004: Quinton Mulvey knows his way around a CVS
Plus boots for beards, 26 small-brand sales, and the decades-long rebound of Ed Hardy.
Here’s a quick and slippery intro since I always leave this part for last and I’m about to catch a flight (please reply to this email with your NOLA reccs!!!).
The top-clicked links from last week’s send were these MNZ boots, Gil Rodriguez’s brown colorway, and the best bra I own—which was also a top link from the Prime Day bonus send… bras are a shopping nightmare, aren’t they.
One last housekeeping note: Next send won’t be going out on Thursday, but instead on the following Tuesday. I’m toying with optimizations but also just enjoying logging tf off for a mo’.
If you like this little newsletter or think someone you know would, please like-share-comment-rate-subscribe. Your voice matters (at least to me)!
What’s new
Irina Shayk, who may or may not be a professional beard (according to some Slack channels I’m in, at least), released a third style in collaboration with shoe brand Tamara Mellon, The Escape Boot. Could her design ambitions be at all relevant to the high-profile company she’s been keeping lately? Idk I’m not Deuxmois, but it’s certainly something to noodle on.
Purveyor of chic body care basics Nécessaire adds another product to its tight lineup: The Body Oil. Fragrance-free and stuffed with antioxidants and skin-conditioning vitamins, apply generously while still wet after a shower for otherwise-unattainably soft skin.
LA-based KkCo, whose designer and founder hails from the sorely missed Need Supply has extended her independent line to include non-traditional bridal. On a deskside two years ago, she spilled that she had secretly eloped (hope your family isn’t reading this, Kara), which makes the unexpected collection even more radical.
Speaking of the counterculture, Collina Strada’s Pre-Fall 2021 collection, first shown in an original video game that debuted at Alessandro Michele’s GucciFest last November, is finally shoppable.
Palm Angels’ Francesco Ragazzi remixes Missoni DNA in the two brands’ first collab, now live on Farfetch. Classic prints and knit textures are lent streetwear touches, but it’s gracefully executed and surprisingly wearable.
News of Miaou’s swim drop 1 was a hit (one of the top-clicked links of the week), so I figure you’re probably interested in drop 2, now live on the site. It includes a bikini that makes you look like you belong on the shelves of Alimentari Flaneur, you whole ass meal.
I’ve posted about Supernal’s Cosmic Glow Oil on IG many times before, because I think it’s possibly the very best face oil out there, boots. The brand just launched a second-ever product, Illumine serum, that works in tandem or on its own during sweatier weather, and I’m pleased it lives up to the high standard set.
From the people who brought you Gil Rodriguez’s brown restock news last week comes Gil Rodriguez’s black restock news today. Voilá.
Fans of vintage store The Break have a whole new era of shopping to look forward to, one that zig zags across the line separating ecommerce and in-person. It’s unclear exactly what that will look like, but founder Hannah Richtman seems to think there could be a whole new Break-based social media platform involved. Watch this space for more.
What’s on sale
Too many big stores and independent brands are already hosting sales for 4th of July to expand much on individually, so here’s a running list:
LN-CC’s 60% off sale is an extra LN-EXTRA10
Farfetch corralled its best of sale items here
Matchesfashion is now up to 70% off
Ssense is also newly up from 60% to 70% off
Luisaviaroma is up to 80% off
Bloomingdale’s is having a complicated but generous 4th of July sale
Our Place is giving away free steamer baskets with purchases of its life-changing Only Pan, limited quantities
Ganni is up to 50% off
Mansur Gavriel is now up to 50% off
Solid & Striped takes 25% off sitewide
Rebag is offering 15% off everything
Good American’s having a sample sale
Ban.do is selling very cutesy summer things for 25% off
Garmentory is hosting a Mid-Summer Flash Sale
Vasquiat’s summer sale is up to 50% off
Gauge81 is up to 50% off
Brother Vellies’ sample sale includes one-of-a-kind pieces
Justine Clenquet, who makes these sandals I recently referred to as having “fussy mallrat buckle action,” is up to 50% off
Bevza’s sale on sale brings discounts up to 50% off
James Street Co is hosting an archive sample sale
Stine Goya’s having a summer sale
With Jean is offering an extra 25% off sale with code WITHLOVE
Musier Paris launched its high summer ‘21 collection and several pieces are already included in its sale
Eytys summer sale goes up to 40% off
Shaine Mote’s also having an archive sale up to 90% off (ok wow)
What else
Wonder Valley, an olive oil skincare brand recommended by Bianca Valle in a previous send, just launched at Credo Beauty, a hub for all things clean and ethical. We what? Love to see it.
A Depop report discovers what we already knew: The teens and their obsession with mid-’00s style cannot be stopped. Sales for trucker hats, Ed Hardy, and Von Dutch are through the roof baby.
Scarlett Johansson is, regrettably, launching a skincare brand. Cue the memes about, finally, a product line for women of color!
Quinton Mulvey goes off brand
From shameless rewears to oil as an accessory, the last five things he bought (or got).
To know Quinton is to love him. You’ve shared his Spotify playlists to the group chat and saved fragrance recommendations from his impeccable feed. But beyond taste, curation, and aesthetics lie stores of loyalty, tenderness, and an endless reserve of silly.
