What Abby Gardner buys with her 🇺🇸 $

What a treat we have today! (writer of ) is one of my favorite people on the planet. She’s a former beauty editor, a fabulous writer and a pop culture savant. Her enthusiasm for everything from Harry Styles to fashion to disliking Aidan (co-sign, P.S.) to her local sports teams is something to behold.

She essentially gets a pro-bono PhD in all of the things that interest her. But what’s amazing is she can quickly get into YOUR fandom and picks it up like a native. For example, she understands Wawa (IYKYK) like someone who still pronounces it wooder. The expression should actually be IYKAK (if you know, Abby knows) because she does a deep dive on everything worth having a cult following and makes it her biz to cultivate a cultural capital portfolio.

I wish she’d bring back her podcast, which got me through the pandemic all the time—I was even a guest a couple of times!—but in the meantime, I don’t miss a single WHN Substack.

Speaking of that, Abby was generous enough to offer TIBAAC readers 31% off paid subscriptions to her Substack. Click here to snag the discount!

I’m thrilled she agreed to share what she’s buying with her American dollars with all of us. Here they are, in her words.

I miss being a beauty editor all the time for a million reasons. Like my daily work consisting of a unique mix of cool trends and super nerdy science stuff. All the time spent with my beauty girls from other outlets at events and on press trips. Photo shoots with actual budgets and brilliant creative collaborators. And, of course, the beauty closet.

Those were the days, for sure. All these years later, I’m still not completely used to spending money on my products and beauty services. But spend it I do.

The shoppies and I are truly besties.

LA Woman

The second I got an email informing me of a collab between two of my most favorite LA brands, I was in. There was never a doubt in my mind that I was going to love the RŌZ + THE GREAT Sweatshirt Hair Towel ($62), but I can now officially confirm it is one of my new favorite things. I am a forever air-dry girlie, even in the dead of winter and I don’t know that the dry has ever looked as good as the two days I’ve used this scrumptious, soft, worn-in feeling sweatshirt towel since its arrival. It’s everything I didn’t realize I needed.

If you’ve never had your hands on a sweatshirt from Emily Current and Merritt Elliott’s The Great1, you’re in for such a treat. You’ll want to snuggle it like a blankie. On any given day, there is a very good chance I’m wearing something from The Great and I’d buy every tee, dress, pant, skirt, and short on their site if I could. (Shout-out to another LA designer, my friend Charlotte Stone, whose shoes and boots are usually on my feet.)

Meanwhile, celebrity hairstylist Mara Roszak’s work has been giving me joy and inspiration for ages. Her products have been on my bathroom shelf since launching RŌZ in 2021. I am always stocked with the Santa Lucia Styling Oil ($45), the Milk Hair Serum ($52), and the Willow Glen Oil Treatment ($48).

Red Lip Classic Thing That You Like

Long before my beloved Taylor Swift made a red lip her signature, it was one of the best things that’s ever been mine. Same goes for being awestruck by the sheer genius and artistry of the one and only Pat McGrath, aka Mother. But I, of course, enjoy that we share this deep love of bold lips, along with big feelings, beautiful words, and until recently, British boys.

I care not that I live a LOYT (Lipstick On Your Teeth, as coined by my friend’s mom back in the ‘80s when she always wore a red lip) life. They’ll pry the reds from my cold dead hands, along with my middle part.

I am a very high/low person when it comes to products. Once a beauty editor, always a beauty editor, that’s for sure. If it’s good, it’s good. And these are good:

Glory Days

Back when I was just a little baby beauty editor—possibly still an assistant—perfumer Sarah Horowitz launched ​​Creative Scentsualization, which later became the brand that we now know as Sarah Horowitz Parfums. I got to sit with her and create my own custom scent as she led me on a sort of fragrance journey. I never gave it a proper name, but my then-boyfriend always referred to it as Personal Scent. Eventually, I moved on (from him and the perfume), but a few years ago I got really nostalgic for that very specific smell. I called them and sure enough they still had my formula on file and it’s now the only thing I wear again. If that’s not a hit you over the head metaphor for trying to recapture your youth, I don’t know what is. But I love it so. You can still make your own with one of the company’s senior perfumers, or with Sarah (which costs more). Her ready-to-wear scents like Perfect Veil and Hereafter are also excellent.

Another beauty remnant from that era I still have in the mix: Tarte Cheek Stain, which I stocked up on when they brought it back a few years ago.

Paperback Writer

In other nostalgia shopping, I’ve currently been hyperfixating on recreating the bookshelves of my youth by way of Thriftbooks. I want actual old copies of the often inappropriate-for-my-age tomes, not a new cover. Give me that old battered paperback of The Thornbirds or Erich Segal’s The Doctors that my mom had on our basement bookshelf. My fellow Gen Xers + elder Millennials know that we were absolutely left to our own devices when it came to content. I simply cannot stop searching for all my OGs and have some currently on display in what I’ve started calling the “why I’m like this” tableau. Lots of the books are super cheap (sometimes as low as $3), but I did recently splurge on a copy of Drew Barrymore’s Little Girl Lost which has been out of print forever, as well as a Little House box set from the ‘80s that looks just like the one I had as a little girl.

Feeling Good in My Skin

The irony of having unfettered access to expensive skincare back when my skin was rich with collagen and elasticity, but not in middle age as my outsides start to look a bit different than how my insides feel is not lost on me. But such is the circle of life. I wish I could tell you that I didn’t get a glorious rush when someone honestly thinks I’m years younger than I am, but I’d be lying through my Crest Whitestrips whitened teeth.

I’ve luckily never had problematic skin and that has allowed me a lot of options when it comes to what I put on my face. But when a product is worth it results-wise, I’m happy to make a sizable investment. Current favorites in the “wait, how much?” category are Eighth Day The Regenerative Serum ($325) and the U Beauty Resurfacing Compound ($228) and Super Hydrator ($126). If you’re not ready to fully commit, the Summer Icons set from U Beauty (and Michelle Monaghan) is a great way to test the waters.

Thank you, Abby! Stay tuned for more installments of What I Buy With My American Dollars.

ICYMI:

Some things I love before we say goodbye: