E1: 🍑Pantone Color of the Year, Wellness Travel Boom

Happy Wednesday! We’re in a celebratory mood mid-week, since we are back—this is our first newsletter since 2022, and we can’t thank you enough for your support.

Get ready to enjoy your new diet of healthy, snackable news: we’re dedicated to providing valuable (and entertaining) need-to-know items that can help improve your morning/day/week/life. What’s in store today:

• Warm and fuzzy thoughts on the Color of the Year

• The Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 is out, and we’re breaking down what you should know

• Why travelers are prioritizing wellness experiences, and some inspirational (and out there) ideas for your next excursion

• Eggs, eggs and more eggs: 27 dishes from around the world, nutritional benefits, surprising facts about different colored eggs, and a surprise hard-boiled egg you can buy at Japanese 7-11

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What the fuzz

Peach hues and news

ICYMI, Peach Fuzz is this year’s Pantone Color of the Year, and if you haven’t noticed, this is big business. The Pantone Color Institute puts a ton of research and analysis into the selection process and ultimate result, and this year’s fuzzy collabs include brands like Cariuma, Ruggable, Polaroid and Tealeaves. Emotionally, this hue has a lot to live up to, including its “wellness potential” as a color with abilities to evoke feelings of calmness and coziness. 

Clothing-wise, before you get excited about picking your fresh, peach-colored spring outfits, don’t waste your money without first consulting an app like ColorWise — where you can get a free customized palette with your best complimentary colors and shades (based on skin tone, hair and eyes). A peach shade that makes one skin tone look rosy and fresh could very well make you look pallid and deathly. Truth.

And, no deserving peach-themed post is complete without discussing bum-lifting or “sculpting” jeans. We have a 10-minute video well worth watching AND here, a UK Cosmo editor-tested deep dive into 132 different pairs (with general tips, from a fashion expert, when shopping for booty-lifting jeans). The bottom line: This is time well spent. Choose your jeans wisely, and your butt will thank you later. There’s also this epic Good Mythical Morning clip (“We're two grown men looking to get the best butt jeans can offer”) or, if that’s too much, we trust the Men’s Health editors, who have tested and recommend these 15 Best Jeans for Men.

The ’Awe-conomy’

The $814 billion wellness tourism market is booming

TheSkinny: We’re often inspired by our vast network of creative individuals and, as fellow trackers of what’s new and next, we are always excited to read the annual trend report by Adrianna G. Bevilaqua, chief creative officer at M Booth. This year, one of her themes is what she’s calling the “awe-conomy” and this is right up our alley.

The idea here is that we’re looking to live longer and, more importantly, enjoy every minute of it. For travel, that translates to “life-affirming” experiences or simply those that connect the beauty and wonder of the outdoor world with our inner self. Couple that with a global wellness tourism market reported to be valued at $814 billion in 2022—and with 94% of travelers incorporating self-care into their travels, according to this Forbes story—the choices are endless. Pick your pleasure from these ideas, which range from free to wildly expensive:

• Take a trip through art: This item is about hikes through landscapes that inspired famous paintings & literature in the Hudson Valley. Art + exercise + nature = the perfect day

• We’re huge fans of forest bathing, which we’ve written about before and that is achievable in any forest, really. But naturally there are now hotels that cater to the experience (12 good ones from Travel + Leisure)

• We haven’t been yet, but it’s on our list: everyone is raving about Getaway House, which offers tiny cabin vacation rentals in nature. Check out this review of one outside of Cincinnati

• Here we have what The Times calls “The world’s most joyful weight-loss regime” and “the spa version of a French kiss,” at the Lily of the Valley Hotel in St. Tropez. This father/daughter run retreat is also known for its Philippe Starck design and for The Shape Club. Look for activities like Chi Nei Tsang and “aqua walking”

• Among its other programs, the Sha Wellness Clinic in Spain has a retreat that is completely focused on your gut biome

• Hotel chains are getting in on the wellness action too: Aman New York, which launched a new Strength & Recovery Program, designed by Maria Sharapova

Keeping it clean

The ‘Dirty Dozen’ list is out

TheSkinny: In other peach news: The Environmental Working Group released its Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 report last week, and we are here to help explain why you don’t necessarily need to be scared of peaches (No. 5), strawberries (No. 1), kale (No. 3) or any of the other veggies/fruits shamed on this most-unwanted list. Nothing in this report is really good news (75% of fruits/vegetables tested had chemical residue), but Katie Couric Media does a good job explaining what you should know.