Q: I have a product. L: You're also wearing one of them. This? Yes, 100%. It's my second day wearing it in a row because I don't know what to wear. I think everyone is very stressed about what to wear in general. It’s the first summer out and you need to be cute. This is the first summer of the rest of your life. The first summer of anyone ever looking at you.
It’s a Frankie Shop two-piece. It's oversize-y to the point where, on man body, you really can't tell what's under here in a way that it fits me… Let the record state that he stood up and is standing like the Michelin Man. You don’t know what’s under this. I could be a little overweight or under. It's oversize-y, and even if I'm sweating, this boxer-plus-oversize-shirt thing is really perfect for avoiding any kind of sweat stain. And it's free flowing. You can unbutton, have your titties out, it's beautiful. So that is like my favorite thing that I've received recently.
The next is not necessarily on brand. That’s even better. This is the truth serum: I'm a body oil person in the summer, not just for tanning, but I want to be a little shiny when I'm wearing a tiny nothing. Aveeno has a body oil that is oat and jojoba oil. Wow, it smells lovely. Not overpowering. It's just pleasant. And did you know to buy this from a recommendation or did you take a risk? I was tired of all these expensy… Like chic-y Instagram… Yeah. They're all so heavy with these essential oils scents, and it's just too much and gets in my clothes. I knew I wanted something a little more drugstore-y and that it would be light and crowd-pleasing and just easy. It seeps in or what’s the vibe? Yeah, it seeps in but there's a consistent sheen. For example, yesterday at [a Glossier photoshoot], I put it on in the morning and they were complimenting my Frankie Shop look that I’ve been shamelessly wearing two days in a row, and they were like, ‘You look like you're about to go on a yacht, and oh my god, you're oiled up and you're so moisturized.’ These are my two favorite things for summer. Oil is an accessory for the summer, period.
OK, I'm going to give you another fun anecdote. I've been deep in the organic-y, natural deodorant thing for years now. Recently I was in a panic and I forgot my very niche things that I'm gifted or whatever, and I went back to the first natural deodorant that I ever used, which is Tom’s lavender. It instantly brought me the fuck back to three years ago of my first summer being in Europe going all around where we're pulling looks and I'm sweating. When I say it's more effective than these niche brands that I've been wearing for the last couple years now. It was instant romanticism, like beautiful memories, and everyone around me was like, ‘Oh my god, you smell so good.’ And I'm like, well, it's probably this deodorant mixed with this fucking skin oil. They're like, have you been to CVS? Literally. I really like it mixed with my pheromones, because I'm musky, kind of sour, man smell. So this sweetness really works.
Did you buy anything in Miami? I bought lots of drinks. You’re like, ‘I would like to recommend alcohol.’ Shout out strawberry daiquiris. Oh, no, no, no. Actually Niko brought something that I'm obsessed with. But you know the brand Supergoop, they have an SPF mousse, have you tried it? No, I haven’t. I don’t know if they call it a mousse or a cream—it's a creamy foam—but it was like 50 SPF. You know how SPF can make you feel very like… Like it's clogging you. Like it’s tight, it’s fucking up your pores, blah blah blah, you're sweating through it. This one doesn't work like that, it was like putting regular moisturizer on. It gives you a glisten and it smells good. You know that high school feeling of ‘I smell like coconut tanning oil.’ It's like that, but I'm an adult and taking care of myself. I was directly in Miami sun, and I applied it every hour because I'm also very conscious of the fact that I'm a white ass person. And it was extremely effective. Like Niko was burnt to a mother fucking crisp.
Ok, one more thing. Oh, okay. I was gifted this over and over from this makeup-y, skincare, very innovative company, CLE. This product is so good. It's a triple C cream, CC cream, whatever. It goes on white, you smooth it in, and it matches your skin tone. It's naturally a little dewy and it just works so well. I don't feel super comfortable just wearing foundation. I need to then use something else to make it not a flat face of color. With this, I don't really feel the need to bronze or gloss, which I usually do. And you need such a little amount that it lasts forever. This is honestly my favo-rite fuck-ing prod-uct. I'm listening and receiving and want to try it. I’ve recommended this to people of very different skin tones. Everyone's pretty pleased. It's also kind of shameless because obviously I wash it off at night, but my skin is never irritated by it. You know, this feels like skincare.
That's really cute. Top five.
Footnotes: A place for food and wine.
If I’d ever had a Canary Islands wine before this year, I wouldn’t know it. It wasn’t until Zachary Sussman’s The Essential Wine Book told me to Google image search Canary Islands vineyards that I decided I needed to start paying attention to the region’s wine. And wow, what a payoff.
My entry point to Lanzarote was through one of Bodega Bermejo’s whites—its bottles feature a spout that’s both practical and rewards buy-by-design impulses by being actually good for once. This weekend I brought a bottle of its Listan Rosado to a party as a “gift” where I rudely uncorked it in the presence of an already-open rose, only to shamelessly tuck it into the most incognito spot on the kitchen counter for first dibs on a second (third) glass.
Inside was a volcanic landslide of mashed strawberries and papaya garnished with a hibiscus wreath because, as it turns out, geography is edible and, in this case, devastatingly tasty.
Love the interview ❤️