Summertime and the living is debatable at best
“SUMMER SHOULD BE FUN!!!!!!” -Kyle Cooke, Bravo’s Summer House, 40+ years young
Thanks for the response to my first newsletter…post? I don’t know, but I was shocked that more than 5 people subscribed and that none of those people are related to me! Very cool. Thank you again.
With Memorial Day in the rearview, and Pride Month in full swing, I wanted to do a little Summer-du jour of some of the stuff I’m listening to, watching, wearing and using to make my life better. I think of it as an In/Out list but for summer? Maybe I will throw in some articles I’ve read recently that caught my attention. Idk! We’ll see.
I’m gonna write and see where this goes since I am doing this for approx. zero dollars and I am still figuring out what it is exactly I want to do this. It’ll be fun! C’mon!!
What I pulled trig on for my fourth consecutive Single Summer:
Havaianas flip flops!!
I am fucking SCREAMINGGG that these are back. I am even more annoyed that I think they look good.
When I was going out with the Frenchman1 when I first got to New York a couple summers ago, I saw the It Girl of my college life, Leandra Medine, at QUATORZE wearing what I would generously coin as shower shoes. At that point in time, I knew that they’d be back in style in exactly two years. Not to toot my own horn, but this is my page, and I WAS correct!
I got three pairs2 — the classic black with the Brazil flag, cherry red and a cobalt blue. I feel like if I’m gonna go for it, I might as well GO for it and embrace color. As you can imagine, the skin between my big and second toes already hate my guts. If I didn’t have hyperhydrosis and could justify going a little higher up in price in the name of style, I’d get these ones. The square shape is much chicer and elevates it a bit. Alas, I’ll be wearing these in New York City (fucking spare me on how gross that is, New York is GROSS, period) so I just went for the lowest level ones. Looks like they are having a sale, so just buy a pair and see what you think. You will be surprised.
Here’s me walking in them on a glass of wine ! :)
Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Or (HUH????)
I have said this before in my head, but there are only two things the French can do better than the Italians, head to head, without argument or debate. The first is skincare. This argument is airtight since all Italians do is eat olive oil all day, they glow from the inside out. The amount of melanin in our skin (particularly Southern Italians) means we do not burn in the Sun. I’m not kidding! The second is being insanely and unapologetically racist. I don’t think anyone can touch the French with that in my small and humble opinion, but now that I am thinking about it, it can def be argued. Just not here, please! I don’t care about that right now.
I KNOWWWW people go buck wild for Asian skincare, especially the Korean shit, (here is the only K-beauty store worth its’3 salt in New York) but the French stuff is sooooooo much better for my type of skin4 and always smells and feels luxurious in a way that the K-beauty stuff doesn’t. I don’t want utilitarian - I want glamour! I want to sparkle and shine while hydrating my skin! I want a twofer, and I DON’T think this is a crime. Summer (and skincare) should be fun!
I bought the smaller size at the start of April, and I restocked with the big Daddy one ($49 USD for 3.3 FL. OZ., NOT BAD AT ALL) within two weeks because I just know I’m not gonna want to be out of this. Subtle scent with some sparkle, a nice golden sheen, and the shimmer doesn’t get on or stain fabrics. What more could you ask for, really?
I follow Toni Bravo on IG (LOVE HER) and she swears by this brush. I was dying to get it but could not justify it. Then, by the grace of God, I almost burned the house down because my candle’s flame was too close to my brush cup5 and singed my foundation brush. I extinguished the small fire and promptly bought this less than five minutes later.
Now *I* swear by this brush. It is so perfect for powders, even though it’s marketed as a liquid/cream one, and the price is right for what I’d consider a mid-tier makeup brush from a mid-tier brand. I will definitely be buying more in a few months for liquid foundations and the blush brush once my current one shits the bed.
Speaking of blush, I am obsessed with this Haus Labs one. I got the color Hibiscus Haze. It is a really nice pink with red undertones, perfect for Summer! It is super pigmented and buildable, and the fallout is shockingly not bad for a newer brand. I think I like this formula more than NARS Orgasm, which is saying something because that shit has been my North Star since Lisa Vanderpump talked about it in 2010 on the first season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when they went to Vegas. I can’t find a clip for the life of me, but you’d know it’d be in here if I could!
What I am listening to —
Besides my usuals (jazz, techno, and pop music…I am pretty sure they call that the Trifecta!) I’ve been leaning into music from late 90s to 2015/16 right now — I associate music so closely with memories (this is not a unique trait, I am aware) but I am really having fun going through my archives, especially the playlists I made in early college/late high school.
Here’s some of them from this last month:
The first song on this will be on my Wrapped this year, I know it. It’s got that sexy synth sound I gravitate towards, but the first thirty seconds kind of drag. 1:40 to mid-two minutes is where it really shines, trust me.
The other one I am liking a lot rn is BOA. Meg Pete was born to be a rapper. The first verse alone is…!!!!!!
All of a sudden they’re vegan, they don’t want beef / talkin’ out of veneers, I’m knocking out teeth / I pop shit, they want pop / They bought Birkins, I bought stock / They still on a boat, I’m on a yacht / They takin’ shots, I’m takin’ spots
-Megan the Stallion, BOA (2024)
This is just the first of many good points this woman makes in her newest single. I screamed when she sampled from Gwen Stefani’s What You Waiting For, a music video that went triple platinum in my house in 2004. Megan the Stallion was born in 1995 and she will NEVER let you forget it! Same goes for Dua Lipa, who is exactly seven days older than me.
