Greetings, friends! And welcome to Caroline Finds It: my weekly newsletter where I reply to submissions from YOU for objects and products you need recommendations for.
I’m fresh off a plane after a whirlwind European adventure, and have lots of insights to share for high summer! The first week of my trip I spent road-tripping around Italy, and the most useful thing in my suitcase turned out to be a bottle of bug spray that took up 20% of my toiletry case space. I’m passionate about fighting mosquitoes, so it was just perfect that I found this request in my inbox upon my return:
Vanda in Chicago: “An insect repellant (mainly mosquitos) that is chemical free and effective for outdoor city dining”
Dear Vanda,
A couple of weeks ago I was dining outdoors in Milan and had a good chuckle at around 9pm when the sun went down and all of the other diners began a procession to the side of the building to discreetly mist themselves in bug repellant, away from their food. Nothing ruins a lovely al fresco dinner like a mosquito attack under the table!
The first thing I’ll say about insect repellant is this: like many products that are applied to the skin, their efficacy really depends on your skin chemistry, and in this case, how attractive you are to mosquitoes. About 20% of people are significantly more prone to mosquito bites than others, and if you’re one of these people, it’s best to accept from the beginning that nothing deet-free will 100% prevent mosquito bites. All of that said, there are plenty of products out there that get pretty close!
Any chemical-free bug repellant will use natural essential oils as the active ingredients. One thing I’ve noticed about the vast majority of these products, is that they’ll typically focus on one ingredient to do all of the heavy lifting. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just means that they’re not going to work for everyone. Here are a couple of really great ones to try:
Murphy’s Naturals specializes in many different applications of insect repellant with lemon eucalyptus as the active ingredient. I love these products, and find them to be pretty effective, and without being irritating on my skin. Lemon eucalyptus smells wonderful and fresh, and is apparently the only natural oil recommended by the CDC for mosquitos. I always stock up on a few tubes of Murphy’s incense at the start of the summer for use in my garden.
Kinfield Golden Hour relies on a specific and more effective strain of citronella found in Indonesia. The addition of vanilla and clove helps sweeten the scent and are also slightly effective in repelling mosquitoes. This is probably the hottest insect repellant on the market — I tried it last year and it didn’t work for me personally, though I know of many people who love it!
Sallye Ander “No-Bite-Me” Bug Repellant comes from my favorite soap company and is in the form of a cream! This doesn’t mean that you have to slather it all over yourself, though. Just dab a little bit in the places you’re prone to bites (ankles, anyone?) and the scent of cedar, lemongrass, geranium, clove, spearmint and thyme will do the work. For outdoor dining, this would be a great choice because you won’t have to leave your seat for mid-dinner application.
Several years ago, I realized that none of the single-ingredient bug sprays I tried worked for me, so I started experimenting with making my own. Seven summers later, I’ve arrived at a formula that is 80-90% effective for me. I make a couple of batches a year and pour them into handbag-sized spray bottles to take on the go, or to give to friends when they come over. Here’s the recipe:
1/2 cup witch hazel
1/2 cup distilled water
1 tsp glycerin
1 tsp vitamin e oil
30 drops of geranium essential oil
30 drops of citronella essential oil
20 drops of lemon eucalyptus essential oil
20 drops of lavender essential oil
10 drops of rosemary essential oil
I like to pour everything into a clean, sterile bottle and shake vigorously before decanting. It’s really important to use distilled water and to sterilize everything in order to keep your bug spray safe! Make it carefully, use quality ingredients and store in a light-proof glass bottle and it’ll last a year. I like to buy my essential oils and supplies from my local herb shop, or from Mountain Rose Herbs online.
Finding the natural insect repellant that works for you might take a little trial and error, but it does exist, and you will find it!
SHOPPING ADVICE
Ashley in DC: “I don’t have a specific product request per se, but more a question of how to find items I didn’t know I needed. I love following your travels via your Instagram— you have such a knack for uncovering unique and/or very specialized shops (the place in Paris with the monogrammed lip balm! Old Italian paper shops!) and cute cafes. How do you find these off-the-travel-guide spots? Through the shop owner grapevine? Very intense Google rabbit holes? I’m going to Amsterdam in early September and would love to find similar Caroline-style gems there.”
