12 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: From $50 Jeans to C.O. Bigelow Shower Gel

According to Strategist contributor Oset Babür-Winter, shoulder season is prime time for roll-neck sweaters — and luckily, we’re in the midst of a roll-neck renaissance. In an effort to find the best ones, she went on a hunt for an all-cotton roll-neck she could French tuck (or not) and layer over her go-to Gap VintageSoft tees. Her search turned up a few favorites, including this one from Quince that’s affordable enough that she can buy a few. Still, she says, “The knit is dense and soft, and the cuffs and hem have what looks like a more refined-looking half-fisherman rib that would feel appropriate on a much pricier sweater.”

Take one look at the items that Miriam Petche can’t live without to understand how seriously the actress takes her skin care. Along with a noncomedogenic lip balm and “emotional-support” moisturizer, she swears by this cleansing gel that doesn’t irritate her skin. “It’s one of those cleansing gels that manages to keep the moisture in your face whilst cleansing at the same time,” she says.

Our junior writer Bella Druckman thought she’d be shimmying into high-rise jeans in perpetuity until she was tasked with trying on all the jeans at Abercrombie for a story last spring. In the year since, she’s slowly replaced all of her high-rise jeans with similar, more breathable low-rise pairs, including these from Edikted. “Given the price, I expected them to be ill-fitting and thin with sewing imperfections, but they’re actually my favorites to date,” she writes. “They’re the closest I’ve gotten to a true early-aughts low rise (read: hip-bone-baring), and I’ve since purchased them in another color.”

Jeans have gotten pricier, and not even Levi’s are $98 anymore. “But the fact remains: Even though jeans are getting more expensive, you don’t have to spend a ton for a great pair,” reports our jeans expert Ambar Pardilla. To prove it, she interviewed the most tasteful people she knows about their favorite jeans under $150, and these straight-leg jeans that are part of JW Anderson’s collaboration with Uniqlo came up the most. Despite being 100 percent cotton, they have a “preworn feel,” according to Yeah It’s Jewelry’s Chloe Weitman. “I love that they’re not extremely stiff,” she adds.

In Kim France’s most recent column, she found several options for a reader looking for “unstupid hats that protect your face from the sun but are not hiking hats.” Along with a handful of bucket hats made from a variety of materials — denim, terry, and raffia included — she turned up this floppy sun hat from Banana Republic that has a pop of red and striped drawstring.

If there’s one thing that unites the Strategist team, it’s a good sale. So when Strategist writer Kitty Guo saw the unisex-jewelry brand Sue the Boy was having a flash anniversary sale, she jumped at the chance to get these buckle hoops that she’d been eyeing forever. “The brand is based in Australia, so my package is still on the way,” she writes in this month’s “Strategist Haul.” “But I’m hoping and praying they’re comfortable enough to sleep in — because once I put them on, they’re never coming off.”

It turns out that the difference between a skin tint and tinted moisturizer comes down to texture, hydration level, and finish. So if you’d classify your skin as dry, dehydrated, or more mature, you’ll want to opt for a tinted moisturizer, which will give your skin some much-needed comfort, moisture, and glow. (Opt for a skin tint if you have oily or combination skin.) But if you’re not sure where to start, go for Jones Road’s tinted moisturizer. “It’ll provide a nice hit of hydration for dry skin, but its noncomedogenic formula is safe for my oily, acne-prone skin too,” Guo writes.

For Strategist writer Erin Schwartz, the biggest obstacle to getting into journaling was figuring out what to do with the journal when they were finished with it. “In the past, I wanted to buy a safe because I was so terrified of anyone reading mine, but I never found one I liked,” they write in their most recent “Strategist Brain.” “Now I’ve decided to buy these beautiful document cases from an online archival-supply store and keep them on a very high shelf.”

Jordan Samuel Pacitti, founder of Jordan Samuel Skin, was shopping at C.O. Bigelow long before Love Story hit streaming services — specifically for this shower gel that he says lathers well and isn’t drying. “It comes in maybe six or seven scents now, but the bergamot is just clean and fresh. I never get sick of it,” he says, adding it makes a nice gift, too.

When Strategist writer Dominique Pariso went on a hunt for an alternative to her beloved deli containers, her winner, a stainless-steel set from Black+Blum, looked very different from the plastic cylinders she had been using to store her food. But nearly a year later, Anyday released a near-twin for her deli containers with just one key difference: They’re made of silicone rather than plastic. Druckman has only had a few days to test them, but she’s pleased so far: “They didn’t hold on to the colors of anything I was prepping — mostly cilantro and broccolini — but the one I used for cilantro still smells like it a day later.”

Dries Van Noten’s latest launch made us wonder, Is there a new status hand soap on the horizon? “The scents, unsurprisingly, sound divine — soie and amber, basil and hinoki, pepper and rose,” Strategist writer Tembe Denton-Hurst says in the latest installment of “Don’t Dillydally.” “Also compelling: the packaging. The sunset ombre would look quite nice on a nightstand or peeking out of a bag.”

Chef and podcaster Ruthie Rogers only uses these Paolo Petrilli tomatoes in her restaurant. “If you open a big can of tomatoes, they’re often packed in tomato juice, so there’s all that extra liquid,” she says. That’s not the case with these, which are basically peeled tomatoes in a jar. “You really don’t need much more for a sauce. Just some really good basil,” she says.

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