The Lust Index, July 2025

6 things I actually bought this month (with my own dollars).

Jul 17, 2025

I’m not trying to be practical right now. I’m trying to be turned on, lit up, stopped in my tracks. This is a new vertical cataloguing the stuff I find that isn’t sensible or essential; six things that made my pulse tick up. This isn’t about fixing anything. It’s about wanting better, wanting hotter, and wanting without permission. Here’s what I bought in July for one simple reason: I liked it.

1. The Silk Bag I’d Ruin in the Rain

A generously sized Carven bag that appears to have been constructed for utility, but made from a vixen-red silk that would likely stain my fingertips—a contradiction to carry. I bought it at La Garconne in Amagansett during a rainy week without the slightest consideration for what water would do to it. It went well with my outfit, so I wore it straight out. Things are meant to be used, even when they are new and precious. I hung it on a hook under the bar at Il Buco across the street and had a sweaty Contrato spritz perched precariously nearby. It survived.

2. The Sheets I Don’t Need (But Want to Sleep in Anyway)

By Society Limonta, they’re made of Italian cotton, garment-dyed in a seasonal matte mauve called “Aurora” with a handfeel so soft that it elicits a little sigh. I don’t make the bed impressively, but I do like the once-a-week performance of competence when my housekeeper comes. The rest of the week, I do a little tidy-up, straighten the sheets, and enjoy the rumpled look of something that looks lived-in. These make that imperfection look intentional.

3. The Glassware and Coffee Pot I Won’t Let My Fiancé Use

I like everything Natalia Criado makes, but it was her architectural silver-plated coffee pot that got me first — too sculptural to be practical, which is precisely why I wanted it. And that little rose quartz knob? Swoon. The glassware followed: bulbous, colored stems that look like they’d crack if you breathed wrong. I saw them and said “Oh, no,” aloud. The salesperson laughed. I ordered two of each and told my fiancé they were decorative. He thinks I’m kidding, but he unloads the dishwasher like a gorilla with something to prove. These are for me.

4. A Candle That Smells Like the La Bourdaisière Tomato Conservatory

We walked into E+E Home and immediately clocked it. What was that smell? A candle! Green, acidic, and… a little sunburnt? Like someone clipped tomato vines in a linen shirt and left the door open in the summer. The silver vessel, with its ornate seal, made it appealing, and the story of a place in France where more than 700 varieties of heirloom tomatoes are preserved made it a necessity. I took it home, along with an enormous William Yeoward crystal pitcher that I immediately filled with farm stand sunflowers.

5. The Lip Liners I Keep Rebuying, Even Though I Have Five

Neutral but not dull, made to coordinate with my favorite lipsticks. Just warm enough to read polished, but not with the intent to cartoonishly overline. For Westman Atelier, it’s Petal liner and Je Rêve Lip Suede. For Farah Homidi, it’s the Minky lip pencil and Lip Compact in Nude 1. I wear it with nothing else on my face but Shiseido sunscreen and a dab of Sun Tone Bronzing Drops.

6. The Plates I’ll Build a Tablescape Around

Stoneware, marbled, hand-thrown, irregular edge. The colorway? Marea. They make a morning bagel feel like a moment. I’d cry if I chipped them, but I got them anyway.

ICYMI…