What Liz Lange Can’t Live Without

I noticed that when I washed off my makeup — and my face was wet and I’m wiping it on a towel — the towel would be smeared with my mascara or eyeliner and maybe even lipstick and blush. It’s not that I wear so much makeup. But I have white towels, and it doesn’t matter how many times you wash them. I was going through towels and ruining them. I couldn’t bear it. For a little while I was just using a roll of paper towels. Somehow I discovered these Clean Skin Club towels. I don’t know what their actual intention is, and maybe they’re intended for the way I use them, but after I’m done washing my face, and it’s dripping wet, that’s what I dry my face off with. If my hands are filled with makeup, that will be what I wipe them off with. I keep a stack of them in the top drawer of my bathroom.

I’m not a scent person. I don’t wearperfume. I don’t really like it when people are wearing perfume. I think a lot of heavy scents kind of give me a headache. But, for some reason, I love the smell of thisbodywashso much. It reminds me of those shampoos that I grew up with, likeGee, Your Hair Smells Terrific. You know when you’re next to someone and they smell really clean and fresh, like they just took a shower? To me, that’s what this smells like. I’m slathering it everywhere in the bath or the shower. It’s so soft and smoothing.

I understand how marketing works, but even I can get taken in by these fabulous influencers who are showing you all this gorgeous new makeup as it gets released. But, first of all, that really adds up. Half the time I’m buying it and using only two shades in the palette. I mean I’m not a makeup artist. Some of the designer ones, it’s all about the packaging and the high price. They might not even be that pigmented. Maybe I’m the last to know about Revolution. It’s my favorite eyeshadow now, and I feel like it’s a fraction of the price of what I seem to see at Sephora. I actually think that the quality is there. I mean the price is nice, but they also have to work. I don’t even know which palette to suggest. My favorite palette is under $8 and it has 15 shades. It’s got shimmers and it’s got mattes. It’s almost too good to be true. But it is true. They have fun colors. They have natural colors. I like to buy from their website because they literally have everything — whatever color you’re in the mood for, they’ve got it.

This is the way my grandmother used to make coffee. But it was actually my friend, Ariel Levy — who’s now at theNew Yorkerand who used to work atNew Yorkages ago — who came to visit me once and brought this with her. She said to me, “I don’t leave home without it.” I said to her, “That’s ridiculous. I have acoffee makerhere.” Then she made me a cup from it. It’s not just that I like the coffee it makes, it’s that I like having it bubbling on the stovetop. There’s something nice about being involved in the process. It gives me a minute to myself first thing in the morning. Even when I’m slightly out of it, it’s so simple that I can kind of do it on muscle memory. They come in different colors. (I guess that’s why Bialetti called it the Rainbow series.) I have the pale blue in East Hampton, green in Palm Beach, and white in New York. I can throw them in mycarry-onif I’m traveling somewhere to stay with someone and I think I may not like their coffee.

I’m not kidding, I have so many of them, it’s ridiculous. I started having a camouflage one that I put our last nameLange,in orange, on. Then I saw somebody and they had an all-white with their name in white two years ago. I thought,oh, that’s really chic. Now I have some like that too. I have them for everyone in my family. The thing is I’m a stickler about when we travel, and we love to travel, I don’t let anybody check a bag. I don’t check a bag, my kids can’t check a bag, my husband can’t check a bag. If you’re traveling with people and one person checks a bag, well then everyone just might as well. Plus often, at least for me, it’s not like I’m traveling for two or three weeks, so every minute and every day counts, including the day I arrive. The last thing I want to be doing is waiting around at the airport. I think everybody should just be a little hard on themselves, do a little editing. Be willing to wear things more than once when you’re on a vacation. Who cares? And pack everything in L.L.Bean Boat and Tote. I think they’re the best bags in the world. I like them better than any trendy, crazily overpriced bag.

I got this tip from an organizer a long time ago, and I keep one labeledtailorand another labeleddonate, always open in my closet. Sometimes you try something on, take it off, and maybe it goes back in the closet, even if it doesn’t fit or you don’t like the way you look in it. If that’s the case, it could be donated or taken to the tailor. Otherwise, why are you putting it back? I found that has been kind of life-changing for me. It’s really helped my own personal organization. I make my husband do the same, and while my kids are in their twenties, they’re with us sometimes and I make them, too. Otherwise, things just get out of control. There are so many styles of them, and they’re all on Amazon. They fold up to absolutely nothing. It’s almost like having a paper bag in my closet. Some have that clear pocket where you can label them. It’s also easy to take a piece of masking tape and a Sharpie and just stick it on.

I entertain a lot at home. I set up these big buffets because these days everybody seems to have a food preference or a food restriction, and this way I don’t have to ask everyone who’s coming to dinner what they eat and don’t eat. I like to think about the plates and the napkins and the tablecloth. These bowls go with everything else that’s on the table. They’re what I’ll often use as my platter, it doesn’t matter what I’m serving. They’re simple. They’re durable. They’re dishwasher-safe. It’s obviously a huge pain after you’ve had people over for dinner, to do a bunch of dishes and you can’t put them in the dishwasher. That’s the case with other nice serving pieces. And you can use any serving utensil you want with them. It’s a very easy way for people to serve themselves.

I think that lemons, limes, and navel oranges are a great way to fill a bowl, and make it a little interesting. I used to do that with real fruit because I would’ve thought fake fruit was kind of tacky. That got quite expensive and quite annoying, and literally every five days, I had a bowl of molded fruit in my living room. I discovered these extremely realistic-looking fake ones. Everyone thinks they’re real. They’re not terribly scented. I don’t even need to buy anymore because you really only need to fill the bowl once. I’ve got a bowl of lemons in my entry foyer where I wanted just a touch of yellow, I’ve got a bowl of limes in my living room because I wanted a little green. It’s a great decorating little hack. It’s easy to put out an orchid, and I have. But this is slightly less expected.

We used to call thesethongs. We didn’t call themflip-flops. I don’t know why, but the Slim is the style I started out wearing. They feel like walking on a cloud. I throw them on all the time. I always have two or three pairs. if I’m going somewhere where it’s not cold, they’re often what I wear on the airplane. If the weather’s going to be good enough and we’re going to be doing a lot of walking in another city, this will be the shoe I wear to not have a blister or hurt feet at the end of the day. They don’t get ruined if it starts to rain unexpectedly. Then when I’m just running out, I put them on. Most people, when they take walks, they wearsneakers. I wear my Havaianas. Everyone makes fun of me.

In the past, I started my own brands. But once I had sold them, I thought about what I would do next. I was a huge customer of Figue and I ended up buying the brand. If I’m ever in doubt about what to wear, the answer’s always a kaftan. It’s yourbathing-suit coverup. It’s what you wear to an outdoor lunch. It’s your shopping with friends. It’s your cocktail party. It’s your dinner party. It’s everything in one dress. It’s very, very versatile. I’m in my fifties now, so my mini skirt days are way behind me, and I feel like this always looks appropriate. It’s good for actually any age. I find them really old-school glamorous. Truman Capote’s Swans, Gloria Guinness, Lee Radziwill — they were often in a kaftan. There’s never a time when a kaftan hasn’t been in style and won’t be in style. They hide a million sins. They’re really comfortable. They feel very effortless. I think that’s kind of the height of chic: to look like you didn’t spend too much time and effort.