Newslettering 45: OMG hello!
Hello! Hi! Good day!
I hope you're doing awesome. Since we last talked in *checks calendar* 2018, I've been keeping my head down and doing my thang. In case you forgot who I am, my name is Anna Goldfarb and I used to write the dating blog Shmitten Kitten. Then I authored a humor memoir about my zany adventures called “Clearly, I Didn’t Think This Through.” I've since become a contributing writer to the New York Times where I write service articles about friendships, relationships, careers and pop psychology. You can check out my NYT articles here if you want. No pressure!
Here’s what I look like in case we’ve never met:
In addition to being a freelance reporter for the NYT, I'm also working on a book proposal about how to be an awesome best friend. I'm a frazzled alley cat who has no idea how friendships are supposed to work once you're old enough to use tretinoin. So I'm writing a book to help all the other frazzled alley cats out there figure out what the hell is going on! The project is still in the early stages so I’ll keep you posted with how it all ~goes~. If the proposal sells, I’ll tell you. If it doesn’t sell, I’ll tell you too because we should normalize failure, right?
I started this newsletter to share a few things I'm digging (reality TV shows, podcasts, makeup and skincare recs, seasonal Trader Joe's items, random shit I find at Target) and a few things I want to bare my teeth and hiss at (Amazon Video's layout, humidity, the fact that my Secret deodorant suddenly stopped working??). If this sounds fun, by all means keep on reading! If you're not digging the cut of my jib, no hard feelings. You can unsubscribe and we'll pretend this never happened.
A bit of housekeeping: I switched from using Tinyletter to Substack. The interface is a little more user friendly here so that’s why I made the change. It’s still free. I'm hoping to send this newsletter out every week or so. I'm also hoping to have some guest writers to broaden the perspective. So let's get to it.
Things I'm stoked about:
Revlon Kiss balm ($4.99-ish) - Think of this as cherry chapstick's fun older cousin who wears crop tops and busts out a cartwheel anytime she finds herself on a lush patch of grass. It’s affordable, juicy, hydrating and has a pleasing retro cherry scent. I also have the berry flavor and it’s just as dope. They’re cheap enough where I can stash a few in my purse, in my desk and in my makeup collection. (Speaking of organizing makeup, I adore this clear, rotating makeup organizer just FYI.)
The Lofty Pursuits YouTube channel - If you want to watch calming videos about people making old-timey candy, LOOK NO FURTHER. Some people stream videos of eagle nests or penguin coves to decompress. I watch a fella in Tallahassee, Florida wrangle molten hot sugar. If you don’t know where to start, this one about making a humongous candy cane is as good of an introduction as any.
Rare beauty liquid touch concealer brush ($16) - If you wear concealer every day, sure you can use your finger to pat it into your skin. But, having a brush tap the product into your skin feeler much nicer. Do you need a concealer brush? I mean, not really? But it’s a tiny luxury I afford myself so I don’t have to dab my fingers into my eye sockets. The brush is soft and angled perfectly for all the little face crevices.
Glossier Solar Paint ($20) - Glossier’s makeup is a little hit-or-miss for my tastes. But their newest addition to their makeup line has been a pleasant surprise. It’s a cream bronzer with a doe foot applicator you dot onto your cheeks. It easily melts into the skin and gives me a nice bronzy flush so I don’t look like the anti-sun, antisocial hermit I’ve been the past year and change.
Things I'm scowling at:
The graveyard of unfinished reality competition shows I never got around to finishing - Glow Up (Netflix), Metal Shop Masters (Netflix), Making the Cut (Amazon) The Big Flower Fight (Netflix). The list goes on and on. These half-watched abandoned shows litter my queue like orphaned projects. I hate them I think?? Sidenote: I just saw that The Great British Baking Show is coming back to Netflix today so it seems my high-quality competition show prayers have been answered.
Oat milk - I’m sorry but oat milk is vile. It smells like baby vomit and I refuse to believe people enjoy it on purpose.
Vague tweets - I truly hate that someone takes the time to type out a tweet that contains no information.
“I can’t wait to share my good news with you guys!”
“Stay tuned for some *sparkle emoji* personal updates *sparkle emoji*”
I promise you I will NEVER write tweets like that. Twitter already feels like a screamy moshpit of alarms and complaints. I don’t have time to read something that fails to entertain, inform or enlighten! I have videos of old-timey candymaking to watch.
Until next time,
your bud,
Anna
@AnnaGoldfarb - my vague tweet-free Twitter