0:06
90 Bougie Things That Are Shockingly Under $25 on Amazon
Create the luxurious lifestyle you deserve by scooping up the extra-bougie products on this list: They all cost under $25 and ship straight to your doorstep via Amazon. There are new beauty finds, home upgrades, sparkly accessories, and so many more sumptuous products that only look pricey.
Leather bags are pricey, but this faux leather tote looks like the real thing (and the metal hardware elevates the design of it as well) — however, it costs under $25. It’s extra-large for work, travel, or errand runs, and there are various pockets for organization. It comes in six rich-looking shades in the listing.
This is the bougiest coffee mug out there. It features two layers of borosilicate glass, and between them you’ll find the prettiest dried flowers for you to look at as you sip your latte, tea, or whatever other drink is your jam. You can even shake it (while empty) to rearrange them. Surprisingly, it’s dishwasher- and microwave-safe.
This gorgeous foaming dispenser turns everyday handwashing into a tiny luxury moment. The rippled green glass catches the light beautifully and the transparent body lets you keep an eye on soap levels. Just mix liquid soap with water for rich, cloud-like foam, and enjoy how this elegant piece instantly upgrades any bathroom or kitchen countertop.
This sleek diatomite faucet mat keeps your sink area looking tidy, absorbing splashes faster than you can say “why is everything always wet?” The stone surface is made to dry within minutes, while protecting your counter and doubling as a chic tray for soaps, cups, and sponges. The mat comes in five colors and several sizes.
This label maker is like a tiny executive assistant that lives in your pocket. The Bluetooth connection pairs easily with your phone, letting you print crisp, ink-free labels using over 90 fonts, tons of templates, and creative options like barcodes and QR codes. The device is lightweight, rechargeable, and perfect for labeling pantry goods, school supplies, office files, and everything else that needs a chic little tag.
Turn any regular home outlet into a little charging hub with this slim charger. It has four USB-A charging ports, including one that is a 2.4A port for fast charging for your tablet or phone. Because it’s so flat, it doesn’t take up a lot of space and won’t get in the way of any furniture or appliances that might be near the outlet. It’s also lightweight and small enough to fit in your pocket, making it very travel friendly.
This wedge pillow is your bed’s bouncer — keeping your phone, snacks, and rogue AirPods from vanishing into the abyss between your headboard. It’s made from high-density foam to fit perfectly at the top of the mattress, and it even includes pockets for your late-night essentials. You can get it in several sizes and colors.
These stackable organizers turn chaotic trash-bag rolls into a satisfyingly tidy setup. The stainless steel baskets have bamboo lids and wide front openings to make it easy to pull out new bags or restock. Use the smaller one for standard 13-gallon rolls and the larger for bigger bag sizes — or even potatoes and onions. Place the baskets on the counter, under the sink, or mount them with the included adhesive.
Make your shower experience more comfortable and safer by adding this absorbent shower mat. A nonslip bottom keeps it from moving around on the shower floor, while the absorbent material sops up water and dries quickly. This rainbow pattern is great for a pop of color in your bathroom, but it’s available in 17 other colors and prints, as well as nine different sizes.
Not only does this dainty pendant necklace finish off any ‘fit, but it’s also practical. Hold the stone between your index finger and thumb, then give the surface a rub (while taking deep breaths) to help feel calmer.
Handcrafted from ceramic (with a hand-painted floral design), this incense holder looks seriously stunning. And its weighted base, heat-resistant design, and built-in chimney mean it functions well for incense burning. All of the ash will be captured in the bottom, so it’s mess-free.
This unique coffee mug has a divided interior, ideal for separating coffee from cream, tea from honey, or even holding a stirrer. It features a fun striped design, and since it’s made from ceramic, it’s chip-resistant and holds heat well.
Light this special candle, and as soon as the flame reaches the clip, it’ll extinguish on its own ... so you don’t have to remember to do so. It’s made from 100% beeswax with a vintage-inspired holder. And it’ll burn cleanly for up to 80 hours.
