Top Ten Favorites of 2021
Updated: Jul 12, 2023
2021 is over, but there were some purchases from the year that I want to highlight. These are items that made a significant difference in some way to my daily life. There's a few I've not received the full benefit from, yet, but plan to make the most of in 2022, so I've included them, below.
It was a long time coming. The life span of any laptop is between 3-5 years and after the third year, it's pretty much downhill from there. Things slow down and just don't function as well as they did when it was new. When it comes to creating video content and editing videos, lots of memory, power, and storage is necessary, in addition to an updated graphics card that can handle all the tricks and transitions one's heart desires. For the past couple of years, I struggled with editing on my laptop even though I didn't have a lot of apps or programs running on it. The editing software, in itself, ate up a lot of memory and saving videos ate up the rest. Only recently have I discovered the benefit of having an external hard drive to save my videos and preserve hard drive space on my desktop (one is currently on the way). So, springing for a brand new computer was necessary if I wanted the capacity to edit videos in the style I like if I wanted to be an active content creator.
I know a Macbook Pro is considered the gold standard when it comes to video editing, but the expense was too great for my budget. Not only would I need to purchase the computer, but it's well-known that once you get an Apple product, all other related equipment is recommended to be from Apple for the sake of compatibility. And I wasn't trying to replace some of my electronics just to be able to work smoothly with a Mac. The options for mixing and matching things with a non-Apple system were more plentiful. Plus, I've been a loyal HP customer for over a decade, now. So, if I was going to splurge, I decided to splurge on a brand I know, already love and trust. I did my homework to figure out which model would provide the specs needed for what I want to do, while still keeping the costs down to some degree. I didn't get THE most expensive and powerful model from HP, but what I got was enough...for now. What I didn't give a lot of attention to was the screen size. I figured anything larger than my laptop screen would do fine. So, when a box the size of a big screen tv showed up at my door I figured most of it was packaging. I was wrong.
The screen is 32 inches (hence, the name HP Envy32) and takes up the majority of my cute and fancy little desk from Wayfair. Mind you, I watched videos on YouTube to look at reviews and unboxings before I purchased and I was so focused on the technical capability that the massive screen size escaped scrutiny. The first day I set it up and got online, it literally gave me headache. I was bed bound for hours. My eyes couldn't adjust and I had to figure out how to put more distance between myself and the screen. Adjusting the brightness also helped. For a good month after purchasing this thing, I couldn't even use it because viewing the screen made me feel ill. Thankfully, a few adjustments fixed the problem and this has become my top purchase of 2021. My editing software is able to do whatever I need it to do without freezing or slowing down and the only headache I have, now, is the creative side; deciding between footage that works and footage that's just plain awful, which is so much easier to deal with when the technical side is running smoothly. Some of the other features I consider bonuses include a jack for a Thunderbolt connection should I need it and a wireless keyboard and mouse. The base is capable of charging my phone and the CPU is part of the screen so there's no bulky tower or other connections to clutter my desk or the floor. The speaker is also attached to the screen and has the look and sound quality of a sound bar. It was quick and easy to assemble and the colors/screen quality is pretty damn good (now, that the screen doesn't make me ill). It was worth every penny and can't imagine what else I could possibly get from another system where I would have paid more. It does everything I need it to do and when the external hard drive arrives, I'm hoping to preserve its greatness by not stressing out the memory/storage with byte-gobbling saved videos.
The one and only con of this computer is the front facing camera extends up from the top of the ginormous screen and pretty much catches just the top of your head if you're seated. The screen has the ability to tilt up and down, but even at it's furthest tilt downward, it may not capture your full face. You'd have to sit on a tall stool to be fully visible on camera for video conferencing.
2. PIVO *affiliate link*
I haven't had a chance to fully use this little gizmo, but I plan to very soon. Right now, I'm using it as a mini tripod to hold my phone as I take OOTD photos of my outfits. At some point, I do plan to use it as intended so it can track me in the process of creating videos. It's meant to be a valuable tool for me to utilize in creating content and, now that I feel I'm hitting my stride, I'm ready to give this a go and take things up a notch or two. A full review is forthcoming, but if it works as intended, my content is going to be whole lot better. If you're someone who creates videos without a videographer, something like this could be invaluable. It allows you to have videography you control via remote. I'm for anything that allows me to work independently and without the additional cost of hiring someone. My hope is the cost I already paid for this will be returned to me in the form of easy, breezy and professional-looking content.
