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'Is my iPhone under warranty?': How to check if your iPhone is still eligible for Apple's warranty status

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Apple Iphone 11

When you purchase a new iPhone, your device comes with a limited warranty that covers eligible hardware repairs for one year, and provides free technical support by phone for 90 days.

But you may not remember the exact date when you purchased your iPhone, and whether or not it's still under warranty.

To help you with this, Apple has a painless solution. Here's how you can find out in just a few steps.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone 11 (From $699.99 at Best Buy)

How to check if your iPhone is under warranty

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Tap "General."

3. Tap "About." On the About page, you should see your serial number as the fifth item listed.

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4. Press down and hold your finger over the serial number.

5. Once the "Copy" bubble pops up, tap on it to copy your serial number.

6. Open up your preferred browser and go to Apple's warranty tracker

7. Tap the text box located under "Enter your serial number."

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8. Double tap the text box and a "Paste" bubble should pop up. Tap on it to paste your serial number into the text box.

9. Type the security code into the text box under "Please enter the code" and then click "Continue."

10. You'll be taken to a new page that will tell you if your iPhone is still covered by Apple's limited warranty program and if you still have telephone support.

image3 iphone warranty

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

SEE ALSO: The best iPhone for every type of person and budget

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NOW WATCH: How Area 51 became the center of alien conspiracy theories


Apartment prices in Manhattan just hit a 4-year low. Here's everything you need to know about NYC's mansion tax — and how it's affecting the luxury market.

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Third quarter real-estate sales indicate that Manhattan apartment prices are the lowest they've been in four years, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal's Josh Barbanel.

The average price of a Manhattan apartment in the second quarter of this year was $2.5 million, Barbanel wrote. The average price in the third quarter plummeted to $1.7 million. That's a 32% decline from one quarter to the next. 

The market update comes approximately six months after the revised mansion tax was passed in April. At the time, Manhattan's luxury real-estate market was sent into a frenzy as wealthy clients rushed to close deals before the new tax rates went into effect on July 1, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The revision of the mansion tax was bittersweet for New York City's luxury market. While the market dodged a costly and long-debated tax on expensive second homes, wealthy buyers didn't get off scot-free.

The progressive mansion tax is expected to raise $365 million a year. The money will, according to the New York State Division of the Budget, be used to improve the city's subway system.

Specifically, the revenue, as the New York State Division of the Budget details, will be used to support up to $5 billion in financing for MTA projects.

Business Insider spoke with industry leaders about the history of the mansion tax and the impacts its new rates will have on New York City's luxury market. 

What is the mansion tax?

In 1989, former Governor of New York Mario Cuomo issued the mansion tax mandating a 1% tax on statewide home sales of $1 million or more. 

Over the next 30 years, the number of homes — priced at $1 million and more — sold in New York City, in particular, grew astronomically. With home sales regularly in the multimillions, the suggestion of higher taxes on expensive real estate in the city became a pressing topic of conversation.

And in January of 2019, billionaire Ken Griffin purchased a $238 million Manhattan apartment— the most expensive home ever sold in the US. Three months after Griffin's purchase was made public, lawmakers passed two new sales taxes on multimillion-dollar homes in New York City.

First, the progressive mansion tax was implemented, which taxes home sales of $2 million or more upwards at 1%, capping at a 3.9% tax on home sales of $25 million or more. 

Second, a .25% transfer tax was put into place. That is now an additional tax on top of the already-existing, statewide .4% transfer tax.

Homes outside of New York City that sell for $1 million or more will not be affected by the progressive mansion tax or the new transfer tax.

breaking down new mansion tax rate table

What does the new mansion tax mean for luxury real estate in Manhattan?

As Barbara Fox, founder and president of the real-estate brokerage Fox Residential, told Business Insider, "It's the newness of [the new progressive mansion tax] that's causing the issues."

New York's luxury housing market has taken a hit over the past year, seeing price cuts and an influx of inventory. Now, with the new mansion tax in effect, there is a lingering worry among industry professionals that it will continue to slow down the already-slow market. 

Forbes' contributing writer Frederick Peters, the CEO of the real-estate firm Warburg Realty, wrote that over time, the progressive mansion tax will become a normal factor in transactional negotiations between buyers and sellers.

While Fox told Business Insider that she is confident the market will continue to climb in 2019, she predicts the progressive mansion tax will make it move slower. For the ultra-wealthy, an extra tax during closing isn't going to be a deal-breaker, Fox explained.

"The market will still climb, but it will climb more slowly in the balance of this year than it may have otherwise," Fox told Business insider.

What happened to the luxury market in June?

According to Douglas Elliman's Q2 Manhattan market report, for the first time in six quarters, year-over-year sales increased in June as buyers rushed to save thousands, and in some cases, millions of dollars in mansion taxes.

Jamie Heiberger, president and founder of Heiberger & Associates, PC, told Business Insider she closed more deals this past June than usual because buyers wanted to avoid the progressive mansion tax.

"So many deals that may have not closed until later got moved up because they wanted to get in before the deadline [July 1]," Heiberger told Business Insider.