Add a touch of glam to your plant pots with these four crystal trellises that you stick in the soil. When the light hits the crystal prism, it’ll project a rainbow scene all around for a show. And what’s best is that each one costs just over two bucks.
Hang your favorite plants in these hanging planters to bring some texture to the space.
3:24
Real Bodies, Real Shifts 🤍
This edition is in paid partnership with Dove. As always, only ever something I’ve actually used and would share anyway.
There’s a moment, somewhere along the way, where your body quietly stops being the body you used to know.
It’s not dramatic. There’s no announcement. But the small things shift. Your skin behaves differently, your temperature has its own opinions, and the products you used to throw on without thinking suddenly need a second glance. You start paying attention to what your body actually wants. Less of the harsh stuff. More of the gentle stuff.
Which is how Dove Whole Body Deodorant in the Lavender & Chamomile scent cream ended up becoming part of my routine.
The clue with this one is in the name. Whole body, not just underarms.
It’s made for the places skin meets skin. Under the bust. Between the thighs. The bits that get warm, that get rubbed by clothes, that feel uncomfortable in the heat. You use it alongside your regular underarm deodorant, and honestly, once you’ve tried it, the idea of not having something for those areas feels a bit odd.
I opted for the Dove Lavender & Chamomile Deodorant Cream. A few honest reasons.
The formula. It really does feel like a moisturiser more than a deodorant - moisturising, soothing, and quietly doing the odour protection bit in the background all-day. It melts into the skin rather than sitting on top of it, and there’s no chalkiness or residue. Properly soothing.
The scent. Lavender & Chamomile is calming rather than perfumed, soft enough that it doesn’t clash with anything else I’m wearing. Putting it on feels like a small calm minute in the morning.
The fact that it’s been dermatologically tested. At this stage of life, that matters more than it used to. Skin is fussier. Less forgiving. Knowing a product has been formulated with sensitivity in mind is genuinely the difference between using something every day and giving up after a week.
And to be honest, the fact that someone has actually designed a product for the places we don’t normally talk about. So you can actually feel fresh and confident from head to toe across a whole day, not just under your arms. It feels overdue.
It also comes in a spray and a stick if cream isn’t your thing, but I’ve stuck with the cream. The texture suits where I am right now.
Let me set the scene.
A normal day this week looked like this. Up at 6:30. School run by 8. A meeting in central London by 10, which means the Tube, which means sitting next to a stranger in billion degree heat with my jacket on my lap, praying I get there in the nick of time.
Lunch on the go. A podcast recording in the afternoon. Three women in a small studio, lights hotter than they look, and a camera close enough to my face that there is no hiding. School pickup at 3:15. Two after-school clubs. Dinner. Bedtime. A glass of wine and the laptop open by 9pm, because the to-do list never quite gets to zero.
It’s a lot of physical contact with my own body. A lot of layers, removed and put back on. A lot of moments where I just want to feel comfortable in my own skin from morning to night.
And at this stage of life, that’s no longer a given.
Here’s what nobody tells you.
Skin gets more sensitive. The products you used a decade ago don’t feel right anymore. You notice your body in places you didn’t think about before. Hormonal shifts mean things just feel different. And the small irritations that used to roll off your back now sit on it for the rest of the day.
It’s the same shift I’ve made in my skincare routine, my diet, my exercise. Calmer. Kinder. More thought-out.
A product that fits into that way of thinking is rare. One that does it without feeling clinical or a faff is rarer still.
I hope this helps. And if there's something making a real difference for you right now, I'd love to know what it is.
Louise x
*Affiliated links used for some products and brand partnerships.
6:01
Cabin Fever!
Hi from the Milky-verse, where I am currently sat in bed because of a back spasm that struck late this morning, whilst our 17‑month‑old is quarantined at home due to the appearance of the dreaded hand, foot, and mouth disease. It feels like a fitting way to have closed out June (I began this post a few days ago), which served more than its share of bugs and assorted infections. For the sake of my sanity, I am crossing fingers and toes for a healthier July.
