The Grown Woman's Guide to Gifting: Luxe Finds, Brilliant Stocking Stuffers + What to Wear in 2025 with Christine Morrison
Show Snapshot:
Need gift ideas that delight (and won't get regifted)? Fashion insider and journalist Christine Morrison joins host Katie Fogarty for a festive dive into holiday shopping, gifting, and style that wows. From luxury wellness splurges (hello, sauna blanket!) to brilliant stocking stuffers, we’ve got you covered with smart picks at every price point. Plus, get the scoop on elevated additions to inject your holiday and 2025 wardrobe with high-impact sparkle and style. Christine also gives us an insider peek into the cult fave wellness and beauty products loved by beauty editors. Whether you're shopping for your bestie, your boss, or (let's be real) yourself, this episode is packed with ideas to make gifting and amping up your wardrobe easy. Midlife is all about fewer, better things – listen in before you next hit "add to cart."
Show Links:
Follow Christine
Shop the Show
Gift Cozy
Christine Recommends:
Alex Mill P'Jimmies
J.Crew cashmere beanies + cashmere socks
Cozy Earth Bedding
Katie Recommends:
Gifts to Supercharge Well-Being
Christine Recommends:
Moon Juice Sleepy Magnesi-Om
Higher Dose sauna-blanket + insert
8Greens super greens lollipops + gummies
Katie Recommends:
Grown Woman Talk by Dr. Sharon Malone
Gift Glow Getters
Christine Recommends:
Desavery Supermist + Body Oil
Proteger dermal serum + boosters
Katie Recommends:
Oh Thank God: Gifts for Tricky Gifting Needs
Christine Recommends:
Allswell: Journal + prompts deck
YSE Beauty: eye masks, Like A Gloss hydrating lip mask, holiday kits
Sarah Creal Solid Serum Lip Repair
Katie Recommends:
Murray's Pink Grapefruit vinegar
Fun chopsticks, here and here. Plus, these cuties for kids on Etsy!
Wardrobe Injection: Add the Oomph in 2025
Christine Recommends:
Ann Mashburn velveteen suiting
Finally, Christine knows midlife is more fun with friends so she has two fun community building gift ideas. Make your next soiree creative and hands-on with basket kits from Underwater Weaving. Or join the members-only shopping community CAKE via Christine's invite to scoop up discounts, discover pop-ups, live events and more! CAKE takes shopping with your friends to a whole new level!
Quotable:
I am obsessed with the Jennifer Fisher salt trio. They come in these gorgeous, little jars. Three
of them, for $36. Regular salt, spicy salt and curry salt—amazing.
Transcript:
Katie Fogarty [0:03]
Welcome to A Certain Age, a show for women who are unafraid to age out loud. Beauties, we are deep into fall and the holidays, but finding the perfect gift, the coziest outfit, the blingiest treat, or the yes-please indulgence is a year-round challenge. The world is positively jam-packed with choices, options, and products. How do we laser in on what's worth our time and money, what's fun and festive and guaranteed to delight or be useful? Getting to midlife teaches us that we want fewer, better things. We are editing our lives. We want quality, we want simplicity, but we still want to wrap up the perfect gift and delight the people in our lives, including ourselves.
So lucky us, we are getting into winter holiday gifting, cozy fashion, holiday sparkle, and what to add to your wardrobe in 2025. Fashion and beauty writer Christine Morrison joins me today for a fun, festive dive into gifting and shopping for anyone who needs to hit "Add to Cart" over the holiday season and in the new year. Christine brings her impeccable eye, honed over 20 years of marketing legendary brands, including that maestro of minimalism, Calvin Klein, and over a decade writing about fashion, beauty, and wellness to help us sift through our purchasing and gifting.
You may already know Christine from her features over on that ultimate shopping curation platform, The Quality Edit, or from her thoughtful Substack called "Writing in Black and White" where she explores all things fashion, beauty, identity, and aging. Or perhaps you're just meeting her here today. Either way, we are in for a treat designed to ramp up our holiday fun. Welcome, Christine.
Christine Morrison [1:54]
Thank you so much for having me.
Katie Fogarty [1:56]
I am very excited this conversation is coming at the perfect time. The winter holiday gifting season is upon us, and on the East Coast where I live, it has finally gotten cold. We are into hat and glove weather. I actually snuggled up in front of the fireplace the other night for the first time this season. So I want to start with winter gifting and how we can both be and gift cozy. What should we have on our gifting radar?
Christine Morrison [2:21]
Oh, I've got four really fun ideas. Alex Mill has done, I don't know how many times he's done it in the past, but he has done a collaboration with Jimmy Fallon again, and they are called "Pajimes," and they are so cute.
Katie Fogarty [2:38]
You're kidding! I've never heard of this. I like that one - that's hysterical, and the campaign's adorable.
Christine Morrison [2:43]
It's both men's and women's. But what's so fun is it's also socks and sleep masks. I mean, they have it all, and it's so precious. And then there is a brand - I worked with a woman at Calvin Klein years ago, and she, her sister, and her mother started a brand called Dudley Stephens. I'm not sure if you know about them.
Katie Fogarty [3:07]
I do! I follow them on Instagram because their stuff looks amazing, but I've never purchased or tried it.
Christine Morrison [3:13]
It's so soft. I'm here to tell you, this is the time to purchase. Number one, they have such a charitable ethos to them as well. And the fleece is not only soft, but it's made from recycled plastic. I mean, and it's done through in Brooklyn, and they have pullovers, blazers - they went into dresses. And I can't say enough about them as a company and about just the coziness of it all.
Katie Fogarty [3:38]
One of the reasons why they've caught my eye, Christine, is because when we hear fleece, I kind of think Patagonia - nothing wrong with that, like nothing wrong with Performance Fleece. We all want it when we're walking or wintering or skiing or whatever. But the Dudley Stephens stuff has like an elegant cut to it. It's got super fun colors. It really feels like something that you can incorporate into your day-to-day. So what's a piece out of that line that you love?
Christine Morrison [4:03]
Oh gosh, they have such cute names, but their turtleneck sort of stands up on its own, which I love. It's the one that hits right at the waist. I don't know the name of it, but they have it - it's kind of like a funnel neck turtleneck.
