What Amanda Dobbins Can’t Live Without

Not sponsored, though I’d love for it to be, butSarah Michelle Gellar locked down the campaign first. Anyway: I’m a negroni person, have been since well before thesbagliato meme, and feel very strongly that the only correct way to make a negroni is with Campari. In Los Angeles where I live, it’s en vogue to substitute a fancier bitter or amaro, usually one with the murky characteristics of a natural and, God forbid, orange wine. To this I say: no. Give me the original,preferably in these exact measurements.We can have the orange-wine conversation another day.

I do my own hair and makeup for podcasts, so I had to narrow down this category dramatically. I’m sorry toVictoria Beckham Beauty’s Foundation Drops,Merit’s Great Skin Duo,Westman Atelier’s Vital Skincare Concealer, andHermès’s Matte lipstick(I know, I know, but it’s the only thing that stays put). Many products come and go, depending on the day, the wardrobe, how tired I am — but the 19/99 Cream Highlight Stick is on my face every damn day, giving me the “I have cheekbones and I’m having fun” party-photo look perfected by Elle Fanning. 19/99 is a Canadian brand that I learned about fromAmanda at Iris+West; mascara is great too!

You hear someone talking about a yogurt — evenformer Strategist contributorand831 Stories co-founder Erica Cerulo,the friend with immaculate taste who recommended Painterland Sisters to me — and you think,Yeah, okay, but how good can a yogurt be? I will go door to door for this yogurt if I have to. (No one has asked me to.) I tried to buy cheaper yogurt for my sons and keep the Painterland for myself, but they learned to distinguish the packaging and now scream for the good stuff. To be honest, all yogurt is so expensive now that I gave in. I respect their discernment.

I’ve learned the hard way — seeThe Great Bathing Suit Experiment of July 2026— that clothing recommendations are extra difficult. Bodies are different! Tastes are different! Sometimes the products are different, depending on where you buy them. (I can’t prove this, but I swear the Petit Bateau crewnecks I bought in Paris are made with a different cotton mix than thecrewnecks I bought on Amazon.) This jean short is the only piece of clothing that I can confidently say works on everyone, and that is because I have done the work. Tall, petite, hips, no hips, butt, no butt (guilty), nine months pregnant, legs of all lengths — I have seen, with my own eyes, the Agolde Parker Long suit them all. I prefer the cutoff style but last summer I was wearingthe hemmed version, which just goes to show that people can change, and the shorts change with them. Widely available on TRR and Poshmark FYI!

Please don’t close the tab because you saw the word “lymphatic!” But yes, we’re moving into the face-devices portion of this list. I have tried them all (except for theLYMA Laserbecause I’m not made of money). I am quite devoted to theZiip Halo, which has already been recommended on the Strategist bynone other than Jennifer Aniston, so all set there. But I find I reach for this tool daily because it requires no gel, no rinsing, no charging or freezing, and no real know-how — you just brush your face, and then you look a little less puffy. I am someone who wakes up with “sushi face,” as Julianne Moore coined it, and I find this brush makes a difference, even if it’s just placebo confidence. (I don’t think it is, though.) I switched from a cheaper Instagram version to Cecily Braden becauseKaitlin Phillipssaid this one is patented, and I like to do what Kaitlin says whenever possible.

When we moved into this house six years ago, its door and trim were painted in a robin’s-egg blue that turned a hundred-year-old former duplex into a Mediterranean villa, or maybe a hobbit house gone on vacation. (The cans we found in the garage are a custom mix, but the closest match I could find on my phone isBenjamin Moore Rocky Mountain Sky.) My husband and I suspect that the blue trim alone added thousands to the price of our home, which I guess is some real-estate advice if you’re selling — but we find the blue immensely charming, and I love the fact that I now live in “the house with the blue door” à laNotting Hill.A few years later, we turned the second kitchen from the former duplex into a primary bathroom, and inspired by the trim I picked a gray-blue (but emphasis on the blue) paint to cover the entire room, even the ceilings. There’s a good joke inThe Inviteabout choosing paint colors and it’s true that committing to something big at such a scale can be intimidating — ooh, it’s a metaphor — but color can bring such joy! Let it in! If it sucks, you can repaint it.

I spent three years doing IVF and another four pregnant and/or nursing (while supplementing every day, I love you Enfamil), which is to say I had a seven-year run there when my body was not my own. I have responded to this by getting really into working out but in a cool way. If you’re lucky enough to live in New York, you can attend SotoMethod classes in studio, but here in Los Angeles I do it in my room with the app and some free weights. Soto was founded by Hilary Hoffman, who still leads many of the classes and who is the most get-shit-done person I have ever met through a screen, my highest compliment. The classes are divided into four-minute-and-20-second increments, and the main goal is efficiency; you can customize classes according to how much time you have or what you want to accomplish, or follow the specific strength, fertility, prenatal, and postnatal programs. Also, there are no surprises, which I think about every time a Pilates instructor throws one more pike-to-plank into the mix at the end of a studio class. “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them” — great advice for essays and exercise alike.

Full disclosure: I originally had theYoyo BabyZenin this spot as my stroller/kid pick. I’m quite passionate about the Yoyo and about travel strollers more generally — if you only have one stroller, I do think it should be a travel stroller that folds up and fits anywhere. (And I do think you should buy it on Facebook Marketplace!) Beyond that, it’s a geography and lifestyle decision; as someone who lives in a car city, I use a travel stroller for errands/restaurants/car-based tasks and my beloved Thule Urban Glide 2 for walks and actual running. This is the Rolls-Royce of strollers. I feel so fancy pushing it. It does in fact glide over everything, including uneven sidewalks and most park terrain. It’s large and hard to store, so the Thule is not going to be ideal for a city-block-based lifestyle. But to actually jog behind, I can’t endorse anything else.

My Aunt Betty taught me how to duck under waves in the ocean, how to make Key-lime pie, and how to make fun of the people you love most. I inherited her solitaire engagement ring and wanted to find a way to wear it regularly; my friend Claire Mazur recommended Kathryn Bentley, who does custom heirloom pieces along withher beautiful jewelry. I met with Kathryn shortly after the birth of my son Knox, who Betty never got to meet, and Kathryn very kindly let Knox come to our last fitting (in his Yoyo stroller), so now when I put the ring on I think of Knox and Betty both, together.

This is an L.A.-specific recommendation that can be made international with the help ofa Kismet cookbookand/or a motivated investor willing to bottle and distribute this stuff. Best chile oil I’ve ever had!!! Sold exclusively as a side order at Kismet Rotisserie, which is the fast-casual mini-chain spinoff of Kismet, a wonderful vegetable-forward restaurant where I once saw Ruth Reichl. (Take that, New York.) The recipe for the chile oil is also in the Kismet cookbook and it does get close to the original; they say the cinnamon is the secret. I still think the chile oil proper should be available on shelves throughout this great land. Maybe for my next column!