https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog daily 0.75 2026-09-08 https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/the-importance-of-becoming-a-beginner-again monthly 0.5 2026-09-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/1788837220562-UTE170KU0VSPF249Y8SS/unsplash-image-AkSJQnem75Y.jpg The Edit - The Importance of Becoming a Lifelong Beginner “Being a beginner again lately has reminded me that the hard part of learning something new as an adult isn't that learning itself has gotten harder. It's that you've accumulated enough competence elsewhere to forget what incompetence actually feels like.” https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/september-favorites monthly 0.5 2026-09-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/ffeb8aa2-eb57-440d-9123-79b05ac4aa49/Monthlyhttpswww.google.comurls The Edit - September Favorites - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/1788808970968-6M611LHJ8NAXCSUH2M9M/unsplash-image-agmueqISkvU.jpg The Edit - September Favorites - 1. Ballet I started taking adult ballet classes about a year and a half ago and fell completely in love. There’s something wonderfully soothing about the structure of a ballet class. You come in, settle at the barre, work through the same fundamental movements, then progress into adagio, turns, jumps. It requires an intense amount of concentration, but at the same time, the repetition shuts my brain off in a way very few things do. Sadly, when wedding planning became all-consuming this spring, ballet completely fell off my schedule. But lately, I’ve finally been going back. I think one of the stranger parts of life after a wedding is figuring out what to do with all the space that suddenly reappears. I’m trying to be intentional about filling mine with hobbies and creative pursuits that make me feel more like myself, rather than handing those hours over to scrolling or bed-rotting. I love the artistry of ballet. I love the aesthetic. I love that it’s genuinely difficult without feeling like another workout class. Mostly, I love having something I do simply because I enjoy doing it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/384bf9d2-6518-494a-9b04-8ab7ae675066/s-l1200.jpg The Edit - September Favorites - 2. My Digital Camera In March 2020, trapped inside a tiny South Boston apartment with literally nowhere to go, I decided it was time to start a vlog. This was peak Boston quarantine. It was freezing outside, my neighborhood Stop & Shop had run out of flour, yeast, and seemingly every other ingredient required for the baking hobbies everyone else had picked up, and going for a walk meant bundling up for a 40-degree + high-wind pilgrimage to Castle Island. (Boston people who survived that particular version of COVID are built differently.) So naturally, with no prior experience and absolutely no evidence that I would ever become a vlogger, I bought a G7 X. Plot twist: the vlog never happened. I used the camera approximately never, tucked it away somewhere, and forgot I owned it until digital cameras suddenly became cool again. I was halfway to convincing myself I needed to buy one when I remembered that I already had a very good digital camera collecting dust in my house. Photography has actually always been something I loved. In high school, my most prized possession was a Canon DSLR, and I became the unofficial photographer of my friend group. I knew essentially nothing about photography then and still wouldn't pretend I do now. I just really like taking pictures. So lately I've been teaching myself how to actually use the G7 X by experimenting with settings, lighting, composition, etc. and figuring out how to get it to take the photos I want. It feels less like picking up a new hobby and more like rediscovering an old one, which might be why I'm enjoying it so much. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/4bca3ecc-b5ed-4230-8336-8a5344515034/81330-9844CACA.avif.jpeg The Edit - September Favorites - 3. Sarti Rosa I am not ahead of the curve here. The Sarti Spritz has very much had a moment this summer, and I have happily joined the bandwagon. To be fair, I’m a spritz person in almost any form once the weather gets warm. This summer, Sarti has been the hyperfixation. Sarti Rosa is a bright pink Italian aperitivo with blood orange, mango, and passion fruit notes, traditionally mixed with Prosecco and soda for a Sarti Spritz. It’s fruity without being sweet, refreshing, and light enough that it works particularly well for daytime drinking. So why Sarti in September, you might ask? Something people who don’t live in Texas may not understand is that “fall” here has zero to do with weather changes. You can be watching college football outside while it’s still approximately 90 degrees, which means my ideal September beverage is not remotely autumnal. This year, it’s ice-cold, bubbly, and pink. For Dallas friends: Birdie’s in Lakewood has one on the menu and a great outdoor setup. Consider this my pitch to keep spritz season alive well into fall. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/e9c93aa7-3404-4015-907a-ae147000127a/s2693356-main-zoom.jpg.webp The Edit - September Favorites - 4. PHLUR Vanilla Skin Body Mist August was quite possibly the sweatiest month of my life. I spent 99% of my free time last month in CorePower Sculpt teacher training, which meant 15-20 hours per week spent in a heated room learning anatomy, practicing sequences, and taking/observing sculpt classes, plus hours at home cueing Kevin through imaginary classes and walking around Dallas rehearsing music formulas to myself like a crazy person. Doing a heated yoga teacher training during a Texas summer is, in retrospect, a slightly diabolical choice. Needless to say, my shower, deodorant, and fragrances were working overtime. Somewhere along the way (out of pure necessity), I discovered PHLUR Vanilla Skin Body Mist. It has vanilla at its core layered with pink pepper, cashmere wood, and sandalwood to keep it from smelling saccharine or overpowering, and it makes me feel 20% more put together even when I’ve just left a 95-degree fitness studio looking objectively unwell. Definitely coming with me into fall. