12 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: Headband Headphones to Handheld Fans

For the past three months, Strategist contributor Chelsey Pippin Mizzi — a self-described restless sleeper — hasn’t gone a night without this headphone headband, which lets her comfortably listen to books or music without disturbing her partner. Mizzi says its functionality is simple: The soft, stretchy material can be manipulated so that each flat speaker is flush against her ear, never jamming or poking in the night. As for the sound quality, “the audio comes through clear — no tinny static or flattened sound, and the range of volume is decent,” Mizzi says. And while she acknowledges its somewhat goofy appearance, Mizzi says “wearing it on a dog walk, to the gym, or at the airport doesn’t bother me at all.”

Actress Anna Cathcart can’t live without these pimple patches (our pick for hormonal acne), which she describes as “miracle workers” for deep, under-the-skin blemishes. Cathcart says the brand’s stickers are customized to treat varying skin types; her favorite, known as the Killa, has 24 dissolvable micro-darts designed to push salicylic acid, niacinamide, and hyaluronic acid into “really rough and hard to get rid of” bumps. “I put one on overnight, and it always slows it down, or helps get rid of it before it gets to the surface,” Cathcart says.

You’ve likely read the Strategist 100 (and our other greatest-hit collections for the kitchen, home, kids, and babies), and now, we bring you our latest catalogue: the Lighting District. This edit features 100 of our absolute favorite lighting implements, which includes Secret Service–approved flashlights, TikTok-viral LED light strips, and these ingenious bike lights used by Strategist writer Jeremy Rellosa for the last four years. “They’ve got elastic bands that attach to any handlebar or seat post, and they don’t budge, even while riding over the gnarliest road bumps,” he says. They’re also so compact that he can carry them in his pants pocket after locking up his bike. (They would also make a delightful Father’s Day gift for an outdoorsy dad.)

“I like to earth it a lot — that means go barefoot,” Erykah Badu says. When she ventures somewhere “a little too nasty” for her feet, the Grammy Award–winning singer-songwriter sticks these thin waterproof soles to her soles. “You’re still getting the reflexology when you’re stepping on the little pebbles and rocks, but you’re not getting the germs and cuts,” she says.

After living together for nearly a decade, Tessa Vermeulen, the founder and designer of Hai, and her husband, Gennaro Leone, have accumulated the necessities, which is why their wedding registry includes some more sentimental and special items they’ve long wanted. Along with a set of red-and-blue glasses they discovered at the hotel Le Sirenuse and an Ooni for garden pizza parties, the pair’s list includes this stainless-steel creamer to replace “a water jug we very much dislike,” Vermeulen says. “Just a nice, simple metal jug,” she says. “That’s it. No crazy backstory” — except she says that all the couple’s serveware is made by the 100-year-old Italian company. Must be nice.

Walking the entirety of the Pacific Coast Trail requires super-lightweight and durable backpacking gear, so Rellosa spoke to thru-hiking veterans to get the lowdown on what marks someone as not a total noob. Harrison Bacordo, a Denver-based software engineer who completed the trek last September, says more than 90 percent of PCT hikers use Smartwater bottles because they’re lighter than Nalgenes or stainless-steel drinking vessels. In conjunction, many also use this Sawyer system — which is compatible with Smartwater’s plastic sport cap, so you don’t lose water when you drink, Bacordo says — to remove harmful bacteria, protozoa, and sediment.