Living in an apartment during a pandemic leaves you vulnerable if you need to share a community space. Had I been able to predict a pandemic, I would have selected a complex with laundry in-unit. I thought having onsite laundry facilities was good enough, but an airborne virus makes that risky. Granted, they keep the doors and windows to the laundry room open so air is always circulating, but it's still close quarters and hard to practice social distancing if there's more than one person in there at a time. In the early stages of this pandemic, when there were so many unknowns, the idea of washing my clothes in a machine where folks who may have been ill were washing their Covid clothes gave me the willies. It was suggested we all wash our clothes in hot water to make sure to kill any germs, but not all clothing can be washed in hot water without ruining them. Short of washing things out in the bathroom sink or bathtub, I decided to look into something more practical. Lo and behold, I stumbled onto something I didn't know existed; a mini washing machine. Typically used in RVs and campers as a source to wash clothes when access to a full-size machine is unavailable, it does everything a regular machine does, but on a smaller scale, using water from your sink to wash and rinse. Some, like the model I purchased, provided a dryer option, but it's not a full dryer. What it does is spin so much of the water out that your items come out around 80% dry (except for thick items and towels). You hang them up and in a couple of hours they are fully dry. It was too good to be true, I thought, but I watched videos and read reviews on YouTube and Amazon and decided to give it a go. Best $100 I spent.
While the goal was to wash all of my clothing in this thing, it just wasn't practical. Working from home, it was easy to toss in a small load or two, but the towels and thicker items made the process too long. So, while I still venture out to community laundry facilities for heavier clothing, intimates and fitness items get washed easily and quickly in the mini-washer. This limits the amount of time I need to actually spend in the laundry room because there's less loads to do. I also use the mini to give any new clothing items purchased a quick initial wash before wearing. I used to wait to wash them with my regular clothing, but sometimes that meant waiting until I had a full load before I could get my new items cleaned. To get them washed and worn more quickly, I toss them in the mini machine without leaving my apartment or having to wait for a full load to accumulate. I can also use cold water, when necessary. This system served me well in 2021 and I'm happy with this purchase. It's been a full year, as of this January, since I've been using it, which has exceeded my expectations about its durability. The stress of doing laundry and having frequent contact with folks in a small confined space has been significantly decreased. And, yes, it gets the clothes clean!
4. TCL Smart TV
This purchase was encouraged by my niece. She's been after me to upgrade my old 32" flat screen TV for a couple of years, but I didn't see the need. It was fairly large enough for me to see what I needed to see and enjoy. A massive screen just wasn't something I was into even though I know it's all the rage. The bigger the better. It just didn't serve any practical purpose to me. When I moved to my apartment in 2018 I rarely turned on the TV to watch anything, anyway. The cord to cable TV had been cut I and relied on streaming services like Hulu and Prime Video; watched on my laptop, along with YouTube. The only time I turned on the TV was to hook up my laptop via HDMI cable to watch a movie or special event on the larger TV screen. The downside was that when my computer was connected to the TV, I couldn't use it, which was fine sometimes. I could multi-task by browsing the internet on my tablet, but that screen was much smaller.
Initially, I loved the idea of the Smart TV when they were first introduced, but had been warned about various issues that gave me pause. Anyway, a couple of years go by, the price of Smart TVs decrease significantly and a pandemic forces me to spend an inordinate amount of time locked indoors with my computer screen. At some point the sound on my 32" TV just stopped working, so when I rarely decided to hook up my computer for a larger screen experience I had to rely on the audio of my computer. That sucked and I pretty much stopped bothering with hooking up the laptop to the TV at all. The large black screen was simply decoration, and not great decoration at that. The best purpose it served was during Christmas 2020 when I used it to display a burning fireplace to give my holiday decor extra coziness. During the Spring of 2021 I decided it was time to get with the program and sprang for a larger TV, at last. It didn't need to be too large because I'm still not impressed by that, but I did want to have the convenience to stream my favorite streaming apps on the TV, independently of my laptop. Enter the Smart TV. Walmart had a nice-sized one on sale for a reasonable price and, tossing my concerns aside, I took the leap after reading the reviews and comparing the model I had my eye on to others in that size/price range. I was limited to the 40" screen for it to rest perfectly on the stand I already have. Lightweight and easy to set-up for someone who considers herself mildly technologically challenged, I've gone from rarely watching TV to watching more movies and various series. The bonus is I can also stream my music and radio apps from the TV without utilizing my phone or laptop. It also allowed me to explore apps I was never interested in before; accessing more interesting content. My TV is now another piece of technology I can use to multi-task versus being just a distraction.