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/d4cad406-f164-4a60-9e75-2a40345176cc/61mE5jDxUXL._AC_UF1000%2C1000_QL80_.jpg The Edit - September Favorites - 5. CYKLAR Body Wash & Cream CYKLAR has been on my radar since Claudia Sulewski launched the brand because I’ve followed Claudia since the early YouTube days. Before “clean girl” became an entire internet aesthetic, she was already living in that beautifully organized, understated corner of the internet I desperately wanted my life to resemble. I resisted buying CYKLAR for a while and then finally caved on the Crescent body wash and cream this month, and unfortunately for my wallet, they’re really good. It smells expensive - less like a traditional body product and more like something you’d encounter in a very nice hotel bathroom. The scent also stays close enough to the skin that I can layer perfume over it without feeling like I've created a Bath & Body Works circa 2009 fragrance cloud. The body cream might be my favorite part. I hate body lotions that leave you feeling sticky or slick afterward, but this absorbs quickly while still leaving my skin moisturized. The body wash is pricier than your average drugstore version, but the bottle is huge and a little goes a long way. More importantly, it makes showering feel more luxurious, which matters a lot during the infernal months when I’m averaging 2-3 showers per day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/b7855d37-fb5e-488e-ab86-764d3a229f4e/MV5BYTcyNTRkZjctMTEwMy00NjdjLWIxZmUtOTAyMDZiZDQ4YzFmXkEyXkFqcGc%40._V1_.jpg The Edit - September Favorites - 6. Earle Meets World on Netflix Kevin and I intentionally made no plans for Labor Day weekend. We have a very busy September ahead, and after an equally busy summer, we wanted a few days to do almost nothing: get our lives organized, sleep, reset, and generally re-enter society before fall really starts. Naturally, I used some of my valuable restorative time to watch all 8 episodes of Earle Meets World in under 24 hours. The Netflix series follows Alix Earle and her endearingly chaotic blended family. I already liked Alix going into it - obviously she is beautiful and lives an incredibly aspirational life, but I’ve always respected how intelligently she has handled becoming crazy famous overnight. What I admire most about Alix, though, is that she has somehow maintained a little mess around the edges. She’ll show the glamorous trip and then show herself waking up hungover with Taco Bell next to the bed or crying about a breakup. She can be extraordinarily polished without pretending her actual life is. The same vibe emanates from her family as well: they argue, there are uncomfortable dynamics, everyone isn't constantly performing. And yet you also get the sense that they genuinely love each other and are extremely family-first. The show made me think about how influencers became popular in the first place because they felt more accessible than traditional celebrities, but somewhere along the way, influencer culture has become so polished that many influencers now make the most iconic celebrities seem down to earth in comparison. I think the reason Alix has been so successful is because she straddles both sides, giving the world enough glamour to be aspirational while leaving enough imperfection to still feel human. I loved the show. No notes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/e2ad0dba-5356-4b16-9fb0-a64703ab2155/BEIS180802-TheCarryOnRoller-Black-Product-0740_831a8784-119d-4690-bbb1-09962b702f27.jpg.webp The Edit - September Favorites - 7. BÉIS The Carry-On Roller This recommendation is neither groundbreaking nor niche. I know you know about BÉIS. But September for me involves a wedding, a bachelorette, and a weekend trip to visit friends, which means my Carry-On Roller is about to be put into heavy rotation. I've owned mine for four or five years and abused it considerably. I am not a minimalist packer. I am a “but what if I need three different jackets for a weekend trip?” packer, and I have forced this suitcase to accommodate choices no carry-on should justifiably be asked to accommodate. The zippers remain undefeated. It isn’t cheap, but considering how many trips mine has survived and how aggressively I pack it, the cost per use has become quite simply economical. If you are also an overpacker masquerading as a carry-on person, I recommend this suitcase wholeheartedly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/b5c0402c-340c-4091-ad82-5bc4cc555e17/IntroFeatureOne_0.png The Edit - September Favorites - 8. The UPS Store The most glamorous recommendation on this list: The UPS Store. One thing no one adequately warns you about when you get married is that after you finish the endless admin involved with planning the wedding, the U.S. government assigns you a second round of full-time admin: changing your name. And my generation has one enormous disadvantage when navigating this process: we do not own printers. I have not owned a printer in at least a decade. This has never been a problem because I live in the year 2026 and conduct my life accordingly. The United States government, however, has chosen a different path. Enter: my local UPS Store. At this point, I am on first-name basis with the employees at the Skillman Street UPS Store. I've gone in to print forms, scan signatures, take passport photos, photocopy documents, buy envelopes, mail applications, and various other analog tasks that I’m genuinely shocked have not gone extinct. At one point they took my passport photo (minimum 10 retakes until I didn’t look like I was being held at gunpoint), reprinted the photo multiple times until it looked right, printed and assembled my entire application in the correct order, and mailed it out directly to save me a trip to the post office. It was spectacular customer service for something I had mentally prepared to be a huge pain. So, to every fellow millennial who refuses to buy a printer: when