Welcome to our Friday series featuring The Kit editors’ absolute favourite things, a mix of everything we swear by in everything we love: beauty, books, fashion, decor, podcasts, art and much more. More than anything, it’s a personal recommendation series that isn’t tied to trends or seasonality—a discovery series, if you will. Sometimes, it will be themed and beautiful, but most of the time, it will be a little bit random. Always, it will feature our picks of what we’re most excited to share with you.

In my opinion, small daily pleasures are the best kind. They give otherwise mundane moments and routines a little lift, brightening a grizzly mood or distracting from a mounting to-do list. For me, lately, that’s a beautiful cup of coffee in the garden, wafting around the house in the lightest wisp of a caftan or sitting down with a lovely hardcover version of an old favourite book.

Everyone’s little treats are different, and I love to hear about them! I also love to talk about them, clearly. Below, a list of things that have been bringing pleasure to my life lately.

I recently got back from a few days’ vacation in Prince Edward Island, and its rolling emerald fields, oceanic horizons and wild cloud formations had a profound effect on me. On the bedside table of my guest room, there was a beautiful vintage hardbound edition of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, P.E.I’s patron saint, and while I was there I re-read (some of) it on the deck while lying on a lounger in a gentle breeze, overlooking a glimmering pond that was reportedly Lucy Maud’s inspiration for The Lake of Shining Waters. A dream! This is a different edition, but since I left that one on the nightstand, I need to buy my own.

While I was reading Anne, I was wearing this featherlight tunic by the extremely stylish and artistic textile designer and artist Virginia Johnson, who recently hosted me for morning coffee in her lovely, rambling garden. It rippled in the breeze, ever so slightly sheer in beams of golden sunshine, floating around the body in a most becoming way. It also has shoulder and arm coverage, perfect for when you’re getting a little pink on long, hot days at the beach or on the dock. And it’s also quite wonderful for just wandering around your house making a sandwich or tidying up, and want to be wearing nothing more complicated than a sweep of ultra-fine striped cotton.

I recently test-drove a large pile of bralettes to find the very best ones, and while this Fleur du Mal one wasn’t my overall winner (that was a more practical, supportive Everlane one), it has really captured my imagination. For starters, it’s the closest thing I could find to the ultra-cool, ultra-minimalist black bralettes worn on stage by Haim, who seem to have forgone tops completely. Then, there’s the fabric—silky-soft cotton that just feels really, really expensive. And finally the shape. It’s not going to contain anything above a B cup during any kind of exertive physical activity, but it is super flattering in a string bikini kind of way, and it just looks fantastic.

I always want mineral sunscreen on my face for the stable protection and lack of sting; I always want it to feel nice to apply and not require 10 minutes of rubbing in; and I always want it to leave a nice hydrated finish with no white cast or greasiness. I also want it to be a reasonable enough price that I don’t feel I have to ration my use of it, and feel comfortable recommending it to friends who ask me which facial sunscreen they should buy. This one is it. It smooths on in seconds just like a lovely, light, hydrating moisturizer would. It’s SPF 30 with 14 per cent zinc oxide, which is a decent percentage of zinc for such a light formula. And it’s $40, which isn’t nothing, but it’s also not outrageous.

Last week, while I was putting together a well.ca order of Substance baby sunscreen sticks, Yorkshire Gold tea bags and other useful items, I spotted these supremely elegant French hair pins from hairstylist Kristin Ess (the mini version, which reviews told me are superior to the original very long ones) and impulsively threw them into my virtual cart. They came, and I’m in love. Although I plan to watch a bunch more tutorials to figure out all the tricks for using them, they’ve already turned my half-up topknots into delicately twisted, mussed, gold-glint-revealing structures worthy of the term “updo.”

Before the pandemic, I almost never made coffee at home. I only had a French press, and it was not to my liking; I have one or maybe two coffees a day, and I want them to be really good or it’s not worth it to me. In March 2020, I upgraded to an Aeropress, which actually does make a good cup and is perfect for taking on the road for camping and cottage trips. But a few months ago I acquired this De’Longhi espresso maker with built-in milk steamer, and it has turned my caffeine-lovin’ life upside down. I love the way it looks on my counter, shiny but aesthetically low-tech, like it could live in one of those classic patina’d Italian cafés Mimi Thorisson is always stopping in at. I also love how easy it is to use—within a few days I was pulling some of the best cappuccinos I’ve ever had—and to clean. I’m never going back.

The great Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake passed away this week, and a lot of my friends and colleagues reached out to say they thought of me when they heard the news. That’s because I’ve been loyally wearing his 1992 fragrance, L’eau d’Issey, since I was 14. (I’m just realizing now that it must have been released only the year before I discovered it on the counter at my local department store.) Miyake, creative in countless different ways, designed the conical bottle himself—the shape was based on a view from his Parisian apartment of the moon behind the Eiffel tower. I collect the many, many limited-edition flanker versions of L’eau d’Issey, but my favourite is still the original eau de toilette, the water-inspired original with lotus, rose and marine notes.

I spent a morning with Dr. Barbara Sturm recently and was quite fascinated with how she moves through the world, imparting her medically based philosophy of skin health everywhere she goes (while wearing leopard-print knit sets and extremely high Balenciaga heels). Her products are coveted, on all the fanciest top shelves, but the one that I’ve been come back to again and again is her Face Mask, which is truly the best face mask I’ve ever used, combing the best qualities of a soothing hydration mask (aloe, chamomile, glycerin) and a cleansing clay mask (that would be the kaolin). Skin feeling dry, tight or irritated? The mask will calm it down in minutes and leave a glowing softness. Have a breakout? A dab takes down the redness. It’s expensive, but it’s such a generous jar that I expect we’ll be happy together for a long time to come.

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