“Flesh All Amesh”: Valentine’s Day Gifts Inspired by the ‘My Girl’  Poetry Class

Jul 09, 2023

By Laura Regensdorf

A passing email caught my eye recently, advertising high-cut underwear of the see-through variety, and a phrase came to me as if from a long-forgotten dream: Flesh all amesh. No, not Coleridge or Shakespeare or Barrett Browning, but rather Ronda. You remember Ronda? Pink embroidered halter, low-rise jeans, sun-kissed blonde layers, and a voice made husky by the more-than-occasional toke. It’s the poetry class scene in My Girl (a canonical text, if you will, of early 1990s cinema, starring Anna Chlumsky, Macaulay Culkin, Dan Aykroyd, and Jamie Lee Curtis), and the hippie dream girl (Lara Steinick) is recounting an experience with her boyfriend in verse. She begins by setting the scene (“He covers me like a blanket / From the cold, dark night”), steadily building until that climactic line shudders twice (“Flesh all amesh / Flesh all amesh”). Finally, an exhaled comedown: “I can’t fight it, there’s no point / I wake up and light a joint.” As the impressionistic smoke hangs in the air, Vada Sultenfuss (Chlumsky, age 10) volunteers a poem of her own. Jaunty, charming, rated G, it’s a six-line ode to ice cream, any make or model. After all, the greatest love is without exception: “Vanilla, chocolate, rocky road / Or with pie, à la mode.”

All this—My Girl, Valentine’s Day—is a tad ridiculous, maybe. But isn’t the way to one’s heart (someone else’s or your own) though the loins or the sweet tooth or, perhaps, a double-stacked cone of the two? This mix of lover’s gifts therefore nods to Ronda and Vada both. Surely flesh in mesh lingerie needs a cozy blanket, or an abstract-patterned sweater poetically titled “I Like the Way You Think.” An alluring fragrance might skew sensual (Régime des Fleurs’ Leather Petals) or dessert-course gourmand (Pistachio by D.S. & Durga). There are delights to savor (Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, the best) and smoke (a Margo Price edition of Mom Grass CBG joints), plus lip candy for all ages by way of balms and tints and glosses. As for what’s good in bed? Here, that spans linen sheets and nighttime Chanel skin care and a vibrator tailored for the G-spot (not rated G). Compared to that elusive erogenous zone, the through line isn’t all that hard to find, as Ronda’s boyfriend points out to the class: “Flesh all amesh or rocky road—it’s about desire.”

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Ultra-high-cut underwear, newly available in a rich cocoa, are the best kind of sheer understatement. (Plus, they make legs look impossibly long.) Consider them the dark chocolate sorbet of lingerie: featherweight, not too sweet, hard to resist.

Inspiration for Wary Meyers’ limited-edition soaps comes from all sorts of places: Éric Rohmer films, aerobics leotards, this iconic trio from the freezer. The Neapolitan stripes, each with a corresponding ice cream scent, bring a sense of optimism, as if saying, “You too can have it all.”

By Bess Levin

By Jack McCordick

By Dan Adler

This gold standard from 1935 is the only one for me. Its secret is a nontoxic self-defrosting liquid, sealed within the aluminum exterior—no need for a hot-water dip between scoops. Add a pint of well-chosen ice cream and you’ve just upstaged a bouquet.

Mitzah, a leopard print used by Dior since the house’s debut fashion show in 1947, shifts over to the beauty category with the latest capsule collection. This shade of matte burgundy—moody in a romantic way—comes well-dressed in a leopard-trimmed box: permission for feral behavior.

Born as a Studio Juice (perfumer David Moltz’s name for his limited-run flights of fancy), Pistachio has earned a proper place in the lineup because it is unabashedly itself: a pearl in its clamshell, ready to swan its way onto the dessert table. Sweet, with a traveler’s sophistication.

