The Crush Letter No 207: The Book ‘Everyone Is Reading This Summer,’ Multi-tasking Summer Beauty Products, So Many Hot Looking Men at Wimbledon
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Hello Crush,
Hi! Thanks for being here on a cherished summer week end. I hope that you had a wonderful Fourth of July with friends and family. Only seven left after this one, let’s make a pact to cherish them, okay?
I was glad to see that Lauren Weinstein featured the Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint with SPF in today’s column on summer skincare multi-taskers because I’ve sworn by it ever since it came out
In This Letter. +Strategic Seduction. The book ‘everyone is reading this summer.’ Kingmaker by Sonia Purnell. +Summer Beauty/Skincare Multi-Taskers by Lauren D. Weinstein +dishing. +Social Media I Loved This Week. +Our Song of the Week
This CRUSH Letter is sponsored by SuitShop.
“I don’t wear a suit or tux often enough to break the bank on them. It wouldn’t amortize. I get invited to a friend’s kid’s wedding, or an occasional professional or charity event. I maybe wear a tux once a year, a suit three or four times. When I do, I want to look good, though. I get a million compliments in SuitShop. Nobody can tell that I’m not wearing something that cost 5X more. Maybe it helps that these events are often low-lighting. Just kidding. I’ve recommended it to a million friends, and they love it too. I’ve also bought suits for my son. A recent college graduate, he’s needed them for interviews, weddings and events.” CRUSH Reader Craig
Strategic Seduction. The Astonishing Life & Underappreciated Power of Pamela Harriman.
Tina Brown just called Kingmaker “the book everyone is reading this summer” on both sides of the pond. I’d love to believe that’s true because I found it the most compelling book I read last year and so I’d love to discuss it with more friends. (As former Editor in Chief of Vanity Fair, Tatler and The New Yorker, Brown ought to know.) With that hope, I’m resharing my review from The Crush Letter No 184 (January 18, 2025).*
Dish’s Favorite Read of 2024: Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman’s Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction and Intrigue By Sonia Purnell.
I read a lot of good historical nonfiction last year — Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe was the best, but also The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson, Precipice by Robert Harris, Didion & Babitz by Lili Anolik, to mention just a few. Kingmaker, though, about Pamela Harriman, was a jaw dropping revelation, though, which is saying a lot given that I’d already Life of the Party and Reflected Glory, two previous biographies of Harriman. One of the things I learned from reading Kingmaker wasn’t about Harriman, but about the authors of the two other biographies of her, and that is that they both went into writing their respective books with an axe to grind against Harriman. She was a woman who made enemies. Purnell’s biography felt more balanced, with a willingness to present Harriman in all her glory, alongside all her flaws.
Pamela Churchill Hayward Harriman (to use all her last names), is a woman often referred to in her young twenties as “Churchill’s secret weapon“ to get the U.S. to enter WWII. Also, at the age of 73, as “one of the best ambassadors that ever served the United States,” about her success as the US Ambassador to France in the 1990’s (her first ever paid job). And also — most famously — as ”the 20th Century’s greatest courtesan,” a reference to how she spent much of the fifty year span between her aforementioned twenties and seventies. During that period, she was the lover of many of the great men on the international stage: Gianni Agnelli, Prince Aly Khan, Baron Elie Rothschild, Edward Murrow, Bill Paley, Jock Whitney. Before those men she was, of course, married to Winston Churchill’s wretchedly cruel, stupid and selfish son Randolph Churchill (after knowing him only two weeks). When she married Randolph was, if you can believe it given her later prowess, having a hard time finding a husband.
After Randolph, she married Leland Hayward (the great theatrical agent and producer) and in her later years, Averell Harriman (the businessman and diplomat).
Continue reading here
Summer Beauty/Skincare Multi-Taskers by Lauren D. Weinstein
In my mind, the summer season is filled with halcyon, sun-soaked, playful beach days and breezy, hedonistic nights spent sipping endless Tinto de Verano (a lovely mix of red wine and lemon soda) while dancing to uplifting House Music (a la Calvin Harris) on a cliffside patio in Ibiza. Reality check: I am in Albuquerque, New Mexico, staying cool in my air conditioned room to escape the blazing Southwestern sun and 100+degree heat.