bureaucracy comes for you, go directly to The UPS Store. They've got your back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/f8290b9f-eff9-4535-9bb6-648685d179b1/nespresso-vertuoplus-deluxe-coffee-maker-espresso-machine--c.jpg The Edit - September Favorites - 9. Nespresso Decaf Anyone who knows me knows I love coffee. Unfortunately, I also take ADHD medication, and over time I’ve had to accept that combining it with caffeinated coffee created a unique brand of energy that neither I nor the people around me particularly needed, which means I had to part ways with caffeine a while ago. Giving up caffeine itself wasn't actually the hard part; giving up good coffee was. Decaf drinkers know the struggle. Decaf coffee tastes like someone described the flavor of coffee to a cup of hot water. This month, my world changed when I discovered Nespresso's Vertuo Decaffeinato pods. They make a full 7.8 oz cup of coffee and taste like real coffee, completely devoid of the sad-decaf quality I had previously resigned myself to. This sounds like a small development in my life, and it is. But having the ritual of a hot cup of coffee back feels disproportionately wonderful. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/3c4ebd62-4500-4379-b02c-65f91d9734c8/BaubleFramesWhiteCloseBlank_SS25_9cd738d1-2dfa-41dd-bab5-61fcbd633931_1100x.jpg.webp The Edit - September Favorites - 10. Mariposa Picture Frames Kevin and I got our wedding photos back a few weeks ago, which means I have entered the next phase of being a newlywed: figuring out what to do with hundreds of beautiful photos besides over-posting on IG. Professional framing gets expensive quickly, but I also think picture frames are a little home detail that matters more than people realize. The right frame makes the photograph feel special and becomes part of the room around it. I've loved Mariposa frames for years. At our wedding, we had a table near the guest book filled with framed photos of our families and of us, and my mom sourced almost all of the frames from Mariposa. They were beautiful. Then, for my birthday this year, my aunt and uncle gave me a simple white Mariposa frame. It was a gift that seemed small until we realized how perfect it is. We had just gotten our wedding photos back, the frame fits beautifully in our house, and now I get to choose one of those photographs to live in it. It also made me realize what an underrated newlywed gift a beautiful picture frame is. After the wedding, everyone suddenly has photographs they care deeply about and nowhere to put them. If someone close to you recently got married, buy them a beautiful frame. And if you're looking for the frame, start with Mariposa. https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/football-is-back monthly 0.5 2026-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/525c22c4-9d9d-4357-bd84-2684caa10b01/Football_Is_Back.png The Edit - Football Is Back “Sports give people a reason to gather. When a team is good, or a school means something to you, or a whole city simply agrees to care about the same thing at the same time, it creates a kind of communal momentum that has very little to do with the game itself.” https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/back-to-school monthly 0.5 2026-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/1787612192499-K8Z7FTCT6WO7DS16LUF3/unsplash-image-_3Q3tsJ01nc.jpg The Edit - My Adult Back-To-School Routine - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/the-achievement-trap monthly 0.5 2026-08-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/de094065-cda5-4cc2-b768-e6d2f98ca6fe/microsoft-copilot-8UnGiO4yesk-unsplash.jpg The Edit - The Achievement Trap - “Somewhere along the way, every accomplishment stopped feeling like a destination and started feeling like an entry requirement for whatever came next.“ https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/skincare-routine monthly 0.5 2026-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/929b2095-d571-4a9e-b032-3224ac5b66d6/Skincare+%281200+x+400+px%29.png The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/bc89a434-3a6d-4869-8c8c-70b215291c3f/61quQhTuImL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - Step 1: A Gentle Cleanser If there is one lesson I've carried with me since my acne-prone teenage years, it's that clean skin does not need to mean stripped skin. When you're breaking out, it's tempting to reach for the most aggressive cleanser you can find and essentially try to scrub the acne off your face. I've learned to take the opposite approach. I want a cleanser that removes makeup, sunscreen, oil and the general grime of the day without leaving my face tight or dry. This one from Avène is gentle but mildly foaming, so I still get that satisfying clean-skin feeling. I use it morning and night and consider it the neutral starting point that lets everything else in my routine do its job. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/feb57db2-5e40-4862-84bd-1091ac68e242/61P6dNyR6TL._AC_SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - Step 2: A Hydrating Toner I started using toners a few years ago after discovering Korean skincare and, at first discovery, the obsession ran so deep that I think I’ve tried approximately all of them. I've tried layering multiple toners, fancy toners, cheap toners, active toners, etc. and eventually concluded that, for this particular step, simpler is better. The goal is ultimately a base layer of hydration that makes my skin feel plump and helps everything I apply afterward absorb smoothly and evenly. Right now I love Anua's Rice 70 Glow Milky Toner. It's affordable, hydrating, and contains ceramides, which I appreciate in a routine where I'm otherwise asking quite a lot of my skin barrier. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/5e38e209-9fa1-48a7-b4e0-1318156ba317/61wKMR8eiGL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - Step 3A: Morning Salicylic Acid I rotate my two morning actives roughly every other day, and, on salicylic-acid mornings, I use this toner before my hydrating toner and let it dry completely before moving on. Salicylic acid is an oil-soluble exfoliant, which makes it particularly useful for oily, acne-prone or congested skin. I find it helps keep my pores clear and my skin smooth without needing a separate physical exfoliant. