10 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: From SAD Lamps to Spring-Ready Sweaters

When it comes to picking a nonstick skillet, our kitchen and dining writer Emma Wartzman says to look for something “moderately priced” but also a “workhorse.” “I wouldn’t spend much more than $100 on something that will inevitably need to be replaced, but I also wouldn’t spend too little on a random pan that is bound to fall apart after only a year or two (if not sooner),” she explains. This Zwilling skillet hits that “sweet spot,” according to Wartzman and plenty of other experts she spoke to. Rebecca Firkser, an editor and recipe developer at Food52, likes that even after accidentally scraping her pan with metal utensils she’s “never seen a scratch on the surface.” Recipe developer and cookbook author Molly Baz likes “the way it feels in my hand ergonomically,” and that it’s actually dishwasher safe. “I have been putting it in the dishwasher since I bought it four or five years ago, and it shows no signs of degraded coating,” she says.

If, instead, you’re on the hunt for a desk lamp, Ro also has you covered. After talking to experts, she was pointed towards this Hay’s Matin lamp, which “adds a bit of flair to your desk.” Liza Curtiss and Corey Kingston, the co-founders of architecture-and-design studio Le Whit, are both fans, describing it as “sophisticated and fun.” They love that its conical, pleated shade comes in a wide range of colors like red, green, lavender, and yellow, and they tell us it “pulls the traditional pleated shade into a more playful future.”

When we spoke to actress Lala Kent about the things she can’t live without, she brought up this electric toothbrush, which she discovered on Instagram two summers ago. “I became completely obsessed,” she says. “It comes with three different heads and this blue light that kills all the bacteria after you use the toothbrush, which I’m a huge fan of. I love killing bacteria.” Not only that, she says that the rose gold colorway makes it “so chic. I usually hate toothbrushes on the countertop, but this is so sleek that I leave it out.”

Strategist contributor Aubree Nichols was tired of looking tired, so she treated herself to a LED light therapy mask instead of Botox. “LED masks and injectables like filler and Botox make some of the same promises: Smoothed lines and a more supple, youthful appearance,” she explains. “But as someone who got their first hit of Botox at 25 and has had many syringes of fillers shot into her face in the years since, the red light mask is so attractive because the effects of LED light are supposedly cumulative and lasting.” After a few weeks of consistent use, Nichols noticed her skin looked “looked supple and especially bouncy with a just-got-laid glow,” and another unexpected benefit: “The CurrentBody’s 49 LED lights acted like a Xanax for my masseters — my lockjaw was no longer a thing,” she writes. After learning the red lights have shown to decrease inflammation, she began using the mask “to relax other parts of my body like my right trapezius, where I carry all my tension, and my lower back for period cramps.” Perhaps the biggest feat of all, it even “helped me stay zen while driving. Because L.A. traffic, y’all.”

“Somehow the solution to a cramped Brooklyn apartment was for my boyfriend and I to fit our lives — and the cat’s — into a camper van,” writes contributor Ali Slagle. “The irony is in our little van, the everyday does get less congested.” That’s in part because their “living room became campfires in parks and on BLM land,” but also because they found plenty of tools that are “essential, multipurpose, lightweight, durable, and small enough to warrant inclusion in one of the three drawers that extend out the back of the van.” That includes this camp stove, which Slagle says “can do anything a house stove can do — and faster.” Unlike some other camp stoves, the two burners can simultaneously cook at different temperatures and comfortably fit large skillets. And, she points out that the “heat is what is really stellar; I haven’t timed it, but it seems like it boils water in 90 seconds.”

In our rummaging through the sales bins this week, we found a very good deal on a Strategist favorite. This Everlane sweater, which can easily be dressed up or down, is one of those all-star items with nearly universal appeal among our writers and editors. Mia Leimkuhler, our newsletter editor (and self-confessed Everlaneologist) says, “When the temperature drops, I practically live in my Oversized Alpaca Crew sweater. It’s lightweight but still really warm, and the slightly fluffy texture reminds me of the angora sweaters my mom used to wear.” Right now, you can take 30 percent off the sweater in a spring-ready lily-green hue, which brings the price down from $100 to $70. It’s on sale in other colors, too, like a neutral clay that’ll go with anything and a bright and cheery cobalt.

If your collection of indoor plants has grown lately, it might be time to find a place for them that isn’t your narrow windowsill. We suggest “something that has an open design to let in light and that can support a decent amount of weight and hold up to the occasional water spill,” including this “dynamic” plant stand that happens to come on wheels. This means, you can “easily move all your plants at the same time — whether it’s for better sunlight or to take them outside for a mess-free repotting day.”