For the past several years, I’ve been documenting my trips heavily on Instagram stories because I love sharing what I find! Truthfully, I travel solo a lot, and this is really just a way for me to spend an hour a day engaging with people in a familiar way, which feels comforting when I’m alone in a foreign country. Though it might seem that I have a well-organized and formulated itinerary for these trips, I am actually mostly taking it day-by-day. Here are some tips for discovering great businesses while traveling without spending hours and hours doing research ahead of time:
Never search “best indie shops in _______”, or “best off-the-beaten-path places in _________”. The Google results will not be what you’re looking for. If you’re hoping to shop for something specific, keep your search as tight as possible. Otherwise, don’t waste too much time Googling shops — it’ll only show you the tip of the iceberg.
You can learn everything you want to know about a culture through everyday objects just by visiting a supermarket, a pharmacy and a stationery shop. I find my favorite things while traveling in these places. The more average, the better! I look for things with great packaging, and things I’ve never heard of. This is always a great place to start, and a good excuse to buy interesting snacks and anything you might have forgotten to pack.
To find extra special indie retail, research neighborhoods instead of shops! I Iike to front-load my travel planning by making sure I do the research to find the right neighborhood to stay in, because I know that choosing something that’s the right balance of well-located, residential, and off-beat will naturally yield great shops, restaurants and cafes without having to do more work.
Ask a shopkeeper! We know so much! I loved writing down a list of NYC recommendations for visitors in my shop. Ask what their favorite shops are, or ask for a specific category of shop. Don’t forget to be friendly and express gratitude!
Use Google Maps! See something on someone else’s Instagram that looks cool? Save it to your maps. You never know when you might end up in that place. I’m always reading about shops in parts of the world I haven’t yet been to and save them regardless of the likelihood I’ll ever be there. I’m always delighted to find things I’d forgotten about saved in my maps.
If you are able, just walk everywhere you can! Have plans to visit a museum on the other side of the town? Walk there, and allow for at least an extra hour for exploring. Just by walking everywhere you’ll go through neighborhoods you’d never see by taking transportation. And if you don’t have time to stop, make a note of the place and leave time to go back. I like to keep the last day of any trip completely open and unplanned for things like this.
My general rule of thumb is to only plan one or two things a day when traveling and leaving the rest of my time open for whatever I find while I’m there. I keep a pocket notebook with me at all times with a page for each day so I can write down the thing I already have planned, which neighborhood it’ll take me to and any notes I come across along the way from talking to locals, walking around, etc. Every night, I’ll sit down with my notebook and make a rough plan for the next day based on things I’ve learned. Roam freely, be curious and remember that you don’t have to do everything. A packed itinerary will only kill your wanderlust spirit!
FAVORITE PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
When I was 18 and had just moved to London, my drink of choice was Campari with ginger ale. I have no idea how I came up with this odd combo, but it is delicious, and I loved drinking it. I’m coming up on 2 years since I quit drinking and am growing tired of all the startup-y non-alcoholic drink companies who are all trying to reinvent the same wheel. Don’t get me wrong, I love a bougie NA bottle as much as the next Sober Sally (I’m looking at you, Proxies!). The wheel I’m talking about is the bitter aperitif wheel, and when I was in Italy, I was reminded of the many delicious options you can find everywhere, sans alcohol. Chinotto, Sanbitter, Cordino — they all fill the void of my beloved Campari, cost the same as a Coke and come in adorable glass bottles. I buy packs of Sanbitter at Russo’s on 11th Street and make a spritz with seltzer, whatever citrus I have around and a Luxardo cherry. Be sure to save the bottles! I use mine to make mini arrangements with flowers from my garden. My favorite bud vase is still the Campari Soda bottle I brought back from the mini bar of a hotel in Santa Margherita Ligure 10 years ago! Sometimes the best souvenirs are the most unexpected ones.
Is there a product you’re looking for? Submit your request here. See you next week for fresh recommendations! xo Caroline
Luxardo cherries make anything a delicious cocktail as far as I am concerned!