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/0f30046c-3919-48a0-b5e0-f1414600901a/61%2BNVY2vRrL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - Step 3B: Morning Vitamin C On the mornings I'm not using salicylic acid, I use vitamin C. Hyperpigmentation and sun damage have become much bigger concerns for me as I've gotten older, and vitamin C has become one of my go-to daytime ingredients for keeping my skin bright and even. I've tried several formulas, including the cult-favorite SkinCeuticals version, but Medik8 Super C Ferulic is the one in my routine right now. I think of it as the brightening half of my morning active rotation: salicylic acid when I'm focusing on pores and congestion, vitamin C when I'm focusing on pigmentation and overall luminosity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/6a12e106-5f58-47d8-ab5f-dd3a5b4769b3/617YLxkNGSL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - Step 4: Moisturizer After whichever morning active I've chosen comes moisturizer, and this is one category where I actively don't want my product doing too much. Medik8 Total Moisture is simple, fragrance-free, and combines easily with the rest of my routine. It's rich enough that my skin feels properly moisturized, but it settles down rather than leaving me greasy or overly dewy. Makeup layers well over it, and on no-makeup days it leaves just enough of a healthy glow. Sometimes a moisturizer's greatest quality is just being really good at moisturizing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/6e2da32e-b9f3-4644-9e56-c2c54e5e2f98/716i2HqV9FL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - Step 5: SPF. Every. Single. Day. If you're going to spend money on actives to address aging and hyperpigmentation then skip sunscreen, we're taking one step forward and two steps backward. Living in Texas has made me militant about SPF. The Texas sun is no joke, and building SPF into my morning routine means I don't have to think about whether I've "put on sunscreen" that day. It's simply skincare. It took me longer to find a daily SPF I actually liked than any other product in this routine. Sunscreens can be greasy, heavy, pore-clogging, and chalky, and there’s a heated debate out there about chemical vs. physical/mineral. The truth is, the best SPF is ultimately the one you will willingly put on your face every single morning. For me, that's EltaMD UV Clear SPF 46. I use the tinted version, which doesn't provide real coverage so much as subtly even everything out, which is especially nice on no-makeup/light-makeup days. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/92ecee97-1434-4038-b680-50e7ea0c6f19/51UnoJIIrxL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - Step 6: My Favorite Lip Balm For daytime, I'm currently obsessed with Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm in Cherry. It actually feels hydrating but looks like a gloss, and the sheer red tint works perfectly with my coloring. It's enough to add a little something on a completely bare-faced day but works just as well with full makeup. I like to think it’s skincare, but cute. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/4f5b679a-7e32-40d6-9966-1cdc96203da8/41YCNSiEo6L.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - My Holy Grail: Tretinoin I am a tretinoin stan. I've been using it for three years, and if I had to attribute the biggest change in my skin to a single product, this would be it. My skin is smoother and brighter, my pigmentation has improved, and I genuinely think my skin looks younger now than it did a few years ago. That said, tretinoin is emphatically not a race. I started at 0.025% and took more than two years to move up to 0.05%. I’ve found that it’s actually more effective to use a lower strength consistently than constantly destroy my skin barrier trying to tolerate something stronger, so if prescription tretinoin isn't right for you, over-the-counter retinoids are also great (Naturium makes a very affordable Retinaldehyde-based cream that I’ve used in the past and love). Consistency has been the magic for me more than ever with retinoids. Once my skin acclimated enough that tretinoin became a normal part of my routine rather than an assault to my face, that's when I really started seeing the magic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/d8f0317b-a255-4718-96dc-17c7ed41d291/61iaflyT3vL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - When My Skin Needs a Tretinoin Break: Exfoliant I don't alternate these evenly with tretinoin. Tretinoin is my default. But if my skin needs a night off, I'll occasionally swap in a Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Peel instead. I actually used these long before tretinoin entered my routine, and they're still one of my favorite products for instant smoothness and glow. Each treatment has two steps: an exfoliating pad followed by a neutralizing treatment. I never use them on the same night as tretinoin, and you shouldn’t either if you want to keep the top layer of your skin intact. These are my occasional reset, not another active to pile on top. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/4b0e189a-de92-46b1-8ff3-1e5ba771eb43/cicalfate__restorative_cream_40ml_2025.jpg.webp The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - My Holy-Grail Night Cream I included Cicalfate+ in my August Favorites, and I stand by every word. This is the final layer I put over my evening routine, especially when I'm using tretinoin, and my skin loves it. It's unapologetically thick and leaves a slight white cast going on, but I'm going to sleep, so no one needs to see me. By morning, the white cream has disappeared and my skin feels bouncy and moisturized. The formula includes zinc, which is a great healing ingredient, and for me it’s the perfect final layer in a routine that otherwise includes some fairly hardworking actives. