I have to publish a correction to this post after initially published: this Gehwol foot cream (mentioned below) is actually quite good when used religiously, every night, for several weeks. I suppose I was expecting the near-instant results the LRP foot cream (RIP) delivered, but this stuff is very effective — just takes longer. Strongly endorse.
I did a lot of beauty product testing this year, and I wanted to share a quick hits list of my favorite beauty finds this year. I put the full weight of my reputation behind each of these items — they are exceptional and I have yet to receive any disappointed messages from loved ones whom I have coerced into trying them, with the exception of the Revlon One-Step. A small few have said that it just does not work for their fine hair or that they find it too bulky/heavy to use — and it is heavy! I use two hands since I no longer need to also manage a round brush so I find it works out fine for me.
At any rate, these have earned “lifer” status for me — doubt I’ll need to buy any other brands in these categories…
BILLIE WONDER WIPES (FULL REVIEW HERE, THOUGH MY APPRECIATION FOR THESE HAS ONLY INTENSIFIED WITH TIME — THESE ARE AMAZING AND I CAN’T BELIEVE THE PRICE)
One devastating loss this year has been the discontinuation of La Roche Posay’s EXCELLENT foot cream. I am still not over it, in no small part owing to the fact that I have not had a pedicure since the beginning of the pandemic and therefore really have to take care of my tootsies! I have been using Gehwol’s Lipidro foot cream and it’s good but not great — not as thick and effective. It doesn’t hold a candle to LRP. I think I will try LRP’s baume next to see if it’s somewhat similar to their foot cream unless any of you have found a secret source…[ED. NOTE AFTER ORIGINAL PUBLICATION: A Magpie reader has written in to say that LRP baume is more of a lightweight face/body lotion and would probably not be thick enough for foot cream. Will continue to search! Stay tuned.]
Finally, two questions for you: what hyped beauty products are you intrigued by/eyeing? And, what are your beauty standouts from this year? (I love how many of you are highly-informed about skincare — just read the helpful comments on easing into a retinoid regimen here.)
Unlike many of you, I have worked from home for the past several years, so I was already accustomed to the discipline it required before the onset of this pandemic. We are all now WFH pros, aren’t we?
One big change, however, has been sharing “office space” with my husband, which means that sometimes I lay claim to the big desk and enormous Mac screen and other times, I sit on the couch or at the dining room table with my laptop. One thing that has helped me stay organized in spite of these (sometimes multiple-times-a-day) dislocations is keeping a portable pouch of office essentials at my side. It means I am never guessing where my Airpods are, or forgetting something essential in the bedroom when Mr. Magpie is on an important Zoom call. Below, my top picks for creating your own portable office essentials kit:
LITTLE JEWELRY POUCH — WHO ELSE TAKES OFF HER EARRINGS AND OTHER JEWELRY WHILE WORKING?!
I also usually keep my Kindle in there with the best intentions of reading while eating lunch, but alas, it has not yet happened — not once. Oops.
P.S. Gap has some very cute items out right now for low key WFH-on-the-couch vibes — I love this pullover and this tie dye sweatshirt (also comes in the sweetest baby set). I know tie-dye feels like the stage of the pandemic where we were all baking banana bread and designing charts for our children’s days, but I still like the look. Haha.
P.P.S. I positively live in these Birdie velvet mules at home, which are sadly now totally sold out. These are a ridiculously chic upgrade, but the thought of slipping my feet into cashmere is…dreamy. All are the perfect complement to your Nap Dress.
I felt as though I was waiting for life to happen to me for much of my teens and early twenties — angling for even the slightest brush with drama, or good fortune, or fiasco. I recall moodily listening to songs whose words of heartache or enterprise did not match my own circumstances, desperately willing them to ferry something other than phantoms borne of my own imagination. Would you believe that a young and desperate fifteen-year-old Jen drove down Connecticut Avenue with her provisional license in hand, blasting (my God, this admission both dates and humiliates me) REM’s “Everybody Hurts” followed by Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You,” aping heartbreak to which I laid no claim? I compulsively read books whose piquant narratives were unimaginably different from my own and simultaneously interpreted my own life as pathetically devoid of intrigue. I manufactured dramas, like the time I slammed my clutch on the ground, sprinting away from Mr. Magpie at the wedding festivities of some of our friends, because I felt I was owed a proposal that was at that time, unbeknownst to me, in the works.
