10 Spring Favorites You’ll Want to Add to Cart Immediately

Everyone does a spring favorites list, but most of them feel like a PR package recap disguised as personality. On Note to Self, Payton Sartain actually keeps a running list on her phone year-round of things that make her life better and audits it every season. Only the stuff that survived made it into this episode.

So if you’ve been in a “maybe I need new things” mood…start here.

☐ Educated Mess Vitamin C

If your skin has had beef with every vitamin C you’ve ever tried, consider the feud potentially over. “This Educated Mess Vitamin C is so f*cking good,” Sartain says. “It has never irritated my skin. It actually works.” She uses it every single morning and calls it a non-negotiable. She’s also obsessed with the founder, who she follows on TikTok.

☐ Merit Blush in Fox

For everyday minimal makeup, this is her go-to. “It kind of mimics a sunburn for me,” she says. “It’s almost like a blush and a bronzer in one, at least on my skin tone.” The dome applicator means she can literally rub it on in seconds. She doesn’t use it for full glam nights out but for daily wear she says it’s perfect.

☐ Nishane perfume

Sartain found this at a perfumery in NYC with her friend Katie Vaughn, who’s deep in the fragrance world. “It’s like a Baccarat Rouge and has the staying power of a Baccarat Rouge, but it’s just a little more unique,” she says. “There’s something a little different about it. It feels like it’s spicy cousin or something.”

☐ Loaded morning water

Her daily morning drink is collagen from Clean Simple Eats, 5 grams of creatine from Naked Nutrition, and L-glutamine powder, all mixed into water. The L-glutamine is the star. “Whenever I take L-glutamine…my stomach just feels better when I take it consistently,” she says. Both the creatine and L-glutamine are tasteless, so the collagen flavor is the only thing you taste.

☐ POCA sweetener in her cold brew

These are individual syrup packets with no sugar and added fiber that she puts in her Fabula cold brew every morning. “It sweetens the coffee. Sometimes if I want it to be a little extra sweeter, I’ll add a little pack of Truvia as well.” She loves that they’re portable for travel and says this combo doesn’t mess with her gut—even on empty.

☐ Shirley Temple Poppi

“The best Poppi I’ve ever had,” Sartain says. This is the flavor she keeps stocked at all times. She’s a Coke person and says the Cherry Cola Poppi is fine, but it was never going to pass for a real Cherry Coke. The Shirley Temple one, though, actually delivers.

☐ Still Here denim

“Every time I get a pair of denim from Still Here, I f*cking love it, and I’m like, ‘Give me 10 more,'” she says. Expensive but she considers it fully worth the investment. She hasn’t tried their sport jean yet, but it’s on her list.

☐ Lucid tapered candles

These look like real tapered candles but you fill them with oil instead of burning actual wax. They don’t melt and drip all over your table, which if you have natural surface furniture is a game changer. She has them on her dining table and is a “big fan.”

☐ Vitruvi plug-in wall diffusers

She has a couple of these throughout her house in the vanilla mint scent and says they keep everything smelling fresh without being overwhelming. They’re on sale right now for $18 each and she’s bringing them with her when she moves to Phoenix because “I need that with me all the time.”

☐ Caviar boards at home

Sartain prefers Savruga caviar over the more expensive large-bead kind because it’s “smaller, super shiny little black pearls” and she thinks it tastes more delicate. She serves it on potato chips, cucumber, deviled eggs, avocado, and yes, chicken nuggets. “Caviar chicken nugget, obviously, one that I love,” she says. “Obviously.”

Listen to the full episode on Note to Self with Payton Sartain, available wherever you listen to podcasts.

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