One of the takeaways is that avoiding fruits and vegetables for fear of pesticides is ill-advised by experts – we should all be eating more since most Americans aren’t getting their daily allowance. For the really real on pesticide levels, the article quotes several studies and experts (including critics who say the report is misleading) about the impact, one of whom notes: “The dose makes the poison, not its presence or its absence.” Also worth noting is that buying organic does not guarantee “pesticide-free” (it’s complicated).

Net-net: To reduce pesticides by up to 70%, always wash your fruits and vegetables in water before consuming. Grow your own when you can, or shop from farmers who don’t use pesticides.

Egg-splainer

Eggs are all they’re cracked up to be

TheSkinny: It’s reported that Americans purchase approximately 180 million eggs around Easter so we’re here with the lowdown on everything you need to know about this “incredible, edible” food. While prices are up slightly (but way down compared to a crazy high of $4.82 last year), the egg is still one of the cheapest and healthiest things you can eat. 

Shopping for eggs: Eggs are full of vitamin D, but did you know certain types of eggs have more than others (an obvious hint: more sunlight = more vitamin D)? We didn’t. Prepare to be amazed after learning what makes an egg white or brown, and if you don’t want to do the deep dive, we’ll sum it up for you: brown eggs are no better/more “natural” or more nutritious than white eggs, but they might be slightly bigger, hence why they often cost more.

The humble egg has been vilified in the past but has since returned to its proper place of glory. This article has everything you need to know nutrition-wise (including why you should eat the yolk), but if you’d rather be entertained, we recommend:

• This YouTube short on the secret ingredient/reason why restaurant eggs are better than yours (hey, now you can charge $18 for ’em!)

• Chicago-style hot dog deviled eggs

• Japanese 7-11 hard-boiled eggs, with a surprise inside

• Persian-style eggs from Zoya Biglary, to celebrate good intentions for spring

• And THIS! 27 egg dishes from around the world (want to try: Brazilian banana eggs, spaghetti eggs)

Add to cart*: Check out this genius and lo-tech ceramic omelette maker. Tried and tested by us, and currently sitting in our cupboard! Simply spray with oil (or use an old butter wrapper that you saved, which is an amazing hack), toss in a beaten egg and your favorite toppings, pop in the microwave and voilà—your single-serve personal omelette is ready.

*While we only write products that we genuinely love and have tried, if you purchase something linked in The Skinny, we may get an affiliate commission—but at no additional cost to you.

OHM, THERE'S MORE

This week’s newsfeed

• Fighting back: Were grocery store chains padding profits during the pandemic and “continuing to reap excessive profits?” An F.T.C. report says yes

• Solar powered collabs: The solar eclipse on Monday has fueled its share of celestial promos, including the “Total Solar Eclipse donut,” from Krispy Kreme and Oreo, which will be available from Friday to Monday

• Our crystal ball: We called this back in 2021, when we heard that it-girls were requesting good ol’ dairy milk from baristas again. Is cow’s milk really making a comeback? For us, it never went away. Delish investigates

• Girl Scout cookies: There’s still time to get your favorite cookies and, the season wouldn’t be complete without at least one Girl Scout collab. In this case, it’s Chameleon Organic Coffee cold brew

• Food x fashion: We hear a lot of chatter about the melding of fashion and food (more on that later), but in general we love products with perfectly-named and food-inspired colors, like the new “Kalamata” color of handbags from Clare V