Oh, of all the things — to have had Mr. Magpie’s heart but still insisted on seeing what I did not have? I was writhing toward the future, or at least toward an emotional spark — or better yet, to my naive and excitable sensibilities, fireworks. I was desperate for the shape of something substantial. And, of course, largely and unforgivably blind to the prodigious gifts I had.
I can’t remember when I stopped thinking that way. Was it a moment? An incident? One of the many losses or challenges or even beautiful happenings of the past many years? Or was it a gradual slackening, a loosening of my grip on the notion that life had not yet begun for me? Was it the way that we learn to cling to our own blessings as we observe and occasionally shoulder the burdens of others? Or perhaps simply the slow, inexorable maturation of self that happens as we make our way through myriad decisions and uncertainties and tears and laughters?
I don’t know. I do know that it has occurred to me at various fraught junctures of that past few years, that perhaps too much life is happening to me. Can we just slow down now? I think. I want for nothing. And I mean that in every sense of the phrase, even the selfish one: that is, I want nothing more to happen to any of my loved ones, even if my imagined moratorium forecloses on possible future boon. I want everyone freeze-framed in good health and happiness, in various permutations of ascent and success. I would of course prefer for us to all be beyond this pandemic but please, please — nothing more. I am satisfied here at this perch. I recognize this entreaty to be just as foolish as my youthful desire to fast forward to my future self, and that part of maturity is surely facing the unknown with — if not acceptance, then grit, seasoned with healthy and learned-the-hard-way circumspection.
At my wedding, my Dad read, in a voice uncharacteristically choked with emotion, with eyes unexpectedly rimmed with tears, the beautiful words of “The Exhortation Before Marriage,” a relic of pre-Vatican Catholicism I’ve lauded elsewhere:
“This union, then, is most serious, because it will bind you together for life in a relationship so close and so intimate, that it will profoundly influence your whole future.
That future, with its hopes and disappointments, its successes and its failures, its pleasures and its pains, its joys and its sorrows, is hidden from your eyes.”
At the time, I heard only the rhythm of the prayer and its solemnity of form and expression, and I reacted strongly to the import of it being read, tearfully, by my beloved father. It was moving because it was moving to my dad. Beyond that, on that hazy August evening, I felt nothing but anointed in life.
Now I sit here and read those words and realize that I did not take seriously enough the threat and joy of things hidden. And I feel moved in a different way.
I think, in short, that at some point in the last decade, there has been a shift in ballast, and it all hangs on the tenor of my apprehension of “that future, with its hopes and disappointments, its successes and its failures, its pleasures and its pains, its joys and its sorrows.” At 36, I find myself planted firmly on the other side of something — some eidolon I was busy constructing for a large swathe of my younger years — and the achievement of this view is accompanied by a renegotiation with optimism, or perhaps, because I do not consider myself a pessimist, an accommodation of reality.
Post-Scripts.
And now for our daily dose of the delightful and frivolous…
+Truly, if I were going to make an investment this winter, I would splurge on a Max Mara camel wool coat. The Madame is iconic but I also love this elegant style from their diffusion label, Weekend Max Mara, for one third the price. I also really love Reiss’ Leah style — perfect length.
+Though I typically alternate between Mad Hippie’s Vitamin C serum and Vintner’s Daughter, I recently read a few raving reviews about Vichy’s formula (and then, as of the time of writing this, found it was $4 off on Amazon) so I’m giving it a try. TBH, I find that most topical Vitamin C products work great. I also loved the one I tried from Ole Henriksen — it was my first serum and I was stunned at the results. I’ve liked every Vitamin C product I’ve tried since. But I’ll report back on Vichy — if it’s as good as the rest, why overspend? We can save our money for Westman Atelier.
