The Nice List: The Gift of Sleep

Bedtime bliss: fresh linens, a reading lamp and an unimpeded path to the bathroom.

Apparently sleep is the new sex. And while I don’t want to delve into this too deeply, I do know that amongst my friends, an uninterrupted eight hours can be elusive. So here are some holiday gifts to help anyone set the stage for a restful night.

You don’t see lab mice hunched over their phones, doom-scrolling before bed. According to a 2022 study in Biology, copying mouse behaviour and “adopting a regular behavioral pre-sleep routine was found to be more efficient in facilitating sleep than medication”.

And just look at the helpful illustration that accompanied the study. Isn’t the fluffy mouse bed inspiring?

For a human nesting ritual, spray this heavenly-scented and relaxing Body Shop Sleep calming pillow mist, $18, bodyshop.ca, (made from 100% natural lavender and vetiver ) on your pillows and linens. Then throw open the window for that blissful ‘warm bed in a cold room’ sleep.

Simplest solutions are often the best. The Slip silk sleepmask ($70, Sephora.com) completely blocks out all light because even the faintest amount can muck with your circadian rhythms. This unbelievably soft mask is made from pure mulberry silk for breathability and even the filler is silk, as this is no time for polyester to be anywhere near your face.

I loved Flintstone vitamins as a kid so I was charmed by Nature’s Bounty Hair, Skin and Nails gummies. Their latest release, Nature's Bounty Sleep VitaBeans soft chews, $19, amazon.ca contain melatonin, the natural hormone found in our bodies that has a role in our wake and sleep cycle. Each generously-sized VitaBean contains 2 mg of melatonin and they’re a great occasional aid for insomnia or jet lag.

If your insomniac friends ‘partake’, then have them try a THC/CBN combo edible before bed, as CBN acts as a sedative by helping the body raise serotonin and melatonin levels. These sugar free Blackcurrant CBN Gems from Olli, $8.95, are designed to be low enough dose to take during the week with no after-effects the following day.

An epsom salt bath can soothe and relax on its own but the added lavender, chamomile and melatonin found in Dr. Teal’s Melatonin Sleep Soak, ($10.49, Shoppers Drug Mart) will help to calm even the chattiest of brains before bed.

All soothing, all the time. After your bath, the last thing you need is some tastebud-searing toothpaste to wake you up just as you’re trying to wind down. Hello Goodnight lavender & chamomile toothpaste, $6.97, Walmart.ca, is a naturally flavoured, dye-free, fluoride-free paste with lavender and chamomile that harmonize with the subtle mint flavour. It’s an unexpected flavour pairing that works, and a fun way to get more ‘time for bed’ cues.

No screens before bed! Instead, spend some quality time with this reissue of Hotel Splendide, a charming collection of vignettes by Ludwig Bemelmans about his life as a waiter at the New York City Ritz the 1920s, before he hit it big with the Madeline books.

Then turn out the lights and instead of counting sheep, just recite Madeline’s famous opening lines:

In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines

Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines…

Hibernation Nation

On the old Australian tv show, Your Life on the Lawn, decluttering experts would empty the contents of messy houses into the yard, so homeowners could see all their belongings in the bright, unforgiving sunshine.

I could use that assist right now, choosing what deserves to be in my home and what should get chucked and never spoken of again.

It is late November. We are about to be stuck inside with all our stuff for the next four months. Between the weird stasis of early lockdowns and just life in general, things are a bit chaotic over here.

And while I am certainly not the person to offer decluttering advice (I mean, I still want help from an early 2000s tv show) I can recommend these small additions to your home to make things a little bit nicer this winter in your hobbit hole.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” That’s me, trying to elevate a discussion of toilet plungers with a William Morris quote.

Unless you have a fleet of invisible house fairies who keep the moving parts of your home working without your knowledge (the dream), you need a plunger within reach. This Libman premium plunger and caddy, $16.99, Canadian Tire, stays within grabbing distance, yet almost blending into the wall when stored discreetly in its white holder.

If you have hard water (and more than three quarters of us do) it can interfere with laundry detergent’s ability to do its job. Add to that our propensity to overload the machine while also using less water per load and you have all the elements in place for lacklustre laundry. (I illustrated this story with a beautifully stocked linen closet, because you cannot overstate the satisfaction, nay, the joy of freshly washed and folded laundry.)

Downy Rinse & Refresh, ($8.99, grocery stores) is not a fabric softener. Rather its low pH helps lift product residue and by extension, bad smells from natural and synthetic fibres. So if your synthetic workout gear doesn’t smell as good as new despite repeated washings or your university-age children bring their laundry home, Rinse & Refresh could be for you. And the Fresh Lavender scent is wonderfully light and non-cloying.