Katie Fogarty [4:19]
Exactly!
Christine Morrison [4:22]
I have one of those, and I have a blazer, but I wear the turtleneck more. And like you said, it's sort of an elevated fleece, as they describe it, because it has a little more style than just - which, there's nothing wrong with REI, Patagonia and all that, but it has a little more style. And you can actually - they do so many fun things on Instagram with showing how you can dress it up, like throw it over a slip dress sometimes.
Katie Fogarty [4:46]
That's a good idea! You know, I have a slip skirt that I literally was like a fashion victim, where I'm like, "Everyone's got these satin slip skirts. I totally need to get one." I want to get on the slip skirt train, and I haven't worn it once. It's hanging in my closet. So I'm like, "How do I wear this thing?" It's beautiful - it's kind of like a beautiful Merlot. It's like a - which, by the way, is like, I bought this two years ago, and it's like the color that everyone's wearing right now.
Christine Morrison [5:15]
You need to get one of the pullovers that meets you right at the waist, so that you don't feel like it's too long and it's just - first of all, it seems holiday-ish as well as just perfect for everyday.
Katie Fogarty [5:25]
Alright, okay, I'm inspired. I love it. Alright, you said you had four cozy gifts. What comes next?
Christine Morrison [5:30]
Then we want to talk like a little splurge and a little steal.
Katie Fogarty [5:33]
Let's do it. I love splurges and steals!
Christine Morrison [5:36]
The steal is - I mean, this is not new, but the J.Crew cashmere beanie and socks are must-haves, in my opinion. I wear the beanie around the house a lot, and then the cashmere socks are just delicious. You can hand wash them, and then I wear them the next day.
Katie Fogarty [5:55]
I actually bought the cashmere socks for my dad, I think a Christmas or two ago, because it's the kind of thing - at least my father, sometimes the men in our lives don't treat themselves and they don't like to shop. And I thought, you know, what can I give him? I can't give him another book, because he's got every book ever written. And I thought it was fun, because I knew he wouldn't get them for himself.
Christine Morrison [6:16]
That's exactly right. They're just enough of an elevation that it's the perfect gift. And the last one is the splurge - there's a brand called Cozy Earth, and they have bamboo bedding. It's incredibly soft, but it is pricey. They have sheets and duvets, and I don't know, I just love it.
Katie Fogarty [6:36]
Okay, so splurge. We like a splurge too. So we're talking holidays - with holidays comes food and festivities. It's parties, it's cocktails. Sometimes it's New Year's Eve, it's champagne. But even if mocktails are your thing, we still wake up on January 1 and we think like, "I never want to see a slice of cheese again. How can I reboot my fitness? How can I refocus on my health, my routine?" We are motivated to give ourselves some TLC and focus on feeling good during these winter doldrum months. What are some gift ideas to supercharge well-being at the holidays and beyond?
Katie Fogarty [6:36]
Okay, so splurge. We like a splurge too. So we're talking holidays. With holidays comes food and festivities. It's parties, it's cocktails. Sometimes it's New Year's Eve, it's champagne. But even if mocktails are your thing, we still wake up on January 1 and we think, "I never want to see a slice of cheese again." How can I reboot my fitness? How can I refocus on my health, my routine? We are motivated to give ourselves some TLC and focus on feeling good during these winter doldrum months. What are some gift ideas to supercharge well-being at the holidays and beyond?
Christine Morrison [7:13]
Well, sleep. You've talked about this a lot on your podcast, but sleep, particularly for us women in midlife, could not be more important. So I am a huge fan of Moon Juice, and they just came out with something called Sleepy Magnesium. And it's a cherry-flavored mix you just combine with water, and it's so good. And magnesium in general – we're very deficient in it as a world. And it's not just good for sleep for me, but also, I do a lot of CrossFit, so it helps with muscle relaxing and just healing properties. It's so good for you.
Katie Fogarty [7:55]
It sounds delicious. You know, it's funny that you say magnesium, Christine, because I follow Dr. Jen Ashton on social media. She's a wonderful OBGYN. She was the former chief medical officer at one of the big networks, and she just shared an Instagram post on the importance of magnesium, how to add it back to your diet through things like food. And she mentioned beans and chickpeas and a few other things. But I love this idea of maybe ending your day with this sleepy time magnesium. I've never heard of Moon Juice. I'm definitely putting that on my radar. Okay, what comes next?
Christine Morrison [8:28]
Well, you mentioned ritual, and this is actually one of my splurges. But part of going to bed at night is – I mean, we could easily spend 45 minutes doom scrolling, right? Well, instead of just laying there, hanging out on your phone, you could sit and be in the Higher Dose sauna blanket. You don't have to do it every night, but to lay in that – the relaxation, I mean, I will tell you a session can be equivalent to like a light jog, as far as burning calories, if you're interested in that. But just the whole concept of when you lay in there, you do sweat, so you do need to take a quick shower afterward. But you detox, you relax, you heal whatever body aches and pains you might have. It is the perfect ritual before you go to sleep, and then you get in bed, you take the Moon Juice, and you're out.
Katie Fogarty [9:24]
Wait, I have a question for you. So this Higher Dose sauna blanket, is it like a blanket that lays over you, or is it more like a sleeping bag that you slide into?
Christine Morrison [9:32]
The sleeping bag you slide into.
Katie Fogarty [9:34]
That's so cozy!
Christine Morrison [9:38]
It's amazing. So the thing is, we have a sauna in our home because my husband truly believes in it for immunity, and he never gets sick. Meanwhile, I always get sick because of children. But one of the things that – because of menopause, I was feeling suffocated in the sauna. So I got this because your whole head and everything is out of it, because you're in like a sleeping bag, and I felt like I could get all the healing properties and everything that I needed without feeling the overwhelming suffocation. And you can lay in it, either in – you have to be dressed in socks, pants, etc., because it can get really hot. It depends on how you want it. I like it hot. Or you get an insert, which is sort of like a towel kind of insert, and you can get in there.