Okay, one more of my favorite pull quotes:
He do what I tell him, I do what I wanna do / All that fuckin’ talkin’, but let’s see who really make a move / Post a picture, bitches call me mother, now who’s sonning who?
Could you fucking DIE!? Love her.
What I’m reading —
The CBK biography that dropped last week, obviously!! I pre-ordered the day the publication date was announced. One of the best books I’ve read in the past decade is this behemoth of a biography about Jackie O. It took me a full calendar year (2018) to finish and goes into her Dad’s history, who was an…interesting man, to say the least. My Kennedy obsession, Roman Empire, what the fuck ever you want to call it, started when I learned about the President behind the Bay of Pigs in fourth grade6 and kind of hasn’t stopped since. Don’t get me started on the Internet’s White Boy of the Week (WBOW), Jack Schlossberg, who I have been lusting for since I was 20 and is currently on a crusade to prove he is undoubtedly apart of the eccentric Bouvier lineage.
You can research this on your own time, because if I get started on him, I will not stop before my birthday in August.
The only thing I’ll add here is Grey Gardens, which you should absolutely watch if you haven’t:
What I am watching —
Summer House season 8!! This was my essay last week, and you can read it here.
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
Holy shit, do you remember this show?7
Peacock is proving itself as my streamer of choice by putting this and a ton of other early Bravo shows on the platform recently. I really gravitated towards this one as I see a lot of myself in Kathy — loud mouth, loves sex, guilt-driven by the Catholic Church, pop culture aficionado, loves gay men…
Unfortunately for me, I was too young in 2005 to really appreciate this show for what it was. I still watched on occasion, definitely knew it was camp, but I am enjoying my watch with adult eyes. She got a bad deal, man — she’d KILL if she was just coming up now!
What a treasure trove and time capsule of Los Angeles tabloid and celebrity culture in the 2000s. I recommend the first two seasons (conveniently linked above) for that alone. I also find it interesting how terribly we treated women like Kathy AND how poorly Kathy treated her female peers in show business. It is fascinating.
I still think nearly all of it holds up, from the jokes to the hijinks, but I am most certainly not the person to ask on political correctness in humor. I usually go down a hole once I restart a show, and I had TOTALLY forgotten about how Kathy was canceled for holding up a severed Trump head! The FBI investigated her for it and she was on a no-fly list. That is CRAZY, and I was surprised to have forgotten it. The second half of the 2010s were so bonkers that I guess it isn’t that shocking, but I’ve been having a similar reflection when thinking about the 2000s, especially while watching this show, soooo…I’m not going to get into a commentary on America, but let’s just say that I think we’ve all been in a collective manic episode for the past 20 years! The show definitely tapers off once she actually starts to get famous (I would say it jumps the shark in season 4) but it’s so damn fun regardless.
The Carol Burnett Show
Just love her. Makes me feel all warm inside. Nothing else to say — watch this!
What I am loving on the Internet
@ KLGH_nocontext on Twitter. This gets me every time —
https://x.com/klgh_nocontext/status/1799409287623754193?s=46
Brief personal update —
I have just returned from a weekend on the outskirts of Charleston, South Carolina, where I was blessed with UV 10 rays, access to a saltwater pool, and a free boat day with a very nice divorced Dad from my hometown. It was nothing but Miller Lite, friends, seltzers and dill pickle Lays from Friday until Monday.
I am now coming to you live from my parents’ front porch in the Park Ave. neighborhood of Rochester, New York, the only slice of this town that is truly worth living in. Walkable, good food, good bars, good parks. I can’t wait to have a job again so I can stay here instead of my parents’ spare room. I won’t even call it a bedroom — I stay on a blue velvet pull-out now. I’ve gotten the hint!
I’m here because my Dad is in town from Arizona, so I‘ll get to spend Father’s Day with him and my sister, something that has not happened in QUITE some time. Also my very best friend is in town from the Bay Area. I cannot wait to catch up with them — we haven’t been together since last July when we went to Cabo for our friend’s 30th.
I am on the tail end of unemployment (I am so sick of it, oh my God) so I feel like I can dine out on having a lot of time to myself before I re-enter the workforce. I am trying to make the best of the fact that I have free time that I don’t want. I should be grateful, but I will more grateful for something to do 5 days a week. It’s been six months! I’ll get into all that another time.
Ciao for now !
Love you —
KCS
Goddddd that guy fucking SUCKED. What is a 40-something doing taking a 26 year old to places like QUATORZE???? We were supposed to go to the Lobster Club that night, but the restaurant was “too cold” for him. I looooove rich ppl sometimes lmfao
You will quickly learn that when I like something, particularly shoes, I will purchase the item in as many colors or varieties as I think I need. If it ain’t broke, you know?
Someone help me with it’s, its, and its’ please I am begging
Euro-centric with a historical tanning “problem”
An emptied and cleaned Diptyque candle, as God intended
I was obsessed with learning about the Cuban Revolution in elementary school. Just didn’t add up to me! Unrelated: this was the year of my parents’ split
I ask to a room full of 50-something gay men…
So many commas y’all…I don’t edit this shit cuz I’m not getting paid !!!