12 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: From SJR’s Sailing Sandals to Lap Desks

Retired talk-show host Sally Jessy Raphael’s list of things she can’t live without truly delighted us this week — from the $23 Timex she wears instead of her Patek Philippe watches to the Sharpies she uses to color in worn-out handbag corners. We also learned that as someone who has been “almost everywhere twice,” Raphael knows better than to overpack. “If I need anything anywhere in the world, I buy it,” she told us. As such, she brings only this “very small no-name, cheap suitcase” as her carry-on, which is big enough to hold her essentials (meds and a hairbrush), on all of her trips.

After we published Raphael’s list, Raphaelites old and new made one thing clear: They wanted more. We live to serve, so deputy editor Simone Kitchens took to SJR’s Instagram feed, where she spotted Raphael wearing these orthopedic sandals on a sailboat. “I ID’d these on someone’s grandmother at school this week, so really, it was just a Google-image search and a little discernment,” says Kitchens. That led her to confirm the sandals were by Skechers.

While senior editor Winnie Yang initially bought this no-screen digital camera for her daughter to bring to sleepaway camp, it turned out that Yang was the one who actually used it the most. As a film-camera nerd, Yang could get into the specifics of what makes this camera great (namely, a 8MP 1/3.2-inch sensor and f/1.8 aperture), but as she says, “All you need to know is that it takes good enough photos for viewing on a laptop or smartphone or digital picture frame.” Thanks to a preinstalled filter, the camera gives pictures ”the nostalgic feel of film snapshots, but somehow without the cheap effect of those old Instagram filters,” Yang reports.

Ever since Strategist writer Arielle Avila received T3’s new curling iron-slash-hair straightener, she has bid adieu to the occasional harsh crinkles that her old hair straightener would add to her beachy waves. “This is made with externally heated arms, so I get perfectly curled waves every time,” she says, adding, “I’m also excited to bring this on trips, since it will free up space in my carry-on.”

Earlier this year, we spotted Loewe’s tomato-leaves hand soap on some very tasteful bathroom sinks — and in this week’s edition of “Don’t Dillydally,” our writer Kitty Guo included a new tomato-forward collaboration between Malin+Goetz and Carbone. They released a tomato-scented “supercandle” with notes that include basil, pink pepper, lavender, and mint. And just in time: “Nothing evokes late summer like vine-ripened tomatoes,” says Guo.

While our tech writer, Jordan McMahon, recently gave physical notebooks the old college try, he found himself missing digital life. “I didn’t want to just go back to typing my thoughts; they tend to disappear into the ether of my notes folder until I finally organize them,” he writes. “So I started looking into digital notebooks.” After testing options that were optimized for price, size, and paperless lifestyles, he crowned Moleskine’s smart writing system, which logs pen strokes in real time with a fancy pen, the very best for anyone who is not ready to say good-bye to paper.

Sure, our kitchen and dining writer, Emma Wartzman, can riff, pivot, and invent in the kitchen, but until recently, her solution to julienning was to avoid it altogether. That is until chef, cookbook author, and former food stylist Jess Damuck mentioned a handy OXO gadget she used to “make the most beautiful long, even, and slightly curved julienned vegetables.” In the years since, Wartzman has used this julienne peeler to make zoodle-length strips of zucchini and add carrots to her slaw. “While not an everyday tool, it’s an occasional time-saver — and dish enhancer — that’s very much worth it in my book,” she says.

“When Ami Colé announced it was shuttering, like everyone else, I sprinted to the website and immediately purchased five lip treatment oils and two brushes,” says our beauty writer, Tembe Denton-Hurst. But knowing the backups for her backups would one day run out, she went on a hunt for a gloss that was as comfortable and shiny as her now-retired lip gloss. After trying tubes from Eadem and Fenty, Denton-Hurst received a package from LYS Beauty containing her winner: a buildable, hydrating lip oil that she can wear to the gym and the bar alike. Plus, she says, it “has that bouncy, gooey feel I remember loving in adolescence.”

Though many “fans” — as Beautyblender founder Rea Ann Silva likes to call them — have attempted to replicate the brand’s iconic oval-shaped sponges, there’s only one original. So, for the latest installment of our “I Designed The” series, Avila sat down with Silva to hear about the product’s backstage origins, get some beauty tips, and understand why exactly she chose the brand’s bold pink. While Silva has released other iterations of the sponge since, this one continues to be the top seller, which is why Silva calls it “the Queen.”

With back-to-school season upon us, Strategist writer Rachael Griffiths added a new affordable pick to her guide to the very best lap desks. Though technically for kids, the desk’s daisy design isn’t too childlike, meaning the whole family can use it — exactly as senior writer Lauren Ro and her family do. “The kids use it for reading or doing workbooks at bedtime, and I’ve used it to read in bed,” she says.

As a self-proclaimed gorpcore geek, actor Henry Golding counts Patagonia’s Black Hole packing cubes among the items he can’t live without. “It keeps everything folded and in order, and you can just de-rig your bag as soon as you hit the hotel,” he says. In the years since he’s adopted this packing philosophy, he’s even converted his wife. “I can’t imagine raw-dogging it and just throwing clothes into a suitcase,” he says.

Strategist senior writer Michael Zhao spent the summer kneading, stretching, and baking pies in order to determine which at-home pizza oven is worth the splurge. “For many people, owning a pizza oven (especially at this size) isn’t just about perfecting pizza for yourself. It’s about entertaining friends and family while cooking outside,” writes Zhao. Accordingly, he recommends Gozney’s Arc XL, which can cook six (or more) perfect pizzas in a row without pausing between pies.