autumn is almost over, and winter is upon us. this means out with halloween boyfriends and in with wearing a long lace nightgown to jo-ann fabrics to seduce unsuspecting townhome dads into buying me beads. my fully-charged vibrator really has me in a DIY mood lately, so i’ve been winding down the season by sitting indoors and making necklaces. (also if you didn’t already know, calling it autumn instead of fall counts as having an MFA).
to keep the spooky spirit alive as we enter into gift season, i thought i would lean in to the horrifying hold consumerism has on each and every one of us with a little monthly faves post. but this will be more of a seasonal roundup since, despite my best effort, i cannot seem to post once a month. feeling alienated from your creative spirit is sooo having a job-coded. anyway, here are some gorgeous items i’ve blown my paycheck on this fall:
lip oils
ever since downloading lemon8, i’ve been ending my nights with a lip product deep dive to see which glosses and stains the coolest girls in the world are using. within fifteen seconds of scrolling, i’m put on to zillions of lip oils with slightly different undertones—heaven on earth for my beauty haul-addicted brain. there is something so relaxing about looking at the same three shades 50 different times, deciding which ones will absolutely change your life, and then testing them out when they arrive like you’re francis bacon. here are the results of my empirical research:
🦇 nyx fat oil lip drip in status update ($7) - okay so while i know everyone is dying to get into a riveting and super productive discussion about the commodification of body positivity, i’m gonna just table that for now and talk about the formula. i have this in shades newsfeed and status update, and i was honestly impressed at how pigmented they were given the price. newsfeed is a juicy cherry red shade that never fails me, but i was really surprised with how much i loved status update. i’ve typically shied away from a brown lip because i was worried it would give me an augustus gloop/marnie’s wedding day vibe. but now that the tastemakers of society (gen z swifties from ohio) have deemed this look “vampy”, i’m all in.
🔮 kaleidos glow glossy lip glaze in hot pursuit ($16) - i promise i’m not being hysterical when i say this is the best lip formula i have ever used—and the two months it took to ship were well worth it. the glaze/oil is honestly more of an ultra-lightweight gloss that has a ton of pigment and looks like glass on your lips. you’ll especially love the shade if you’re a cool toned girlie like me, because it pairs so well with any greige or mauvey look. a hot ghoul makeup essential.
🩸 rituel del fille thorn bite lip oil in blood thorn ($27) - one swipe and you’re giving vampire milf. this is probably the most pigmented out of three and has the most lux ingredients. it feels moisturizing on the lips and leaves a rich, blood-like glisten that transforms into more of a stain the longer you wear it. it’s definitely the most pricey lip product i own, but it comes in a fancy glass tube and the formula is boosted with nourishing peptides. you can buy blood thorn on it’s own or get it in a trio of other lip oils which i recommend. keep them all to yourself or gift the rest to your autumn lovers with a note that reads “let’s make out in a snow-covered cemetery”.
vanilla scents
ha ha ha, get your jokes in now. like the iconic new boysmells scent, i am very much in my vanilla era this fall. something about smelling like a cupcake 100% of the time has been very appealing to me lately—plus, i was seeing someone for a while and according to modern science (a girl on tik tok with a really clean house), vanilla is supposed to make people bond to you easily. unfortunately this guy dumped my ass last week but i’m chalking it up to the fact that covid rendered him nose blind and nothing to do with my flawless personality. anyway, here’s what i smell like:
🧁 eos body lotion in vanilla cashmere ($11) - this was another lemon8 find and i’ve since put like twenty people (one person) onto it. it’s by far the most fragrant body lotion i’ve ever tried and it makes you feel like you’re engulfed in toasty marshmallows all day long. i put some on before bed and the sweet-but-not-sickly scent helps lull me into a cozy, vanilla coma (but this time without my boring ex who told me that instead of kink i should try listening to metallica).
🦢 vanilla era by boysmells ($30 travel size) - okay so imagine if mccormick’s pure vanilla extract was a little bit of a pervert. like after you measure out a teaspoon and put her back in the pantry, she’s doing breath play with the pepper grinder. that’s the vibe vanilla era brings to your fragrance collection. it’s warm, spicy, with just a hint of floral, and is still mellow enough to be an everyday scent. i got the travel size to start, but i will certainly be buying the full size once my little spray bottle runs out.
🌿 vanilla woods by the 7 virtues ($32 travel size) - the absolute vanilla dream. i’m on my second bottle of this because i quite literally take it everywhere (my last one had unwrapped gum stuck to the sides because it lived permanently in my hoarders episode of a purse). vanilla woods smells exactly like its name. soft, creamy vanilla mixed with musky undertones. if a forest nymph was hosting a dinner party at her woodland cabin, this is what you would smell upon walking in. i recommend the travel spray over the full size bottle because you’re gonna be codependent after one spritz.
variety hour
and now a lightening round of other random shit i became obsessed over the past few months:
🧛🏻♀️ true blood - if you haven't binged it yet on hbo max, you absolutely must. it has everything: hot vampires, southern gothic aesthetics, and dennis o’hare at his best. i don’t know how i was so late to the game with this series but it permanently altered my brain chemistry, especially the killer soundtrack— “haunted” turned me into a swiftie.
🍒 ollipop cherry vanilla soda - nothing makes you feel more well-adjusted than pouring a prebiotic bevy into a wine glass before bed. the cherry juice transports you straight into the lanaverse (and apparently helps you sleep).
☁️ lip balm before bed - this has changed the PM skincare game for me. you just wake up feeling so much more hydrated and ready to make out with strangers (which is sometimes the only thing that gets me out of the house on time).
📓 five minute journal - this is so peaked in college-coded, but having a structured gratitude journal to fill out at the beginning and end of the day brings a sense of clarity and accomplishment to my life, even if all i did was sext twitter mutuals on the porch or eat fifteen pepperoni rolls off cam during a zoom call.
i hope y’all enjoyed this and maybe left with a few new essentials. this was really fun to write so i’ll try to do it again. thank you for reading my stuff, i am grateful for you all <3
-Rachel E