April 18, 2025

Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photos: Retailers

Once a month, Strategist staffers gab about all the things we’ve been buying for ourselves. So here’s everything we bought in March. A few highlights: Ailbhe Malone found a Fenty face mask that smells like Jolly Ranchers (complimentary), Bella Druckman got the polka-dotted New Balances that enthralled our Slack, Jen Trolio is “now the proud owner” of this green velvet Haus of Hands throw pillow, and both Amelia Jerden and Emma Wartzman have mules on the mind (one of which is on sale for our deal of the day!).

Also on the site: Contributor Tessa Kauppila dreams of the day when egg prices drop, but in the meantime, she wrote about her love for egg cups. Blakely Thornton told us about the canned margaritas he likes to pour in a pitcher and serve to friends: “I love to host, but making a margarita is fucking messy … With a Cutwater margarita, I pour four of them bitches in a pitcher with some ice, and I’m like, Look at me. I am the hostess with the mostest.”

SALE

MICRO ODE

In December, I saw a girl at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles wearing a prim pencil skirt with a pair of sneakers that gave me a (mild) shock. They were black with strips of shine and had nubby, airborne heels that were a bit sci-fi, a bit stodgy, familiar yet new. I discreetly took a photo and found (via Google image search) that they were black Nike Shox. 

My Shox now add an element of unexpectedness when paired with secondhand Simone Rocha dresses and vintage evening purses. The toes are tipped and pointed, and the kittenlike lift of the heels gives me fleet feet on my long walks to the office. For an extra touch, I added a pearl charm that I got from work threaded on a gold chain to the laces. Charming, indeed. —Leigh Plessner, contributor