Now that it gets dark by 5:00 p.m., it’s time to lay in an unholy number of votives (and it pains me to say this) but not the IKEA tea lights in their little tin sleeves. These Crate & Barrel votives, ($39.95, crateandbarrel.ca,) come 50 to a box and their sleeves are clear plastic, so when lit, the candles glow like little lanterns.

Extend the life of your wooden cutting boards, kitchen utensils and even that 70s wooden salad bowl if you have one. Clapham’s beeswax salad bowl finisher, ($23, Home Hardware) is a blend of naturally antibacterial beeswax and mineral oil which won’t go rancid like natural seed oils. It’s like moisturizer for your kitchen. Clapham’s is meditative pleasure to use, smells wonderful and brings all your kitchen bits back to life with a warm sheen.

Even if you can’t or won’t ‘Marie Kondo’ your lingerie and sock drawers into rigorous order, these Santa Maria Novella scented wax tablets impregnated with the citrus notes of Acqua Della Regina (classic eau de cologne), will make your jumble of socks and underwear smell very fancy. Queen Caterina de Medici would be very proud of you.

The Five Second Brow Lift

Top to bottom: Revolution Brow Soap, e.l.f. Brow Lift, Iconic London Brow.

When you turn 50 the government should send you a beautiful cake and something for your brows.

A cake would be nice and lord knows we deserve it, having made it this far, but the brow kit is critical. Because in addition to all the nonsense that happens to our bodies around that milestone birthday, our brows can go crazy in one of two ways.

“You’ll either get wiry, coarse brows or they’ll just become finer and finer and disappear,” brow artist Maribeth Madron once told me as she tamed my wild caterpillars with her signature Rubis tweezers.

If your brows pull a disappearing act, daily use of a brow serum can give them a second chance at life. But if nature has decided to bless you with brows that have started to curl like a Toni home perm, an industrial strength brow product (favourites listed below) will rein them in and make them lay flat. Then just brush them upwards, as brows that point down can make you look like a sad clown painting. And because these brow fixes aren’t tinted, you will never look overdone (see again: sad clown), but the effect will be dramatic.

Or you can head to the salon for chemical ‘brow lamination’, but I’d much rather spend five seconds with a brush.

From Top:

1. Revolution Beauty Soap Brow, $18, Shoppers Drug Mart, is a misnomer, as this soft waxy solid is soap with shea butter to keep brows in place. A sturdy wide brush makes it easy to brush brows up and the faint scent is an added bonus.

2. e.l.f. Brow Lift clear eyebrow gel, $8, elf cosmetics.com and Shoppers Drug Mart, a wee pot of glycerin-based, clear paste, is as mighty as it is tiny. it looks like gel, but it too has a waxy texture for taming the most unruly brows. And you cannot beat the price.

3. Iconic London is a brand for flossy young influencer girls who wear a lot of makeup. Ignore all that, go to Sephora and get this slender tube of Liquid Brow Silk Max Gel, $31, Sephora.ca. The thick white lotion dries clear and holds brushed up brows in place like a champ.

A ‘November Box’ For Hunkering Down in Style

The welcoming front hall in designer Rose Uniacke’s London home.

A November box is a collection of treats to help see you through the rain and chill of November, which is, in fact, the cruelest month, not April.

HomeCourt from Courteney Cox is a welcomed not reviled celebrity brand.

For those of us who don’t want our homes to smell like a giant synthetic lemon after we’ve cleaned, Homecourt surface cleaner, $20 US, (mine was a gift from a dear friend) is a revelation. So, thank you, Courteney Cox for launching scented homecare instead of yet another celebrity skincare line. Cece (one of four beautiful, non fake lemon scents) is gently smoky with cardamom, cinnamon and leather. It makes your living space smell like a mansion turned members-only club: all wood panelling and deep, down-filled chesterfields to lounge on in front of roaring fires as discreet staff bring you drinks and lovely nibbles on silver trays.

Vetiver is so smokily resinous, earthy and grounding in fragrances (like Chanel’s best in breed, Sycomore) that I never understood why there aren’t more vetiver candles. Diptyque’s Vetyver candle, $98, Holt Renfrew, is both grassy and evocative of a humid jungle but also cozy and wintery. And if you are in Toronto, head to Yorkdale Mall, because it houses Canada’s first freestanding Diptyque boutique. This, more than the coming downtown Nobu should truly make Toronto ‘world class’, yes?

