What I Wore, Played, and Skincare-d Most in October

October repeats!

Nov 08, 2025

My partner and I have a thing we call “I love NY days” — which are exactly what they sound like, a day where you really really extra love New York. There are plenty of frustrating miss-your-train, lug-your-groceries moments that have you cursing the city’s penchant for making things as difficult as possible. Then an I love NY day comes along, and all that annoyance evaporates into the subway grate steam.

October is filled with I love NY days.

Crimson leaves swirling in a crisp breeze; carved pumpkins making nice homes on brownstone stoops; the knitwear, OH the knitwear!

Dorothy Parker once wrote, “In New York there is always the feeling of ‘Something’s going to happen.’ It isn’t peace. But, you know, you do get used to peace, and so quickly. And you never get used to New York.”

This month’s repeats include excellent tops in aquatic colors, devilish lip paint, a delicious condiment that’s sure to keep friends away, and more.

the month of the blue boat neck tops

I had two perfect blue boat neck tees on repeat this month. An embarrassment of riches.

the reverse neckline is a boat neck i promise

First: the unparalleled

Liana Satenstein

x Cleo Camp tee in perhaps the greatest blue of all time. It’s a dream length with a reversible double neckline bonus. It’s like a shirt mullet, business boat neck in the front with a party-ready scoop in the back.

I really can’t stress enough how much I adore this shade — I’ve had a 900-word draft on aqua gathering dust in the corner of my Google drive for the better part of the year. This shirt is a love letter to the color blue.

Second: Because how would I function on the days when the first blue tee is in the wash, this deliciously sapphire-toned option from Los Angeles Apparel. IMO a 3/4 sleeve is far superior than a full-length (especially for those of us with T. rex arms), and I’m having fun layering short-sleeve tees and tanks over it as we descend into colder weather.

say no to winter flake!

This month’s bathroom cabinet repeats are the product of a perfect October storm: a big dry chill and a devilish holiday. Cold fronts and low humidity call for a doubling-down on my holy grail moisturizer, La Roche-Posay’s Cicaplast Balm B5+.

Its texture and smell is more like a high quality semi-gloss exterior paint than a silky face product (complimentary). An almond-sized dollop slathered before bedtime is my best defense against winter flakeage.

On the lips, I reached for red more times this month than any other, especially for Halloween costumes. Pat McGrath’s liquid lip in Elson 4 is an easy go-to — no one does it better than Pat. It’s nearly always out of stock (she has gone on record to say this is the color she uses on Taylor Swift, which explains the constant supply issues), but it’s actually in stock right now. A pre-Christmas miracle.

if I’m on DND this is why

As far as my Nintendo Switch preferences go, I’m almost exclusively AnimalCrossingsexual. But when I saw Tiny Bookshop release — in which you operate a tiny bookshop trailer in a cozy little town, recommending reads to townspeople and visiting weekend flea markets — I couldn’t help but be a little game-curious.

Even though this thing is still a big hunk of screen, it feels better than scrolling. How sick and twisted is it that playing a video game feels like a technology break? Reading is the number one alternative, of course, but hawking digital books is a close second. In the meantime, I’ll be decorating my book cart for the holidays.

turning dead batteries into lemonade

Perhaps this repeat was caused by my inability to keep my AirPods from dying more than anything, but it feels good to use something that doesn’t charge. And frankly — as the girls have now been saying for years — wired earbuds do feel like an accessory.

Swaying across your chest in the grocery store, dingy rubber chords stark against a black cashmere sweater, you’re tethered physically to the music in your ears. Being plugged in isn’t a secret you can hide by untucking the hair from behind your ears, it’s part of the outfit.

a perfect get-away-from-me condiment

As someone who always doubles or triples the amount of garlic a recipe calls for, I nearly jumped out of my jeans when I spotted these at Trader Joe’s.

They’re perfectly crisp, perfectly garlicky, and a perfect topping on my leftover-rice-spinach-nuts-chili-crisp snack bowls. Probably not the kind of thing you bring to the office unless you have a travel toothbrush on standby… but worth every extra swig of mouthwash to me.

Last month I hoped to “make it through as many Halloween movies as possible” and that “the leaves in Central Park put on a nice show.” If you couldn’t tell by my rambling about the foliage, I’m very satisfied with my leaf show. The movies… I didn’t do so well this year lol. I’ll be better about holiday movies, I promise!

In November, I hope for warmly lit evenings and steaming cups of cider, and I vow to not let the cold weather affect my making plans. It’s only going to get colder and colder for the next three months and I always forget that! So here’s to being brave and leaving your borough when it’s feels-like 37 degrees.

What are you looking forward to this month?