By Bess Levin

By Jack McCordick

By Dan Adler

Known for their playful rugs and bath mats decorated with abstract assemblages, the couple behind Cold Picnic have happily turned their attention to the human frame. The line’s debut run of alpaca-blend sweaters, in child sizes and adult, is a bright counterpoint to the winter doldrums, and the pattern names (“You’ve Got a Nice Face”) are love letters in themselves.

Makeup artist Lucia Pica joined Byredo last spring, but this year’s First Emotions collection shows the fullest breadth of her lush, exacting vision. The colors in the lineup—as seen in an eye palette, kajal pencil, and lipstick—hew to flushed tones, befitting this ode to new love. But the burgundy mascara, in a limited-edition black tube, is a persistent invitation.

Why take a date out for ice cream when you can stay in? Jeni’s is a top-shelf delight, and this reprised flavor hits that ideal savory-sweet equilibrium. Plus, as a care package for an out-of-town friend, nothing beats a dry-ice-filled sampler box of these perfect pints.

By Bess Levin

By Jack McCordick

By Dan Adler

New lover, new sheets? Hawkins’s stonewashed linen has the broken-in feel and durability you want from your bedding, but the array of colors is where the brand shines. Blush feels right; so does ruddy paprika and dove gray. While the flat sheet is an investment, it can be used interchangeably, top or bottom—improvisation in the bedroom.

Buying perfume for another is ever a gamble, but that’s where Régime des Fleurs’ Alia Raza comes in, lighting the way with her subversively refined library of scents. Leather Petals, billed as an homage to New York, evocatively marries two familiar materials, alongside notes like patchouli and cedar. It could also inspire a walking tour: from the 28th Street flower market west to the Meatpacking District, where Mapplethorpe immortalized the leather scene.

The latest from this crowd-favorite makeup brand: four hydrating balms in fruit punch colors. True to Tower 28’s California roots, the formula is food-grade and nourishing (mango seed oil, cocoa butter, vitamin E), with packaging made from 50% post-consumer recycled resin. Vada and Ronda would approve.

By Bess Levin

By Jack McCordick

By Dan Adler

I’m not alone in marveling at Nensi Dojaka’s provocatively delicate confections: Fans of the Albania-born designer’s work include Bella Hadid, Emma Corrin, and the Super Bowl–bound Rihanna. A past winner of the LVMH Prize, the Londoner serves up the literal translation of “flesh all amesh,” as if instigating a renewed sense of daring.

Think of these tiny adhesive pearls as the sprinkles on the sundae. Donni Davy, the Euphoria makeup department head who leads Half Magic, understands the power of maximalist beauty. Equally impactful: a single pearl, placed beneath each iris or in the inner corners of the eyes.

It’s the fleur du jour, nothing more synonymous with this particular high-emotion holiday. So, what if you could wear a dozen roses sensuously on skin? This body oil mist is one means to that end, with a blend that includes carrot seed oil, cocoa seed butter, and the subtly enveloping scent of Rosa damascena.

By Bess Levin

By Jack McCordick

By Dan Adler

Margo Price, who describes her relationship with cannabis as “medicinal, spiritual, creative, and recreational,” has partnered with Dad Grass for a collection that arrives in sync with her latest album, Strays. These hemp joints, in dusky watercolor packaging, feature the lesser-known “mother” cannabinoid CBG. Thought to have anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety effects (without the high), it’s well suited for a daytime unwind.

“All the colors are inspired by tropical flowers,” says Benjamin Puckey, introducing the new Cream Rouge liquid lipstick from Clé de Peau Beauté. As the brand’s global color director (not to mention a go-to makeup artist for Sienna Miller and Anne Hathaway), he found himself circling the flower market—bright Hibiscus rosa, muted beige anthurium—for hues to translate into satin, matte, and even chromatic shimmer finishes. The formula is surprisingly moisturizing and blendable for a gradient effect, “so it becomes this beautiful faded lip.” New romance.

The name might nod to traditional roles, but this organic cotton pillowcase, with its ribbon-like red stripe, is a gift to all. It has the feel of an heirloom (with modern-day cottage leanings), while foretelling morning-after coffee in bed. There’s a matching duvet cover, if you so choose.