It gets dark by 4:30 p.m., so celebrate that and have a drink. No, not alcohol. Chocolate! Specifically, SOMA chocolatemaker Dark Side of the Mug drinking chocolate, $8. Mixed into hot water (or hot milk if you are feeling flush) it will give you the serotonin you need in the darkness, as chocolate contains tryptophan, a precursor to serotonin. #betterlivingthroughscience.

It’s time to reread Nancy Mitford’s classic The Pursuit of Love before India Knight’s modern reworking, Darling is available in Canada. Luckily the modernized reimagining is getting good reviews, but the original, and its companion book, Love in a Cold Climate (same time frame, different characters) are worth an annual reread, or a first read if you have never had the pleasure.

Birkenstocks, my father’s favourite shoes, will one day return to being woefully out of style. But in the meantime, I am enjoying seeing bulbous-toed, jolie laide Bostons on the same people who, in 2016, wore furry Gucci Princetown slides. Shearling lined Birkenstock Bostons, $220, make cozy slippers and the closed toe hides the evidence if you’ve been skipping pedicures in the winter. Get the Black or the Mocha (dark brown) that are lined in dark shearling. The pale suede ‘mink’ ones are pretty but they’re lined in white shearling, which is impossible to keep clean and they will look shabby quickly despite your best efforts.

No need to fear the dry, moisture-sucking air this winter if you have this generously-sized jar of Laline Dead Sea Minerals Salt Scrub, in the shower (laline.ca, $45.) The fig and sandalwood scent is both brightly green and earthily soothing while the sea salt gently nudges away dead skin cells as the argan oil and glycerin soften your skin.

Klorane Baby Cologne is pure #sweaterweatherperfume

Is it a cheat to recommend baby cologne as #sweaterweatherperfume? Isn’t it just a liquid version of baby powder?

Except Klorane Petit Brin Eau Parfumée is French baby cologne (technically alcohol-free, scented water) for those Parisian infants being wheeled down Boulevard St. Germain in prams by impossibly beautiful young mothers. Elegant yet softly cozy and comforting, it is #sweaterweatherperfume in its purest state.

A mix of white flowers with (apparently, because I don’t detect them) ‘fruity’ notes, Petit Brin smells like luxurious bath oil not classic North American baby powder.

Sure there are more sophisticated powdery fragrances with added musk and amber notes to make them even more sweater weather-y and more adult. I love them too, but sometimes you just want full-on powdery comfort and nothing else.

Klorane Petit Brin needs to be on any pharmacy shopping list when you travel to France, but it’s also available in Canada at Well.ca for only $24, so you can get it right now.

Gym Lips?

Every generation believes they invented sex. And now, every generation thinks they invented using nude lip pencil under lip balm.

Old beauty tricks have found new life on Instagram and TikTok for the next generation and I am trying not to roll my eyes too hard, because once you get past the clickbait-y names, it’s good to be reminded of these moves.

Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk pencil with By Terry Baume de Rose is another excellent pairing.

• Gym lips is the evocative new name for outlining and filling in your lips with a pinky-nude pencil topped off with a bit of lip balm. A classic no-makeup makeup ruse (that could easily go undetected at the gym, ergo the name) it’s a great way to sharpen a fading lip line and boost natural colour. And the name is clever, so why does it make me churlish?

Nota Bene: when you are past 50, it’s best is to select a pencil that is a touch more berry toned, to return some colour to your fading, bloodless lips. Sephora Collection lip pencil in Rosewood, regularly $8, is such a ‘universally wearable” shade and right now, everything Sephora Collection line is 30% off until November 7th, so the pencil is a mere $5.60. Top it with a dot of non-shiny balm like Lip Wrap Reviving Balm from Ilia, $32, (also at Sephora) and done!

• Skin Cycling is what TikTokers call the sensible practise of not attacking your delicate skin every night with strong, active-heavy skincare. Alternate using retinol or vitamin C with nights of just moisturizing to prevent your face from becoming an inflamed, peeling, angry mess. It’s that simple.

• Liquid Hair (as seen on Dakota Johnson in this Vogue story) is what the rest of us call really shiny hair (usually thanks to luck-of-the-draw genes and an assist from a silicone-forward hair serum). Silicone needs to be used sparingly - three drops are usually enough. But if you overdo it with your anti-frizz hair serum and end up looking like you haven’t washed your hair in weeks, just remember that you didn’t make a mistake, you just now have ‘liquid hair’.

This is actually a good rule for any mistakes you make in life. Just re-name them and say they were intentional.

The Joy of Deceptive Suitcases

As much as I want an old and battered Louis Vuitton Keepall with patinaed leather the colour of cognac, I actually don’t understand the penchant for really expensive suitcases. They’re like a beacon to thieves, begging to be pinched.