Katie Fogarty [10:27]
Ooh, all right. I love this. This is...
Christine Morrison [10:31]
Honestly, I just recently got the insert, and I'm telling you to go in there and just shed out all of just the day's awfulness. I don't know, it's...
Katie Fogarty [10:42]
This sounds phenomenal. You know, frequent listeners of the show know that I do Bikram yoga, which is just like – talk about a sweat session – but you have to work hard, you know, to get through a 60 or 90-minute Bikram yoga class. You've got to do a lot of work. But the idea of sliding into this blanket with your cozy little towel on...
Christine Morrison [11:00]
I do...
Katie Fogarty [11:02]
Hang on – your bed reading a book.
Christine Morrison [11:04]
You know, read a book, but I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and that's what I do. And I try to do it – my kids go to bed a little too late, so that last hour I say I'm going to go get ready for bed. And this is my quote "getting ready for bed."
Katie Fogarty [11:16]
Oh my God, it sounds phenomenal. So this is your splurge. Is there a steal?
Christine Morrison [11:21]
There is a steal. Okay? So there's a company called 8Greens, and it was developed because a woman – she was a cancer survivor. During her recovery, she was trying to find more ways to get greens in her. And I'm not going to be able to – I'm not going to know all the eight greens, but it's everything from algae to kale to all of it. But she has, of course, protein powders and things, but they have lollipops and gummies. The lollipops – they're $16 I think – they taste amazing. Sugar and you get some greens in a lollipop. It's so delicious. And I'll like suck on a lollipop if you're kind of craving something in the middle of the day. Also, I love it. It's sort of like a sweet treat without it being a sugary candy.
Katie Fogarty [12:10]
That sounds fascinating. I've never heard of like a green lollipop. That's so wild!
Christine Morrison [12:15]
It's amazing. And then the gummies, I like as well. And they have all sorts of gummies – they have sleep, they have immunity. But the whole brand 8Greens is really – the ethos of it is just so fantastic. But I really do lean in...
Katie Fogarty [12:31]
Yeah, it sounds like a fantastic stocking stuffer. Okay, Christine, we're heading into a quick break. When we come back, I want to talk about beauty gifts, because I know this is something that you've been writing about for years and researching, and you're going to loop us in on what we need to know. We'll be back in just a minute.
Katie Fogarty [6:36]
Okay, so splurge. We like a splurge too. So we're talking holidays. With holidays comes food and festivities. It's parties, it's cocktails. Sometimes it's New Year's Eve, it's champagne. But even if mocktails are your thing, we still wake up on January 1 and we think, "I never want to see a slice of cheese again." How can I reboot my fitness? How can I refocus on my health, my routine? We are motivated to give ourselves some TLC and focus on feeling good during these winter doldrum months. What are some gift ideas to supercharge well-being at the holidays and beyond?
Christine Morrison [7:13]
Well, sleep. You've talked about this a lot on your podcast, but sleep, particularly for us women in midlife, could not be more important. So I am a huge fan of Moon Juice, and they just came out with something called Sleepy Magnesium. And it's a cherry-flavored mix you just combine with water, and it's so good. And magnesium in general – we're very deficient in it as a world. And it's not just good for sleep for me, but also, I do a lot of CrossFit, so it helps with muscle relaxing and just healing properties. It's so good for you.
Katie Fogarty [7:55]
It sounds delicious. You know, it's funny that you say magnesium, Christine, because I follow Dr. Jen Ashton on social media. She's a wonderful OBGYN. She was the former chief medical officer at one of the big networks, and she just shared an Instagram post on the importance of magnesium, how to add it back to your diet through things like food. And she mentioned beans and chickpeas and a few other things. But I love this idea of maybe ending your day with this sleepy time magnesium. I've never heard of Moon Juice. I'm definitely putting that on my radar. Okay, what comes next?
Christine Morrison [8:28]
Well, you mentioned ritual, and this is actually one of my splurges. But part of going to bed at night is – I mean, we could easily spend 45 minutes doom scrolling, right? Well, instead of just laying there, hanging out on your phone, you could sit and be in the Higher Dose sauna blanket. You don't have to do it every night, but to lay in that – the relaxation, I mean, I will tell you a session can be equivalent to like a light jog, as far as burning calories, if you're interested in that. But just the whole concept of when you lay in there, you do sweat, so you do need to take a quick shower afterward. But you detox, you relax, you heal whatever body aches and pains you might have. It is the perfect ritual before you go to sleep, and then you get in bed, you take the Moon Juice, and you're out.
Katie Fogarty [9:24]
Wait, I have a question for you. So this Higher Dose sauna blanket, is it like a blanket that lays over you, or is it more like a sleeping bag that you slide into?
Christine Morrison [9:32]
The sleeping bag you slide into.
Katie Fogarty [9:34]
That's so cozy!
Christine Morrison [9:38]
It's amazing. So the thing is, we have a sauna in our home because my husband truly believes in it for immunity, and he never gets sick. Meanwhile, I always get sick because of children. But one of the things that – because of menopause, I was feeling suffocated in the sauna. So I got this because your whole head and everything is out of it, because you're in like a sleeping bag, and I felt like I could get all the healing properties and everything that I needed without feeling the overwhelming suffocation. And you can lay in it, either in – you have to be dressed in socks, pants, etc., because it can get really hot. It depends on how you want it. I like it hot. Or you get an insert, which is sort of like a towel kind of insert, and you can get in there.
Katie Fogarty [10:27]
Ooh, all right. I love this. This is...
Christine Morrison [10:31]
Honestly, I just recently got the insert, and I'm telling you to go in there and just shed out all of just the day's awfulness. I don't know, it's...
Katie Fogarty [10:42]
This sounds phenomenal. You know, frequent listeners of the show know that I do Bikram yoga, which is just like – talk about a sweat session – but you have to work hard, you know, to get through a 60 or 90-minute Bikram yoga class. You've got to do a lot of work. But the idea of sliding into this blanket with your cozy little towel on...
Christine Morrison [11:00]
I do...
Katie Fogarty [11:02]
Hang on – your bed reading a book.