My apartment is small. I either spend time in my bed or at my desk while indoors. I have 2 accent chairs and 2 stools, but it's rare that I actually sit on those. Honestly, I consider them accent decor items versus functional items even though they are all fully functional for when I have guests. When initially locked down and working from home, I DID try to alternate my scenery and where I sat during the day, but in 2020 I spent a lot of time either in bed dealing with a health issue or on my balcony - where I found tremendous peace - sitting in the chairs out there. Only when I was in recovery mode from my health problems did I force myself out the bed to sit in the accent chairs to read and watch shows on my laptop. Sitting in one of those chairs seemed to helped me sit up straight and breathe better. I used the other one at my desk to work from home, but it was poor for my posture because it was too low and contributing to some of the aches and anxiety issues I was having when I sat in it. Once I realized this, I purchased an actual desk chair where the height could be adjusted to a level suited for my desk (more on this later in another purchase). In any case, I wanted a more comfortable place to sit and relax while in my apartment and decided on a chaise lounge. It's an aesthetically pleasing piece of furniture and the model I purchased can be altered to serve as a bench or bed. Here's the tea. It works best for sitting. I tried to sleep, fully extended, on this and it was horrible. It's not something I would recommend as a bed for an overnight guest to sleep. If they can sleep sitting up, OK. But when the unit is converted to allow you to fully lay down and stretch out, it's not comfortable at all You feel all the creases between the cushions. It's on the top 10 list because it's pretty and it's functional for what I need it to do, which is keep me out of the bed when I'm not sleeping and allow me to lounge around and prop up my feet. It's fine for short sit-up naps, but more cushion on the armrests would be nice. Over time, you begin to feel the wooden frame underneath. It was easy to assemble and comes with a pillow that has a cover, which is removeable and can be washed. It's easy to move around and depending on what I'm doing, I position it in various spots. It gets turned around to watch tv or turned in the opposite direction to view something on my computer screen. Since I've had it, my place actually feels like a home versus a minimal den of Zen.
I discovered this brand on Instagram. It showed up in my feed a few times and I finally to the bait to explore a make-up brand for women of color. There was an offer to try all their foundation shades for just $5 and that was the hook that brought me into the fold. The reviews were pretty good and they are a black-owned company. I was compelled to give their product a shot despite my long history of drug-store bought make-up. I think $15 for Revlon is too much, but I pay for the long lasting coverage, so spending $30 felt like highway robbery. The only way I justified it was that since I have to buy 2 shades of Revlon to get the shade that works best, purchasing one that's the perfect shade might be worth it. And I was right. The shade and coverage is great. My only negative is that there isn't a color-stay variety. It's standard make-up that rubs off at the slightest touch or rub. What tips it over Revlon for me is that it doesn't dry out my skin. It's moisturizing. So much so, that I don't use a moisturizer after I wash my face and this make-up sinks right in. If I do use a moisturizer of some kind it gives my oily skin an even more oily glow, which I don't want. Even with a moisturizer, the Revlon brand can be drying. It's not very buildable and can appear like a mask until my natural oils come out and soften things up. Oxidation can be serious, but with the Mented brand, oxidation is limited. A blotting sheet here and there and my make-up is flawless, once again...at least for a short while, since it rubs off fairly easily. Touch-ups can be frequent and using the powder doesn't make a significant difference in my case. But, overall, I'm glad to have purchased this make-up. I use the lipliners as lipstick highlighters and love those, as well. They go on like soft suede. I just received by second foundation stick; the 1st one lasting 6 months.
I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with this product. I hate it because it's expensive, but I love it because it actually *gulps* works! I hate the fact that it works so well because I can't imagine paying $240 to erase the wrinkles I'm starting to develop. Sure, it's cheaper than plastic surgery and not as pricey as botox and other risky cosmetic procedures. But, as a budget shopper, I can't help but think of all the things I could buy with $240 instead of anti-wrinkle serum. But, again, it works. I noticeably see a difference in the laugh lines around my mouth every time I use it and the look of my facial skin, overall. It works really well and I'm mad. I'm mad because I'm actually considering splurging on this product. Yes, I should be able to find something cheaper that works just as well, but so much causes me to break out or have a reaction. This doesn't and that's a big deal. It's doing no harm and actually doing something positive. It smells good, too. Once I'm done with the FREE sample sizes, we'll see if I make the leap to the $240 bottle in 2022.