I had a different post planned for today on microdosing pleasure, but that just got bumped so I can address my current reality: entertaining a wildly wiggly and energetic toddler who is showing no signs of letting HFMD slow her down. It’s hot outside (I live in Austin, Texas), we cannot see friends or go out, and I am mentally already at my wit’s end. While I plug some headphones in and listen to a rotation of audiobooks, this is what I am doing with my daughter to keep her occupied.
I am pushing to get this one out to you now, holiday weekend be damned, because there are so many 4th of July sales going at the moment—#dealsdealsdeals.
xxMB
A Water Drawing Pad: I was originally going to suggest colored pencils and recycled paper because I (naively) thought that pencils would not be as messy as marker or paints but…they are. It took my toddler about 10 minutes before our leather sofa was drawn on, as well as her highchair, and who knows what else…I love that this is infinitely reusable, and the only mess you will be dealing with is from water. There are also little sketch pads where water reveals a drawing when it comes into contact with the paper.
This cutie easel can convert from chalkboard to whiteboard, has storage, and a pull-down paper roll. Sidebar: I am quite obsessed with this Eva Chen for West Elm collection in general—particularly this reading nook, which has me swooning hard.
Open-ended play with these Waldorf-inspired silks by Sarah’s Silks. I don’t know what magic these are imbued with, but my daughter loves her giant silk, and it keeps her occupied far more than I could have imagined.
A Toddler Tower with really functional/useful accessories, like this cutting tool and this storage hook. This is a great way to bring your little one in on your daily tasks, which, according to Hunt, Gather, Parent, is the key to raising helpful kiddos who are real team members, integrated into the daily to‑dos of the household. Toddler towers can usually be found on FB Marketplace and other resale sites; just be prepared for them to come with a fair amount of grime/wear and tear.
These ecoBirdy sets (the Azure is my fav), created from recycled plastic toys, are pricey—so apologies in advance—but after months of consideration, we finally ordered this set, and the joy it has brought to our kiddo, just having her own little corner of the room, has been immeasurable. That said, this set is not the only way to accomplish that. I would recommend beginning on resale sites for alternative scenarios, with the key idea being: little ones love things at their scale. She loves sitting at her table with puzzles, drawing, or playing with other toys on the tabletop.
Pikler climbing sets can be set up inside or outside and fold down to some degree. It can take some time for little ones to warm up to them and figure out navigating them, so keep playing with your configuration if that is the case for you. I would also recommend getting the optional cushion for the arch. They are widely available on FB Marketplace and other resale sites, so check there first.
Making instruments from trash and pantry items—an old plastic bottle and some rice, an aluminum bottle with dried beans; just avoid glass :) But beware: if you are already at your wit’s end, this acoustic exploration may push you over the edge.
Sensory tables: here is a super simple one that is cheap and cheerful, a foldable version for smaller spaces, and a Montessori-style sensory table. This one is a splurge, but the extra/doing-too-much in me is already dreaming of all of the little world-building that I could do with the added arch. This one has interchangeable panels you can play with as well. The beauty of any of these tables is that you can really fill these tubs with anything you wish, keeping them a fresh source of amusement. The contents of each tub can also shift as your child’s age does. Here is the Montessori one on Amazon as well.
A Splash Pad really does the most when it’s hot out. That said, our little one also enjoys a simple hose sprayin’ with our adjustable nozzle. I also think that this flower sprinkler tower is wildly cute.
This is a little advanced for our daughter’s age, but I love this STEM-style water/sensory table from KiwiCo; you can use water, beans, whatever you please. The manufacturer recommends ages 3+ (particularly relevant if using beans/smaller items).
9:14
A Jewish Immigrant Wrote This Quintessential American Song
Even though it’s the epitome of a nationalist tune to some, “God Bless America,” according to Jewish songwriter Irving Berlin, is “not a patriotic song.”