Christine Morrison [11:04]
You know, read a book, but I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and that's what I do. And I try to do it – my kids go to bed a little too late, so that last hour I say I'm going to go get ready for bed. And this is my quote "getting ready for bed."
Katie Fogarty [11:16]
Oh my God, it sounds phenomenal. So this is your splurge. Is there a steal?
Christine Morrison [11:21]
There is a steal. Okay? So there's a company called 8Greens, and it was developed because a woman – she was a cancer survivor. During her recovery, she was trying to find more ways to get greens in her. And I'm not going to be able to – I'm not going to know all the eight greens, but it's everything from algae to kale to all of it. But she has, of course, protein powders and things, but they have lollipops and gummies. The lollipops – they're $16 I think – they taste amazing. Sugar and you get some greens in a lollipop. It's so delicious. And I'll like suck on a lollipop if you're kind of craving something in the middle of the day. Also, I love it. It's sort of like a sweet treat without it being a sugary candy.
Katie Fogarty [12:10]
That sounds fascinating. I've never heard of like a green lollipop. That's so wild!
Christine Morrison [12:15]
It's amazing. And then the gummies, I like as well. And they have all sorts of gummies – they have sleep, they have immunity. But the whole brand 8Greens is really – the ethos of it is just so fantastic. But I really do lean in...
Katie Fogarty [12:31]
Yeah, it sounds like a fantastic stocking stuffer. Okay, Christine, we're heading into a quick break. When we come back, I want to talk about beauty gifts, because I know this is something that you've been writing about for years and researching, and you're going to loop us in on what we need to know. We'll be back in just a minute.
[Break]
Katie Fogarty [13:19]
Christine, we're back from the break. When we went into it, we talked about the sort of really super fun stocking stuffer idea, these 8Green lollipops and gummies. You gave us some wonderful gifting ideas for managing our wellness, but I want to segue into beauty. The winter, which we're firmly in right now – you know, we want to up our glow, right? We are dealing with dry skin. We're dealing with lack of sunshine. What are some beauty gifts for the dry winter months and for leveling up our glow year round?
Christine Morrison [13:19]
Okay, well, I am a big fan – there's a brand called Désavery. And how do you spell Désavery? It's D-E-S-A-V-E-R-Y. And the key ingredient in it is prickly pear, and it's both for the face and the body. But what I love is they just came out with what's called a super mist. And you can be – I mean, you can be in the dead of winter, but you might need to cool off because of either a hot flash or something you're going through...
Katie Fogarty [13:52]
Like a dry indoor heat. It's like very drying.
Christine Morrison [13:55]
And it has a lot of hydration properties, but it also gives you sort of a pollution shield. So from anything, you know, the harmful antioxidants that are hitting you, it also boosts SPF. I haven't dug into the science, so I would say I would need to interview that founder, who is incredibly lovely. But I also, for years, have been using the body oil, and if I can just tell you – the prickly pear and the fig smells incredible. It's like nothing I've ever smelled before. And my husband doesn't mind when I crawl in the bed after I've loaded up on...
Katie Fogarty [14:32]
I love fig products. I'm definitely checking that out.
Christine Morrison [14:35]
Another one is Protégé, and it's P-R-O-T-E-G-E-R, and it is an oil-free serum. And it started out as, you know, it's a body – they used to say it's like skincare for the body, but honestly, they're now just saying it's head to toe, and it's fantastic because it doesn't leave your skin oily. It has amazing properties. And what they came out with recently was these little boosters. So you can put a couple drops – you put the serum in your hand, and you put a couple drops up. They have one for lines or one for texture, one for pigment.
Katie Fogarty [15:09]
Okay, you had me at lines and pigment. Definitely checking this out.
Christine Morrison [15:14]
And I mean, and just as much for your decolletage or your legs as your face, and that's what's so great. Sometimes you don't want all those products on your shelf if you've got one thing that can do head to toe. And the founders – if I cannot stress enough how much both the Désavery and Protégé founders are just so incredibly kind, generous. They give to charity. All of these are quote-unquote "clean," and they follow Leaping Bunny and all of these certifications. It's fantastic.
Katie Fogarty [15:49]
Phenomenal. And do we have a steal in this category?
Christine Morrison [15:53]
Okay, both a steal, and then I have to give you one splurge.
Katie Fogarty [15:57]
Oh, of course, please.
Christine Morrison [15:58]
Is, I don't know if you know about Editrix – it's a brand that, again, I can't tell – the founder is just so incredibly smart and delightful. It's all about not hurting our barrier with so much of the products that people use – too much exfoliating and too much microdermabrasion and lasering and so forth. So she's got a four-set little lineup of her regimen called Editrix. But what I love is the microneedle kit. It's $175 for two microneedles, and I only use once a month.
Katie Fogarty [16:36]
Wait, this is DIY microneedling. I'm nervous – walk us through how it works.
Christine Morrison [16:40]
Okay, so the needles are so subtle that you're not going to puncture where you would get blood. And you also need to be gentle. You know, you have to know your face and know your skin, and you open it up, you – there's an incredible serum inside. You put the needles up on the top, and you just poke all over your skin, and the serum sinks in, and then you actually always have serum left over, which I use the next morning. You never reuse the needle. That's the key. But it is – I have never shown this on camera, and that feels like that's something I should do. I wrote about them for The Quality Edit after I interviewed her, and just fell in love with the line.
Katie Fogarty [17:33]
And how often do you do this?
Christine Morrison [17:35]
So I microneedle once a month. She would probably say you could do it more. But I think once a month is more than enough, because also, I don't go to a spa and do this. So when I think about $175 for two microneedles, I don't think it's that bad in relation to what it costs to go somewhere and do something like this.
Katie Fogarty [17:41]
Yeah, and you can do it on your own schedule. Okay, that's what – so this is the splurge. What's our steal?
Christine Morrison [17:47]
I know everyone loves Soft Services, the buffing bar. I love that buffing bar. It's got a little grainy exfoliation. But they have just recently done a collab with a fragrance. And their more recent scents are just unbelievable. But just that little bit of that sloughing from the bar is so good when I'm...
