I had a quiet Thanksgiving this year, but a more festive one than 2020. Last year, our household of two ate by ourselves and zoomed with others. This year, thanks to vaccines, we gathered with a handful of family members. Over the weekend, I continued with my tradition of Thanksgiving Konmari-ing — I gave away a bunch of household items on my local Buy Nothing group.

But I also shopped Black Friday sales quite a bit for myself. Compared to other years, I bought more than usual. My excuse is that due to moving recently, I needed to replenish some things. (But as you’ll see, this excuse doesn’t work for all my purchases, like the wardrobe ones). Here’s what I bought in November. (Not all of it has arrived yet.)

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Skincare & Beauty Buys

Pixi Endless Shadestick, MatteLast Liquid Lipstick, Glow-y Gossamer Duo, and Mesmerizing Mineral Palette. During the move, I threw out the majority of my makeup, most of which I’ve had since 2016. I figured it was time for some fresh stuff. I like this cruelty-free brand for their unfussy packaging and botanical ingredients. These are new-to-me products I haven’t tried before.

Londontown Gel Genius Base and Top Coat and Pink Illuminating Nail Concealer. Nail polish was prohibited from the moving pod, so I brought just a few bottles in my carry-on and gave the rest away. I’ve had good experiences with Londontown products (see my review here) so I turned to them to replenish some basics. I also bought a bottle of Piccadilly Square, an orange-red color that I’m hoping is similar to OPI’s Cajun Shrimp.

Stratia’s Liquid Gold moisturizer and Night Shift. These are part of my regular skincare routine, so I stocked up during their annual sale. (You can read about an earlier iteration of my skincare routine here.)

The Ordinary Lactic Acid 10% + HA, Buffet serum, and Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate Solution 20% in Vitamin F. Lactic acid was another stock-up buy. But the other two are experiments. I confess that I’m a bit haphazard when it comes to skincare. I just kind of try stuff. Guess I’ll be googling how to use these soon.

Wardrobe Buys

Baggu Cloud Bag, Big Baggu, and Packable Sun Hat. I’m planning on using the Cloud Bag (in the peppercorn color, now sold out) as a gym bag. It’s lightweight and made out of nylon, so I can easily wash it. I already own a Big Baggu, but added another one since it seems I’m schlepping more stuff around in New York than I did in San Francisco. And I’ve had my eye on the sun hat for a while. I never could find it in store to try on, so I just went for it during their Black Friday sale.

Curator SF Jonah Cardigan in brick. This was on my fall wardrobe wish list. Funny that I moved all the way across the country before making my first purchase from this San Francsico-based brand. And I actually used to live close to the location of their first store! I’m loving the cropped length and the balloon sleeves.

dr. Liza booties in black, flats in navy suede, and flats in golden sand. (See my reviews of the flats here and the booties here.) I also pre-ordered the sneaker pump in black using store credit. I had bought these pumps in another color earlier this year, but they were too small, so I sent them back. Here’s hoping the new size fits.

Everlane Track Jogger. I’ve been living in my black Track Joggers, which I reviewed here. So I decided to add another one in heathered burnt sugar. (Alas, it came with the embroidered E on the thigh, which I could do without.)

Everlane Original Cheeky Jean in washed midnight. With pandemic weight changes, I need new pants, and thicker ones at that for the fall. Denim went on sale for a day so I ordered these. Still waiting for them to arrive, so we’ll see if they work for me.

Housewares Buys

CB2 Contact Mugs. With this move, I finally have a dishwasher. Life changing! But we’re going through our mugs so quickly, sometimes before we’re ready to run the dishwasher. I like these for their simplicity, plus it looks like the handles are large enough to wrap four fingers around them. (I’m not into mugs with small handles.) UPDATE: These have now arrived and I can only wrap three fingers around the handle. They’re also heavier than expected. Think I’ll probably return them.

Full Circle The Ring Veggie Scrub Brush. I love all the Full Circle products I bought recently, so I turned to this brand again when I needed a veggie brush. (I found it a little cheaper here.)

Graf Lanz Bierfilzl Square Felt Coasters. Do I need new coasters? No. But I’ve been coveting these for years. Treated myself to the pack of six in the blue colorway.

Takeya Cold Brew Coffee Maker. I’ve been wanting to make my own cold brew. Reading up on this particular contraption, it seems like it doesn’t make the most flavorful cold brew. However, it might be the easiest one for me to use since it’s also a pitcher that I can just leave to brew in the fridge.

Simple Wood Goods Storage Cube in Walnut. How to store our vinyl? We could get an Ikea Kallax, which would be the most affordable solution. But we’re already using a Kallax in another room, and I don’t want everything to be from Ikea (especially the stuff made out of fiberboard and paper). We found this small business in Cincinnati that makes modular storage cubes out of wood, some with a handsome walnut veneer. Each cube is 5 times the price of a 2×2 Kallax, though. I waited until Black Friday to see if there’d be a sale. There was at 10% off. We ordered four. This was definitely the most expensive purchase this month.

Did you partake in any holiday shopping?