Nevertheless, no matter where I am, I want to look both carefree and put together. My summer skin care and makeup routine need to reflect the change of season and be effective, easy to use, multi-purpose and travel friendly. I want to enjoy the fleeting time looking fabulous and ready for anything, whether I travel to Ibiza or Trader Joe’s.
I have curated an arsenal of fuss free, multi-purpose products that promise to carry you through the dog days of summer and the seasons ahead.
Hair
When the humidity is high and your hair is frizzy and fly-away baby hairs are relentlessly sticking to your sweaty forehead, reach for Bondi Boost Flyaway Wand ($18.00).
BONUS: May be used to tame feral eyebrows without turning cloudy or crunchy.
For hair that needs frizz control, hydration, and lasting hold, try All Eyes On Me 3-in-1 Hair Styling Cream ($10).
BONUS: it doubles as a blow dry primer, an air-dry cream or a smoothing styler for days when your hair looks like the Bride of Frankenstein. Good for all hair types and textures. Provides UV protection, silicone, sulfate and paraben free.
Face
Sun protection is non-negotiable and for those who want a product that combines makeup, skincare (niacinamide, hyaluronic acid and squalane) and SPF, try Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40 ($48). Available in 30 shades. Dewy finish, non-comedogenic, light, fluid texture. Best for normal, dry and mature skin.
Continue reading here
There Are So Many Hot Looking Men At Wimbledon
I am still working on Part 3 (on the Brands you love, or should know) of our Definitive Men’s Casual Summer Style Guide. In the meantime though, I have to say that I found these gentlemen’s looks at Wimbledon mouthwatering.
In case you missed it, you can find Part 1 (Polo’s, T Shirts, Linen & Camp Shirts) & Part 1 (Jeans, Shorts, Sneakers & Hoodies) here:
dishing.
Things I’m getting off on right now.
Ina Garten’s straight-up summer playlist. Right this very minute, as I finish off the 207th (yeowza!) Letter, I am listening to Ina Garten’s just-dropped summer playlist. Ina Garten’s Mini Cooper Ride starts with Willie Nelson and ends with The Chicks and features Johnny Cash, Sheryl Crow, Roy Orbison and Fleetwood Mac along the way. Into it — especially for when I’m tooling around in my mini cooper convertible.
The WSJ’s piece on how everyone should be checking out Cava’s as an alternative to champagne. I discovered Cava’s when I was broke and studying in Spain. Now you can get the good ones here. Bravo!, say I. All the bubbles, fewer bucks.
Martha Stewart says that dinner clubs are back. I haven’t seen this yet in my crowd (have you?), though I wish it were true.
I have a friend in her 80’s who has regaled me with stories of the monthly dinner club she and three girlfriends kept going for over a decade. Back in the mid-80’s Gourmet Magazine ran a column called “Menus for Contemporary Living” Tunie (short for Petunia - she grew up in St. Louis) tells me. That column presented a full multi-course dinner menu with recipes and wine pairings. As soon as a new issue dropped the ladies would meet for lunch (standing date and time — this was pre-internet days) and assign out the various dishes. Advance planning was necessary because often the menu’s required ingredients or spices that needed to be hunted down. The four couples always sat down for dinner on the fourth Saturday of the month, though they took summers off. ”It was an absolute delight, but we stopped it when Gourmet stopped the column even though they came out with a cookbook based on the recipes.”
Bon Appetit’s Grilled Corn Salad with Hot Honey Lime Dressing. Now that I’ve got you thinking about food, I have to share this recipe with you. My sister grilled a lovely July Fourth barbecue for us this year. I was in charge of the herbed grilled corn, but I wish I had this recipe then. Just came across it.
Social Media I Loved This Week
Speaking of corn salad, I need to share roseflorence’s post of Herman Miller’s summer picnic poster series. Aren’t they divine?
Song of the Week
Stare At Me By Jane Handcock, Anderson .Paak
Anderson .Paak can do no wrong, including his work on this recent single with Jane Handcock.
My heart, like yours, is absolutely torn apart over the losses from the Texas flooding. They are in my heart and in my prayers.
Dish
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The Crush Letter is a weekly newsletter from Dish Stanley curating articles & intelligence on everything love & connection - friendship, romance, self-love, sex. If you’d like to take a look at some of our best stories go to Read Us. Want the Dish?