Berlin, who was born in imperial Russia, the son of a cantor, and who arrived to America as a kid, became the writer of so many songs from the Great American Songbook, including, yes, “God Bless America.”
It’s funny retracing the history of this song, which you can read about in Sheryl Kaskowitz’s “God Bless America,” because it all started quite innocently in an attempt to raise money for a Long Island military camp. The song was written by Berlin, born Israel Beillin, while he was a soldier in New York to raise funds for Camp Upton, where he was stationed. The tune, however, wasn’t included in the final version of his 1918 “Yip Yip Yaphank,” a musical revue about a tired soldier that made it to Broadway — instead remaining in his drawer for two decades.
The song finally made it to the light in 1938 on the radio show of popular singer Kate Smith for Armistice Day. It was, for Berlin and Smith, an anti-war song. The original 1918 lyrics read, “To the right with the light from above,” but Berlin changed them to “through the night” because he didn’t want it to seem like a reference to right-wing politics. He also changed a lyric which called for making America “victorious.”
Americans were meant to feel lucky to be far away from where “storm clouds were gathering overseas.” Yet as the song also premiered the day after Kristallnacht, its meaning quickly changed as the country joined World War II.
From the beginning, “God Bless America” was a Rorschach test of a song. Many know that Woody Guthrie didn’t like it for what he felt was saccharine patriotism, writing “This Land Is Your Land” in protest. Yet the song also received antisemitic hate and was boycotted by the Ku Klux Klan.
“God Bless America” has been about triumphing over our enemies, but it’s also been a Civil Rights anthem. It was the song that united us after 9/11, sung by Celine Dion. It’s also a song for sports lovers across the nation, sung in stadiums brimming with every type of American. It’s been played in political rallies of the right and the left, at the Capitol, even in space (and in Yiddish.)
As I deal with my own complex feelings about America at a time laden with heartbreaking Supreme Court decisions, terrifying and infuriating anti-trans legislation and constant attacks on reproductive freedom and our children’s freedom to be safe in their classrooms and read the books they deserve, I find some comfort in this song, written about the idea of what America could be.
It’s strange to think that this song, which feels in a sense, deeply Christian, was written by a Jewish immigrant — the same Jewish immigrant who wrote “White Christmas.” Jews have a complex relationship with God, and many don’t assert any kind of belief in a higher power to be a crucial part of Jewish communal life. Many people go to synagogue services regularly while still debating, or knowing that they don’t believe in, God. Yet we still invoke the idea of this higher power, as a reminder of our imperative to make the world a better place, to act more justly. In this sense, “God Bless America” is not about waiting for divine intervention. It’s about knowing that the divine is within us. In that sense, “stand beside her and guide her” is about our imperative to make America a more just place. Maybe swearing allegiance to a “land that’s free” is more about our imperative to ensure that freedom.
Like many immigrants, it’s hard for me to reconcile this beautiful land of opportunity with the rough, unaccepting political terrain we face now. America is my refuge, my home sweet home, the land where I raise my family, where Jewish communal life can be so beautiful and revitalizing, where I can love my neighbors. The storm clouds seem to be here, though, gathered in this land as they have throughout our nation’s history. They have been, and still are, those who want to tell us that America is only the land for a certain type of people.
Irving Berlin had a deep understanding of what it meant to write songs for everyone — for the white Christian majority, yes, but also songs that are so universal they can touch all of our hearts. In some ways, it almost seems subversive to sing this song in certain spaces, knowing that it was written by a Jew. Berlin called it “an expression of gratitude for what this country has done for its citizens, of what home really means.”
I am grateful for all the things that make this country home, that make me proud to be American, like Berlin and his songs.
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12:31
This Costume Designer Nailed the Jewish Summer Camp Aesthetic. Here’s How to Recreate It.
Where do you shop for a Jewish summer camp wardrobe? If you’re costume designer Ava Hama and dressing the cast of Jewish summer camp movie “The Floaters,” you’re shopping everywhere from J. Crew to the bulk bins of vintage warehouses — and you’re absolutely nailing the look.