+Eyeing this ear warmer for cold mornings. Not sure if it’d be great for running given material, but looks so amazing for walks through the park. Speaking of running, I had to publish a caveat on my post raving about Lululemon Aligns — an employee of Lululemon commented that Aligns are not made for running and that they will pill more quickly when used as such. Just a heads up! I don’t want to lead you to an early Lulu demise by drawing you to my wanton ways — ha. I personally will continue to run in them because they just feel great, don’t slide down at the waistband, etc., and will gladly replace when needed.
+Speaking of fitness gear, one Magpie commented that she’s been wearing 90s-vibe cotton basics (oversized college tees, etc) while exercising lately and I can’t unsee it. Do I need these $31 Lacoste tennis shorts to follow suit?! (I see you, Katherine — style icon!)
+Are we all getting tired of headbands? I thought I was towards the middle of summer but then I came back around. Now I have convinced myself I need this style for the holidays.
+If you’re still shopping for that person you don’t know that well but who you must give a gift to — why not a pretty ornament? They are both impersonal and personal in the best ways.
Time for your second cup of coffee and a delightful roundup of amazing sale finds today…
+I have a post on my favorite beauty buys of 2020 coming out soon but had to mention today that you can score one of them at a discount using Sephora’s current promotion of $15-$25 off a purchase of $75 with code 2020SAVE through Wednesday, 12/9. Specifically, I implore you to try an Artis brush. The Oval 7 is a good starter brush because I find it versatile enough to be used for foundation or concealer and probably even something like eye primer. Maybe bundle with your favorite lip product (this is mine — currently price matched to Nordstrom’s discount) or your go-to winter moisturizer (addicted to this) to get to the $75 threshold, or even just stock up on some more of everybody’s favorite facial cotton (le best le best le best).
+Lacoste is running an excellent promotion (30% off!) on their classic children’s polos, including in great staple colors like white and navy. Stocked up for next summer. I’d say these run TTS. They are also running 40% off their long-sleeved polos, which Hill has been living in this fall/winter.
+Zulily has discounted some Laura Mercier products — buy carefully, as some of the items are hardly discounted at all, but some of their amazing caviar eye sticks are marked down to around 40% off. My mom introduced these to me a few Christmases ago (she loves to stuff our stockings with beauty products), and they are my favorite for evening/festive/holiday. They are just the right side of shimmery. Not too much — just enough. I also love an eye product that you can slick on and adjust with a fingertip. (I’m lazy like that.) This formula glides on and is easy to build in intensity with a few extra swipes. I love the cashmere color.
Our magnolia garland has looked so lovely running down the center of our table for the past few weeks. It’s fairly dry now, so I’ve moved it to the top of our sideboard for the time being to make way for holiday tablescapes, though I do think the magnolia would look just spectacular for Christmas, too. One bonus I hadn’t fully thought about when I bought the garland was that — unlike cut flowers — it has a long lifespan! We’ve been able to enjoy it for weeks! I will definitely do garlands moving forward! I’m currently contemplating this holly garland, though I also love this bay leaf style…
A few other holiday tabletop finds:
PLAID TABLE RUNNER — I THINK THE GARLAND LOOKS MUCH PRETTIER SET ATOP A FESTIVE RUNNER
A Magpie reader recently reached out in search of a Christmas gift for her difficult-to-shop-for mother-in-law. After laying out some of her MIL’s idiosyncrasies and aversions, the Magpie concluded: “I’d say literary pursuits are about all I have to work with and I can’t seem for life of me to come up with something she would actually like to receive.”
I thought I’d share some of the thoughts I sent back because I estimate that there are many of us who have difficult-to-shop-for bibliophiles in our lives.
This Etsy shop sells adorable totes with themed book collections on them (i.e., a bag featuring women writers of color or one featuring classic cook books) — these are the perfect bags for schlepping library books back and forth. My mom would love this, as she is a die-hard customer of the D.C. Public Library System and her interactions there are a routine part of our nightly conversations — what book is on hold, how she’s rushing to finish x book by the return date, etc.
