The Favorite Things Post Absolutely No One Asked For

No one, absolutely no one asks me what my favorite things are. Nevertheless, there are a handful of items I use every single day that I feel compelled to share with whoever reads this. I’ve been using whatever I mention below for at least a year, some stuff for the past few years, and it’s all become my absolute favorite. In the interest of total transparency, I have affiliate links or referral links for a couple of the products which means if you use my links to purchase them I will receive a small percentage credit from the company. I’ll let you know what links apply and please don’t feel any pressure to use my links if that’s not your jam. I just want to shout out these companies because their products work so well for me and maybe they will for you too 🙂

Tula—first up, all the skincare I could ever want. I switched up my skincare game last spring once I became aware that the person who owned the company I previously used had values I did not feel comfortable supporting monetarily. I found out about Tula after I got some of their illuminating serum in a FabFitFun box (I’ll talk about that later). I was hooked with the serum and decided to switch all my skincare to Tula. The products are clean and cruelty free and were developed by a gastroenterologist who found the power of probiotics for her patients also had a positive effect on their skin. I’ve found the products highly effective. They are somewhat pricey, but they have a subscribe and save program that you can customize to your schedule allowing 15% off your purchase so that helps a lot. The link will get you 20% off your first order and I receive a referral credit for my next purchase.

Best Today Brand—y’all have heard me rave about the wonders of Clean One Room and how it has helped me keep my kitchen clean and clutter free since July 2020. And last week I mentioned how awesome the Best Today Guide was in helping me hone in on my vision and intentions each day. But that’s just the start of what’s available through the Best Today Brand. In addition to extremely practical, helpful products, there’s also the Best Today Community, a group of women committed to living their best todays and supporting and helping each other along the way. They cheer you on and encourage you and Shunta Grant, the woman behind the entire brand, teaches classes inside the community that are just so helpful and again super practical. I am extremely organized and I still learn something new every time I tune in to what she has to share. I can’t shout loud enough how helpful these products are and I truly believe they can change your game. The link is an affiliate link so I earn I small commission if you choose to use it.

The Lip Bar—I don’t wear a lot of makeup, but when I do I want make up that is easy and fast to apply and can last hours without looking like my 4 year old put it on my face. I started using TLB products last summer because I was looking for new lip gloss and specific wanted to support a Black woman owned beauty brand. I found out that TLB is vegan, cruelty free, super super super easy to apply, and maybe most important, the lip gloss isn’t sticky. At all. Then, a couple months back, they started making lip balm and it’s over the top amazing. I have exceedingly dry lips. Real bad. Aquaphor slathered on them all day doesn’t even fix them. And also Aquaphor is super shiny and sticky so that’s not my jam during the day anyway. But the TLB lip balm is the real deal. It keeps my lips soft, again isn’t sticky at all, and it has kind of a minty tingle thing when you put it on that’s pretty awesome too. Anyway, all the products rock but I want to give extra love to the lip balm because my lips aren’t cracked anymore and I’m pretty positive this lip balm is why. This is an affiliate link so you’ll get 10% off your order if you use it and I’ll get a small commission as well.  

Temple Tape—This one is pretty running/outside exerciser specific. One of my best friends showed up for our weekend run with one of these on and told me they were amazing. It looks like a thin headband that wouldn’t really do much but in actuality, it’s magic. It absorbs an embarrassing amount of sweat and wicks it all away from your forehead so you don’t have to deal with any annoying sweat in the eyes situations. I’m talking you can run 12 miles in August heat and keep all the sweat out of your eyes kind of effective. Temple Tape is super affordable, machine washable, and the two I’ve had are still going strong after 2 years of almost daily use. I’m a fan and I think you might be too.

Earth Therapeutics Eye Mask—I don’t sleep well when there’s light in the room. Like any light at all. Which is weird because I feel asleep to the TV until I was 22 but any who. I started using this eye mask a little over two years ago to first block out all the light and second to decrease the weird creases I got on my face in the morning from moving a ton in my sleep. I love that this mask stays in place all night and that you can pop it in the fridge a few hours before bed so you fall asleep with that soothing coolness on your face. I am a hot sleeper so I feel like it helps my body chill (literally) right before I fall asleep. I also love how long lasting the product is. I’m on my second one because after about a year even with frequent hand washing, it got kind of funky. But it only costs $7.99 so I feel like that’s pretty legit for a product that lasts at least a year when used every single night. 

FabFitFun boxes—I was skeptical of the whole subscription box thing, but I started getting these boxes in Summer 2019 and I’ve loved them. Going on two years, I consistently get products with each box that I use often. There are quite a few brands that I now buy from regularly because I heard of them through FabFitFun. One of the things I love the most is that you can customize what you get in your box and starting this summer, you get to pick every single one of the 8 or 9 items in the box in you have an Annual subscription. If you get the annual subscription which locks you into 4 boxes in that 12 months, you pay about $45 and end up getting somewhere between $200 and up to like $500 worth of products. Full size, no samples stuff. A lot of it is imported from Europe where the beauty product standards are more stringent so the ingredients are cleaner, most every product is made cruelty free, and I just feel like I can trust the quality. I’ve been impressed over the past two years and imagine I will keep my subscription up for years to come because I always use what I get so there’s never any waste. This is a referral link so if you click it you will get $10 off your first box and I’ll get a $15 credit.

Bearaby—a weighted blanket that doesn’t get hot when you sleep under it. It’s hand knit cotton, super pretty, but more important than anything else, I don’t get all sweaty and grody underneath it. It’s pricey and it doesn’t seem like it ever goes on sale, but I think the investment is worth it. Time for some math—I’ve had mine since February 2020 so at $249, it’s current running at under $1 per day. I anticipate that it will last me years based on the durable cotton fabric and hand knit design so I’m happy with the math. It lives on my bed and gets used every single night. If you are a particularly hot sleeper but also want to feel a constant hug to fall asleep to every night, this could be your jam. If you get one, tell me what color you have. They are all so pretty 🙂

Chrissy Teigen Mugs—In the spring of 2018 while pollen was in full assault mode, I started giving myself tea time every day at 5pm because lemon tea with honey made my scratchy throat feel so much better. As a lefty who gets annoyed at the handle on a lot of mugs, I fell for the mugs Chrissy Teigen makes. Sounds random, but I love them so much. They are big and pretty but most importantly, they feel good to hold and make my daily tea time happy. They’ve been a tried and true staple for a solid three years now.  Yay!

Body Glide Anti Chafe Balm—let’s end on a semi-weird note. I run a lot. If it’s above 60 degrees outside, I run in shorts. I have thighs that rub together when I run. They chafe if I run for more than 5 minutes in shorts. It burns and hurts for days after and is a real bummer. This anti chafe balm stops all that mess. You just put it on your thighs like you’d put deo on your pits and it does the trick. It’s semi-magical in how well it protects my inner thighs from getting all stabby towards me. Tried and true used for about a year and a half, it can make it through long runs without any sort of chafe drama. They make a pink container of it marketed for women with some sort of scent I think, but I just stick to the original and it works great for me. 

That’s all for this week. Again, I can’t stress enough that no one asked for a list of my favorite things. So feel free to pass this stuff on by if it isn’t for you. But I can promise that everything I mentioned today is stuff I actually use every day and it’s all upped my game in one way or another over the past year or years. Happy Wednesday!!