“The Floaters,” which is out in select theaters on July 10, stars Jackie Tohn as Nomi, a struggling rock star who calls her BFF Mara for some commiseration, but is talked into taking a job at the Jewish summer camp that Mara runs. Nomi is assigned to supervise the camp misfits, aka ”the floaters.” The film is not only delightful and funny; the setting and details are so expertly crafted you’ll be convinced that your actual Jewish summer camp bunkmate played a part in creating it.
To costume a cast full of authentic Jewish summer campers, Hama, who was the assistant costume designer for the series “Love Story” and has worked on “Orange Is the New Black” and “Girls,” reached out to friends (and their friends) who have kids in Jewish summer camp. She perused photos of actual East Coast campers and picked parents’ brains about what they were buying for their kids or what they had noticed other kids wearing. She looked at camp style from older photos, too. “Summer camp is very nostalgic for most people,” Hama told Kveller. “I thought it would be great to pepper in some nods to retro camp style from various decades to signify the relationship between memory and summer camp.”
The result? Well, if you’re like me, you’ll be adding ringer tees to your online cart and begging the Floaters press team to let you talk to the movie’s costume designer. They agreed, and I asked Hama how she translated Jewish summer camp to the big screen, what it was like working with Kveller favorite Jackie Tohn and what to buy to achieve the ultimate nostalgic summer camp look.
Did you go to camp? How would you describe your camp style?
I grew up in NYC and actually attended a Jewish day camp called New Country Day Camp in Staten Island. I myself am not Jewish, but was able to attend this camp because it was an “open-tent” camp allowing children of all religious backgrounds to be campers. One of my fondest memories was the challah we would bake fresh every Friday for Shabbat! I would describe my style as sporty, I loved to swim and always wanted to be comfortable in the muggy NYC heat — I dressed for function and comfort!
How did you think about costuming a Jewish summer camp versus a regular summer camp? What touches did you add?
From my research I found that the differences were quite subtle, and it definitely wasn’t something I wanted to do in a heavy handed or unrealistic way. A couple examples include the tzitzit that Wetspot [one of the film’s teen misfits, played by Jake Ryan] always wears under his graphic tees, and Naot sandals (handcrafted in Israel). The founders of Naot actually attended the camp we shot at, and were kind enough to loan us sandals for use in the film!
The Camp Daveed ringer tee is so central to the look. What is it about a ringer tee?
It’s an iconic item that is intrinsically tied to summer camp in my mind — I think Michael Ian Black’s character McKinley in “Wet Hot American Summer” may have a lot to do with that. It was ultimately up to me to select the tee we screen printed the logo onto. The tee we ended up going with came from J. Crew!
Who was your favorite character to dress and why?
Nomi! Jackie [Tohn] was an absolute dream to collaborate with, she adores clothing and has fantastic personal style. Some of my favorite costume pieces of Nomi’s I found digging through bins at a bulk vintage warehouse in Philly!
We’ve interviewed Jackie a few times and can concur she is absolutely a dream to work with! We also loved talking to Seth Green about this film.
Jackie and Seth are so much fun to work with — they are both comedic geniuses. Jackie and I share a love of thrifting, and she was so excited to dig into the thrift shops upstate near where we were shooting. Sometimes she would even bring me thrift finds to use in the movie for other characters or background actors!
Rapidfire camp fashion questions: Chacos or tevas?
Naots!
Your favorite way to style a bandana?
As a head kerchief — Tal [another one of the misfit campers, played by Thani Brandt] wears their signature bandana kerchief this way throughout the film!
What is the appropriate amount of times to roll up a pair of Soffe cheerleading shorts?
Anything beyond two rolls will get you flagged by a counselor!
Chicest item to tie dye?
Beach towels or bedding.
Best decade for summer camp fashion?
1970s.
What are four things we can buy to get the summer camp look?
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The post This Costume Designer Nailed the Jewish Summer Camp Aesthetic. Here’s How to Recreate It. appeared first on Kveller.
