From a Hay Light to Cameron Diaz’s Cutting Board

Back in 2016, one of our editors discovered a pair ofJapanese toenail
clippersat Tokyo’s Narita airport capable of, as he put it, slicing throughnailslike a santoku through a tomato. Six years later, while refreshing ourclipper coverage, Strategist writerArielle Avilaspoke to nearly a dozen dermatologists, nail technicians,
and beauty writers to find out their favorite. Although the consensus was
that a classic $11 Tweezerman is the best around, she wasn’t completely convinced. So she got her hands on the latest version of the Japanese model (theSeki Edge— it has a more ergonomic grip than the original and costs $20 on Amazon), and when she took the Seki and the Tweezerman to her toes, the winner was immediately clear: “The ease and seamlessness while using the Seki made it stand out as truly the best.”

In 2020, I moved from a glorified closet into a one-bedroomapartment. After getting the essentials, I started chipping away at the less immediately
necessary things that make an apartment feel likehome. High on that list was an alternative to the overhead light in the kitchen, which has a greenish,Saw-movie-style cast. Looking for the opposite, I bought Hay’s LED light bar in an egg-yolk yellow. I love this thing. It’s very bright — when I first plugged it in, I felt like I was in a knockoff Queens rental version of a Dan Flavin installation. And it creates a warm, ambient glow that’s closer to restaurant signage than an e-sports setup. —Erin Schwartz

WhatICan’tLiveWithout

Cameron Diaz’s Cutting Board

“I have a couple of these in black. They’re super-lightweight, unlike those
heavy solid-woodboards. I keep multiples in a drawer without having to worry about the weight. They’re less absorbent thansolid-wood boards, so
they dry very quickly when I wipe them down after washing. This is great because moisture between boards freaks me out.”

“I bought it for the first time when I wasChristmas shoppingin Los Feliz in
L.A. I went into some store that was selling really overpriced linenshirtsandcoffee cupsandbathmats. They also had this incense. I think it was the
cheapest thing in the store, so I tried it, and I’ve just been buying it in bulk ever since.”

“It’s great because it has all the colors you’ll ever need. I always carry one of
these because, in this day and age, someone’s always looking for apen. I’ve
given so many away. And I’ve often pulled one out just to practice my ABCs in cursive to remind myself that I still can, because no one writes anything anymore.”

I’m pleasantly surprised by how functional and high quality this is
considering it’s such a design-y piece. We recessed this tall, narrowfridge
into the wall, and it looks great. It’s such a mood-boost in the morning when you’re grabbing items from it and fixing breakfast.”

“BlueStar ovens, made in Pennsylvania, are as solid as they come — just cast
iron and steel. But then I found they have a bajillion color options forknobs
or to match your hood, so you can get creative in a way that I don’t see with
other appliance brands.”

“We love a John Derian paperweight in our house. It’s such a beautiful object
to have on acoffee tableor perched on a stack of books. This nasturtium one
caught my attention, of course.”

I lost a toenail this month. It’s so gross, and I can’t believe I’m sharing this,
but it is my truth. It happened the morning of a friend’s birthday dinner that I would not be able to wearsneakersto, so I had to act fast. My first thought was to try andpaintthe skin and see if that was passable, but then I Googled “toenail press-ons” and was delighted to find that they exist. I found these at my local beauty supplier in the signature white the rest of my toes were already painted in and in no time had ten toenails again. Thankfully it didn’t pop off during the night and held on for nearly a week after. —Jenna Milliner-Waddell

Annie Hamiltonhas used the Kryolan tear stick since 2017. “Yes, it’s great for
auditions,” she says. “But it’s also great for when you need to cry and know
you have the feelings but are scared the actual tears won’t come. Or for parties when no one’s paying attention to you.”

Chloe Cherrysays Kryolan’s fake blood is what the costume designers use on the set of Euphoria. “I’ve used fake blood a lot on sets,” she says, “and this stuff is the best because it doesn’t really come off. It stains your skin for a day.”

The Emeco, an ultradurable aluminum seat, was designed in 1944 for U.S. Navy ships. In season one, Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffrey Wright sit on them in a dark, sterile room underneath the Westworld theme park while discussing robot consciousness.

Another design with a starring role in the first season is the Ton No. 18 café
chair, which debuted (IRL) in 1876. In the show, it appears in several flashbacks as the chair that a major character is sitting on when he commits suicide by robot.

In the third season, fun, zany postmodern chairs start appearing in increasingly dystopian settings. For instance, Caleb (Aaron Paul) sits on psychedelic designer Verner Panton’s squiggly Z-shaped plastic chair …

… And he hangs out with Ash (Lena Waithe) and finds a job on Rico, an app
used to pick up crime gigs, while sitting on a Bertoia Diamond chair, a design
introduced in 1952.

You can spot a set of Ikea’s wood-fiber-and-plastic-composite Odger chairs in
the season-four premiere around Caleb’sdining-room table, pre–robot takeover.

When the park’s board members are murdered by robots at the end of season one, they’re sitting on a version of Thonet’s No. 91 cross-back chairs.

A few weeks ago, a reader wrote in to the Strategist’s menswear advice
columnist,Chris Black, asking for something specific: greatslacksfor a guy who never wears slacks. “First of all,” Black responded, “don’t say slacks.
Let’s say pants or, if we must, trousers. Second, I am going to suggest something that may seem strange: a pair of clean black pants with an elastic waist. This style from Stüssy is slim but not skinny and has a proper zipper. They can be dressed up or down, and the price is definitely right.”

Battery-operated, less than 250 lumens.

Solar-powered, less than 250 lumens.

Battery-operated, less than 550 lumens.

Solar-powered, less than 550 lumens.