By the way, I happen to come across this product because I wanted the box as decor my dressing room/closet. Content Creator and Lifestyle blogger Monroe Steele put me on to this on her YouTube Channel. To get the box you have to order something...anything...from the Chanel website. Included in your purchase will be two free samples from their beauty line. I bought a box of cotton make-up wipes for $20. In my humble opinion, the cotton wipes aren't worth $20. Cotton wipes I have from CVS for just $4 work better. They don't leave a cotton residue like the Chanel ones do, which was disappointing. For $20, I'd hoped the quality would have been special. It wasn't. It was actually worse than a standard cotton ball. However, the two free samples are actually amazing and I'd like to think my $20 spent was well spent for the cute box and the samples, alone. I'm just salty about the cost of the La Mousse Anti-Pollution Cream to Foam cleanser, $50 and the serum. I could see a full size tube/bottle lasting an entire year, in which case, might make them work the splurge. See my unboxing below:
If only it would get cold enough for me to get at least one or two wears out of this, I would be happy. But, as of this date, Miami hasn't had very many fully cold days; days where it's cold from sun up to sun down. The temps here can be cool in the morning and evenings, while temperatures range from Spring to Summer during the majority of the daytime. But I am in love with this trench. The color, the fit, the style of it. When I first laid eyes on it on the SHEIN website I was entranced. And the price was right for what I thought it would be. When it arrived, however, it was so much more than that. There's lining, and an amazing quality that I just didn't expect with this item. It's been in the wash (I wash everything that I purchase before I even try it on. If it doesn't fit or work, it gets donated) and it came out like a champ. It retained its color and, after ironing, it's structure and shape. I am chomping at the bit to wear this and for that reason, it's one of my top 10 purchases. Although I've not had a chance to enjoy wearing it, yet, I've enjoyed owning it and looking at it. It's been a while since I've purchased an item of clothing that made me this excited. It feels like a very special find. That is came in under $60, feels like a steal!
9. Desk Chair Seat Cushion *affiliate link*
This is the item that's related to my post about the chaise lounge. I acquired a desk chair suitable to being sat at my desk most of the day. Originally, my workplace thought we would be locked down for just 2 weeks. But then it kept getting extended to the point that 3-4 months had passed and it became quite apparent we wouldn't be returning for the remainder of 2020. Knowing my short-term situation was becoming more long-term, I went ahead and purchased an adjustable desk chair for my home office desk. For months I had been noticing every time I sat at my desk to work from home I would end up ache-y at the end of work day, mostly on one side of my neck; partially due to my accent chair being too low for the height of the desk. To remedy the issue, for a while, I sat on extra pillows to give me a lift, but that didn't always work. So, when the desk chair arrived, I had hoped for relief. There was some, but it still wasn't perfect. Even adjusted to its highest level, my wrists weren't at optimal level just a smidge. I added a pillow, once again, but it would eventually flatten. What I needed was a bigger and more stable boost and in searching for something akin to a booster seat for adults, I stumbled onto these seat cushions that not only give you a lift, but help with posture. I am currently at optimal level and I can sit at the desk for a prolonged amount of time without discomfort. And it's all thanks to this comfy cushion. As they say, it really is the little things. Those little things can make a huge difference.
This may surprise some, but hair gel doesn't work for all hair. I thought I was one of those rare folks for whom this was a problem, but I discovered there are many of us out there. Water-based gels simply do not keep my hair slicked down. If anything, it acts as a curl activator. Weird. In a time where edges seem to be everyone's concern, it wasn't a priority for me. But for hair styles where I did want my hair to not be fluffy or frizzy, a touch of something that could keep things in check would have been nice. And I finally found it. No matter how super the hold, nothing else works except pomades. It started with beeswax, but that was drying out my hair and causing breakage. In looking for something more supple and moisturizing, yet not not as "wet" as a gel, but not as dry as a wax, I found a gel pomade from Edge Booster. It was mentioned in a video by a natural hair guru on YouTube as having a great hold. She had hair like mine and I figured if it held her hair in place without causing it to curl, I should look into it. Reviews online were concurred that if typical hair gel didn't work for you, this pomade absolutely would. I'd heard that before, but these declarations seemed hopeful. I'd been warned, though, that it had a propensity to dry with a white cast. Bummer! I figured I could remedy that by just adding a hair oil.
It came, I tested it, it worked and I was glad. And then the next morning the white cast made its dreaded appearance, even though I'd added oil for shine. But I refused to give up. FINALLY, I'd found a product to hold my hair in place, I was determined to find a way to make it work. On wet hair, it dried white. On dry hair, the same. Oiled before or after, it dried white. And then I remembered the hair guru ,who also mentioned the white cast, had used another gel on top to combat the dry down disappointment of the pomade. Just add some Shine and Jam gel. And, viola! It works like a charm. Pomade straightens and gets the hairs to lay flat and neat and the shine and jam gel gently blended on top, adds shine. Separately, they both fall short, but together, they are a power duo. My gray/white dry cast days are behind me. I don't do baby hairs because I'm entirely too grown for that, but it's a relief to finally have my fluffy, curly edges and hair tamed in the humid Miami weather, when necessary. My braids last so much longer, now, before getting frizzy and that small convenience has made my life so much easier. For this reason, this pomade made the list.
These are my top 10, but I could easily add 10 more items I feel added value to my life in 2021. Most are related to organization, which I plan to highlight in a future post and/or video about kitchen organization. Stay tuned!
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