May we discuss manicures, messes, and the intersection between manicures and messes and the social pressure to present as *having it all together*? Let’s go.

On gel manicures: Uché Blackstock is going to keep getting them, and Claire is too—but now with Maniglovz to protect her hands from those UV lights (and with CND Shellac whenever she can).

For a one-coat at-home mani, Olive & June Cosmic, Pleasing Pearly Tops, and Dior Glow deliver a shimmery, sheer finish. A listener said Dazzle Dry is one of their Thingies, and multiple of y’all have called-out Londontown Kur Nail Concealer (<< the name!). For growth (and nail-biting-prevention), try Nailtiques. For setting yourself up for DIY success, arm yourself with  Olive & June dry drops and the brand’s clean up brush. 

We have a lot of thoughts about mess, and so do some other people. Dig into For Scale’s “Exquisite Chaos” installment, "Girl Clutter" by Molly Soda, mess-vs-cleanliness.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=athingortwo&utm_content=052322"> “What If You Just Didn’t Clean That Up?” by Kathryn Jezer-Morton for The Cut, and messy-room-tiktok-instagram.html"> “This Trend Is a Mess” by Callie Holtermann for NYT. For a listen, check out "How to Keep House While Drowning" on Terrible, Thanks for Asking with guest KC Davis, the author of How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing. 

Our convo also reminded us of the books All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior and In My Room: Teenagers in Their Bedrooms by Adrienne Salinger (a sampling of some of those pics here). 

And a retaliation to the white-box era we’ve been living in can be found on @officialsadbeige.

For a clustercore explainer, we’ve got Better Homes & Gardens. For primo examples, we always think of friend-of-the-pod Rumaan Alam and David Land’s collection of George Washington paintings in their dining room, and dip into Catherine Newman’s home tour on A Cup of Jo. 

Two messfluencers to know: Alix Earle and Julia Fox. 

On the topic of digital messiness, how many tabs do you have open right now? Let us know at 833-632-5463, podcast@athingortwohq.com, or @athingortwohq—or join our Geneva! For more recommendations, try out a Secret Menu membership.

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