Gracie Abrams on Her Skin Essentials and Favorite Hair Bows

New York Times

03-04-2025

Gracie Abrams's Beauty Routine
I like to wake up between 6 and 7 a.m., but when I'm touring, it's anywhere from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sleep is a constant question mark because time zones are never consistent. I got lucky this past leg of the tour in Europe and the U.K. Our bus was great, and I got the same duvet that I have at home, which was especially comforting. A morning shower — really hot and then really cold — is the thing that fixes my brain quickly. At home I hang eucalyptus from the shower head because it smells nice in the steam. My friend Claudia [Sulewski] has this company called Cyklar, and I put all of her body washes in a row. I do a pump of each. She also launched a suction-y tool for lymphatic drainage, which I like to use. I have an Oribe shampoo that my hairstylist gave me, but I'm not too picky about that. I've surrendered to putting on a hat and walking out the door and letting my hair be what it is. I love the Osea algae body oil, and my most used body moisturizer is the Nivea one with almond oil, which kind of smells like sunscreen to me. I've always got Egyptian Magic [skin cream] in every bathroom, too.
I've had a very temperamental relationship with my skin after developing cystic acne in college. At the end of the day, it's skin — but it can feel like the end of the world if it hurts to put your face against your pillow. Facials with Shar [Hassani] helped me get my acne under control. She's a wizard. I use mostly all Jan Marini skin care: the vitamin C serum C-ESTA, a hyaluronic acid serum, the Transformation cream and at night something called Age Intervention Duality, which has basically eradicated breakouts and is a holy grail product for me. The Hourglass Veil skin tint is part of my skin care routine at this point — it makes me feel and look even. The Vanish concealer is my favorite for spot-treating. I'm a blush freak. As a pale girl, I'm like, how do I make myself look like I have any life in me? I love Fenty Beauty's cream blush in the shade Summertime Wine. To fill in my brows, I use Hourglass's Arch pencil in Dark Brunette, and then Göt2b brow gel for hold. Mascara onstage is a must, but on a daily basis, I've just been curling my lashes and using Hourglass's gel eyeliner in Canyon in the waterline at the top. For haircuts I go to Bobby Eliot, who's a legend and an angel, and on tour, I work with genius hairstylist Arbana Dollani. She crocheted my hair for one show with silver thread. Hair bows have become a symbol of the community, which is very sweet, and I have this collection of bows that people have very generously made or gifted me. Sandy Liang has some great ones, and Chanel too. In my nighttime routine, I appreciate another scalding and then freezing shower. I like knowing that I'm getting all of the venue dirt and sweat off my body at the end of the day. Then it's about bringing the adrenaline down. I drink a lot of tea. I like a CBD tincture. Journaling is quite crucial for me. This is corny, but on tour, I cuddle with my friends and we play cards. It's very wholesome and mellow.
Where to Eat the Wild Hops That Grow Around the Venetian Lagoon
One of life's greatest luxuries is to eat that thing in that place, knowing you can't get it anywhere else: the bruscandoli, or wild hops, in Venice are a case in point. These are the most tender early shoots of a plant that grows along the banks of the lagoon. You can find hops in other parts of Italy, but they won't be called bruscandoli (the Italian name is luppolo selvatico) and they won't have the distinctive flavor the Venetian variety draw from the salty lagoon soil. Visit Venice in springtime, and you might be lucky enough to catch the ephemeral bruscandoli season (typically no more than a couple of weeks between the end of March and the beginning of May — last year it was around the last week of March), when you'll see bundles of the greens for sale at the Rialto market, as well as at vegetable stalls and barges dotted around town. You eat only the tips of the plant and cook it as you would wild asparagus, blanching it in boiling water or pan frying it, then seasoning it with a dash of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt. Bruscandoli also work well in a creamy risotto, layered into frittata or as the base for a brothy soup, minestra di bruscandoli. Harry's Bar makes an excellent risotto con bruscandoli, as does Al Covo, a cozy, family-run establishment hidden away in the city's Castello quarter. And if you're looking for the incomparable combination of spring sunshine, waterside views and some variation on the theme of bruscandoli for lunch, then you can't beat a table at Ristorante Riviera on the Zattere waterfront.
The Southern California Beach Hotel Where Breakfast Comes With Champagne