Katie Fogarty [18:10]
In the shower and you're using this like on your legs and like extremities during winter months?
Christine Morrison [18:15]
Exactly, so smooth, and then you pile on, you know, the Désavery body oil and you're...
Katie Fogarty [18:23]
And you're like hydrated and glowing.
Christine Morrison [18:25]
Exactly.
Katie Fogarty [18:26]
Okay, I love this. I love this. Are we done with the beauty? Are we ready to move on to our next category?
Christine Morrison [18:31]
We're ready to move on.
Katie Fogarty
Okay, cool. So I know that we're going to talk about a category that I'm calling "Oh Thank God" - which are these little helpers, these smart, fun gift ideas for all those tricky gifting needs. Because we have tricky gifting needs this time of year, we've got maybe stocking stuffers for our high schoolers or young adult children. We have hostess gifts - we don't want to show up empty-handed when we're at a holiday party. Sometimes we've got coworker gifting grab bags or secret Santas at work, and it can be challenging to come up with things that you don't want people to, like, roll their eyes at, or want to regift, or immediately dump in the trash. We want to do something that's sort of delightful, but small, right? So what should we have on our radar?
Christine Morrison [19:19]
Okay, it really depends on who this is for. But here's a whole host of ideas. Well, the first is, I'm a huge LoveSeen eyelash wearer. Have you - do you know the brand?
Katie Fogarty [19:30]
It's the Jenna Lyons brand. I haven't tried it because I'm such a klutz. Is it easy to use?
Christine Morrison [19:35] Oh my God, I'm telling you. I am not a makeup applier or anything like that. And I wear them. I mean, I'll wear them - I wore them Wednesday night to a dinner party for a 50th birthday party, and I'm telling you to put them on, it's so easy. And once you've actually put them on once, and you have to get the handler you know, to apply them, that's just - it's like fake eyelashes for dummies, because...
Katie Fogarty [20:02] Believe me, I'm a fake eyelash dummy. I've only done that once, and I was like, not good.
Christine Morrison [20:07] And I've had other fake eyelashes. And I just - for me, I'm not a big makeup wearer, but a pair of fun fake eyelashes just really helps, especially at the holidays. Kind of fun. And then you can take them off, and you can gently wash them. And I have worn this pair five times. So I mean, yeah, so LoveSeen is awesome. I also, again, depends on who it is, but I have a dear friend who is a journaling expert. She's currently writing a book about journaling, and it's called - her company is called AllSwell, and they have a journal...
Katie Fogarty [20:41] Is this Laura Rubin?
Christine Morrison [20:42] Yes!
Katie Fogarty [20:43] Oh my gosh, I follow her on Instagram. That's so cool.
Christine Morrison [20:47] It's so nice and cool. And she again, this is sort of like for dummies. It's like journaling for dummies, in that it just pulls out - it reminds me of, like, not the whole "Dear Diary" kind of stuff, but just getting a few things that if, even if you wrote down a few sentences at the end of a day or in the morning, just to get your stuff out. There's something about pencil to paper. And she talks about it all the time. And there is a very big difference between that and typing thoughts on a computer.
Katie Fogarty [21:19] And that's a wonderful, you know, not gender-specific gift. You could give it to anybody. You could easily give it to a coworker. Not feel weird because we're probably not giving - unless we love our coworker - we're not giving them our amazing eyelashes. Yeah, we're keeping that for ourselves.
Christine Morrison [21:34] But the LoveSeen is almost like pair for you, a pair for me. Okay? I mean the AllSwell, the journal is $25 but you could get a journal with a deck of writing prompts if you've got, like, a really creative friend. And that's $45 and I think that's a really special friend gift.
Katie Fogarty [21:52] Fantastic.
Christine Morrison [21:53] A little less - I am obsessed with the Jennifer Fisher salt trio. Do you ever use her salts?
Katie Fogarty [21:59] No, tell me.
Christine Morrison [22:00] Oh my gosh. They come in these little, gorgeous little jars. And three of them - it's $36. They can then buy bulk refills, which is what we do. It changes food. You don't even have to be a good cook. You just put some of this. They have regular salt, spicy salt and curry salt. It's amazing.
Katie Fogarty [22:18] Okay, I have to get that. First of all, we're a family of foodies, and I think food gifts are really wonderful because they get used and-
Christine Morrison [22:29] Cookbook! Oh, okay-
Katie Fogarty [22:30] No, I think of Jennifer Fisher's jewelry, and I knew she'd sort of made this midlife pivot also into doing food stuff. So that's good to have on my radar. But I think that's a wonderful gift, like sort of a luxury food product that you're actually going to use every day, is something that can delight just a range of gift recipients.
Christine Morrison [22:47] And then, okay, so there's a few more. Jeni's ice cream - I have shipped to people. You have to spend $60 to ship, but it's - I mean, for in-laws, that's what I sent them. It's $12 for a little pint, and you get five pints, and the varieties are amazing, amazing.
Katie Fogarty [23:06] That's such a great idea of gifting fun ice cream at the holidays. And I've actually - we were introduced to Jeni's after someone in my family was recovering from a surgery, and we received it as a gift. And I have sent this to other people in my life who are also kind of laid up or, you know, in bed at home, and it's just a really fun treat. And I am such a fan of Jeni's that I kind of follow them on Instagram, and I know they have some really fun holiday flavors. They've got boozy eggnog is one, and I saw one that was actually spiced molasses gingerbread ice cream. And I was like, amazing. Plus it's such a great gift idea for somebody in your life who's got a sweet tooth or who just, like, loves and appreciates kind of novel food gifts.
Christine Morrison [23:51] And if by accident people come over, you know, at the last minute, it's like, "Oh, I've got some ice cream in the freezer." The last few are really beauty specific, but easy to give. There's the goop dry brush, because dry brushing is so good for you. That's $25 and it's so fun if you could actually attach it to a bigger gift. And then this is good for stocking stuffers, or just for fun things - if you have a coworker that likes to travel a lot, I love the Cadence capsules. You know, that you can stick everything in. And they're metals, they're great. Those are amazing. And then Enamel - that's E-N-M-L - they have toothpaste tablets. They either come in a jar or they come in a paper bag, so that you can get through TSA. And then there's this new thing called Cocofloss. It's coconut oil dental floss, and they have tons of flavors. And I'm thinking, this is how I'm gonna get a few kids maybe to floss more.