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/8bf10157-cd47-4708-8ea2-f237a840d53e/51PbZMgofCL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - The First Eye Cream I've Actually Used Consistently Eye cream and I have historically had a difficult relationship. I either forget to use it, hate the texture, or wake up feeling like half of it has migrated directly into my eyeballs. This is the first one I've ever actually stuck with. I've used it for two or three years now and have noticed a real difference in the fine lines around my eyes. It contains retinal (a retinoid) so I keep that in mind alongside the other actives in my routine, but it’s gentle and my skin personally tolerates it well. It's also relatively inexpensive and one tube lasts forever because you need such a tiny amount. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/543ebdc1-98ad-4f7c-b7ea-fea23a600d07/51ky4%2BZgoVL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - Before Bed: The Lip Mask I've heard all the discourse about whether the LANEIGE sleeping mask is actually miraculous. I don't really care. I've used it for years, I slather on a thick layer before bed, and I wake up with hydrated lips. Tried, true, staying on the nightstand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/e6645d4b-af7e-4bd8-a69c-4512f1ca4f5f/61OfXQiidUL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - LED Red-Light Mask Don’t hate me for this one. Yes, it's expensive. Yes, you look like a Star Wars villain wearing it. And yes, I love it. I've had my LED mask for about three years now and have gone through phases of religious use and total neglect. Anecdotally, I notice that my skin looks brighter and more vibrant during the stretches when I'm consistent with red light. But the unexpected reason I've grown so attached to it has almost nothing to do with skincare. I put it on for twenty to thirty minutes after my evening shower, before the rest of my routine, and I use the time to lounge in bed and read, scroll TikTok, or watch Friends. It creates this forced little buffer between the go-go-go part of my day and sleep. I can't accomplish much while strapped into a glowing red face mask, which is exactly the point. Whether it's the red light or the ritual, I emerge calmer than I went in. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/a10c5cbe-6e97-4e23-9cc9-51719a549612/71HZGIpmIhL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - Sheet Masks Are for Fun I don't expect a sheet mask to reverse my wrinkles. That's what the boring daily routine is for. Sheet masks, to me, are self-care. I love these inexpensive OOTD masks because I can keep a stack on hand without feeling precious about them. They're particularly good for travel. I'll throw a few into my suitcase and use one after a flight or while getting ready for a wedding, when my skin feels dehydrated and I want twenty minutes to myself in a hotel robe. Sometimes skincare is allowed to just feel soothing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/7c57a2a7-fa5e-4afa-b4b2-1ab367c42d53/71SMUQ9rvFL._AC_SL1500_.jpg The Edit - My Benjamin Button Skincare Routine - Gua Sha / Facial Massage for Lymphatic Drainage I've used a gua sha on and off for five or six years now, and when I'm consistent about it, I notice a pronounced difference in how puffy my face looks. Facial massage can temporarily help move fluid and reduce puffiness, which is why you can look noticeably more sculpted immediately afterward. The important part is technique and consistency, not owning a hand-carved slab of rare Italian marble. Find a good tutorial, use enough slip that you aren't tugging at your skin, and learn the proper motions. The actual tool can be incredibly basic. I linked mine because it's the one I own, not because I believe it possesses magical properties. https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/the-middle-child-method monthly 0.5 2026-08-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/1786070994003-GISR53RVH8OQBVRTM0IB/unsplash-image-cI8mTFfjkwk.jpg The Edit - the Middle Child Survival guide - “People have always described me as adaptable, and I've taken it as a compliment. But if you spend enough years learning to speak everyone else's language, it's only natural to wonder which one was yours to begin with.” https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/10-summer-recipes monthly 0.5 2026-08-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/f52f47ff-3c24-4b88-a22d-75851a0f0e04/FullSizeRender_VSCO.jpg The Edit - The 10 Best Things I’ve Cooked This summer - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/d66feaff-dd68-43c2-b02c-f7c90738e56b/Cast-Iron-Skillet-Steak-09.jpg The Edit - The 10 Best Things I’ve Cooked This summer - 1. Cast Iron Steak I used to be genuinely scared of cooking meat. Chicken I could handle, mostly because I could just put it in the oven at a set temperature and walk away, but steak felt like something that belonged to experts. Then one day this summer I was craving a steak salad and thought, how hard could this actually be? Men do it. So I went to Trader Joe's, picked up a couple of sirloins, threw them on the cast iron, and they came out perfect. I've since looked into doing it properly, and the method is stupidly simple: a screaming hot cast iron pan, a good cut, and the discipline to leave it alone. Under ten minutes, and it works every single time. If you're someone who avoids meat out of fear the way I did, start here. You'll be having steak on a Tuesday before you know it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/febdc54c-f6d5-4cf5-b078-1c2add6ec5b5/clark-corn-pasta-superJumbo.webp The Edit - The 10 Best Things I’ve Cooked This summer - 2. Sweet Corn Pasta In the summer, I'll eat corn in pretty much anything. I love how the sweet, umami thing it does makes a dish feel a little indulgent without actually being heavy. I became properly obsessed with corn pasta this year after trying the sweet corn agnolotti at Buccan in Palm Beach during my bachelorette in March, and I've basically been chasing that flavor ever since. This Melissa Clark recipe has been my summer corn pasta fix. It's much lighter than the Buccan agnolotti, but it still has that same sweet, complex, distinctly summer flavor. It's simple, fast, adaptable, and it's been on the menu all season. