Confusion Snacks

Snow Days

Fly by Jing

Rowdy Mermaid

Lumē

KraveBeauty

Juliet Wine

Churn Butter

Paro

Troomy Nootropics

Xtra Spicy Chili Crisp 

Black Truffle Masala Popcorn

Chili Chaat Popcorn

The asian in me wanted to hate this $14 chili oil, but even I, a lifelong Lao Gan Ma loyalist, am now a convert. 

The Xtra Spicy Chili Crisp is really fucking good. Super spicy without losing its fragrance or complexity. 

The totino's pizza rolls child to health-conscious snow days adult pipeline is real. All the blissful nostalgia without feeling like shit. 

They go for 8 bucks a bag, nearly 1 dollar per piece, which is particularly painful. But, they really are so fucking satisfying and the ingredient list is unreal. 

Best on toast! or paired with a "blank canvas" food. I find that the flavors get lost, instead of amplified, when added to recipes with redundant ingredients. They're a convenient alternative to making my own compound butters. 

Big thumbs up for grass-fed pasture raised butter, and yay for rolling out at Costco's now. In love with the rebrand.

The short shelf life prevents me from buying ahead, so I really only pick up on a whim. 

Was honestly getting tired of diaspora fusion snack products as of late. Too many cliches or not enough flavor. Picked up some popcorn on a whim at Mother's. 

The Chili Chaat was absolutely insane. If I had it at grocers closer to me, I'd buy it more frequently. The Black Truffle Masala was less interesting, but still yummy. They get stale fast, but so do most off-the-shelf popcorn bags. 

I'd be interested in purchasing canisters of seasoning. 

Love, love, love KraveBeauty. I've been following this brand since its inception. Fantastic formulas, pioneers of skin barrier repair in the American skincare market, priced fairly, aesthetically pleasing branding, and surprising commitment to sustainability for a beauty brand (selling batches of slightly off formulas, carbon offset shipping, intentional use of glass v. plastic, etc.). 

The products line is great alone, but I think Leah Yoo's videos describing the intentionality of the ingredients and formulations really maximize my understanding and overall experience with the brand.

MASSIVE letdown. Easily the worst greenwashing I've seen from a Thingtesting listed brand. One of the biggest draws of Juliet for me was their commitment to sustainability. A quarter of the site is dedicated to it. I was shipped a massive box filled with styrofoam packing peanuts. The wine box itself was wrapped in several feet of duct tape and bubble wrap. Entirely doing too much and kind of insane considering the wine box is literally paper and plastic. I've had actual glass bottles shipped to me with less protection. 

Look, this is a D2C brand!! Shipping methods and materials are a core part of the product experience. You cannot sell a "sustainable" product encased in a pound of plastic and styrofoam. 

As for the actual wine, it was just okay. With shipping, the Sauv Blanc works out to around $30 per .75L and frankly, it does not come remotely close to competing with $30 bottles of Sauv Blanc.

All this said, I love the box format for my lifestyle. I cook with wine frequently, but not at a volume to warrant the use of whole bottle. I don't drink much anymore, and many of my friends are California sober. The box format prevents a lot of half used wine bottles from going to waste. And its beautiful, to boot! To close, I am ultimately rooting for Juliet. If I see Juliet in stores, I will be picking it up for cooking or entertaining use. Until then, I will not be repurchasing from their site. 

On a side note, I looked through their retail distribution and noticed that they're targeting "shoppy-shops" and boutique beverage fronts, but I have a deep conviction that their branding and product would be more popular with the mass market. The Target moms would eat this up. To the VCs backing Juliet, I implore you to consider increasing production and rolling Juliet out at big-box stores.

Juliet is too gimmicky for the luxury market. If I'm in a gourmet food store, I may buy Juliet out of curiosity. But it would end up being just that once because it just does not perform as a Sauv Blanc at that price point. The form factor is just not compelling enough to warrant a repurchase to most.

But if I was a wine mom that came across Juliet in Target or Whole Foods? Different story. We are entering a recession and the "lipstick effect" is in full swing. The average American will splurge on a "luxury" boxed wine. Plus, sans shipping, the retail cost knocks down the price per "bottle" to ~$20, which is a lot more palatable and accessible. 

I wish spices came in a separate packet so I could bloom them for even more flavor, though I see the potential for user error on that front. 

Beyond, beyond loved Paro. Super attractive packaging, sensible portions, and informative packaging on ingredients, health benefits, and suggestions on pairings like yogurt, lemon, etc. 

I found the flavor descriptors of "tastes like a warm hug" and "nourishing spices" rather unhelpful at first, but after having both the masoor daal and kitchari, I now understand. Everything works to create a very nourishing and flavorful symphony. There are so few ingredients, none dominant, that playing up one ingredient would be very misleading. 

Also, let's talk about the mf tarka oil. Incredible. So fucking good. Immediate pantry staple. Pairs so well with the masoor daal and kitchari. I now almost never fry my eggs without it. Get it!

My personal qualm is that both the masoor daal and kitchari were grossly overpriced at $10 per box. I hope that costs go down as they scale, but right now the prices make zero sense. It's effectively a handful of the cheapest food ingredients in the world. If they were partnering with a brand like Diaspora Co. for spices, using organic ingredients, or even unbranded fair trade spices/sourcing transparency, I would have a much easier time justifying the steep cost. 

Simply put, they work. 

For me, I two gummies every few days when I need a boost in focus gets the job done for me. My dental school friends found that they needed to take 4-6 gummies daily, which began to add up to a noticeable amount of sugar. My friends have since moved onto pure lion's mane powder because of their personal needs, but we all agree that Troomy is a solid jumping off point for nootropic beginners. 

I'm sticking with Troomy because it's a solid dose of lion's mane, has clean ingredients, doesn't use sweeteners with aftertastes, and tastes really good. I'm not taking more than 1 dose a day and would take the 3-6g of sugar ANY DAY vs. sweeteners.

For those curious about the texture, the Focus gummies were sticky and jelly-like with a bit of give, as opposed to a chewy gummy worm type of gummy. 

OBSESSED with their functional tonics lately and put so many people on them for good reason. Low sugar, tastes like a flavored sparkling water, adaptogenic, and widely available at WFs. 

If you've passed on their kombuchas before, I'd give their tonics a shot. The packaging for the two are pretty similar, so don't get them mixed up. I previously thought the tonics were just different flavors, not entirely different products. 

Personally, I appreciate the wide range of flavors across their entire brand (kombucha+tonics), but I still think the kombuchas are very forgettable. 

I tried the body wash+2 deodorants. The body wash in Tangerine was so refreshing and worked as intended. It also evened out my skin tone for sure. 

The deodorants on the other hand....TLDR: They work as intended, but finding the right scent took trial and error. The unscented one was very sour and rank, probably because of the Mandelic Acid. Unless you have insane odor to begin with, I can't imagine this helping your situation. The Peony Rose was SO much better. The sour scent dissipates after a few minutes, and it really helped to keep odor at bay+even out my skin tone. I also liked that the Peony Rose did not project and allowed me to wear my regular perfumes. 

Reviews and discussion