5 Low-Fuss, High-Impact Delights to Read, Try, Buy, Love, and Shop in January
All but one are under $100! Which was unintentional, but still fun.
If you’ve been here a minute, you might recall that I despise the standard New Year’s resolutions and all their girlboss/improvement-culture energy with every fiber of my soul. I don’t want a planner, and I don’t want to apply the entrepreneurial drones’ fave concept of “you can’t improve what you don’t measure” to myself. (Here’s a resolution: Don’t let the productivity overlords make you feel a way.)
But, because I’m a contrarian, I do like happiness resolutions. Finding, as a friend calls them, “pockets of joy” and making space for more of them. Nothing punitive. Nothing that’s about making yourself smaller or more palatable. Instead, directing your energy towards things that bring you hope and peace. Remembering that it’s about the journey, not simply ticking the box and arriving at the destination. And understanding that sometimes simply moving in the direction of travel can be enough.
Last year—which I kicked off with the line, “Resolutions are trash”—I wanted to focus on three things: Taking more vacations and time off (they’re different!), incorporating more strength training in my life, and writing more for myself. Looking back, I see that the main thread is just looking for a little more. Not making big swings, unrealistic proclamations, or 180-degree overhauls, but rather embracing what was already bringing me joy, and walking towards it. (As for whether I accomplished this or not, I’d say…I made progress?)
This year, I want to keep these three going, and add one: Make room for more of a social life. Professionally speaking, the last 14 months or so have been immensely challenging, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. Growth is hard! And I’ve had a different level of work challenges this past year, with increased responsibilities and new skills I’ve had to level up*. It’s been really rewarding, interesting, and transformational, but also exhausting, and between the demands of my work and raising two smallish kids, plus my commitment to this newsletter, I haven’t had the space or energy to look after the rest of my life.
Truthfully, my social life has been under siege for the last seven years, ever since I had our first kid, and then another one 22 months later. (Just to be clear: I’m not complaining. I have an immense amount of privilege, luck, and support, and I’m tremendously grateful for it.) Getting parental sea legs was a multiyear process for me, and then just when I felt like I was starting to come up for air, work became even more consuming, and something always has to give. And that something was my social life, and many of my friendships.
Luckily, I have really wonderful pals, who have been understanding about my limitations, and know that my lessened availability is simply because I’m barely keeping it together. And that everything is a season, even being in a diminished state. And for those friends, I love you, and please know that I am actively trying to build in more balance. Also: I’m not crying as I type this. You’re crying. Ha.
So that’s me. I know we’re nearly a whole week into 2025, but wondering how you feel about the year to come, and if you have any happiness resolutions? Let me know! Comments, DMs, and/or texts are all welcome. And with that, let’s move on to today’s newsletter, which has a few things that are delighting me now, and hopefully will bring you joy too.
*I don’t think I’ve written about selling my company and now working for a big corporation. If anyone’s interested in that topic or what the journey has been like, let me know.
READ: The Husbands ($27) by Holly Gramazio
I bought this book ages ago, but didn’t find my way to it until my husband gave me another copy for Christmas. Finally started it a few days ago, and honestly enjoyed it tremendously. The concept is amusing; single Lauren comes home to her apartment late one night (tipsy, after a bachelorette party) only to find it occupied by her husband, a husband she doesn’t remember having. Said husband goes to the attic to get something, and a new husband comes back down in his place, and her life (job, apartment decor, friendships) are all altered too, to varying degrees. Sending a husband into the attic is essentially a restart button, and now Lauren has to decide how and when to use it.
For me, the combination of magical realism and the questions raised about how we make choices, plus the Sliding Doors of it all, was delightful. When I posted about this book on social media, a number of you loved it, and a number of you were annoyed by it because you liked the concept but wanted some larger resolution. For me, it felt quite resolved, but I also love ambiguity, exploring the idea of feeling like a stranger in your own life, and the way our options-heavy culture makes us feel. For me, this is a solid recommendation, and I hope you enjoy it too.
TRY: Crown Affair The Texturizing Air Dry Hair Mousse ($38)
At this point in my life, I’m not trying to heat style my hair more than a couple of times a week, but the truth is my natural texture is a bit impotent, so I’m always looking for some trick or product that will make me look a little more done without actually doing much. It’s probably user error on my part, but I haven’t been really excited about any options in my repertoire as of late, until I started using this new mousse from Crown Affair that’s specifically formulated for air drying. Friends, it’s good. Like: good good.
It’s pretty simple to include in your routine: I put a couple of pumps in my palms, run it through my damp hair (root to tip, because my hair is flattish/straight-ish), and then scrunch it and twist. Since I don’t have tons of natural wave, I then often twist it into one or two buns, and let it finish drying that way, which has worked really well. The result is more defined waves then I get naturally, and my hair looks fuller than it does when I just air dry.