Away hardcases: millennial pink was the colour of choice.

Suitcases for regular folk used to be relatively anonymous. Just picture the endless parade of black rollies coming down the chute at baggage claim.

But in 2015, Away luggage launched their colourful roller bags that came with built-in chargers so you’d always have enough juice in your phone to post travel pics (including your snappy new suitcase) to Instagram. Then, in 2016, LVMH spent $716 million for a majority stake in German luggage stalwart Rimowa, and suddenly your suitcase was now one more thing you had to worry about in the name of fashun.

But because I believe that anonymity Is cool and security is even cooler, here’s some travel advice from Shakira Caine, who, as the wife of actor Michael Caine, spent a lot of time bouncing between her husband's movie locations and glamorous holidays. In a long ago print interview she recommended covering your suitcase with children’s stickers to thwart thieves who would then hopefully ignore your bag, assuming it contained nothing more than kid’s clothing. They would then turn their attention to more desirable quarry, like, say any Vuitton Keepalls within view.

As air travel has ramped back up to pre-pandemic levels and checked luggage is going astray more often, a bag that actually ‘flies under the radar’ is a good idea. Airlines are still woefully understaffed and although I don’t know any personally, I’m assuming that thieves are happy to be out there ‘working’ again.

But for Shakira Caine’s sticker plan to work you have to commit. Don’t just cover a Rimowa like this (right), because the effect is actually cool, leading one to assume that this case contains what? Box fresh sneakers and vintage selvedge Levi’s? Or maybe a trifle like Balenciaga’s new $1500 leather clutch that looks like a crumpled Lay’s potato chip bag?

No. You need uncool children’s stickers: drawings of apples and kittens and maybe a SpongeBob or two.

And if that involves too much effort, then how about a child’s suitcase from a Disney franchise, like this Olaf and Sven the reindeer number from Frozen? And no, sorry. No Elsa and Anna allowed. Secondary characters only.

Obviously, you need nerve to wheel this up to reception at your hotel, but it probably won’t get nicked and if you do have to check it because you bought wine on your trip, at least it will stand out at the baggage carousel.

Forever Summer: Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Neroli

Ignore all the online sweater and boot propaganda. There are roughly four weeks of summer left, so let’s extend the happy, bare skin feeling because soon enough the central air will get switched on and we’re all going to shrivel up like raisins.

The original Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse.

The original Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse was already the star of every single French Pharmacy haul video or story for its lightweight, non-greasy ‘dry oil’ feeling, its warm skin scent and magical ability to smooth frizzy hair and instantly make skin look supple. It epitomizes my belief that beauty-wise, French women have it better than we do. And now Nuxe has launched Huile Prodigieuse Néroli, ($53, Shoppers Drug Mart) a certified organic version scented with neroli oil, from the blossom of the bitter orange tree. Heady but with enough green citrus sharpness to keep it fresh, neroli is the smell of French summer.

Scent aside, Huile Prodigieuse is a skincare workhorse with antioxidant- and anti-inflammatory rich sesame seed oil to help repair skin and give hair strength and shine and plum seed oil, with fatty acids for dry skin and hair — critical as the weather turns to s(&^! and the air loses moisture.

Use it to gleam up your shoulders, shins and forearms, rub it into your cuticles (don’t forget your toes have cuticles too) and run some through your hair to smooth frizz or coax out some waves. Then head out into the world, smelling heavenly and glowing greaselessly.

‘Greaselessly.’ Not a beauty word. Oh well. Still accurate.

Friday Five August 19

Oh, this view. Shall we all meet on these lovely deck chairs somewhere in Italy? I’m an obedient sunscreen user but I do love the devotion to sunbathing you see on the Mediterranean.

Anyway, here’s what’s on my mind as we head into one of the last August weekends, from the infuriating (the untimely firing of Lisa LaFlamme) to the sublime (boozy dessert). Happy Friday!

Well, Lisa LaFlamme was let go from her post as CTV national news anchor and the women of Canada roared back. You can read Leanne Delap’s analysis here in The Kit (yours truly contributed a thought as well.) Who would have thought that letting your grey hair grow out would cause such consternation in the C suite?

If you have plans to hang out and watch a movie this weekend, I strongly recommend I’m Your Man, a German romcom from last year. Not only does it have a female lead in her late 40s (!!), but because it’s not a formulaic American studio comedy, you can’t predict where the plot is going, which is just so refreshing.