By Bess Levin

By Jack McCordick

By Dan Adler

The most essential of ice cream flavors—vanilla—finds its place as an antioxidant-rich skin reviver in this nighttime serum by Chanel. Harvested by hand in Madagascar, the Vanilla planifolia here appears as a fermented elixir, stem cells, and botanical water, all boosted by a peptide designed for after-hours repair.

Maude arrived on the scene in 2018, bringing a minimalistic palette and all-bodies ethos to the subject of sex. Nearly five years later, amid a boom in the space (and with Dakota Johnson on board as co-creative director), the sexual-wellness brand is still abuzz—this time, with its debut internal vibrator, designed to target the G-spot or P-spot. It spells a good time ahead.

It’s always the right time to re-up on lingerie, especially when the make and model straddles the line between utilitarian and celebratory. (CUUP’s virtual sizing appointments also mean that you can secure the right fit from the comfort of your winter-proofed home.) This bright pink feels like something My Girl’s Shelly (Jamie Lee Curtis), in her blue eye shadow and heavy liner, might have worn—and you know what? She scores.

By Bess Levin

By Jack McCordick

By Dan Adler

Herbalist Abbe Findley brings good design, attuned ingredients, and a flicker of wit to her line of topical products, this Viper plumping lip balm included. There’s avocado oil for nourishment, cinnamon known for its circulation-boosting properties, and a gentle kick of cayenne. Hot stuff!

What does a body good? How about an all-over cream formulated with the skin barrier in mind. This newcomer from Nécessaire features a restorative five-ceramide blend, along with glycerin, niacinamide, and colloidal oatmeal (calming for the eczema-prone). A sleek glass jar makes it a worthwhile bedside companion.

In a certain viral guide to the New Rules, you might have noticed a decree against a now-ubiquitous santal fragrance. But that is just a prompt to look further afield—in this case, to this discreet rollerball, part of Soma Ayurvedic’s debut perfume drop. The provenance is right there in the name (Sandalwood City, as the brand points out), and here it’s blended with lily, powdery violet, and nutmeg, all amesh.

By Bess Levin

By Jack McCordick

By Dan Adler

How else to guard against Ronda’s “cold, dark night”? This mohair-wool-blend blanket is a particularly handsome solution. (It’s also available in mustard, sage, gray, and powder blue, for those who don’t swoon for this melone gelato color.) Winter continues; indulge yourself accordingly.

Pat McGrath, the maestra of high-fashion makeup, launched her beauty brand in the fall of 2015 with a molten-gold product that proved irresistible (a sly homage to C-3PO). Ever since, she’s become known for eye shadows that dazzle. Now, as part of her Love Collection, Pat McGrath Labs serves up an all-matte palette, ideal for ’90s-leaning socket sculpting. Seen together, they recall a bird’s-eye view into an ice cream shop’s freezer case: coffee and chocolate and vanilla waiting to be scooped.

The Oishii strawberries, grown in a vertical indoor operation with a picture-perfect gleam, have become a prized host gift in certain dinner party circles. In the hands of Westbourne’s Camilla Marcus, the fruit turns up in a more transportable form: jarred as a berry butter, to be spread on scones or spooned onto a sundae.

By Bess Levin

By Jack McCordick

By Dan Adler

Ami Colé founder Diarrha Ndiaye has a knack for delivering what truly resonates: case in point, her Skin-Enhancing Tint, created with the melanin-rich community in mind. The line’s lip oil—another fan favorite, featuring baobab and camellia seed oils—has just launched in a sunny translucent pink for the season. It’s a warm, inviting flush.

How best to end this double dip into the sensual and the sweet? With a brooding cherry on top, as only Tom Ford can do. One of two iterations to ripen in time for the holiday (the other is the musky Electric Cherry), Cherry Smoke leans into osmanthus, a jasmine-like note, with crackling woods alongside. Bright fruit, hot flame.

By Keziah Weir

By Savannah Walsh