Hello! Happy summer solstice! June has been hit-or-miss for us (ask Taylore about her broken laptop!), but we’re back in your inbox with yet another Creamline. Let’s get started, shall we?
Part I: Frivolities
CC: The Scented: On a hot sticky day (hello from 90-degree, 90% humidity Vermont!), there’s nothing more refreshing than smelling clean and powdery. I’m not a swamp creature, I’m a goddamn lady! Keiko Mecheri Peau de Peche is a powdery, ethereal take on a fuzzy white peach that I simply cannot get enough of at the moment.
The SPF: One of my favorite skincare social media follows is Charlotte Palermino, co-founder of Dieux skincare. She has a great soapbox (as a Virgo, I never use soapbox as an insult, btw) about how
-The last time the FDA approved a new SPF filter was the Bush administration
-K Beauty is way ahead of us on that front
-The line between chemical and physical sunscreens is more of a gray area
-The best SPF is the one that you like, because it’s only effective if you put it on
Anyway, so I’m obsessed with this one by Skin1004, which is CHEAP, adds the most ridiculous glow and feels like a skincare product more than a sunscreen. Don’t buy it on Amazon (because fakes abound), but you can buy it on Stylevana, YesStyle, and their official website.
The Summery: My local grocery store has started stocking squash blossoms, and I have responded by eating them. My boyfriend has taken on that task, and I’m told does a simple flour + carbonated water batter and a mix of melty + soft cheese in the filling, as well as some allium action.
TG: The Marine: The past few weeks have been busy, and I spent every spare second of them in a metaphorical fishnet. I came into some bottarga, which I showered into bucatini with zucchini flowers, and on one recent weeknight, I made a warm spring potato salad with some tinned tuna in oil, peas, asparagus, and basil in an easy mustard vinaigrette.
Meals out included Wildair’s always-excellent clams with XO and almond milk, Long Island Bar’s smoked trout spread, and Saint Julivert’s shiso and scallop tacos. I also had a cool dinner at KinGin, a new Japanese spot in LES. Everything was lovely — Ikura! Whole mackerel! Soy sauce tiramisu! — but especially their King Crab Chawanmushi (caviar, lion’s mane, bacon), which tastes like fancy-as-fuck chicken soup in a very good way.
The Mystical: Now that I'm getting back to fiction writing little by little, my summer reading list has unsurprisingly become magical realism-heavy. I just tore through Melissa Broder’s Death Valley (sweaty with grief, dread, and hope all at once) and am about to crack into the translated edition of Layla Martínez’ Woodworm. Still in my cart: Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar, Kelly Link’s The Book of Love, and Xochitl Gonzalez’s Anita de Monte Laughs Last.
The Mundane: Every time I turn on a subpar dating show (read: Perfect Match) I think about how all this Netflix money would be far better spent on another season of Dating Around. The demand is there!
Behind today’s paywall: Taylore’s massive influx of mail and the kitchen appliance, geriatric cereal, and surprising cleaning products Christine can’t live without.
And, as a little summer treat, we’re offering 20% off the next year of monthly or yearly subscriptions if you subscribe by June 30th. Go go go.
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