Welcome back to Your Shopping Cart, wherein we break out the top-five products that you, devoted Strategist readers, all bought in droves. Think of this as the tl;dr of the Strategist: If your like-minded brethren are buying these items, maybe you’d like to, too.
While the champ this week stayed the same, the rest of the top five is completely new. Once again, the pimple patches from Rio Viera-Newton’s famous skin-care story reign supreme — the little pimple patches really do shrink zits overnight and cost only five bucks. In second place is a silicone garlic peeler that works like a charm: Simply stick in a clove or two, rub, and you’re done. Winning the bronze medal this edition is one of our favorite weekend bags (still on sale!) from Baggu. The Glossier Haloscope highlighter that Viera-Newton, ahem, highlighted in her no-makeup-makeup story takes fourth place, while a slouchy Everlane T-shirt from our “best T-shirts for women” story rounds out the top five.
1. The Google Doc I Send to People Who Ask About My Skin
For another week, Rio Viera-Newton’s story about her ultimate skin-care products (the ones that used to live in a mythic Google doc that got passed around to friends of friends) takes the prize. Here’s something funny: One of our friends actually told us that she was chatting about the story with a friend in the Equinox Williamsburg locker room — and two strangers turned and said, “The Strategist Google doc story?” It is a thing. People have mostly been buying the Cosrx Pimple Patches, but it’s all selling like crazy, from the Cosrx Bha Blackhead Power Liquid and Neogen Green Tea Cleanser to the Snail Bee High Content Sheet Mask Pack and Etude House Moistfull Collagen Cream — and that barely scratches the surface of all 16 products. Viera-Newton’s friends all noticed a difference: “People started to notice how different I looked and asked what I was using. Tired of responding to texts about moisturizers and serums, I outlined my skin-care favorites in a Google doc and shared it with a few curious friends.”
2. The $5 Silicone Peeler That Enables My Garlic Obsession
Writer Kase Wickman is a garlic nut. She makes garlic armadillo bread, white-bean aïoli, and garlic-miso salmon regularly. The problem? Peeling those pesky cloves, which gets the skin underneath her nails and all over her skin. The solution she found — a $5 silicone log — changed everything: “All you have to do is pop the whole clove into the tube on the counter, push the whole thing down with your palm, and roll. The sides of the tube grab onto the skin and rip it off, and out tumbles your perfect little peeled garlic clove. Then all you have to do is rinse the tube, cook your meal, and enjoy your vampire-free life. Simple.”
3. One of Our Favorite Weekend Bags Is on Sale for $55
In our search for the best weekend bags, writer and Maccarone gallery assistant Zach Wampler tipped us off to the perfection of the Baggu weekender: “I have owned a couple of duffle bags in my life, but my go-to for the past few years has been this bag, which can take a beating without consequences. I personally discovered this by repeatedly squeezing and shoving the bag with gusto into tiny overhead bins and cluttered car trunks. But quality doesn’t mean high cost! When I was searching around for a new bag, this one seemed to be the most reasonably priced. Now, three years of abusing this bag, it still holds up.” Originally a very reasonable $74, it’s now even cheaper at $55.
4. The 10 Products I Use to Achieve the Elusive No-Makeup Makeup Look
Famous Google doc author Rio Viera-Newton not only knows skin care — she knows how to wear makeup that looks like nothing at all. After sharing her ten favorite products for achieving that tricky no-makeup look, many of you bought her recommended highlighter in droves: “I’ve tried just about every highlighter out there, and as far as daytime products go, this is my favorite. Again, it’s buildable, so you can give yourself either a subtle or beaming glow, depending on how much you apply. I put it on my cheekbones, in the corners of my eyes, on my eyelids, brow bone, and tip of my nose — and occasionally, I’ll also pat it over my lips to give them a subtle shimmer. I basically dip my whole face in this highlighter.”
5. What’s the Best White T-shirt for Women?
In our search for that ever-hard-to-find white T-shirt, we talked to 19 stylish women about what they like best. One answer, from Elizabeth Rose, a server at the perennially hip Cafe Gitane, struck a nerve with readers (no doubt in part because of its very gentle price): “I like the Everlane V-neck because of the company’s transparency. It’s an ethical issue — I like to know where the clothing is made. And I like this specific shirt because I wear a lot of necklaces, so the depth of this V shows them.”
The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best women’s jeans, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, ultra-flattering pants, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
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