Katie Fogarty [24:51] I've actually seen Cocofloss, and I follow them on Instagram, which sounds weird to be following like a dental floss company.
Christine Morrison [24:57] No, exactly.
Katie Fogarty [24:58] I think I was curious about their founder story, and their visuals are beautiful, their flavors are cool, and they've got a really great brand.
Christine Morrison [25:07] Yeah, I agree. That's how I found them - I thought their founders seemed incredible. And then again, another great founder is Molly Sims. And you know, I'm not a big celeb beauty person, but YSE Beauty has me hooked, because everything is highly effective and easy to use. And I've seen, like, it's not a whole lot of, like, 10 steps and then - so they have some really fun gift boxes, and you can spend a little, or you can spend a lot, but what I use on an ongoing basis, and this would be fun to give to people is like the Overachiever eye masks. Eye masks are so fun to give to people. They have them in red for the holidays even. I think this one was so fun - it's a hydrating lip mask called Like a Gloss. And that would be really fun to send to give to maybe a boss. But it's this incredible hydrating mask that's also a shiny gloss.
Katie Fogarty [26:02] I'm just picturing this also for your - for anyone's teenage daughter, who's the boss of the house.
Christine Morrison [26:09] Yeah, actually. And another good lip gloss that's really good - this is a B for anybody - but it's The Scents from Sarah Creal, which is the new over-40 beauty line that just launched. That's C-R-E-A-L. I'll give you the link in the show notes. Perfect. The last thing is - and this is sort of spirits idea - but I think it's Ghia. It's the non-alcoholic. They have some fun, spirited kind of boxes for a non-alcoholic brand, which I really enjoy.
Katie Fogarty [26:41] Absolutely. There's so many wonderful non-alcoholic brands right now - Seedlip or Lyre's - and that's another wonderful hostess present to bring as well, because it just allows people to meet the needs of all their guests. So Christine, we're going to be heading into a switch over in a minute. So I want to hear a little bit more about your career before we need to say goodbye. But I knew the gift categories that you were going to be talking about, and I came up with my own little things that I'll be gifting this year that I wanted to share too. So for the cozy category, this definitely goes into the steal price range - it's the Barefoot Dreams socks. And these are, like, under $20 and they're so super cozy, and my daughter loves them, and they're a great stocking stuffer. And they could also be part of like a gift package, but they are ridiculously cozy. And for wellness gifts, I think it'd be really fun to - if you were doing a splurge, bigger ticket items - like a massage, or you could give a 10-pack of somebody's favorite class. Maybe you could do it with them. If you were up for that - I would be gifting Bikram classes to everyone in my life. But I also think, for a steal, I would say that you can give people in your life a copy of "Grown Woman Talk" by Dr. Sharon Malone, which is a wonderful book that covers a whole host of midlife health issues and truly is fun to read.
Katie Fogarty [27:43] For the beauty gift you mentioned a couple of different lip glosses, but I am absolutely - I guess this kind of falls into the splurge category, because it's stupidly expensive for just like a lip gloss, but it's $50 - it's the Chantecaille lip potion, but it is the only thing, the only thing, and I've had 54 years of trying winter lip savers, it's the only thing that makes my lips feel soft and not chapped during the winter. So even though, like, you can get something like a lip balm in your drug store for $5, I still think that everyone needs to go spend $50 on this, because it actually works. And then for stocking stuffers, I love grapefruit vinegar - there's a great brand from Murray's Cheese Shop. It's so fun. All summer and fall long, I've been mixing it with lemon olive oil, and it makes every salad feel like just a summery vacation, and it's inexpensive, it's $15 and it's super cute to wrap up. And then we also love fun chopsticks, because all of my family loves Asian food, and there's so many gorgeous chopsticks. You can even customize them on Etsy, I've learned. So you can get chopsticks from $5 to, like, $150 if they're made out of sterling silver. So there's just a whole variety of gift ideas. So this was so fun. Christine, thank you for joining me for this. But I want to do a quick dive into your fashion and talk a little bit about holiday dressing and what we should have on our radar for 2025. I mean, I did share at the top of the show that we want fewer, better things, and we're not looking to cram our closets with all sorts of stuff, but I would love to hear what we should think about. Let's start with a minimalist approach. If we're holiday shopping in our closet, but we want to add some fun accessories or something to zhuzh it up, like a top layer. What do you recommend?
Christine Morrison [29:46] One thing I really like about holiday dressing that I think is underrated is - not a big - like, I love the little black dress and everything, but I love a velvet suit. I got one last year in navy. And just this year, I was reading something about Ann Mashburn, who I just think she's so adorable. And they just opened a store in Nashville, and she was wearing a velvet suit, and you can get them from lots of price points. And again, you were talking about burgundy, or the kind of Merlot - that would be gorgeous. It always reminds me of, like the 1996 Tom Ford for Gucci.
Katie Fogarty [30:27] Oh my gosh, yes. Gwyneth Paltrow, yes. Visualize it!
Christine Morrison [30:31] Lives in my brain forever.
Katie Fogarty [30:33] Rent free, right?
Christine Morrison [30:35] And to me, that is sort of like the most classic, and you would have that for 30-40 more years. So if you did invest in it, you would have no problem.
Katie Fogarty [30:46] Yeah, absolutely. It's funny that you say velvet suit too, because I actually recently just bought a sort of a green, like a bottle green satin suit from Zara. So it is far less than like a Gucci suit, but I've been wearing the blazer over a pair of, you know, I've broken them up - I haven't worn it as a suit yet, but I've been wearing the blazer over dressy denim.
Christine Morrison [31:12] Amazing.
Katie Fogarty [31:13] And it's just like, you could wear it almost anywhere. It's just, you know, it's super fun. Suits are so helpful because you can wear them together, you can break them apart.
Christine Morrison [31:22] Exactly, super smart.