Another thought would be to bundle up a bunch of this year’s best-seller/buzzed about books with some personalized book plates and/or a personalized bookmark. You know your loved one’s literary tastes better than I do, but these were two of my absolute favorite books this year that seem to be crowd-pleasers across a wide swathe of readers:
*This book contains explicit content. Just a heads up that it might not be the best fit for everyone on the list. For that matter, now I’m wondering if Dutch House and Circe (suggested just below) might also have content that might scandalize certain readers…just a reminder to use your best judgment on the book front, but I thought all three books were outstanding.
I also have yet to find a person who does not love Circe by Madeline Miller — men and women alike of all ages cannot resist the pull of this beautifully crafted epic. (Full, glowing review here.) Or, you can go more traditional with any of the books on this list. Buy in hard cover! Makes it more special and substantial. (And these Penguin Classics boxed sets are gorgeous.)
You could also personalize one of these journals to read JEN’S BOOK JOURNAL — encourage the analog tracking of your loved one’s reading habit and associated musings.
A bit further afield from the practice of reading proper, I recently bought an erudite family member one of these gorgeous writing implements (comes in a fancy box that makes the presentation that much more spectacular) and my favorite notebook. If you want to go even splurgier, perhaps a Smythson leather notebook with his/her name or initials on it. I bought one of these with a bridal slogan for a friend after she got engaged, with her NEW initials emblazoned on it.
I have been loving this specific pair of Nike running shoes (on sale; also on sale in different sizes/colors here and here). They are lightweight but well-cushioned, and I like the Flyknit material — it is breathable and contours to your foot like a sock. I recently snapped up a pair of these because they were on sale for $66 (!) and I liked the strawberry pink color. I still prefer the React Infinities because I find them lighter-weight and springier, but I can’t believe my new Nikes were $66 and have been a solid running mate this past week. My Dad (a lifelong runner/marathoner) is emphatic about replacing running shoes fairly frequently, as you wear down the treads and can injure yourself by messing with your gait — which has proven true for me. I thought I had plantar fasciitis earlier this year, and though I’m now not sure what it was because it healed within a few weeks, I am fairly confident it had to do with old running shoes. Anyway, I’ll take this $66 pair for the next stretch of running!
I was startled by my family’s reaction to this somewhat out-of-the-blue remembrance of my grandfather a few weeks back. He passed away twenty years ago, and yet I received at least a dozen notes from aunts, uncles, and cousins thanking me for honoring his memory. One of my uncles wrote: “Thank you for so vividly giving me a chance to be almost physically with my dad again. While it’s never hard for me to picture him, your portrait really put everything into vivid technicolor and Dolby sound.”
I have danced with this theme in posts past, but it bears re-statement that I find writing rather specifically about loved ones who have passed away — especially my high school girlfriend E. — heart-rending but helpful. I have lost her, but I have not yet lost all of her details, and putting them down on paper, sharing them with you, shores up against that erosion. And to think that my remembering might help another in grief — even twenty years after the passing — is a lovely return as well.
Today, I want to invite you to remember in words — the more specific and narrow the better — someone who has passed away, whether by sharing a comment here or in a private text or email to a loved one. It feels good to remind myself of the toasted provolone-and-tomato sandwiches my Italian grandmother used to have waiting for me in the kitchen when we arrived in their Painesville, Ohio home, or the way my friend E. would flick her keys around her Visitation lanyard, or the weight of my sweet baby niece curled up against me in her carrier. It is good to remember.
+PSA: Slip eye masks are on sale for 50% off at Nordstrom Rack. I know people love these! Also intrigued by this hair tie by the same brand, also on sale!
