Here at FLARE, we have a lot in common: a love of fashion, beauty, magazines, culture and words. But as we rush around putting together the magazine and this website, we don’t always have time to share the minutiae of our passions. What do we binge-watch on a rainy weekend? What album do we have playing on loop? What movies make us cry? Hence, this weekly column was born.
Michelle Higgins, copy editor 
Just about every time someone mentions my favourite author, Lesley Glaister, it’s to note that, despite her ridiculous talent and stack of acclaimed novels, hardly anybody’s heard of her. I came across the British writer’s suburban gothic thrillers by accident: browsing a Dublin bookstore when I was 13, I picked up one of her books because I liked the cover, read a page or two, and fell in love. Since then I’ve read every Glaister I could get my hands on, including her latest, Little Egypt, about a pair of twins guarding a dark secret in the crumbling English country house left to them by their parents, Egyptologists who set off on a search for a fabled tomb and never came back. It’s only available in Canada as an eBook, but if you’re like me and have to have a hard copy, you can order it from the publisher. It’s worth it.
Little Egypt, $7, Amazon
Natalie McLeod, designer
I just got back from vacation, so beach hair was my go-to look for the week. Obviously you can’t beat the ocean, but Kevin Murphy Hair.Resort Spray did wonders too. This dream in a can will give you the effortless surfer look you’ve always wanted. It’s easy to use, and with honey, citrus and tangerine top notes, your hair will smell delicious. I’m obsessed! Kevin Murphy Hair.Resort Spray, $18, Amazon.com
Rachel Heinrichs, senior editor 
Every spring I get the urge to do eye-bleedingly bright fuchsia lips. It’s a reaction against winter’s heavy hues and a somewhat ridiculous impulse for someone with rosy skin (pink + pink = peony face). This year, I discovered Smashbox’s new Electric Matte Pink lipstick, which has just the right amount of blue to contrast my perpetual flush. It looks soft and pretty, yet also glows like a neon sign on a bare face.
Smashbox Be Legendary Lipstick in Electric Pink Matte, $23, Sephora
Rudy Lee, research editor 
When the optometrist told me I had astigmatism, I thought, I don’t see a silver lining here, and not just because my vision is defective. I had my heart set on a pair of Thom Browne spectacles and tried every pair in stock, but none of them suited my face. Then I was introduced to Dita Eyewear, which is manufactured in Japan by the same dexterous hands that craft TB frames (yes, I fact-checked this). Finally settling on a pair of matte black clubmasters was a real-life wand-picks-the-wizard moment, but the true sorcery is that I can see. I CAN SEE.
Dita Eyewear Statesman, $550, Dita
Briony Smith, entertainment editor 
Joshua Ferris is not yet 40 and has already been a National Book Award finalist and PEN/Hemingway winner, and been published in The New Yorker and The Best American Short Stories. Oh, and he’s a bit of a piece, too. The lit-wunderkind’s hilarious new novel To Rise Again at a Decent Hour tackles the pleasures and perils of the Internet age as neurotic dentist Paul O’Rourke discovers someone has begun to impersonate him online—and that Internet Paul may, sadly, be cooler than IRL Paul.
To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, $29, Chapters