This film would be a great bet to watch in deep, dark winter when we all need a lift, but I’m nervous that Crave.ca will boot it from their lineup by then, so I urge you to watch it now. It’s about a scientist who takes part in an experiment living with a robot who has been programmed to be her perfect partner. British actor Dan Stephens (whose German is excellent) plays the robot and after having seen him as the waxed-chested, flamboyant Russian pop idol in Eurovision, I am completely invested in seeing him become a huge star.

My favourite cocktail drink right now is like an amped up Paloma, but with grapefruit sorbet instead of juice to go along with the tequila. You just put a scoop of sorbet in a tallish glass and pour a shot of tequila over. Enjoy with a spoon. So what do we call this, a ‘Paloma’ slushy? Or maybe a ‘Tequila Affogato’ after the classic Italian dessert of espresso poured over vanilla ice cream? Name aside, this works as both a festive early evening cocktail or a simple (but possibly lethal) dessert.

Making your own grapefruit sorbet is easy — just some mixing, heating and stirring. Plus, you can make this even if you don’t have an ice cream machine as the added vodka (alcohol doesn’t freeze) prevents the mixture it from freezing into an unwieldy solid.

Pink Grapefruit Sorbet

Ingredients

3 cups freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice (I buy freshly squeezed juice at the gourmet store having rationalized that it costs the same as buying all those grapefruits. Much easier.)

2 tablespoons light (clear) corn syrup

2/3 cup granulated sugar

3 or 4 tablespoons of vodka

Instructions

Prepare the mixture the day before you want it and let it cool overnight in the fridge before churning or get your mixture assembled and chilling early early in the morning (like, before your coffee) so you can freeze it that afternoon for a late dinner.

In a small saucepan, heat one cup of the grapefruit juice with the granulated sugar and the corn syrup over low heat until the sugars dissolve. Add this mixture to the remaining grapefruit juice, add the vodka and put the whole thing into the freezer to cool for a couple of hours or into the fridge overnight.

The next day, when it is thoroughly chilled, churn it in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer instructions. If you don’t have an ice cream maker you can pour it into a loaf pan or shallow dish, stick it into the freezer and run a fork through it every 30-45 minutes or so while it’s firming up to break up the ice crystals.

If you are one of the silver or blonde tribe, there is nothing like Kérastase Blonde Absolu masque Ultra Violet, $74, Sephora, to bring your hair back from the edge, and light it up so it’s visible from space (I exaggerate, but only slightly.) This mask will keep your hair bright and beautifully moisturized and de-frizzed. (FYI, so many purple shampoos dry your hair out like crazy so don’t overly rely on them but do use a mask and a conditioner a lot if you are silver-haired.)

Silver hair maintenance, step two: L’Oréal’s Color Radiance Purple Reviving Oil, $9,49, Shoppers Drug Mart, is a hair smoothing, yellow-banishing serum-slash-leave-in-treatment you can use between shampoos. Use it sparingly (you can always add more, but you can’t add less) and for heaven’s sake, wash your hands afterwards because it is purple (did I mention that it’s purple?) It is very effective at turning faintly yellowing drying out hair into a silvery, light-reflecting, wonder.

After Sun Bliss: Exfoliating Bar Soap

Oh, the pure, unalloyed joy of unwrapping a fresh bar of soap to take into the shower. Specifically, this one, the SheaMoisture 100% Virgin Coconut Oil & Shea Butter Soap, $7.50 CAN, amazon.ca. A hefty half-pound of lightly scented, skin-nourishing happiness, it also contains finely ground coconut fruit and shell to gently exfoliate. All you have to do is rub it all over your skin after a day spent outdoors to gently remove grime and now past-it sunscreen. It’s as soothing as a head scratch but for your entire body.

Ah, bar soap. The world has slowly capitulated to body washes and in the mid teens bar soap sales declines precipitously as millennials viewed it as unhygienic and hard on skin so only men should use it on their rough, beardy faces. Body wash was convenient (shudder) and bar soap was a fusty relic of your grandmother’s powder room. (Remember all those pale blue, shell-shaped guest soaps in milk glass dishes?) And thus began the global domination of body wash and pump hand soaps and we lost the sensorial delight of unwrapping a fresh bar, the engraved letters still crisp under our fingers. I remember reading someone declare that if they won the lottery, they would open a new bar of soap every day for their bath.

Unlike pricy scented bars from fragrance brands — my favourite Sisley soap is now $135, which is patently absurd — SheaMoisture’s coconut oil and shea butter soap is very well priced. Each half pound bar (227 grams) is only $7.50, so you can make a pleasing stack of them in your linen closet to greet you every time you open the door to grab a towel. Because that too is one of life’s great pleasures: being welcomed by tidy, all-white towers of neatly folded linens, towels and an ample soap stash. It’s the little things.