The other day, I was walking back from school drop-off and saw hearts drawn in chalk onto the doors of a building downtown. Unexpected auspiciousness for a Tuesday morning! It reminded me to pull out my favorite heart-print jammies (little ones can twin in these or these), and I couldn’t help but poke around for a few other pieces emblazoned with the symbol of love…all of items in collage (and THEN some) linked below:
I noticed the other day that I genuinely get excited when my Lululemon Align leggings are clean for my every-other-day running habit through Central Park — almost always a portion of which finds me traipsing along Jackie O. Reservoir, seen above on a recent circuit. They are simply the most comfortable and flattering exercise leggings I have found to date — they boast the ideal level of compression and hold up exceptionally well to heavy use. (They also, conveniently, come in multiple lengths to fit nearly any height.) I am deeply impressed with almost everything Lululemon makes. I have a pair of (non-Align) black leggings I bought from them perhaps six or seven years ago that I still wear frequently and that I have laundered regularly against their explicit instructions and they still look and feel good as new. And all of the details in their designs are appreciated — pockets for keys and cell-phones, thumb holes in shirts to keep hands warm, vents where you need them, etc. All of this to say: I love a good deal and continue to test various less-expensive athletic finds to varying degrees of success and enthusiasm (two affordable athletic wear products I fully stand behind are these $22 leggings, which are not as amazing as Aligns but pretty darn good for the price, and these $8 running tanks, which have a fantastic, soft feel and the loose fit I prefer in running tanks) but Lululemon is one brand worth the investment, especially given longevity of life. So much so that when my mom asked what I wanted for Christmas, I asked for either a gift card to Lululemon or a nap dress from HHH. Right now, the items in my Lululemon cart:
+I have been eyeing this vest for a long time for those in-between days when a coat seems like overkill but there’s a chill in the air. I love the fact that it was specifically designed for running and that there’s a hidden phone sleeve.
*I have written a lot about this coat, but there are still a few left at the closeout price of $35 and you must buy one if you run outdoors! It has magical properties — it keeps you warm while never making you too hot, it is lightweight, and it is just the right amount of form-fitting (i.e., you can still layer items beneath it without feeling “bunched up”). I also love the quilting detail and it comes in great colors — oh, and the pockets are generously sized to fit phone/gloves/sanitizer/etc. I love it so much, I just ordered it in a pullover style (also on sale for $35) in a great spruce color.
P.S. What do you listen to while running? Some of my current playlist here.
“The Finnish have a concept called sisu,” explained my Dad. “It means courage, and the strength to make it through tough times. My grandparents had it, my dad had it, all of you have it — and I like to think I do, too.”
My three-year-old daughter was peering through the computer screen at the small digital tiles representing my parents, my siblings, my nephews and nieces, and the photograph above featuring my grandfather, Aser Nurmi, and my great-grandmother, Susana Nurmi, arranged in the standard mirthless portraiture of nearly a century ago. My father was in the midst of delivering a fifteen minute Zoom presentation on Finland, home to his father’s family, that he had tailored to the high distractibility of his six grandchildren. As such, there were references to reindeer and Santa Claus (Finland’s Lapland region is his fabled home), a song about the continents led by my mother (a former Montessori schoolteacher), and occasional bursts of side commentary by little voices. It was the inaugural installment of a four-part series he and my mother have developed to celebrate the different cultures and geographies of our ancestors.
There was something profound about my three year old daughter staring into the eyes of her great-grandfather — probably around her age at the time the photo was taken — through the window of my Macbook. Something dizzying about the fact that there were faces from five generations of Nurmi family members represented on that call. Something moving about my father’s invocation of sisu, a familial and cultural inheritance multiple generations down the line — this year of all years, when so many of us are finding ourselves the branches that snap rather than bend in the buffeting winds. Altogether, it was fifteen minutes of discovery and reunion that were welcome in this period of isolation. It was, frankly, just the perspective I needed on that cold Monday morning just after a holiday that felt quiet in equal measures sweet and grim.
There is an old proverb: “A tree with strong roots laughs at storms.” I don’t think anyone is laughing at the 2020 tempest, but I couldn’t help but think, as I looked at the stern set of my great-grandmother Susana’s countenance, that her sisu might be part of the reason we are still afloat in these parts.
Hoping you find a moment to gather your family to you, to press your heart to theirs, even if only through a 15″ screen, today or some time soon. And wishing you a hearty portion of sisu to make it through the year.
P.P.P.S. If you are planning to bundle some of these great drawing pads for children with Ooly products as a holiday gift for children, note that they are currently expected to ship 12/7. Just mention this because they were in my cart as a part of my children’s gifts for the holidays and I just ordered now to ensure I get them when they come back in stock.
