Guest Strategist Haul: What Audrey Gelman Bought in January

As part of my overall 2018 goal of feeling more like a grown-up, I purchased this handsome welcome mat for our house. Terrain is one of my favorite online stores for everything house and yard related and makes me feel like I live in Connecticut.

I learned about Harlem Candle Company at the Wing’s recent Small Business Saturday event featuring female-owned shops. Not only do the candles all smell incredible but they each have a story rooted in Harlem history. I now get hygge with the Holiday and Langston candles every weekend.

I got these Morihata charcoal toothbrushes at Coming Soon, one of my favorite female-owned small businesses; they sell a million great things, but I recently bought these to make my dental routine feel a little more dynamic.

I recently gave my bed a whole new look in an attempt to feel like a truly self-actualized adult. I can’t count the number of times I have thrown myself on a display bed at ABC Carpet adorned in one of these John Robshaw coverlets, and now, finally, I live in a display bed.

Terrazzo is in, have you heard?! For me, it always will be. When I close my eyes, I actually see terrazzo. So I eagerly smashed that “buy now” button when I found this delightful barrette from indie jewelry designer Surface Handmade.

Editor’s Note: This Surface Handmade Barrette is no longer available in Terrazzo, but there are other patterned barrettes on the Surface Handmade site.

I stan for Chanel generally but this is one of my favorite recent beauty inventions [editor’s note: Chanel is a beauty sponsor at the Wing.] The hand cream is rich but not sticky, has a clean, extremely subtle rose scent and the egg shape is a triumph of product design.

Pamela Card is my new favorite jewelry designer. She’s Canadian and everything she makes feels like it could have been uncovered in an archaeological dig of a Greek temple. I recommend everything on her website, and bonus, it is cool to get mail from Canada.

When I am bone tired and not feeling particularly motivated to wash my face, these charcoal face wipes are a lifesaver. I now buy them in bulk on Sephora.com and it’s like having an insurance policy for my face — I know somehow, it will get clean.

On a recent trip to France (fancy, I know) I spent a few stolen hours in the concept store Merci and had what can only be described as a religious experience. Among my favorite items was this adorable marble notebook.

Another purchase at the Parisian concept store Merci was this table-shaped cookie cutter. I don’t know about you, but I find something delightful about cookies in the shape of mundane household items.

Editor’s Note: This table-shaped cookie cutter is no longer available, but Merci has other stainless steel cookie cutters for sale here.

I am the proud co-parent of three extremely weird Persian cats — Lyle, Ping, and Dolly. Since my husband and I began feeding them Royal Canin, their moods have improved and they have become more loving! I cannot recommend this product more.

By now you can tell that I have a thing for a speckled motif. This vase is in the terrazzo-marble family and is designed by a husband-wife team at Spadone Home. It’s sold on one of my favorite design websites, Sight Unseen.

So this isn’t strictly a purchase, but I learned about Kanopy, an extremely neat streaming-video service created in partnership with the public library system. There is a huge collection of documentaries and educational films on the performing arts, science, literature, history, and politics, plus Criterion Collection films.