Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photo: Bronson Farr for Netflix. Joe McKendry
If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what everyday stuff famous people add to their carts, like hair spray or an electric toothbrush. We asked comedian, actress, and producer Michelle Buteau — the face of Amazon’s back-to-school shopping campaign — about the candy, spiral notebooks, and coffee beans she can’t live without.
I like to eat York Peppermint Patties like chips. I can’t just have one, like, what am I, a monster? Get out of here. But with these mini ones, I can fit just a few in a pocket or in my bra and pull them out for a nice little treat. The dark chocolate and mint is nostalgic for me because my parents would always have dark chocolate mints after a fancy dinner. And my kids don’t like these, so there’s always plenty for me — if I liked KitKats, then I’d be screwed. When I’m in Zoom meetings or on set and I’m trying to manage my caffeine intake, I don’t want a latte or a whole dessert. Sometimes, I just want a little bite of that good, dark-chocolate mint. Also, I remember those commercials. No one needs to be skiing here. That’s a lot. I don’t like skiing. It’s just a little pop of sugar. Calm down.
Look at these elbows. Stop. I want to age gracefully, but I don’t want to be doing interviews in my 70s in July with a turtleneck and gloves because I didn’t put lotion on 30 years ago. I put this on right out of the shower, and it feels like I’m doing something for myself. But it’s also great for the bottom of your feet and I really need it. My mom saw my feet the other day, and she’s like, “Have you been walking on fire?” I’m like, “Yeah, girl. I have. Back up. Every day’s a volcano.”
My husband and I both agree on this coffee. He’s European, so he likes a darker roast, and I like a lighter roast. So, we’ve sort of met in the middle with this coffee that we both love. It’s our fuel, it’s our lifeline. It’s the first thing we enjoy at the top of every day. He even got a very overpriced, fancy Italian machine to make coffee. And so making coffee each day is our moment, and it is so good. We even figured out how to make espresso martinis with it.
I think most women, especially Black women, have different textures in their hair. I didn’t even realize I had different textures until my hairdresser ten years ago was just like, “You have four different textures on your head.” It’s thinner up top, thicker in the middle. It does something crazy and kinky in the back. I’m like, that’s poetry. Now I feel less insane. And so finding all-natural, elevated hair products is paramount, especially since I have these 5-year-old twins who also have curly hair. When I was younger, on Sunday evenings I would sit down on the floor in front of my mom on the couch and she’d do my hair for three hours and I couldn’t move.
I use this shampoo and conditioner on my four textures and my kids who have different textures between them. Now all I have to do is put a little bit of product in my hand, run it through the kids’ hair, and we’re family-portrait ready. It works for all of us. And that’s the vibe, like, okay, we gotta get out of the house. Did we pee and wash our hands? Let’s go.
When I think of a serum, I think of my mom going to a very fancy spa in the ’80s and buying $500 worth of Clinique. Now you can get what I used to think of as fancy products over the counter or direct to your door. With this set, I really feel a difference, especially after wearing makeup all day. I’m filming season two of Survival of the Thickest and I am regularly working 14- to 17-hour days. Literally, I come in at 5 a.m. so someone can do my makeup for two hours. And then there are constant touch-ups — there’s so much makeup being put on my face. At the end of the day, I like to have the makeup artist take all the makeup off and do a hot towel. When I come home, I scrub my face, and even though it feels dry, I know it’s clean. These serums feel like they are giving my skin all the moisture and nutrients back, in a way that I can’t get from a lotion. Sometimes I mix a little lotion and serum together and put it on my neck and it feels like a spa day.
I have a Lab mastiff and a Lab pit mastiff named Lola and Whitney Houston. So, essentially, I have two ponies, and we even have a little shovel in the backyard to pick up their shit. Anyway, we like to make salmon or chicken breasts with vegetables and rice for them. But we need a base to put it on. This dry dog food is the base. They both like it and they can digest it well. The bags are big. Every time they come, I’m like, “Did we order a couch?” My husband’s like, “That’s the dog food.” So carrying it inside, that’s my cardio.
I have these notebooks everywhere, all over the house. I have them by the couches, I have them by the baths, I have them in the car. I even have them by the door so if we’re running out to a restaurant, we can bring something that the kids can draw on or practice spelling on. For me, it’s really important not to be on my phone all the time. Could I text my husband what to pick up at the grocery store? Yes, but then my kids are seeing me on my phone. I’d rather them see me writing on paper than on my phone all the time. So, since I’m not going to have my phone on me all the time, if I get an idea, whether it’s for a joke or a scene in my show or a movie idea, I have to write it down right away. I write it down, rip the page out, then put it in the same corner of the house so I can go back to it at the end of the week.
I have 5-year-old twins. We’re out of diapers unless we’re on a long plane ride, because I don’t want to ruin Delta’s seats. But we’re trying to potty-train at night, and so we just need a lot of sheets. I keep multiples of the same sheets rolled up under their bed in a little basket for those middle-of-the night wake-ups, because I’m sleepwalking, they’re sleepwalking. They feel bad that they wet the bed, and I want them to know that this is normal. And because I’m putting the same sheet on again, it’s like we’re back to square one, same night, a fresh start. My son is really into learning about dinosaurs right now, and my daughter likes them too. So for right now, it’s dinosaurs all the time.
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