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/ee566118-7fb9-463a-9199-7c8efda4a898/Baja-Shrimp-TacosNew.jpg The Edit - The 10 Best Things I’ve Cooked This summer - 3. Baja Shrimp Tacos I keep a bag of frozen, peeled, deveined shrimp in the freezer at all times for emergencies because it thaws fast and turns into a protein-forward dinner with almost no planning. This has been especially true this summer. Once the wedding buzz wore off, Kevin and I found ourselves looking for the easiest possible version of everything, and these tacos became one of our go-to lazy dinners. The recipe is basically impossible to mess up: marinate the shrimp, cook it on the stove, throw together a simple slaw and crema, get good tortillas (if you're in Texas, the butter tortillas from Central Market are unmatched), add lime and a thinly sliced jalapeño. Somehow it tastes like something we went out for, not something we threw together in under thirty minutes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/739f0d41-88fc-4a40-8f4e-0bdc361a2680/IMG_5317-2.jpg The Edit - The 10 Best Things I’ve Cooked This summer - 4. Roasted Carrots with Whipped Ricotta and Hot Honey Roasted carrots aren't exactly the first thing that comes to mind for summer, I know. They feel more like a Thanksgiving vegetable. But I was hosting friends for dinner early this summer and was totally stumped on a vegetable. Nothing was calling my name until I found some gorgeous rainbow carrots at Central Market. I looked up a recipe on the spot, and this ended up being the serendipitous favorite of the night. Carrots are hard to mess up on their own (roast them and you're most of the way there), but the ricotta, pistachios, and hot honey are what truly make this dish: salt, fat, acid, heat, layered with the subtle sweetness of the roasted carrots to tie the whole thing together. Suspend your disbelief and don't sleep on roasted carrots as a summer vegetable. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/f710e491-a3f3-4995-aa00-8d744fbbd78b/IMG_7160-scaled-1.webp The Edit - The 10 Best Things I’ve Cooked This summer - 5. Whipped Ricotta Toast Bread and cheese are my two favorite food groups, so any slightly elevated combination of the two will always win me over. This Wishbone Kitchen recipe, inspired, I assume, by the Misi ricotta toast, is an oldie but a goodie; I've been making it since long before her cookbook came out. Ricotta in the summer is exactly what I want: bright and fluffy but still rich, and this is one of those recipes where presentation does most of the work. It's really just bread and cheese dressed up in cocktail attire, perfect for a summer night when you want something that's equal parts easy and special. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/b0c1123f-e174-456f-ba3a-300fc5d377c0/potato-green-bean-salad-4-736x809.webp The Edit - The 10 Best Things I’ve Cooked This summer - 6. French Potato and Green Bean Salad My sister found this recipe while we were cooking together on a low-key family night on Nantucket in July. I was thrilled when I saw that it involved green beans, because Kevin claims not to like them, and any time Kevin says he doesn't like a food, I take it as a personal challenge to find the preparation that changes his mind. Olives and mushrooms have already fallen, and this was the recipe that did it for green beans. The trick is a fast blanch, straight into ice-cold water after, so the beans stay crisp and bright instead of going mushy. Everything else comes together easily from there into a fresher, greener, and slightly more herby take on your standard potato salad. We had this with grilled tuna steaks as a loose homage to salade niçoise, and I'd highly recommend the same if you can get good tuna where you are. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/88e6617b-5aec-4e0f-b7bf-68202b08f52c/DDD_SHoot_06_W6A2650.jpg The Edit - The 10 Best Things I’ve Cooked This summer - 7. My Signature Vinaigrette This one has a fun and colorful origin story. I've been making the same simple vinaigrette since 2015, when I really started cooking. I've never written the recipe down, I've just found myself making it the same way every time. In business school, my friend Emily hosted dinner every Wednesday night and always put me on salad duty, and at some point during my second year, this vinaigrette became the thing everyone always asked for. This year, Emily, an accomplished chef herself, published her own cookbook and recreated my vinaigrette from memory so she could include it, and it turns out she nailed it. So technically I'm sending you to someone else's book for my own recipe, but it's the right version, and I'd rather have Emily give it to you correctly than deliver a botched re-creation of my own signature dressing from memory. Plus - gentle plug - the book is well worth the purchase. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/ff724283-1636-413a-84b2-913bc6f6289b/merlin_187538190_4da0b476-ae61-4643-9397-dfe9b97374e7-superJumbo.webp The Edit - The 10 Best Things I’ve Cooked This summer - 8. Gazpacho Everyone has that one slightly niche restaurant dish they have to order any time they see it on a menu, and growing up, my mom's was gazpacho. I, too, inherited the gazpacho habit somewhere along the way without really noticing. As an adult, I found this recipe in the New York Times, and that was when I realized gazpacho is basically just a vegetable smoothie: everything into the blender, no cooking required. It's healthy, refreshing, and surprisingly filling for something that's mostly vegetables and olive oil. Kevin was openly skeptical the first time he watched me make it, and now he's the one finishing the batch before I get a second bowl. The only real trick with gazpacho is patience. It's best served ice-cold, but it won't come out of the blender cold, even with chilled ingredients, so give it six to eight hours in the fridge, or overnight if you can. It's not the same at room temperature. Plan ahead. