042624: Things that made life special this week
Gorgeous new hair products—and 20% off for you, chocolate Guinness cake, an architecture talk, a British board game, and more
Hello and welcome to Things That Made Life Special This Week, a celebration of the pursuits that add a little something extra to the everyday.
This week has flown by! I was actually surprised to wake up this morning and realize it was Friday. I didn’t watch as much TV or read as much, but I have plenty of fun things to recommend you from a week on the go.
In case you missed it, the Wednesday newsletter was all about gardening and getting out into your local public green spaces!
Using: Roz hair products - use code JANEBOUET20 for 20% off sitewide
I’ve been trying a whole lineup of Roz products in my haircare routine for the past few weeks, and I’m bringing you my review today. First of all, Roz (pronounced rose) was founded by celebrity hairstylist Mara Roszak (who did Emma Stone’s hair for the 2024 Oscars) as a botanical-based, vegan, organic, sustainably sourced haircare line—that performs.
I’ve been using:
The Foundation Duo shampoo and conditioner - both refillable
Santa Lucia Styling Oil - Allure Best of Beauty award winning
I shampooed and conditioned with The Foundation Duo, then wrapped my hair in my Aquis towel for ten minutes to soak up extra moisture, while doing a face mask. I loved how my hair felt afterwards with no other products: clean and detangled.
Then I applied two pumps of the Milk Hair Serum from ends to roots and worked it in. Next, I spritzed the Root Lift Spray all over the roots. After this, I rough dried my hair, combed it out again, and separated it into sections to blow dry. I’ve done both straight and wavy blow dries while testing these products with the Dyson AirWrap and loved the results both ways. To finish, I added one pump of Santa Lucia Styling Oil over the lengths and ends, which created a smooth, frizz-free, bouncy shine.
Impressions:
The scents of all products are light, botanical, and compatible. I am very scent-sensitive and there’s nothing I hate more than competing scents when I have to layer multiple products in my hair. I can only compare the scent of the shampoo and conditioner to my favorite l’Artisan Perfumeur perfume (a huge compliment): a little woody, a little floral, kind of mysterious.
The packaging is all really high-quality and no plastic is used except the pumps. And you can reuse your pumps and bottles when you refill the shampoo and conditioner. The serum and oil even come in glass bottles, which feel and look luxurious on my vanity shelves. And I love the way the floral logo on the bottles suggests a cathedral rose window.
None of the products made my hands sticky when working them into my hair, so I know they didn’t make my hair sticky either. After doing the styling routine above, my hair felt and looked truly weightless, healthy, shiny, and hydrated, with good body at the roots.
Overall: I love these products and will no doubt refill them once the bottles are empty!
If you want to give them a try, they were kind enough to share a discount code with my audience. Use code JANEBOUET20 for 20% off sitewide!!
Watching: Home Movies, Alison Roman’s YouTube cooking show
Home Movies is back and the tone/editing are quite different! Roman appears to have moved to the Hudson Valley (or bought a country house) near where she opened her grocery store, First Bloom. I’d say the videos are less playful with less BTS goofing around, and tonally more mature and cozy. I really like them and will continue to watch her content. And I made the lemon pepper pasta, YUM, see below.
Making: Chocolate Guinness Cake by Nigella Lawson
We had friends over for a game night last Friday, and I made a simple dinner of green salad and Alison Roman’s lemon pepper pasta. The menu was just calling for some chocolate, so I made Nigella’s famous Guinness cake, topped with fluffy cream cheese frosting, so the cake ends up resembling a glass of Guinness with its foamy top. This might be sacrilege, but I used Samuel Smith’s Chocolate Stout instead of Guinness and think that was the right decision. I also added a bit of salt to both the cake and icing.
It was rich, it was luscious, it was a little bitter, overall the perfect dessert to accompany our game play late into the evening.
P.S. The game we played was called Outrage, an out-of-print strategy board game where you try to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. My husband bought it on eBay and it was a big hit.
Doing: Attending a talk on traditional-style new construction by renowned architect Gil Schaefer
My friend invited me to this event at the Boston Athenaeum on Thursday night, and I really enjoyed hearing about the process behind building some of the most extraordinary homes we see photographed in magazines and social media.
Schaefer is on his book tour for Home at Last: Enduring Design for the New American House and I appreciated hearing about his care for sense of place, preservation when possible, traditional proportions, and quality materials.
But, like we chatted about on the walk home, this kind of architectural work (which for all of the clients was a second/third/fourth home) really puts a spotlight on the breathtaking wealth inequality in America.
New construction for middle-class and even upper-middle-class families either looks like this or this and is basically made of plywood stapled together. The possibility of building a house that will last hundreds of years is completely out of the question for most people, unless you want to build it yourself.
Listening: The Tortured Poet’s Department by Taylor Swift, of course
Okay, first confession is that I have only listened to the first six songs. But since she was so generous to us with 31 tracks, I’ve decided this album is meant to be savored, not binged.
Plus… I’m not really in an angsty/heartbreak place in my life right now so it doesn’t totally resonate. But I do enjoy it so far, and I’ll enjoy it in bite-sized pieces!
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Have a great weekend!
xx Jane
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