What June Diane Raphael Can’t Live Without

I have been on a personal journey to figure out how to live in a home with an aesthetic appeal andhave childrenhere, you know. It’s a constant battle. So, we have two verybeautiful runnersthat I care deeply about. One is in our kitchen and the other one’s in our hallway and our entranceway. And so between children quite literally playing soccer in our home with a standard issue size ball, and just the amount of traffic, I couldn’t handle coming into our house and seeingthat runneroff kilter from the mat that’s underneath it. It was driving me absolutely nuts. I’m not sure who recommended this to me, but I tried other things, and these are the only things that actually grip and stick to your floor and work. So, if you have anything likea little rugthat’s moving and grooving — these will just lock. And they don’t wreck the floors at all.

These live in myguest bathroom. And it’s where our kids wash their hands before dinner — our youngest can’t quite reach the kitchen sink comfortably — and that has to change because they don’t deserve these luxury products. But I’ve never had something in the guest bathroom where people come out talking about it. So it’s just a lovely experience for your guests and for yourself. I just don’t know. I don’t believe children deserve to be using this product. And that’s my struggle. Because yeah, theysmell greatand they shouldn’t. I grew up in a family where it’s like you had a bar of soap. And then this is justI’m sorry, that’s luxury.In these times, sometimes we need something as simple as putting ona little lotionafter you’ve washed your hands, it can give you a lift.

I really lovea nice notebook. Interestingly, I don’t buy these for myself. My dear friend gave me this notebook for my birthday and I believe it to be the most wonderful of gifts because it would feel a little wild to purchase it for yourself. The thing about it really is the paper. The feel. I writeso many listsand I struggle with organization, so I’m constantly trying to find new systems that work for me. And I look forward to my lists in that notebook, and I look forward to jotting down notes after I’ve spoken to someone. I mean, I’m perimenopausal, so I have to write down everything. I’m walking with that notebook from room to room in my house like I’m in the movieMemento. It’s crazy. But it’s a very pleasant experience to put pen to paper there. I’m not as much of asnob about pens. (I mean, I like a ballpoint.) But paper is important to me.

I have a long history of skin cancer in my family, so I’m often getting precancerous stuff removed, andlasersto get underneath there. I’m also recovering from some dumb damage I did in the early ’90s. So I often have to have a recovery period where my face looksbright redand it’s peeling. This product is like medical grade shit where it reallytakes care of businessand speeds up any type post dermatological procedure you’ve done. It’s just so good and it’s so thin; I don’t love the feeling of things on my face that I can feel, and this just soaks into the skin so quickly. It’s really wonderful.

I never knew that you could shave with oil. And I’ve always found the shaving process to be annoying, you know, and just not pleasant to be pumping out that foam in a shower. And then once — I think I saw it on TikTok — I realized,Oh, you could put an oil on. Actually you don’t even need to be in the shower, because that oil will soak up. It changed the game for me and I’m smooth, as smooth as a snake — a little reptile, because I actually don’t mind shaving. I’ve used the watermelon before. I’m not a scent loyalist, it’s really just the product.

It’s so funny because you would see on TikTok like the young girls with theirStanley cups. And it’s like, this isridiculousto havea sanitizerbe like a status symbol on any level, and I really resisted it. But — goddamn it — I was in that Sephora checkout line where they sort of weave you through all the little products and I was just like,I want to try it.What can I say about it? It is a very satisfying experience to hold it to spray it. I am a woman, I have sensory experiences. I like that sensory input, and oh mama it is good. It is good to the last drop. And who knows if it’s actually sanitizing anything — I might just be spraying like, watermelon water — but it also doesn’t leave you sticky.I’ve used others, pure oils and sanitizers, that leave you with a little bit of a stick.

I’ve been on the Major Dickason’s tip for, I don’t know, 15 years? This is my base — my base standard. I like astrong cup of coffee— I have been known to make an amazing pot of coffee. And for me this is the only one. There’s others that are like a good nicestrong cup of coffee, but this doesn’t pull bitter at all. And Starbucks has a very specific taste, which is because they burn their beans on purpose. And that’s its own thing — but Major Dickason’s is so strong and delicious. And it’llwake you up pretty good. But it doesn’t feel like you’re drinking tar. It’s also perfectly accessible — you can buy it at a grocery store.

If I was left alone on a desert island and could only bring one thing, it would probably bemascara. There’s nothing that changes and brightens your face up likemascaradoes. Every makeup artist I’ve ever worked with is so disturbed by how much I put on, but I love mascara. I love the feeling of putting it on. There are other mascaras out there, especially drugstore mascara — you can find a good drugstore mascara. To me it’s not likefoundationor other products where it’s like going high end makes that much of a difference. You can go whatever price point is so find a decent one. But this really has the wand that separates your lashes, and you can just get in there and get to the root. And I love how black is. I have not found another one, this is the one I’m constantly replacing. I have one in my car. I have one in my office. It’s just a staple for me.

I have a lot of hair, butvery fine hair. I used to just get out of the shower and brush it like a psycho you know, and just sort of pull and twist and hope for the best. And I finally had a hair person onBlack Monday, and she watched me take a brush and do my process. And she was like, “This is insane, you’reripping out your hair.” So she turned me on to this. You give the hair 90 seconds, then you can comb through that hair. It reminds me of No More Tears — it’s like that for adults, because it just lets you get through the hair so quickly. And I honestly don’t know what it’s doing. I couldn’t tell you what was happening in there. All I know is that itdetangles my hair.

It’s a veryunderground game, not a lot of people know about it. We bought it for our son’s birthday, he was turning 7 and I think the starting age on the box was 7 — which, I’m sorry, is a lie. A 7-year-old cannot play this game. But 10- to 11-year-olds can. It is so fast-paced, chaotic, and fun. And, you know, again, I think that the cultural conversation right now can be really depressing and it can really get me down. I just have a deep commitment to joyful experiences and making sure that I have joy in my day, every day. SoDutch Blitzis a part of that because it’s chaotic fun. It’s a lot like hot hand-eye coordination, a lot of quick movements. There’s something about your brain firing so quickly like that that I love. And yeah, most games when you’re playingDutch Blitzare going to end with people really mad at each other.