September is. . . back-to-school season? Well, not actual school, perhaps—but I felt like I learned a few things over the past few weeks anyway.

Reading: I just finished Cat Marnell’s How to Murder Your Life, which came out in 2017; I didn’t think I was interested in this book (although I remember Cat’s writing in Lucky magazine) until my Instagram buddy Summer recently posted a bunch of screen caps of specific perfume mentions that appear throughout its pages. That lured me in, and I really did enjoy the memoir: it’s unexpectedly funny, despite its often-dark subject matter. It also made me realize that my own addiction, for print magazines, has left me in a permanent state of withdrawal.

Art: A selection of Andy Warhol’s Polaroids at the Whitney. Yves Saint Laurent and Photography at the International Center of Photography. Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte at the Jewish Museum.

Video: Letty Lynton at the Paris and Unzipped at Film Forum, both with A. White Nights with K. The Odyssey with D. And, at home, we’re watching the series Trespasses on PBS.

Drinks: Lately it’s all Americano coffees with friends. Oh, and one very fun plum-flavored cocktail in Midtown with RR when she was visiting NYC.

(Tr)eats: My friend R gifted me some chocolate-covered almonds and actual marrons glacés from a trip to Spain. I’m still enjoying them, one by one. They’re remarkable.

Beauty Products: Beauty expert Sali Hughes recently wrote about her favorite American drugstore items, and that post reminded me to grab a new container of Maybelline Fit Me! Loose Finishing Powder. It’s a longtime favorite and I’ll never pay for a more expensive loose powder ever again. In other categories, I grabbed a bottle of B&BW Very Violet shower gel on a whim (they were having a big sale, and I was excited just to be at a mall!) and it smells like Calvin Klein Euphoria, so I love it.

Fragrances: Since the weather is still kind of muggy, I’m wearing white florals like ERIS Parfums Belle de Jour and Soma Ayurveda Bombay Fleur and the cult classic Child.

Garb: Back in black (tights), finally! And I got a new black dress at Uniqlo GU that will be in heavy rotation all fall and winter.

Pleasures: Early-autumn fun, like a trip to Greenwood Cemetery with M!

Up Next: Seasonal part-time work with a perfumer friend, reading about Surrealist books for a new show at MoMA, writing another round of product descriptions for Bloom Parfums. Also, just getting outside more to enjoy the best month of the year.

What have you been up to lately?

Image: detail of Bernard Sleigh, September from The Faery Calendar, 1920. Victoria & Albert Museum, London.