Mess Recs: January + February 2026
A whopping roundup of a whole bunch of Mess-approved stuff.
Greetings, my nearest and dearests.
I have let this edition of Mess Recs get away from me in a crazy way, but I’m back with a laundry list of deeply random stuff to share with you all. This despite the fact that I took almost no notes on anything I did or consumed in the month of February. Is February like that for anyone else? Every year, it somehow turns into a total black hole. Suddenly, all of my habits fall to the wayside, all of my routines are for naught, I regress to full hibernation mode, flip off my brain, and stop doing everything both personal and professional, apparently. Anyway, I’ve now been awoken from that slumber by the tepid weather and have re-emerged to cobble together some assemblage of stuff from the wreckages of my past two months that I hope you’ll enjoy.
Let’s take a look!
Buy:
First, some previous Mess Recs I repurchased:
Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Advanced Repair Barrier Cream - This is my most heavily used wintertime product. I think this is my third tube of the stuff at this point.
Another potato basket kit which I promptly made and now use to hold all of Fran’s puppy junk. I still highly recommend basket weaving as a low-key hobby to pick up. We should legit have a Messketeers Zoom craft night and make one together sometime! How do I get Big Basket to sponsor this??
Osea Salts of the Earth Body Scrub - Insane. I truly wish this pricey scrub wasn’t as amazing as it is, and lord knows I’ve tried to find a dupe, but no dupe will do. My skin has never felt softer or more nourished than after a quick scrub down with this stuff. My only hack is to ask for it for Christmases and birthdays so you can offload the expense onto your friends and family and stay sloughing off your dermis in style all year round.
Two more issues of Vogue Paris Collections from eBay - If you thought my obsession with acquiring the full set of these magazines was over, you thought wrong!!!! I am simply biding my time, watching those prices tick ever downwards, and then striking when the bargain is hot. This print sleuth-dom has also made me realize that I should probably just schedule another appointment to visit High Valley Books and accept that $40 is the price I have to pay for some of these rarer issues.
Zum Laundry Soap in Frankincense and Myrrh - I love this laundry detergent so much I brought it up completely unprompted to the Selleb Sisters at a Substack party. What more do you need to know!
Transparent Labs Protein Powder in Dark Chocolate - My ride or die. My laziest meal and the source of all my gains. Looking at this product on their website, I’m actually realizing right now how many delicious sounding flavors they make that I have yet to try.
Silpat Baking Mat - I accidentally made a big slice down the middle of my treasured large Silpat mat which I had no qualms with until I read somewhere on reddit that if that happens you need to throw it away and replace it otherwise you are poisoning yourself somehow. I now feel like I probably got got by an undercover Silpat salesman, but here we are. I think everyone knows these things are great for cooking and baking, but if you don’t know, there you go.
Things I was sent that I actually love:
Jukebox Deodorant in Coconut Dreamin’ - I can’t tell you how long I fought this gifting. I was not going to accept it, I postponed my response for months despite repeated follow ups, and then finally they caught me in exactly the right moment. I had just run out of my trusted Megababe and I though to myself, fine. Let’s put these natural deo hucksters to the test and, by god, I genuinely cannot believe how well it works. And trust, I say that as a remarkably sweaty person. I don’t love the texture of the stick, but you will never smell a whiff of BO again with this stuff. In fact, my one word of warning would be to choose your scent extremely wisely (I went with Coconut Dreamin’ and can recommend) because you will be smelling it on your self and your clothing for days after the fact.
Balenciaga No Comment perfume - That’s right. I officially smell rich, bitch! I spoke my dream fragrance into reality. Balenciaga said say less to my cries for luxury scent and sent me a bottle. I think what makes No Comment so appealing to me is that it has the deep woody, amber notes that I typically look for in my perfumes, but has “green” top notes that make it feel more unusual and fitting for spring. Anyway, I’m terrible at describing smells. If you’re interested, I’d recommend just waltzing into a store and giving it a big old sniff.
Ciele blush in Behati - Just when I think my hunt for the perfect blush is over….THEY PULL ME BACK IN. I maintain that the Saie blush in Ciao is still the end all be all of a natural flush, but this Ciele shade is giving it a run for its money. This one is a “dusty rose” that’s a little more tawny than Ciao and makes me feel gently sun-dappled despite being the palest I’ve ever been.
Ok, everything else I bought / watched / read / clicked on over the last two months (and it was a lot!!!) coming at you after the jump.