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/c84eccb2-4fe0-4c79-9f2e-120ba248358b/22LemonRicottaPancakes-rex-twjh-superJumbo.webp The Edit - The 10 Best Things I’ve Cooked This summer - 9. Lemon Ricotta Pancakes These Genevieve Ko pancakes are my signature breakfast at this point. They're just slightly more special than a regular pancake without being fussy: perfectly fluffy, with just enough lemon zest, no lemon juice at all, to brighten them without tipping into dessert territory. The recipe makes just enough for two, which means Kevin and I can polish off a batch between us on a Saturday morning. We put weekend indulgences like this on pause while we were getting ready for the wedding, so bringing these back into the rotation this summer has felt like getting a favorite little ritual back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/fdd802ed-8c68-4ee7-8912-73e1f7e787b7/ND-Pickled-red-onions-czkt-superJumbo.webp The Edit - The 10 Best Things I’ve Cooked This summer - 10. Quick Pickled Onions If you open our fridge on any given day, I'm willing to bet there will be a deli container of pickled red onions in the top left corner, and I'd argue they do more work than anything else on this list. In the spirit of keeping summer cooking simple, it helps to have accoutrement ready to go that you can toss onto whatever you're making, and pickled onions have a delicious amount of complexity for something so easy. The sharpness of the raw onion is balanced out by sweetness and brine, so they end up tasting less oniony and more sweet-and-tangy. I use this Nas Durabian recipe from NYT Cooking, though honestly almost any version works; pickling is not rocket science. One batch lasts a long time, so a single onion keeps you stocked for a while. We put these on shrimp tacos, avocado toast, scrambled eggs, steak salads, shawarma bowls, and more or less anything that needs a little more zip. I've tried store-bought versions out of laziness and have never found one worth keeping around. If you're looking for an easy way to make simple summer meals feel more finished, a batch of these in the fridge is a genuine game changer. https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/the-best-thing-i-ever-did-was-leave-home monthly 0.5 2026-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/1786109768649-21C3FMY3YLDAGY5DZNLT/unsplash-image-DboxKKYYqRU.jpg The Edit - The Best Thing I Ever Did Was Leave Home - “It's surprisingly easy to mistake your own upbringing for objective truth when you've never lived anywhere else.” https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/august-favorites-2026 monthly 0.5 2026-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/8b2fbc65-9d8d-4686-ac4b-052d15a21f87/August+Favorites+%281200+x+400+px%29.png The Edit - August Favorites - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/177f3da0-25b3-478e-a264-aae703906288/400-thread-count-organic-percale-sheet-set-o.jpg The Edit - August Favorites - 1. Pottery Barn Organic Percale Sheets Texas has been relentlessly hot lately. Like, high of 105, low of 90, three showers per day hot. Every afternoon feels like opening the oven door, and by the time I crawl into my bed at night, all I want is to feel cool again. I’ve tried what feels like every sheet set on the market over the years, and I always come back to Pottery Barn’s organic percale. They’re crisp but not stiff, cool but not slippery, and they get softer the longer you own them. The only other sheets I’ve found that come close are 2x the price; these are worth every penny. Not only did I put these on our wedding registry, we registered for 4 sets - which may seem insane, but honestly, I’d do it again. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/4241c452-c0e4-483d-87a8-e08c4c2581be/LNEMSFTQA6FDCZTVVAY67RJT.jpeg.webp The Edit - August Favorites - 2. Gulp Hablo Orange Wine Kevin has been on a wine kick recently, which means many of our evenings have turned into conversations about grape varieties, regions, and whether we can actually taste the things people claim they taste in wine. This has been our summer bottle. Orange wine sits somewhere between a white and something a little more interesting. It’s crisp enough for August, but it has just enough personality and “funk” that it never feels predictable. The Gulp Hablo Orange Wine from La Mancha has become our default - our local gourmet grocer sells it in a one-liter size for surprisingly good value, and it disappears faster than we’d like to admit. If your summer wine rotation is starting to feel repetitive, this is where I’d start. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/28381c1b-a7d1-4c40-abf5-bc2d74d54035/51uB%2BbxshEL.jpg The Edit - August Favorites - 3. A Deck of Playing Cards One thing no one tells you about getting married is how weird it feels when the wedding is finally over. For months, every free hour belonged to seating charts, vendor emails, playlists, and other tiny details and decisions that, for whatever reason, felt enormously important. Then suddenly, on a Saturday in late June, Kevin and I had an entire weekend with absolutely nothing to plan and nothing to do. We ended up on a bar patio watching soccer, looked at each other, and realized we had no idea what to do next. So I walked to a gift shop down the street, bought a deck of cards, and we taught ourselves gin rummy over afternoon beers. We've been playing ever since. Sometimes it's nice to remember that entertainment doesn't always have to involve a screen. