12 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: From Korean Moisturizers to Non-Blundstones

If it feels like every skin-care brand has launched a body butter recently, you’re onto something. But unlike body butters of yore, which had to be emulsified and warmed up in your hands before applying, these “are thinner, slicker, and easy to spread,” according to Strategist beauty writer Tembe Denton-Hurst. She tested 11 of the newest formulas to see how they held up over the course of a day, including this one from Aquaphor that made her skin the glowiest. “It has a unique texture — thin, lightweight, and almost a little wet when first applied,” she adds.

Those well-versed in the self-tan world know the usual options: There are drops, oils, lotions, and serums. But recently, self-tanning water — an ultralight option for folks looking to add some color to their face — has joined the mix. Our beauty writer Krista Bennett DeMaio has been using this one and just added it to our guide to facial self-tanner. She says, “The first time I used it, my teen noticed my warmer skin tone and asked if I got a professional spray tan.”

This week’s installment of “Don’t Dillydally” included the latest launch from Wooj, the maker of some of our favorite 3-D-printed lamps. The new sconce has a 3-D printed shade, a raw brass strain relief and back plate, and is a dimmable plug-in, making it a good option for renters.

Motivated by a few too many nights of tossing and turning after stubbing her toe on a rigid bed frame, Strategist contributor Marissa Miller began looking for a soft bed frame complete with wide side rails to stash her stuff. While most options were either too expensive or too complicated to build, this one from SoftFrame was exactly what she was looking for: “The arrangement is BYOBS (bring your own box spring), and then you simply slide the bed frame over it for a plusher feel to your bedroom,” she writes.

“Lots of hand creams advertise that they stay on despite hand-washing, but few create a film like Gloves in a Bottle, which promises four hours of glove-like moisture before it starts to wear off,” reports Denton-Hurst. This week, she named it our new favorite hand cream for frequent hand washers and got a co-sign from cosmetic chemist Dr. Julian Sass, who has just one caveat: Don’t reapply. (When layered, the cream has a tendency to pill.)

“I, like so many other people who are coffee drinkers, go to bed at night thinking about that cup in the morning,” Walton Goggins told us. Said coffee — specifically, two cappuccinos — is made from these beans that have notes of hazelnut, milk chocolate, and browned almond. “It is something that we have on preorder. As soon as we run out, we hit the button,” he adds.

Comedian George Civeris may not be as passionate about his beans as Walton Goggins, but he would prefer that his coffee is served hot and stays hot, a feat made possible by these insulated mugs. “Now, when I use a regular mug, I’m shocked at how quickly it gets cold,” he says. “Unfortunately, I can never go back to my collection of perfectly curated Brooklyn ceramic mugs. Better luck next time, local artisans!”

As someone whose skin has somehow been both oily and dehydrated this winter, Strategist writer Dominique Pariso found herself in a catch-22: “Should I reach for products that would treat my dry-skin issue but probably break me out? Or keep on with my acne-safe skin care that kept my complexion clear but did nothing to fix my dry skin?” The answer, it turns out, is this K-beauty moisturizer her dermatologist recommended that fixed her primary issue: Dehydration. Almost immediately, she says, “I noticed my skin becoming much, much softer. The rough patches and dryness smoothed out, while the redness on my cheeks, always worse in the winter, also calmed down significantly.”

“I have found as a mom that one hack is to find things that beautifully complement my home while being functional for the kids — and that keep the house clean,” designer Nabela Noor told us. One such item is this scalloped mat that lives under her daughters’ high chairs. “They’re easy to wipe clean and large enough to cover the radius of where food will hit if they flick something,” she says, adding that girls even help her clean them afterward, too.

A few years after she first learned how to ski in Colorado, Strategist sleep writer Amelia Jerden is returning to the West as a better skier with some new gear. Her upgraded setup includes her own boots and skis and some bags to carry them in, a padded ski bag from Dakine and this colorful boot bag to go along with it. “I like that both bags are colorful and easy to identify,” she writes. “The boot bag also has extra space to store my helmet and goggles, plus it’s a backpack, which keeps my hands free to carry my skis.”

It’s about time that our resident picky guy, senior writer Michael Zhao, had a space to answer your questions about men’s style, highly specific appliances, impossible gift hunts, and whatever else you need his take on. In his first column, Zhao offered Meermin’s black calf boots as an affordable option for someone looking for an all-occasion boot that works with suits and jeans, yet can take a beating.

As our primary backpack tester, Strategist writer Jordan McMahon has two stacks of bags in a closet: One filled with testers and the other filled with bags he actually uses. To make it into the latter, he says, “A bag needs to be nice to look at, be comfortable to wear, and make all my essentials easy to grab.” As a durable, pocket-packed bag that can double as a personal item for traveling, this option from Tom Binh not only lives in that pile, but it lives at the top of it. “There’s even a loop at the bottom of the bag that makes it easy to grab when your plane lands,” he adds.

The stuff we saved for our newsletter readers