Exit Survey: Fresh fragrance, perfect jeans, gelato in a fruit cup
A new format, a fresh start
Note: Switch to the Substack app to read the post in full – it’s too long for a regular email 🫡
Hello hello!
Long time no speak.
When I started As Soon As Possible earlier this year, I truly had the best intentions to be consistent. I planned to write every week, twice a week; to funnel my most creative thoughts into well-worded essays; to have immediate, resounding success.
And then winter dragged on – a season I’ve typically loved – and I went under. The darkness, the rain, the dank greyness of my possibly never-renovated office. I felt sallow – my soul felt jaundiced. And life didn’t feel painful; it just felt boring.
Simply put, the lights went out. And I had to ride the blackout until my own personal AusGrid figured out a way to get the power back on.
Ultimately, it took three trips away in quick succession, a really excellent new pair of jeans, about 1500 laps of Rushcutters Bay park, season three of The Summer I Turned Pretty, the return of the SUN, and the slow unfurling of leaves on the plane trees to bring me back to life.
In the first edition of ASAP, I made the point that sometimes ‘as soon as possible’ isn’t actually all that soon. This was one of those times. But I’ve pulled myself out, and return with renewed intentions of consistency.
With that in mind, I’m introducing a new format! Exit Survey will come out every Sunday in place of 10 Things, and include my best bits of the week. Beauty buy, fashion find, save, send, listen, read, go – you get it.
I’ve got a lot of exciting things happening in the next few months, and I can’t wait to write about/document them. If you don’t follow me on Instagram, you can find me at @hollyberckelman – I never shut up but post nice photos sometimes lol.
Let me know what you think of the fresh format, and thanks for sticking around.
Hx
Fashion find: Pool wide-leg jeans, Cos
I was in Melbourne a few weeks ago for work and specifically carved out time to go to Cos in The Strand, as it’s pretty much the only store that had these jeans in stock. I’ve been coveting them for months, as has my v chic friend
(check out her Substack, I Wish I Wrote This)Thrilled to report the Pool jeans are as excellent in the flesh as they are online: a sensational cut, long enough to gently graze the floor, slouchy but not so much that they bunch on your stomach or gape on the waist.
They’re still available on The Iconic (and currently on sale for $143!) I sized down, and they’re perfect. Check them out here.
Read: ‘I Gained 25 Pounds. Why Are People Acting Like I’ve Committed a Crime?’ by Allison Lax
Published in Glamour, one of my favourite publications, the headline of this piece by Allison Lax immediately caught my eye during a pre-bed Instagram scroll.
There have been plenty of think pieces written about GLP-1 drugs since they hit the mainstream for their off-label usage a couple of years ago – but this took a slightly different approach. I like how Lax delved into the shame element of weight gain, and the sense of moral failure that comes with a rising number on the scales. Thinness has always been a form of social capital, but it’s all the more prevalent now that there’s an ‘easy fix’. As such, when you choose not to buy into that ‘solution’, people can’t help but ask why. Read the piece here.
If you’re keen to read more on this topic, I wrote a piece last year titled ‘Would you sacrifice a year of your life for the perfect body? I would’. It delves into similar sinister themes:
“If given the opportunity to look exactly as I ‘should’ I’d grip it with both hands and run. A year for a literal pound of flesh? You can have it – in fact, you can have two.
Just 12 months to never feel bad about the way I look again? Sold. 52 weeks for the price of perfection? You can take them.”
You can read that piece here if you like.
Beauty buy: Missing Person, Phlur
Phlur fragrances launched in Mecca this month, and I was fortunate enough to attend the launch party in Sydney. In all honesty, I didn’t know a huge amount about the brand going in, other than it going viral on TikTok many times over. I was curious to know why it has so many fans, and whether it was a classic case of online chatter with little payoff, or if there actually is something of substance to Phlur. After a night of sniffing and listening, I think it’s the latter – as is the case with all the brands Mecca brings on board.
My first impressions: the fragrances are great – gourmand mostly, which taps into the sugar-inclined tastes of young people today (think Sol de Janeiro), but certainly not immature. Creative director, Chriselle Lim, who was at the event, explained how she wanted to subvert the idea of having a signature scent; instead, providing people with a wardrobe of moods and moments to choose from on any given day. Lim relaunched the brand in 2022 with Missing Person EDP (my favourite), inspired by the sadness she felt in the wake of her divorce, and the desire to smell something familiar and skin-like. Father Figure, on the other hand, speaks to her need to play both a mother and father role for her children. I like the personal connection, but they’re not too prescriptive so as not to appeal to a mass audience.
You can check out Phlur here – there are body/hair mists and personal fragrances to choose from, but many SKUs are already sold out, so get in quick!
Eat: Cacio e pepe at Fabbrica
Fabbrica’s Newtown outpost turned one this week, and to celebrate, they were slinging half-priced cacio e pepe and negronis. Excellent news for me personally, who managed to nab a reservation on Wednesday night.
For anyone who hasn’t eaten cacio e pepe, firstly, you need to rectify this; secondly, it’s Roman pasta that translates to ‘cheese and pepper’. It’s creamy without using cream (important), and is especially delicious when topped with Aleppo pepper, like the Fabbrica one.
Alongside the negronis, we shared a stracciatella dish, which came with persimmon and rockmelon, thick-cut bread with a nicely savoury whipped butter, and the pasta. A perfect night, and a great level of fullness.
I recommend heading to Fabbrica to try their cacio e pepe if you can (even if it’s no longer half-priced), or finding cacio e pepe somewhere else if you don’t live in Sydney.
Send: ‘Reply guys’, by Lucinda ‘Froomes’ Price
I sent this post by Froomes to a group chat with two of my girlfriends – all three of us are currently fielding reply guys, though we usually refer to them as “this fucker”.
It is both validating and infuriating that even a public platform and 75K followers can’t save you from reply guys, and that no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, no matter your age, some men will still find a way to engage with your content, and then do absolutely fucking nothing about it.
One of my friends put it well in her reply to me: “Maintain as many low effort conversations as possible! I hate it here.”
Save: Kendall Jenner in a magazine store
Nothing ground-breaking here, but DeuxMoi posted these shots of Kendall Jenner at a magazine store in LA, accompanied by perfumer Ben Gorham, and her fit was great.
Clean, simple, and a great formula to have in the bank when you want to toss something on but still look cool and put-together.
Want/Need: Merit Beauty’s Mini Blush Trio
This week, it’s absolutely a want, not a need, and there is no realm of possibility in which I should have another cream blush. That said, I DO WANT THIS A LOT.
I love everything Merit, and the brand’s new Mini Blush Trio satisfies everything I like in a limited-edition beauty product: chic, pigmented, tiny.
I’m going to the US in 10 days and you best believe I’ll be picking this up. (Side note, any New York tips are very welcome!)
Joy-sparker: Gelato in a rockmelon
I spent the day at Camp Cove beach with my bestie yesterday, and alongside a green smoothie and sausage roll, we got a rockmelon gelato served… in a rockmelon.
This is the definition of a joy-sparker: whimsical, delicious, fun, memorable. The best $9 I spent this week.
She’s back! Couldn’t love this or your writing more. Also…DEATH TO THE REPLY GUY!
Can confirm the merit blush trio is divine