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/4b0e189a-de92-46b1-8ff3-1e5ba771eb43/cicalfate__restorative_cream_40ml_2025.jpg.webp The Edit - August Favorites - 4. My Holy Grail Night Cream If I had to reduce my skincare routine to the bare essentials, I'd keep tretinoin, sunscreen, and this cream. I am an unapologetic believer in tretinoin. If I ever write an entire skincare post, it will probably just be a love letter to tretinoin. But tret only works as well as your skin barrier does, and this is what keeps mine intact. Every night I lather a ludicrous amount onto my face after applying my tretinoin. This cream goes on white (the active ingredient is zinc) so I look completely ridiculous climbing into bed, but by morning my skin is glowy, calm, and noticeably brighter. This is one of the least glamorous products in my routine, and maybe the most important. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/be678c23-ce48-45e6-baa6-7b7bbf5e95c2/J3NP01R000__PRODUCT_01--IMG_1200--AMBROXYDE17-775639853.jpg The Edit - August Favorites - 5. Le Labo Ambroxyde Candle My friend Madison brought me this Le Labo candle as a gift when she visited on Nantucket over the Fourth of July. I'd never burned Ambroxyde before, but it's become the scent of my summer. There's something about lighting a candle in the evening that makes an ordinary weekday feel a little more intentional. This one smells warm and clean without being overly sweet, and lately it's been burning while we cook dinner, read before bed, or sit on the couch doing absolutely nothing. It's a small luxury, but one I've appreciated every single day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/f08671c8-3b94-4e6e-88b6-0eca514d5c4b/71jyDjyALnL._AC_SL1500_.jpg The Edit - August Favorites - 6. Good Writing Pens A few weeks before our wedding, Kevin and I handwrote more than 130 letters. Every guest found a personal note waiting at their seat during dinner, and afterward has come more than a hundred handwritten thank-you notes. Needless to say, we've spent an archaic amount of time writing with pens this summer. These gel pens made the entire process infinitely more bearable - might I even say, enjoyable. They write smoothly, they don't smear, and they make your handwriting look cleaner than it actually is (which is a huge win when Kevin is responsible for 1/2). I'm looking forward to the day we're no longer writing letters every evening, but I'm equally convinced that handwritten notes are one of those old-fashioned lost habits worth holding onto. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/ddeab979-8055-4397-8760-8f02469d1295/26_JANWK5_US_RENT_NUUSROOM_UODROPOFF_ARTICLE_1UP_TALL_SS.jpg The Edit - August Favorites - 7. My Clothing Rental Subscription I genuinely love clothes. I also genuinely hate spending money on clothes. After a year that involved a wedding, showers, bachelorette weekends, and a million other events that all required new outfits, I reached a point where I couldn't bring myself to spend money on one more article of clothing. Nuuly has saved my life since then. I still get the fun of wearing something new, but without overstuffing my closet or convincing myself I need another dress I'll wear exactly once. It keeps my wardrobe feeling fun and fresh while giving me permission to be choiceful about what I actually buy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/bf6eced3-2ae7-4b2c-8f6e-797335685683/81D60K3sEpL._SL1500_.jpg The Edit - August Favorites - 8 . The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith I grew up obsessed with Harry Potter, so J.K. Rowling's writing will always feel nostalgic and familiar to me. Her detective novels, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, couldn't be more different from Harry Potter. No magic, just modern-day London and wonderfully complicated mysteries. I've been making my way through The Hallmarked Man, and it's reminded me how much I missed having time to read. The books in this series are long, which I actually love. Just when I become attached to the characters, I don't have to say goodbye after two nights. Whether you agree with Rowling or not (my feelings are very complicated), her ability to build a world people want to spend time in remains unparalleled and unchanged. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/a0f508a8-75bf-405d-b613-9dd9acb92631/81586778_001_l.webp The Edit - August Favorites - 9. Free People Movement Never Better Set No profound story here, this one is just really good. I've been wearing this set constantly lately - I own it in white, and I like that the color is a little unexpected for a workout set. It’s comfortable, super flattering, and one of the first sets I reach for immediately from my weekly clean laundry. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/43d239fa-ab53-4b6a-ad94-b789b8e889db/9802-crystalline-ring-holder-candent-2422.jpg.webp The Edit - August Favorites - 10. Simon Pearce Ring Holder This was an engagement gift from two of my best friends, and for a long time it was simply where I kept my ring at night. Then Kevin and I got married. Kevin spent months during our engagement insisting he wasn't going to like wearing a wedding band. He wasn't used to having anything on his hand and was convinced it would bother him. Now he hardly ever takes it off. At night, sometimes I find both of our rings sitting on the same little ceramic ring holder before we go to sleep, and I find myself smiling at that more than I expected. https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/a-life-well-edited monthly 0.5 2026-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/1785631764722-IY188ESWUCIL9XEOTEYN/TheEleanorEdit.jpg The Edit - A Life, Well edited - “I've never wanted one extraordinary path. I've wanted an extraordinary life. Those two things are not the same pursuit.” https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/category/Lifestyle monthly 0.5 https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/category/Food+%26+Wine monthly 0.5 https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/category/Essays monthly 0.5 https://www.theeleanoredit.com/blog/category/Culture monthly 0.5 https://www.theeleanoredit.com/home daily 1.0 2026-07-31 https://www.theeleanoredit.com/about daily 0.75 2026-08-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a6d2744c7c38534467ab784/9d5da1ab-59b3-4ed7-9bdc-9f1451f5222f/IMG_8340.JPG