Katie Fogarty [31:24] Okay, so we may be investing in a chic holiday suit, but if we want to kind of just reach into our closet and zhuzh up what we already have for the holidays, what is a recommendation?
Christine Morrison [31:32] Well, there's two things. One, I think if you're going to spend a little bit, I really love Dorsey. It's the lab-grown gems brand. Have you seen them?
Katie Fogarty [31:40] No, tell me.
Christine Morrison [31:42] Okay, so it's - first of all, it's the woman who founded it. I say this about everyone, I'm sorry, but I can't help myself, but I really gravitate toward brands that have incredible founders, particularly female founders, and this one is no exception. And what I love is, you know, she has necklaces that you could wear with, like, jeans and a T-shirt, even though they're sort of like a tennis necklace or a tennis bracelet. But because it's lab-grown, it's $300 or $500, not $5,000. But what I like is, they have a cigar ring. It looks so vintage. Can't remember the price - it's a couple hundred, I think. But they have a couple different styles. But I like the silver cigar ring with like, a burgundy stone. It's so stunning, and it's something I would wear 24/7 but I think at the holidays, it's just so different and unique. And then I'm an old-fashioned person, I have like my grandmother's mink stole. I love those. But, um, one thing I think would be fun is J.Crew has what's called, like, a bow hair clip, and they have it paired with sort of a great tuxedo jacket, but you can put it at the top of your shirt, if you're wearing, like, a menswear kind of shirt, if you're wearing that suit or whatever, you can make it be your bow tie, but it's flouncy instead of it being in your hair.
Katie Fogarty [33:13] Ooh, so you actually attach it to your shirt?
Christine Morrison [33:15] Yeah, it is organza. It's so cute.
Katie Fogarty [33:20] I need to check that out. I'm a total sucker for a kind of an Annie Hall menswear with, like, a feminine flounce twist.
Christine Morrison [33:32] I'm thinking like, what if you got, like, a tuxedo jacket, or wore your husband's kind of jacket, and you're wearing a beautiful white shirt of your own? You could wear that with a skirt. You know, that's how I would do it, you know, a little like a sheer skirt. Oh, I do love the - anyway, I just got a sheer skirt from The Frankie Shop, then I'm probably gonna wear it Christmas.
Katie Fogarty [33:52] You've given us some great ideas for adding a little sparkle to our holidays, for elevating, for making us feel festive as we head into holiday dressing, but when we're looking ahead into the new year for 2025, what should be on our radar if we're looking to add a small handful of things to elevate our wardrobe and keep it fresh?
Christine Morrison [34:12] Okay, so I'm a big white shirt fan. It goes with everything casual to dressy. So if you have a few, maybe take a look at them. Do they need refreshing? That's the first thing. Make sure that you have a crisp, clean couple of white button-downs. The second is, I'm new - I know everyone is into leopard, and this is not a new idea. I know Jenna Lyons always said it was a neutral, but I am new to having a pair of leopard Mary Janes, and I think they have changed a couple of things that I used to wear. It just makes the outfit look very different. Also, along with shoes, I got a pair of black crocodile loafers. Loafers are not going to go out of style, and these are just a notch above the normal, you know, kind of Rothy's thing that was going around this fall, which are still gorgeous, but I went with a pair of black crocodile ones. I think shoes and some crisp shirts - I think that's sort of how to round out what you probably already have.
Katie Fogarty [35:16] That's such a great recommendation, because white shirts are so versatile, we probably need to take a look at ours to make sure that they're, you know, ready for action, 2025. But taking a really fun shoe, you know, a loafer in a fun print or a fun color. And I love this notion of a leopard Mary Jane, because I, like, weirdly, have a lot of leopard shoes. I have a leopard loafer, I've got a leopard boot. I've got like, a leopard mesh ballet flat.
Christine Morrison [35:43] So I have been, like, a virgin until this. I mean, even my gosh...
Katie Fogarty [35:48] I like, I'm not kidding. I feel like I have six pairs of leopard shoes. It's weird, but I do not have a leopard Mary Jane, so I appreciate you putting that on our radar. These are super fun ways, and they're small ways, like, just like a little moment that you can add something fun to your wardrobe. So fashion is so personal. You are really steeped in it. You've made a career out of it. I know you've done a midlife career pivot. You went from working in marketing and branding and fashion to really writing about fashion and beauty. I would love to hear a little bit about what made you make this pivot, and how are you exploring it today on your Substack and then your other writing?
Christine Morrison [36:28] Well, what happened was I was at Calvin, and I was getting ready to turn 40 and getting ready to get married, and we needed to move. And my husband said to me, we were moving to Boston, and I said, "What am I going to write about, rugby shirts?" Because, you know, I'd come from Calvin. And I was like, there's no way that I'm going to have something equivalent there. And he said, "This is your chance to finally be a writer."
Christine Morrison [36:53] I mean, I had gone to journalism school. I had taken classes at Parsons and NYU throughout my time in New York while I worked for other people, because I really thought at the time, in the early aughts, personal essays were the way to get into women's magazines. And I ultimately thought, "Oh, I'll go write for Vogue, or Marie Claire, somebody that has fashion, but is a thinking woman's magazine," and that never happened, but this was my ability to take the leap. So that was in '08. So it's been a long journey, but those first couple of years, I just wrote for as many people as I could to get clippings, and as I started to - I found my way to a company or a now-defunct magazine called The Fine Line. And it was the perfect storm - I was writing, I was closer to 50, and I was writing about things that I loved and cared about: fashion, beauty and wellness. And they wanted to pull out the lens of aging, because they felt that - this was well before this whole movement started, but eight years ago, they couldn't monetize it, because no one wanted to hear from us.
Katie Fogarty [38:03] Christine, have you gone back to them and said you were so wrong? For having a moment - not that they haven't been around forever - the zeitgeist is really shifting. They missed the boat. The Fine Line missed the boat.
