March Unstructured

Okay, Work Wives, I have some big news!

Okay, Work Wives. Gather round.

We have so much to celebrate this month. First of all, we hit 18,000 subscribers (what?!), were named a freaking Substack Bestseller (!!!), and apparently we’re now #13 on the rising Fashion & Beauty charts, which, no big deal, just means we’re kind of a big deal now. You did that. I love you. Never leave me.

To say thank you, I’m doing one of my favorite things: giving away two massive care packages filled with PR goodies worth over $500 (let’s be real, they’re closer to $1,000+). Think NARS, Laura Mercier, Revlon, Paula’s Choice, Sunday Riley… basically all the brands that make your top shelf look like a Vogue editorial.

Paid subscribers are automatically entered every month because duh, I believe in rewarding loyalty with skincare and serotonin.

And friendly reminder: a paid subscription is the cost of your favorite drugstore lip balm. It’s $5/month if you go annual. That’s it. That’s the pitch.

This little exercise of creating and publishing a monthly review started as a fun little project in October of last year. It’s since turned into a pretty valuable exercise for me. It forces me to look inward and in a very tangible way.

Real quick, the Amazon, the Spring Sale ends tomorrow and there’s a lot of home, things for moms and littles, and a few beauty things that I think are worth picking up.

You can see the clickable version here

I went ahead and put together 3 small lists for you guys. These are all things that I *personally* bought and own in my home and would recommend them to my friends.

• Prime Day Home

• Prime Day Beauty

• Prime Day Moms & Littles

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I bought the “Mila” dress because I had to and I’m so excited to wear it to a baby shower tomorrow. It’s way more printed than I ever thought I could pull off, but I’m kinda here for it.

• I also picked up this dress during the Gap sale and I’m super excited to have another “throw on & go” dress for the summer. It’s comfy, mallable, and like $37 right now.

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• It’s SPF season and everyone asks what my favorite new sunscreens are. But the truth is that it hasn’t changed for about 3 years. It’s completely mineral and has no white cast. It’s the only one that Sahir will wear and it’s gentle enough to use on Mimi too. It’s also on sale for 20% right now — so, snag it now.

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What I’m Reading

• I’m about to DNF (did not finish) “Wedding People” which is the audiobook that I’ve been working on for like 3 months. My OCD says no, but my heart says that there are too many good books out there, I need to be okay letting this one go.

What I’m Rewatching

• I finally finished the Meghan Markle* TV show on Netflix and I have so many thoughts. I’m going to write it all up because I know you’re wondering if you should watch it or not.

• We’re also on our third season of Ted Lasso and I have a bone to pick with the people who labeled this a “feel good show”. I just want to say “Emily in Paris” is a feel good show. The second season for someone who lost their father and deals with panic attacks was less feel good a little too real for my taste. I do still like the show, but we need to relabel this, k friends?

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  Can you do me a favor? If you like this, will you hit the heart on the bottom of your email? I promise it helps!

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What I’m Talking About

• I’ve been making “adult lunchables” for lunch these past 2 weeks and I’m such a fan. It’s really just the “spicy Just Bare” chicken nuggets and then whatever veggies we meal prepped that week — usually cucumbers, celery, carrots. I add in a pickle, 2 mini slices of cheese and make a dipping sauce with greek yogurt and a Ranch seasoning pack + some buffalo sauce

• I talked about when I got the fancy (apple emoji) headphones I low key hated them and returned it within 12 hours. They gave me a literal headache and that’s just unacceptable for $600 headphones. A quick TikTok search proved that so many people had similar experiences and I’m just too old to prioritize aesthetics over discomfort. Instead I bought these (at full price) and now they are nearly 30% off. I use them daily on my walks and they are so comfortable, have noise cancelling, etc. If you’re looking for over the ear headphones — 10/10 recommend

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What I’m Wearing

• My girlfriend Bex and I were talking about the iconic nap dresses and how 5 years later they are still that girl. I have 2 already and I’m strongly considering this one in an iconic red. Do I need 3 dresses in the same silhouette?? Probably not but girl math says otherwise. They HAVE POCKETS. In all seriousness, you get so much use out of these dresses. I bought my sister one for the holidays 2 years ago and I swear she wore it everyday before, during, and after her pregnancy. The cost per wear is nominal if you do it right.

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• Minus the pollen, April is actually my favorite month. I have a theory that September and April are the best time to start new practices. Want to be a pilates girlie? Start in April. Want to start walking 10k steps everyday? It’s the perfect weather in the mornings and evenings. Whatever habits you want to start, go for it in April.

  Maybe it’s that we celebrate the Persian New Year on March 21st, that April really feels like the right time to just go for it. I’ll be working on my step goal and while 10k seems a little ridiculous, I think 7500 is a great starting point.

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The Water-Like Moisturizer You’ll Finish Immediately

This is one of my favorite moisturizers and we are now finished a fourth jar within a year. It lasts for a while, my husband just steals mine. Grabbing a restock during the Amazon Spring Sale.

K-Beauty Cushion Foundation That Stole The Internet

I bought my THIRD of these viral cushion foundations and I have no regrets. Truly Korean beauty is so superior and idnk why we dont have more cushion foundation products here. It’s a much lighter, softer, and buildable verison of the Maybelline Dream Matte mouse that I staked my LIFE on in middle school. IYKYK

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Drumroll…. time for our monthly care package winners!

Care package giveaways are worth over $500 of the best goodies as a thank you for supporting me & my work. Friendly reminder: a subscription is less than the cost of one latte a month

• The winners of our 2x Care Package giveaway (all paid subscribers are automatically entered): laurenehaden and Busymomfindstime

Please reply to this email & share about your hair, skin, and makeup preferences and I’ll add items that are custom to you in the box!

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