What Constance Wu Can’t Live Without

It’s amazing. It’s so portable and easy. When your kids have an emergency or if you just think the public bathroom is too gross, you just unfold it, put the little bag in, they go, and then you toss the bag. I feel like it’s brought my anxiety levels down a lot because knowing I have it makes me not as worried about a potty emergency. My daughter is 6 now, so she doesn’t have to use it as much. But for my 3-year-old, it’s still good to have on hand.

You can use it on everything: diaper rash, eczema, scrapes or cuts. First you wash it with soap and water, of course, but then you put Aquaphor on top of it. I use it as a hand lotion sometimes or as lip balm. I have it all over my house, and I always have it with me. I have both the big tubs and the travel tubes. I keep the tubes in the pockets of multiple jackets and purses and bags. I also have a couple of the tubs in my house. It’s one thing I actually, truly think I can’t live without.

This is my favorite toy for kids. I don’t want to get in trouble with anybody, but I don’t like LEGOs. I ban them in my house because it hurts when you step on them. Magna-Tiles do not hurt when you step on them. My kids can play with them for endless amounts of time, and they clean up really nicely because they just stack into perfect cubes. Over the years, I’ve gotten many different sets. Some are themed, like they’ll have snowflakes on them or something, but the shape is still the same. Some of them come with little animals or cars. But the kids actually don’t play with the animals or the cars that much. They’ll put their regular, like, Paw Patrol figurines on the Magna-Tiles instead.

The Yoto player, oh my God. That you definitely can’t live without when you have screen-free kids, which I did for the longest time, literally until my daughter was 5 and a half. The Yoto player is kind of like an audiobook. It’s like a cube, and there’s no screens. It’s just somebody telling a story. My kids will stick a card in and listen to the story while they’re playing with their Barbies or Magna-Tiles, and they’re very content with that. It’s their own little portable speaker they can move around. I don’t feel bad about it because it’s not a dopamine hit the way a screen is. I think it actually just teaches them to listen and follow a story, and they really do. But you have to start with the Yoto. I feel like if you start with screens and then try to take them to the Yoto, they won’t get into it.

There’s also an app so you don’t have to take the player around with you. You play it on your phone, and if they have headphones, they can listen to it. I’ve done that on the subway. But actually, when I take my kids on the subway, I like for them to be okay sitting there without being stimulated. I’d like for them to be aware of their environment. They can hear what’s happening and look at what’s happening and be okay with that. So I don’t usually try to do things like that out of the house.

An all-time classic. I’ve tried all the fancy face washes; I’ve gone through phases where I’ve tried other things. When I lived in L.A., something about the L.A. air did something to my skin that was just not good, so while I was there, I had to use Clearasil, actually. But now that I’m back on the East Coast, I’m back to the Cetaphil. Cetaphil’s still the best one for me. I don’t have sensitive skin. My skin is very tough. But just in terms of how it makes my skin feel, I feel clean. I feel moisturized. I don’t feel like I have a bunch of crap on my face. I think it’s just a good all-around cleanser. I’m 44, and I’ve been using it since I was 18.

I get almost all my clothes on ThredUp now. It’s sustainable, and you can get very high-quality things for essentially free because what I do is I send in my old clothes. My old clothes get sold, and then you get credit in your ThredUp account that you can use to buy other stuff. I send in kids’ clothes, too, because kids grow out of stuff really quickly. Anything that they can’t sell, they recycle. So it’s an easy way to clear out your closet, and I love doing that frequently.

I shop based on material. I’ll just look for things that are made out of silk or wool or cashmere or things that are good quality. Based off of that, I get a lot of my basics. When I think about the fact that every year retailers and fashion brands come up with new lines of clothing, I’m like, This must produce so much waste. It’s hard for me to not think about that now when the things I get from ThredUp are perfectly fine — lovely, even.

Underwear is not something that you want to buy secondhand. I feel like Quince has really good, substantial underwear for kids. They say it’s organic, and I believe them. It fits my kids well, and it’s good quality — especially for my daughter because I think sometimes the underwear they make for girls is so flimsy. They last really well, long after the kids grow out of them.

Let me tell you, you can get the most amazing cashmere blankets from the fanciest places, but none of them are as soft and cozy as the cheap-ass fleece blankets you buy from CVS. You could find those kind of blankets at gas stations or Marshalls. My kids will always choose those cheap blankets over the really luxurious ones. Those blankets are just so soft — there’s something about the synthetic quality of them, maybe. It’s not wool. It’s not cotton. It’s, like, synthetic fleece. They’re so cheap, but some of them have lasted so long.

I love this stuff. I was over at a play date for one of my kids’ friends and that kid’s parents had it. I tried it and I was hooked. I order it in bulk, and I go through a jar a week. It’s crunchy and spicy and really flavorful. It’s just so yummy. I put it on rice. I put it on fish. I put it on kimchi. I’ve put it on mashed potatoes. I put it on hummus. I put it on salads — it’s really good on salads. And sometimes I’ll sprinkle a little on my hand and just eat it by itself.

I got this jacket over 20 years ago. I even remember where I got it — it was the Urban Outfitters that was on Sixth Avenue back when I was in New York in my early 20s. They had this thing called Urban Renewal, where they rework vintage items. I’ve had it for so long, and it works with almost everything. It’s wool and it’s warm enough that I could wear it on a cold day, but it’s light enough that I don’t get sweltering hot wearing it at a party. Even though it’s kind of an old-lady-looking jacket, there’s something about the cut and the way it hangs on me that looks very hip. I love that jacket.

It’s, like, a gray plaid material. On a taller person, it might be considered cropped, but on me, it hits right at my waist. It is double-breasted and has these little gold buttons. It’s kind of boxy, so it’s not fitted, and it looks like a modern version of what a cool grandma might wear. And it has three-quarter-length sleeves. That’s probably why it’s cool enough to not sweat in.

[Editor’s Note: Constance’s jacket is one of a kind, so we’ve linked to a jacket with a similar look.]