It also works really well on more curl-forward hair. My daughter has a mix of curls and waves, but is mostly 2B, and when I used a little of this product on her hair, I was amazed. It really enhanced her curls, her hair was super soft and didn’t even have a hint of crunch, and it tamed frizz too. Overall, this is probably my favorite styling product for air-dried hair that I’ve ever used, and that’s saying something.
BUY: Cadence The Rose Edit / Parcel Bag + 3 Small Capsules + 3 Medium Capsules ($182)
I fell in love with the brand Cadence a couple of years ago, a feeling that was only bolstered when I interviewed founder Steph Hon for Second Life back in 2022. As someone who historically has traveled a lot, I’ve had more products explode in my carry-on than I want to consider, and never found a great solution for traveling with my face wash, probiotics, and skin makeup, until I started using Cadence.
The containers are TSA compliant, customizable (specific labels are an option!), sustainable, made from recycled and ocean-bound plastic, and they’re super tough. I’ve bashed my original set around for years and they’re still perfect and 100% leakproof. Since then, Cadence has added to their offerings with small, medium, and large containers that all can also be made even bigger with the brand’s Flex Extenders. You can buy individual containers, or build your own system with customizable labels. (The latter is particularly great if you’re traveling with your kids, as you can make labels by person or product name.) If that feels like homework, you can also buy pre-made sets, which are nice too.
Cadence also makes these amazing Parcel Bags for your containers, which are essentially modern dopp kits that are TSA compliant, beautifully designed, and have magnetic closures that also let you connect multiple kits together, if you want. They’re truly a Virgo fever dream.
This week, Cadence launched a new offering, limited-edition edits that include a parcel and six capsules in one of four colorways: Rose, chestnut, ink, and cove. I have The Rose Edit, and I’m mad about it. It solves so many of my travel and organizational needs, it looks great, and I have absolute faith that it will last for years to come, as my original set is still working like a dream. Truly the best and chicest option out there, I swear.
LOVE: J.Crew 1988 Rollneck Sweater ($98)
I, for one, didn’t see a J.Crew men’s cotton turtleneck sweater becoming one of my most worn items ever, but surprise! It’s perfect. TBH I’m not even sure how it ended up in my house; I think I bought one for my husband by accident, and then immediately stole it from him and haven’t given it back.
The reason I’m so impressed is silly, but I secretly hate cotton sweaters. I feel like they’re wonderful when you first buy them, but the second you wash and dry them—the point of a cotton sweater—they immediately lose their yumminess. Having worn and washed this J.Crew iteration a hundred times over the last few months, I can confidently say it holds up and maybe even becomes better? It’s heavy and soft, and might just be the perfect indoor sweater that works as well with your favorite jeans or lounge pants as it will with your shorts on the beach this summer.
Mine is a medium in navy, but I just bought the army green one and black too because when I like something, I love it.
SHOP: Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Tinted Lip Oil ($22)
Full disclosure: I’m a longtime fan of Rare Beauty’s products. The brand’s Perfect Strokes Universal Volumizing Mascara ($22) was one of my 10 best beauty products in 2022, and I have written about the bestselling Soft Pinch Liquid Blush ($25) a zillion times, most recently in my makeup tutorial story with Joey Maalouf (my go-to shade is Joy, but I have a bunch of different colors and you can’t really go wrong with any of them IMHO).
Yet for some reason, I hadn’t tried the brand’s long-lasting Soft Pinch Tinted Lip Oil until recently, and my oh my, that was a mistake. It is the perfect product for the weather right now, as the gel-to-oil formula feels incredibly nourishing on drier lips, and gives you a lasting wash of color. Actually, strike that: It’s perfect for any weather, but especially good if you like a moisturized lip.
It’s not as intensely pigmented as the liquid blush, but it’s really buildable and the texture never feels sticky. It kind of melts into your lips, but the hydration part really lingers, in a stain-like way, but without the drying that normally comes with a stain. I’ve been wearing Joy, and it’s truly a your-lips-but-better color, and really low fuss, similar in spirit to the Crown Affair air dry mousse, if that makes any sense at all? Anyway, it’s truly a delightful product, and I like it so much I already have Happy en route to me now too.
Okay friends, that’s it for now. If you want to follow me on @hillarykerr, I’d love it. And if you have anything to say or ask (preferably nothing terribly mean), please drop me a note either via DM or in the comments below.
As always, thank you for taking the time to read this post. I’m truly so glad you’re here. If you like what you’re reading, please consider sharing this newsletter. (And if you have the time to like it, that would mean a lot to me!) All products mentioned are independently chosen, and some may be affiliate links. Your support is appreciated.
I would love to hear about you selling your company and going to work for a big corporation!
Adding to the chorus: would love to hear about selling your company! I used to watch your videos back in the day!