Christine Morrison [38:19] No, The Fine Line was fantastic for three years, they couldn't get funding from advertisers. It's all the brands that missed the boat - the brands messed up. The women would say, "This is great material" because they wanted to read it, but they couldn't fund it personally anymore, and I feel badly because she was on the cusp. But so that started my whole journey down making it more about through the lens of aging, and that's when I needed to really sit back and say, "What am I doing for me?" Because I've been writing for so many other people, and the book - I had written an essay when I was 30 about something that transpired, and I was like, this has to be the beginning of an essay collection. And that's the essay collection that's going to publish next fall. It's called "Clothes Minded."
Christine Morrison [39:19] And there was a book once, a long time ago, called "Love, Loss, and What I Wore." I don't know - do you know that book?
Katie Fogarty [39:24] I do. I do.
Christine Morrison [39:26] Ilene Beckerman wrote that. Now that was a little gift-sized book, and it was cartoons. But the premise of that, and which is the premise of what I really believe in, is what we wear shapes who we are and who we strive to be. And it's not about the labels or how much you spend, but it's about what you put on and what it makes you feel about yourself. At the end of each chapter, I'm going to have a stylist or designer or a female founder talk about what's in it for you today, like, either about the piece of clothing in that chapter, like the white shirt, or about fashion as you age. There's going to be some sort of nod to a takeaway for a reader that's not about my own journey, but about yours.
Katie Fogarty [40:04] Christine, I cannot wait for this book to be out and about in the world. You're going to have to come back and talk about it when it is on store shelves. But for listeners who want more of Christine's writing on fashion, for her shopping and gifting, for her fashion flashbacks, I can totally recommend Christine's wonderful Substack. Please tell our listeners where they can find that.
Christine Morrison [40:28] So my brand is really called "Writing in Black and White," because it's about the gray areas that really clutter our minds. And so my Substack is writinginblackandwhite.substack.com, and there I really try to dive into the long form of Substack and talk about things like being seen or curiosity, things that we all think about but don't get to dive into on other social platforms like Instagram or elsewhere.
Christine Morrison [40:58] There's a little more meat to it, and it's been really meaningful, because women will reach out. Because I had one about whether or not we should all have a second act, and women are really touched, and it just starts a great dialog. So I'm really enjoying it, and tomorrow is my two year anniversary on Substack.
Katie Fogarty [41:16] Congratulations. That is incredible. Two years of brightening up people's inboxes. I know I look forward to reading it when it lands in mine. Christine, before we say goodbye, though, I first of all want to thank you for having this fun, festive conversation with me, for sharing so many wonderful gifting ideas, for giving us a glimpse into your career and what's coming next for you in 2025 when your book arrives out in the world. I do want to close by asking you to share two last ideas with us on gifting. We have talked about a lot of things that one can purchase and share to delight the people in our lives and ourselves, but I know you have two other ideas to send out to listeners before we leave, and that's based on sort of community and a sense of belonging. So I'm turning it back over to you.
Christine Morrison [42:08] Okay, well, I think you know, everyone has had a really hard year. I know that - I'll just leave it at that. And two things that have come to mind. There's one - her name is Erin Jenny Pollard. She used to work for Vogue, and she started a weaving company. She weaves baskets. They actually sent a bunch down the runway recently. But her company is called Underwater Weaving, and it's underwaterweaving.com and she's created sort of a club environment if you're in New York. She has events you can go to, you can pay. But she also has for $199 for six months, you get basket materials and videos and tutorials sent to you, and you can get a group of women. It could be like the next book club, because, you know, a lot of times people in book clubs don't actually read the book.
Katie Fogarty [42:55] Which is - I've been in a few of those book clubs. Those are actually called wine drinking clubs.
Christine Morrison [43:00] That's right, you can drink wine and weave baskets as well, but it's so unique, and also it's so unbelievable, because we don't do things with our hands like this. So it's a creativity aspect, it's a community aspect, and it's just so chic. I mean, what the outcome is is unbelievable. She's partnering with a bunch of people. Last night, she did something with the brand Kule, you know, K-U-L-E, and I can't say enough about her. But there's that. And then the second thing is Cake. Cake is - and this sounds like, "How can this be a community?" It's an online shopping platform. But what it is is - and I will give you a link, because I have some invites - but what you do is you can go on and you get, let's say it's kind of like an Apple Wallet situation. You get 10 cards in your wallet, and they have so many brands that you want to shop from, but you get invites to events or early previews of things. And it's everything current, but it's, you know, Veronica Beard, Alex Mill, Tanya Taylor, YSE Beauty, Negative Underwear, etc., but you can friend your friends on there, and you can see what other people are buying within your friend group. And it's a deal, because for the $100 a year that you spend, each card represents savings - like I got the $100 back on one purchase. That's where I got my crocodile loafers from Freda Salvador. That's one of the brands. And then I got my leopard Mary Janes from LaRue, which is also one of the brands.
Katie Fogarty [44:41] Super fun. I love the social component of it as well, and it makes me think of - people love social recommendations. We've got Good Pods for recommending podcasts to one another. You can see what your friends are up to. You can follow people on Good Pods that you know you like their taste. You can do this with Goodreads. It's interesting that Cake is taking this social component to shopping and kind of really elevating what we have in our girlfriend text thread. I have my friend Marlo - every time there's a sale on brands that she knows that I like, she texts them to me, and she won't have to if we're connected over Cake. So Christine is generously sharing her link. It's going to be in the show notes. It'll be on social when the show posts. If you need it, you can DM Christine or myself and get involved with this social shopping community. Christine, thank you so much for helping us ring in the holidays, for getting excited about our gifting and getting excited about 2025. I appreciate your time today. Thank you for being with us.
Christine Morrison [45:41] Thank you so much for having me, Katie.
Katie Fogarty [45:44] Beauties, all good things must come to an end. And this wraps "A Certain Age," a show for women who are aging without apology. And what a fun show this was. I have so many great gift ideas, and I hope you do too. If you took something away from the show, if you enjoyed yourself, if you tune in every week and learn something, I would absolutely love an Apple Podcasts or Spotify review. Reviews help other listeners find the show. They help the show grow. Think of it as your holiday gift to me, and it's free and easy to do. Add to Cart, Beauties. Special thanks to Michael Mancini, who composed and produced our theme music. See you next time and until then, age boldly, Beauties.