Meghan sells candles

Meghan Markle revealed the As Ever 2025 holiday collection today. In addition to the jams, there are some new products, like signature scent candles that have been named after special dates in her life. Like her wedding to Prince Harry and her birthday. Thank you, Meghan, for giving me an opportunity to talk about candles, because I almost never buy them but I do receive them as gifts. 

I didn’t grow up in a candle home, I never knew that candles were a thing until I became an adult, and not even a young adult, like I was grown and married. Then I realised that candles were not only a thing, they’re expensive. And it’s not like I don’t love a splurge but I’m cheap in weird ways where, sure, I’ll drop a load on some shoes, but a $25 candle? Seriously? This is why I’m so economical with the only candles in my house. I will only f-ck with a fir scented candle and only in December and January and only for one hour a night but no more than four nights a week to make it last. That explains why I haven’t bought a new candle since 2022, LOL. 

Anyway, Meghan’s candles are US$64 which is a lot more than my $25 candle that's cost-per-used the sh-t out of but nowhere near the price of what’s probably the trendiest candle of the last year or so: the Loewe Tomato Leaves. Have you heard about this? The smallest size goes for CAD$169 and the largest is $680! And people are obsessed. For a few weeks there earlier this year, my whole ass TikTok feed was Loewe Tomato Leaves. And not just the candle but also the fragrance and the hand soap. The hand soap is $110 in Canada! The hand soap has been a bigger thing than even the candle. 

I do love a tomato vine-scented hand soap. Last year I walked into Duana’s house and washed my hands in her kitchen with the soap by the sink and lost my f-cking mind because it smelled so good. It was tomato vine and my reaction was so over-the-top, she gifted me with a box of several bottles which, since I’m a weird cheap f-ck with this kind of thing, I use sparingly, since I wash my hands so much in the kitchen. So I actually count the times I wash my hands and four out of five times I just use Palmolive and on the fifth time I go with what she gave me: Mrs Meyer’s Tomato Vine. Which sells for around $7. Girl, you can’t tell me the Loewe smells over $100 better than the Mrs Meyer’s. 

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What else happened today…

Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner met while working on Saturday Night Live. They are no longer on Saturday Night Live but they are still best friends. And this is the first time we’ve heard them best friending together to this extent. (Pajiba)

Yes, Elle Fanning is in a Predator movie and she’s promoting it by not dressing in princess ball gowns but leather jackets over white dresses and I love this for her. (Go Fug Yourself)

I am still heartbroken over last night’s baseball game, not just because I’m a Blue Jays fan but because after what all those players endured, no one deserved to lose. Which, I think, is also one of Ben Lindbergh’s points in his new piece about 18-inning classic for The Ringer. Although he’s taking a positive swing – no one deserved to lose and we all win because it was baseball at its best. My favourite line: “By the 15th inning, even Rob Lowe was looking his age.” Chef’s kiss. (The Ringer)

Kathleen sent me this episode of Today, Explained yesterday and I listened to it on the way home. It’s a good one: “Capitalism (Taylor’s Version)” and why she made herself the villain. (Vox)

I feel like some of you might be sleeping on The Diplomat. I’m currently savouring my way through season three and it’s breathtaking what this show manages to do in a 45 minute episode. This is a political soap opera but also a meditation on marriage, it’s spectacular. And Keri Russell and Allison Janney are spectacular on it together. They were both recently on WWHL and asked about working with horrible co-stars. Keri didn’t reveal and Allison did not want to speak ill of the dead. (Celebitchy)