Love Letters to Ivory Tunics, Phone Blockers, and Topo Chico
What I'm loving right now.
Published December 13, 2025
Welcome to Love Letters, a column about what I'm testing and appreciating. As a professional product reviewer, I have plenty of goodies cross my desk for evaluation—and here's what I'm currently loving.
I have started using affiliate links for a small kickback if you buy any of these through my link (thank you if you do), but all of these are independently loved and selected by moi with no partnerships or outside compensation.
My lungs and I suffered together in November, but made it through gift guide season successfully. I have a few recommendations going live at Town & Country this year, and have wrangled presents for each of my (multiplying) family members. I'll share some of my selects when they're opened, because I'm rather proud of my creativity this year.
I tend to think that any of being a good gift-giver involves being a good listener or observer i.e. anticipating what someone needs vs. what will be junk. Or what they've been interested in all year, or what would make a problem they face easier. I'm very practical in that sense. But in regards to the Hail Mary-type for the person difficult to shop for—yeah, there's a science to it.
I also moved, and forcing all your things into boxes tends to have the effect of making you realize which aspects of your material culture you're actually attached to versus what you can cast off with minimal friction. (I resolve to write these more often.)
So here's what I've been into this week:
Free People Easy Street Tunic
STYLE
Over Black Friday weekend, I actually fell victim to a sale that Nuuly Thrift was running — the buy portion of this monthly fashion rental service I swear by. I've rented and loved this Easy Street Tunic before in purple (around this time last year) and it was briefly on sale for $15. I didn't have to even think about it; $15 is right in line with what I'd prefer to spend on any style item, thanks.
Reasons I love and cherish this tunic:
- It's a nice mid-weight; you could wear it as a sweater or when warm out, and it's comforting without being sweltering.
- It's slouchy but elegant, so I'd wear it while writing, lazing, etc. and feel a bit more dressed up.
- It's kind of the perfect oversized drape for feeling graceful but comfortable. I'd wear this to ballet over my leotard too, or style with shorts and chunky boots. It overall fits with how I describe my fashion sense, which is like a heavy dose of 70's maximalism with a lot of ballerina infusion.
- I deeply love any wearable white, ivory, or cream. Adds some good polish!
Brick
TECH
I'm not sure whether the Brick just suddenly got better marketing that explained its actual value or whether I'm a victim of buzz. Probably a bit of both.
This is a little square with a magnetic backing that locks you out of apps on your phone. You can schedule set times, or simply tap/untap. Avoid everything, or just specific apps.
The obvious question is "Why would you spend $60 when you could just institute a time limit?"
But this is why I say Brick finally explained why the physical aspect matters. I was under the impression that the Brick attached to your phone and functioned similarly to those time limits or the Forest app or similar, but no. You can leave it somewhere, and you have to return to the Brick to unlock your phone again.
I don't spend a whole lot of time scrolling, but I really resent having to spend time on my phone at all, and the result of feeling like I "have" to be plugged in for work/play/etc. has left me just low-level aggravated by the nature of my job and creativity. I feel like I never have the sense of relief you'd get after finishing finals or in a more traditional 9-5, or leaving the office to go home.
So what I've started doing (and love) is having all my apps live during the workday but having my phone set to get bricked after 8 pm, before 7 am, and on the weekend. It's not so much that I spend too much time on them anyway (any time is too much), but rather that knowing I am unreachable across of those platforms keeps me from flinching when a client texts me at random times or work bleeds into other periods. They still feel separate in a work phone / personal way.
Having a physical mechanism somehow resets the mental boundary in a way that makes my off time feel more restful. I could unlock my phone if I went to the fridge, but often don't really need to. (It does have emergency unbricks if you need to access but don't have your device around—no fear.) So far, I'm a fan of it in practice.
Hulken Rolling Tote
TRAVEL
I first got the Hulken—a popular roller bag—when I lived in New York City. It was fantastic for schlepping to the Trader Joe's on 3rd, taking broken-down boxes to the curb from my fourth floor walk-up, and generally toting anything around. It's super functional. Unfortunately, mine got lost alongside my luggage when shipping a suitcase home from Park City in 2023, and it took me another two years to re-acquire one.
This thing is an absolute godsend for moving. I'm so sick of taking items up and down stairs, and shifting boxes and random goods. My shoulders and forearms hurt (although I'm strong, tough, independent, etc.—all the jokes.) I've moved alone most times, and probably have a shitty amount of stubbornness related to it too, and this bag definitely maximized the amount I was able to haul in each trip. It's just so damn useful! Its straps are well-placed and reinforced too, so you can really get a lot in there without the usual fears of bags digging into your shoulder and making you lopsided. I just really love it! (Crucial book blogger plug: it fits many, many books.)
And at this point, I'm so over living out of boxes and the transition. Anything that improves that experience is a win in my book. Great gift for anyone who lives in a city, also. I previously had the Large, but re-acquired in a Medium, which I might like better.
Topo Chico Twist of Lime
FOOD & DRINK
I already made this joke, but you know how parents of young kids have a running bit about how their toddlers' obsession with berries is going to bankrupt them? That's me in my parents' house as an adult. Have I ever reached for Topo Chico on the shelf anywhere else for purchase myself? No. But when I'm here, I'm somehow going through so much (except my personal, petty observation is that I do believe Twist of Lime should have twist-off caps. The wordplay potential!) It's just one of the sensory experiences I associate with being home, apparently.
Ranger Station Jordan's Perfume
BEAUTY
When I was downsizing, I took a giant box of all the beauty samples I'd gotten over the years and decided that if I hadn't used them at that point, I wasn't going to. (I also shipped myself a box of favorites.) It was so fun to sit with friends and have them pore over scents and candles and other consumables.
Anyway, one friend picked this one up and immediately said it smelled like me. Another friend separately did the same shortly after. And someone else agreed. I'd never worn it before, but I couldn't ignore feedback like that, so I took it with me. It'll become part of my repertoire.
Other friends know the silly agony of my favorite, teenage perfume being discontinued and how I've tried for years to fill that emotional void of nostalgia paired with my most significant experiences. (Like, I wore that perfume when falling in love for the first time, or going to prom, and all those bits, so I'm still occasionally sad I can't get a whiff and flash back to being sixteen.)
I have my default perfume and favorite that I'm loyal to nowadays, but I am very intentional about scaffolding experiences in my memory so that I can trigger them in specific ways. It's the writer in me, maybe? So maybe this is for my next phase.
Jordan's Perfume supposedly smells like sandalwood / ambergris / cedarwood / rose / jasmine. Is that me?