Since its founding in 2007, the Los Angeles-based hotel group Palisociety has opened boutique properties across the U.S., many of which are in renovated midcentury inns and motels. Their latest, which opened on April 1, is Le Petit Pali Laguna Beach. The 41-room Southern California hotel is in a two-story structure built in the early 1960s along a stretch of Highway 1 that's within view of the Pacific Ocean. Le Petit Pali sets itself apart with a whimsical aesthetic: Grass cloth wall coverings and vintage rattan furniture mix with antiques, floral-patterned throw pillows and navy-and-blue striped beds that evoke a beach club cabana. (Speaking of which, Treasure Island Beach and Goff Cove — two of the area's most popular spots for swimming — are within easy walking distance.) And while there is no restaurant here (Palisociety's 'Le Petit' concept is modeled after a bed-and-breakfast), guests are treated to a morning spread with an abundance of eggs, locally made pastries from nearby Rye Goods, Marmalade Grove preserves and seasonal fruit, plus champagne and mimosas. From $350 a night, lepetitpali.com.
In London, a Ghanaian Artist Exhibits Paintings in a Re-creation of His Family's Courtyard
When the figurative artist Amoako Boafo was growing up in Accra, Ghana, the courtyard of his family home was the place where everything happened. He remembers 'family gatherings, playing, sleeping, cooking … It's where I learned to paint with friends,' he says. In a new show at Gagosian's outpost in London's Grosvenor Hill, Boafo has collaborated with the American architect Glenn DeRoché to transform the gallery into a full-scale reconstruction of the courtyard, complete with an entrance wallpapered in his signature paper-transfer technique. A new series of paintings, hung in the renovated space, continues Boafo's exploration of Black bodies at rest and includes one of his largest self-portraits, measuring over 13 feet in length. His first double-sided free-standing painting is displayed in a separate room within a sculptural wood enclosure. 'The courtyard shaped my understanding of space and community, and I wanted to honor that communal experience by inviting visitors to feel the strength and creativity that comes out of it,' Boafo says. 'I Do Not Come to You by Chance' will be on view at Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London, from April 10 through May 24, gagosian.com.
Stylish Second Homes, Available to Rent in Empordà, Spain
The Empordà region of Spain, south of the French border and west of the Mediterranean, has long been a favorite vacation destination for Barcelona residents. 'It's the Cotswolds of Spain,' says Pablo Rovira, the founder of Viu Empordà, a collection of private residences belonging to gallerists, interior designers and architects that are available to rent when their owners are elsewhere. New this season are Casa Carolina, a traditional farmhouse in the tranquil village of Fonolleres that's a short drive from the sandy beach of Gola del Ter, a haven for birds, and Casa Arte, on the outskirts of Foixà, home to a medieval castle and a Romanesque church. The layout of Casa Carolina was inspired by that of a boutique hotel, with a double-height central living space where livestock used to be housed, and six bedrooms off a balconied upstairs corridor. There's a second kitchen outside, with a wood-fired oven, and a swimming pool and pavilion surrounded by olive trees. Casa Arte is a conversion of an 18th-century farmhouse and adjoining buildings owned by an art curator and antiques dealer. It has four suites, six living rooms and a large study, with midcentury furniture by Charlotte Perriand and Jean Prouvé. Viu Empordà also offers local experiences like ceramic and perfume-making classes, walking tours of the Montgrí mountain range and boat trips along the Costa Brava. From about $9,940 for a week at Casa Carolina; from about $12,960 for a week at Casa Arte; viuemporda.com.
Catherine Opie's Mountain Portraits, on View in New York
Growing up in Sandusky, Ohio, the artist Catherine Opie spent much of her childhood outside, hunting and setting traps. She noticed how the low light of winter produced iridescent shades of blue on Lake Erie and the snow that surrounded it. Then, on a trip to Oslo, Norway, 13 years ago, she was struck by a new shade of the color as she watched the sun set in the city. 'It was a blue I'd never seen before,' she says. This lifelong fascination with the hue is the subject of her latest exhibition, 'A Study of Blue Mountains,' at Lehmann Maupin in New York. The show features photographs Opie captured during a 20-day road trip across Norway, when she drove along glittering fjords and attempted to reproduce the intense blue that first seized her attention. Her images luxuriate in the color: Cerulean bursts above a mountain at sunrise, while a nearly black navy envelops a canyon in shadow. As a form of hands-on, meditative preparation for the trip, Opie sculpted a series of 14 compact clay mountains that burst and drip with blue, challenging the viewer's sense of scale as they stand beside the vast photographs of Norwegian peaks. 'A Study of Blue Mountains' will be on view at Lehmann Maupin, New York, from April 3 through May 10, lehmannmaupin.com.
What Inspires Moschino's Adrian Appiolaza