the end-of-summer issue
a send-off to the season and a reflection on recent beauty, fashion and book favourites
dear summer,
parting is such sweet sorrow.
that is, unless you’ve been counting down the weeks until autumn as i have since the first unbearable heatwave of the year rolled in some months ago. as an island baby by birth who now lives in a four-season city, my aversion to sweltering, sticky summer days is a paradox i could write an entire newsletter on but i digress, the changing of the seasons is fun!
“and so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, i had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer,” writes f. scott fitzgerald in my all-time favourite novel, the great gatsby. my own gripes with the weather aside, i cannot deny that there is something dreamlike about the summertime.
to me, there’s an air of nostalgia that pervades this season. the coconutty scent of sunscreen, seaside-adjacent drives when the sun is still out at nine in the evening, and the melting of vanilla ice cream down a sugary cone will always take me back to my youth.
though i leave this season keen for fall, i always look back fondly on summers.
for this first installment of my “issue” series—which will more or less be a recurring roundup of monthly favourites including fashion, beauty, books, and other things i’ve recently loved—i’ve decided to make one special summer edition newsletter that covers june, july and august favourites.
as it’s my first-ever favourites post, i’ll be sharing this one for free<3 but future, more curated posts like these will likely be exclusively available to paid subscribers. and, as a beauty + fashion writer, i do regularly receive pr, so i’ll be sure to put an asterisk next to products i was first gifted—although nothing in this leonine letter is sponsored!
during the summertime, i find nothing chicer than a nautical set of navy nails. i’ve always adored a dark manicure (think: espresso brown and inky black for autumn), and navy polish allows you to cheat going dark without losing the essence of the summer season. navy nails against an all-white ensemble? so, so good. not to mention navy just so happens to be one favourite colours in general, so that helps, too. i personally wear gel polish, but i know chanel’s le vernis nail colour in “127 fuguese” delivers on shine and pigment in a single swipe.
salt & stone santal vetiver body wash*:
this was the summer that salt & stone finally launched at sephora in canada! their refillable gel body wash in the santal & vetiver scent was my favourite this season. i love the way it leaves my skin feeling squeaky clean but never stripped.
for most of this summer, the only perfume i had my sights set on purchasing was yves saint laurent’s babycat (which i bought and wrote about in my last newsletter). so, i was pleasantly surprised by a sample i picked up of radio bombay by ds & durga. noted with sandalwood, cream, peach, ambrette and coconut, i loved this fragrance for those days when i wanted to wear a true summer scent.
these céline shades were a christmas gift, but if you were considering shopping a new pair, it is my firm belief that you’ll rarely regret splurging on really good sunnies. their oval frame and green lenses paired so well with my outfits this season!
blush blindness be damned! i love, love, love blush. nars’ powder blushes are some of my all-time favourites, and i’ve been wearing the matte mauve pink “behave 900” shade all summer, layered over a cream blush. i’ll be forever impressed by the colour payoff and longevity of this product, and will continue wearing it (in other shades) into autumn.
thirst for salt by madelaine lucas:
one thing you should know about me? i’m a seasonal reader, through and through. madelaine lucas’ novel thirst for salt went above and beyond satisfying my craving for a romantic beach read and turned out to be one of my favourites of the year so far. set in an australian coastal town, the narrator reflects on a relationship from her youth with an older man, detailing love, loss and nostalgia. i’ll leave you with this quote: “it’s hard to remember now that i was once that girl, lying in the sand in my red swimsuit and swimming late into the day. sharkbait, he called me.”
josie maran vanilla vibez lotion + scrub*:
when news from josie maran landed in my inbox re: their rebrand and the launch of these scrumptious body lotions and scrubs, i was instantly obsessed. regardless of the season, i follow every shower up with a body moisturizer of some sort, and this air-whipped, argan-oil infused body butter feels and smells like an absolute dream.
i genuinely can’t recall the last time i bought jeans, but recently, i’d been in the market for dark wash denim. enter: kotn’s unisex antifit jeans. chic! comfortable! cool! suffice it to say, i’ll be buying these in another colour soon.
leopard bedroom slippers:
unfortunately this exact pair is sold out, but as a regular house slipper wearer these have truly been glued to my feet all summer long. whether or not leopard print is on “trend” (lol), i’ll always gravitate towards this print during leo season !!
tom ford soleil blanc shimmering body oil:
another summer has come and gone, and i’m still madly in love with tom ford’s soleil blanc shimmering body oil. one of the things i adore most about this time of year is being able to lather up with silky oils for sunkissed-looking skin—and the soleil blanc scent (floral amber and coco-de-mer) of this tom ford offering (which i’m constantly getting compliments on) is just an added bonus.
faceted drinking glasses:
yes, i am an avid iced coffee drinker who (mostly) tries to make my lattes at home. cute drinking glasses like these always make mornings more exciting for me.
what have you been loving this summer? let me know!<3
x L