The April Specials: Olives, Old Menus, and the New Martha Stewart

Plus, Salone FOMO

Welcome to April’s Specials, a list of things I’ve been collecting this month to share with you.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

I’ve found my new favorite influencer and he’s only been making TikToks for *checks phone* two weeks. Alexander Widener is a former-NYC-marketer-turned-coastal-Mainer who just last week posted his first-ever video about Wedgewood pottery. Thanks to the gods of the algorithm it went viral, and now we all get to benefit from Alexander’s love of Delftware, Ina Garten, and Toile de Jouy. He’s the Martha Stewart reincarnate we need right now. Alexander, if you see this, I’m a fan.

alexander_widener

A post shared by @alexander_widener

ON THE WISH LIST

I recently stumbled on the existence of Scenery, a UK-based interiors magazine, when I was browsing Wentworth’s online shop. I immediately went to place an order, but stopped when I realized that shipping was going to cost $27, almost the cost of the magazine itself. I’ve since been trying to track down a copy that doesn’t bring the grand total to $65, but it’s proving difficult. I’m not cheap, but I refuse to give in to the demands of the United Parcel Service. So if anyone in the greater Los Angeles area stumbles onto a copy IRL, send this girl a DM. In the meantime, their Instagram is a treat.

A SIMPLE REQUEST

Can someone send me (and

Leonora Epstein

, because she asked first) to Salone del Mobile (aka Milan Design Week) next year? Rarely do I have FOMO but it’s actually annoying that I’m not there right now. Like, these margarita glasses by Natalia Criado for Taller Marmo? Or Loro Piana and Dimore’s box office kiosk? Please!!! I deserve to see these things in person.

Left: photo by José Limbert. Right: photo via Loro Piana.

IN OTHER DESIGN NEWS

Prada opened their first standalone restaurant in Asia, Mi Shang, in Shanghai this month. Designed in collaboration with director Wong Kar Wai, it lives inside of a restored historic mansion and looks absolutely stunning, as you might expect.

A RANDOM ETSY SAVE

I know ‘tis not the season, but I found this vintage cashmere Celine coat on Etsy the other day and couldn’t wait until fall to share. I love a car coat, and if I had a spare $800 to put towards something impractical it’d be going towards this cutie. May it make its way into a loving home.

A HOUSE I WISH WAS MINE

How stunning is this house in Colorado designed by Heidi Callier? It’s a new build, if you can believe it, and it sits on a 13-acre ranch. It looks like it’s been there forever. Read more about it here.

Photos by Haris Kenjar.

A RECENT ACQUISITION

I’m not typically one to recommend makeup because I don’t really wear much of it and mostly don’t know how to wear it, least of all lip liner, but here I am. I had been ignoring a big stack of PR gifts for a while (sorry, brands!) but when I ran out of concealer, I dug up the box Merit sent weeks ago with the vague memory that their foundation stick was inside. It was, but so was their new lip liner, and I was leaving the house, so I thought, Well, let’s try it. And I did, and I love it.

Like I said, I’m not a lip liner girl. I have very dry, often chapped lips and putting anything on but a hydrating gloss is usually a recipe for utter disaster. But Merit’s liner is more like the fine tip pen version of a sheer satin lipstick, so it goes on really smooth. I like to blend it out a little bit, and I’ve now worn it with both their lipstick for a bolder look and their tinted lip oil for something softer. Anyway, just an emphatic review from a clueless makeup wearer for you.

A GREAT COLOR COMBO

This dusty blue–rust–chocolate brown combo does it for me. I cannot for the life of me figure out who this image belongs to so if you happen to know, please tell me!

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST (OR, MAYBE SECOND)

Food writer Alana Lav has invented the snack of the summer: Negroni olives. You coat olives in gin, Campari, and vermouth, then mix in some orange zest and peels and leave it all to marinate. Easy! She’s made a Paloma version, too.

alanalav

A post shared by @alanalav

SOMETHING OLD I FOUND

LA eastsiders will appreciate this: I found an old, chartreuse El Cid menu from the ‘70s with great type on Etsy. I don’t know if this is from our El Cid, which opened in 1962, but if it is, someone in the Silver Lake area needs to buy this and get it framed.

AND FINALLY, A MOOD ASSESSMENT

(Begging Bravo to make Jennifer Tilly a full-time Housewife next season)

x

Ali

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