12 Things Hunter Harris Swears By

One afternoon last year, I was minding my own business, when I somehow stumbled upon magazine writer Hunter Harris’s weekly newsletter, Hung Up. For the next hour, I tore through the archives, including an Olivia Wilde deep dive, a Top Gun: Maverick review, and arguably the best opening paragraph to a newsletter. She’s a pop culture genius! So, I was thrilled when Hunter agreed to share 12 of her favorite things…

1. Restaurant: When the gods smile upon me and I get a table at The Four Horsemen, it feels like getting away with murder. But in a sexy, erotic-thriller sort of way. They don’t post the menu online (which drives me crazy since I am always the person to look up the menu in advance), but every single thing is good.

2. Activity: There’s something satisfying about taking a long walk while talking on the phone to someone you love.

3. Hair product: is my favorite waxy, thick edge control. It lays those baby hairs DOWN, honey; Fort Knox levels of security, and with minimal white residue. (If you use edge control, you know what I’m talking about.) I grew up with my mom using old toothbrushes on my edges, but the accompanying brush really does make a difference with this product specifically, because you do need stiff bristles to spread your swoops.

4. Notecards: I regret my behavior basically everywhere, all the time.

5. Home find: I’m so into my flatware, which I found through a reddit hole about the flatware in Molly Baz’s cookbook. They are a great mid-weight and come in different colors/finishes.

6. Candle: D.S. & Durga’s Big Sur After Rain is a perfect, polite scent. Not too loud, not too intrusive. Breakfast Leipzig is a little louder, a little bossier, with notes of tobacco and leather. All I know is that these candles found their way into my apartment, and they are my favorite smells.

7. Movie: It changes depending on the day, but right now I can confidently say Casino. It’s a movie about Vegas and the mob, two worlds that are almost hermetically sealed with their own codes and traditions, but it’s also a movie about trying to fill the bottomless pit of the self — being cast out of Eden because of your own gluttony. I love movies about male vanity and male insecurity. This one is more shallow than Goodfellas, but more glamorous, too.

8. Desk accessory: The $7 velcro cable ties on Amazon fundamentally changed my life. I have a million cords for only like six devices, and now I can keep them all neatly in my desk drawer. No more pulling out a cord only to get to the end and realize it’s a usbc instead of micro usb. (Me knowing the difference… yes I’m a woman in STEM!) Also, Play-Doh at my workstation — perfect for fidgeting during a long meeting.

9. Body wash: Nothing makes me feel as supported as waking up and taking the hottest shower imaginable. Right now, I’m using Naturium Glow Getter Multi-Oil Hydrating Body Wash. It has a mysterious consistency — an oil that somehow lathers — and it’s very moisturizing. Doesn’t have a scent, but that’s kind of fine with me?

10. Hotel: I go to L.A. a lot for work — sometimes months at a time, sometimes weeks here and there. The Cara is the best hotel in Los Angeles. I’m not staying anywhere else, when it’s a short trip. Gorgeous interiors, a restaurant worth eating at even if you’re not staying there, and everyone is genuinely nice and helpful.

11. Snack: Blue cheese and crackers.

12. Celebrity crush: The onslaught of Austin Butler in spring 2022 — we will be studying it for generations. This man tried so hard to get me to have a crush on him and I saw Elvis and it worked! Weird movie but amazing performance.

Thank you so much, Hunter. We love your newsletter to the moon!

P.S. More people share their favorite things, including art curator Gisela Gueiros and clothing designer Somsack Sikhounmuong.

(Portrait of Hunter Harris by Andrew Goble. Graphic design by Erin Jang.)