I’m a Professional Product Reviewer and Here Are My 18 Favorite Sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023

My parents and I love this blender so much that they oh-so-gently asked if I wouldn’t mind leaving it with them when I left home. When I did, I promptly got another, which I loved so much that I stuck it in my carry-on when I moved cross-country via plane. It’s aesthetic enough to practically decorate my kitchen counter, powerful enough to tackle whatever choppy ice and chunky protein powder I toss it way, and recently came out with an accompanying stainless steel bottle and straw system for ultimate portability. And it’s 20% off for Black Friday.

I’m an absolute geek about synesthesia (the short version: your senses making connections with each other, ex: tasting purple when you hear the violin) so I’ve been obsessed with canned wine Nomadica since it hit the market. The founder, Kristin Olszewski, has been a sommelier for top-tier restaurants in Los Angeles and around the country, and she’s also well-versed in sustainable farming (hence—the can instead of heavy, hard-to-transport glass bottles.) Not only is the wine divine because of her phenomenal palette and taste, but each can comes with a specific illustration and playlist created to evoke a unique sensory aesthetic with each varietal. The sheer attention paid to every detail woos me like no other, so I was thrilled to see Nomadica 25% off through 11/27. (I still need to try the skin-contact orange!)

You shouldn’t necessarily get comments on your concealer but I always used to constantly get comments on my dark purple under eye circles—until I started using this two-in-one concealer and foundation stick from clean beauty brand Merit Beauty. I’m still a bad sleeper, but when I started getting questions from friends and family about whether I was doing something differently or what I was using, I knew the Minimalist Perfecting Complexion Stick was doing its job better than any other makeup had done for me before.

With buildable coverage, lightweight hydration, and clean ingredients, you can use the Minimalist Perfecting Complexion Stick as a concealer, foundation, or contour, making it a powerhouse in your beauty bag. I also generally recommend that shoppers use Black Friday to restock makeup and other “refillable” items they know they’ll rebuy before the year is out. Take advantage of the discounts!

As mentioned, I’m a poor sleeper. I do my best and have pretty great sleep hygiene, but as soon as my brain gets going, any thoughts of snoozing easily goes straight out the window. As a professional shopping writer, I test hundreds of items and regularly tell brands that if they can make me sleep better, I will champion them forever. Once I find my hero product in a given sleep category, it pretty much stays ingrained in my system. Enter Coop Sleep Goods. I already loved them for their Eden Pillow, a pillow I loved so much I’ve stuffed it in a carry-on—and one of the few not to give me a headache. 

But when the brand launched its cooling line in July? Oh boy. I don’t know what mysterious, black-magic witchcraft is in this blanket but it’s literally chilly to the touch. I literally live in Hawai’i, and had no AC for my first month of being there—but with this blanket, I’m practically cold. It’s so refreshing, ideal for hot sleepers, and it’s 100 percent a party trick my roommates and I used to drag out to show people because it is simply *that* good. Coop Sleep Goods has one of the steepest discounts I’ve seen yet, with 40% off their arsenal.

When I first got a set of beaded artisanal coasters from Joanna Buchanan, I thought I’d like them—but not that they’d be one of my favorite items in my home day after day. These beaded coasters are surprisingly durable and compliment magnets for my kitchen and living room—and they’re currently 30% off at Anthropologie as part of the retailer’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale. They even have zodiac-themed versions too for all y’all “Scorpio rising” folk out there.

Okay, this one’s not a product—but you’ve heard of Travel Tuesday, right? Traveling is my absolute number one priority in life. I will drop everything to do it. But I’m also a twenty-something on a budget, and this spring, I took a low-cost PLAY Airlines flight from Washington, D.C. to Reykjavík, Iceland for a transformative few days of exploring geothermal lagoons, the city’s mouthwateringly good culinary scene, and immersing myself in its gorgeous, wintry Viking history. And I could have continued on to the rest of Europe; PLAY Airlines is one of the most accessible ways to travel to Europe, and right now it’s offering up to 35% off flights through 11/28. Right now, the airline’s practically giving away discounted fairs to Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, Athens, Copenhagen, Paris…Late Checkout, here I come? 2024’s feeling international, y’all.