How are people reacting to the new mansion tax — and why are some New Yorkers celebrating it?

Before revising the mansion tax rates, lawmakers proposed a pied-à-terre tax that would mandate an annual tax on second homes worth $5 million or more. Industry leaders feared it would push buyers and developers away from New York.

"That [proposed pied-à-terre tax] will dramatically affect prices, which will dramatically affect the appetite for developers to keep developing, which affects the employment of tens of thousands," David Juracich, principal of JDS Development Group, told digital-media company Bisnow in March of 2019.

According to Mansion Global, a home worth $25 million would come with a $370,000 annual pied-à-terre tax. So, when lawmakers instead passed the progressive mansion tax, industry leaders were relieved.

"We probably dodged a bullet here," Steven James CEO of Douglas Elliman's New York City division, told Bloomberg in an interview.

SEE ALSO: Mansions and penthouses are lingering on the market in major US luxury markets. Plummeting interest among foreign buyers is largely to blame.

DON'T MISS: New York is in a race to be carbon neutral by 2050. The city's glossy, glass-encased luxury buildings may be one of the first casualties

Join the conversation about this story »

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Everlane’s $50 work pants compete with pairs that are 4 times the price — here's how they've held up to a year of wear

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Spending a lot of money on work clothes isn't particularly appealing. But neither is paying $30 for a pair of office-appropriate pants and spending every eight-hour work day thereafter loathing the way they look and feel.

Ideally, you'd like to find something that fits your budget but is also better-fitting, better-looking, and more versatile than it has any right to be at its price point.

For me — and a few other testers on the team — that's the description of Everlane's $50 The Work Pant, even after one year of wear. 

They're a fitted pant made from four-way stretch cotton with a handful of subtle but altogether really flattering updates: a smooth and out-of-the-way side zipper, high waist, and elongating back-of-the-leg seam for added polish. They're machine-washable, and they come in ten versatile colors — from black and navy to houndstooth and ochre. You can grab them in ankle-length or regular-length. 

Below are three personal experiences from our testers, plus updates after one full year of wear to determine how they've held up over time. If your search for great work pants doesn't end here, we've also got resources for the best work pants for petite women and the best places to shop for new women's work clothes right now.

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Mara Leighton, Insider Picks reporter: The Work Pant (Ankle) in navy, $50

The Work Pant is about a fourth of what my other favorite work pants go for (like the $195 MM. LaFleur Hockley), and while it doesn't dethrone them, it does join them in my all-time favorites.

For $50, Everlane's work pants look more flattering, feel more comfortable, and retain their shape for longer and than my other "affordable" pairs. I've actually worn these outside of work because they're a great structured, slim fit pant on their own. 

It's good to note that these fit snug, so I would size up if you're unsure or want a more relaxed fit. In person, the material is also deceptively more substantial than I expected, which makes them much more structured — and flattering — for a stretchy, high-waist pant than I've really encountered elsewhere. The side zipper helps the silhouette remain unbroken and sleek without bagging, and the back seams are a really nice touch — elevating the "polish" of the pants and improving the fit. I'd recommend them to anyone looking to grab a couple of affordable work pants that perform much better than their price suggests.

Update after one year of wear: These pants haven't really changed in a year of use. The material is still solid and flexible, the color the same, and I still wear them frequently. It's also worth noting that I don't give them any especially delicate treatment — I toss them in a washing machine with the rest of my clothes. I still say size up if you're concerned about how tight they are, but I highly recommend them. For $50, it's hard to find something better if this is a style you like.  

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Connie Chen, Insider Picks reporter: The Work Pant (Ankle) in black, $50

I like these pants more and more each time I wear them. Made of a four-way stretch cotton, the attractive slim fit style manages to balance comfort and structure to a tee. The seam running down the back of the pants provides the polish and poise needed in an office, but because the pants also come in eye-catching colors like Dark Green and Surplus, you can still inject a little more color and personality into your outfit if you want. While I do also love the MM.La Fleur Foster Pant, which is similarly stylish, versatile, and comfortable, these Everlane work pants clock in at a quarter of the price — a pretty amazing value. I could stock up on a few pairs of these in different colors and be set in the work pant department.

Update after one year of wear: I can have decision paralysis when I pick out what to wear in the morning, especially as I consider factors like what underwear I'm wearing and how active I'll be throughout the day. Time and again, I've put on the Everlane Work Pants knowing that I can wear them with pretty much any top, and that they'll be comfortable all day long. 

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Malarie Gokey, Insider Picks guides editor: The Work Pant (Ankle) in black, $50

I'm a big fan of comfortable work pants that have good stretch but still look professional, and Everlane's $50 Work Pants fit the bill. The Ankle length is just right for my petite 5'2" frame, and I sized up to make sure the fit wasn't too tight for the office. The pants stretch to fit your curves comfortably and I was pleasantly surprised by how much structure the fabric had. Usually, these kinds of form-fitting stretchy work slacks don't feel this solid. I'm also really impressed by the price — At $50, they're affordable enough to buy multiple pairs for the price you'd ordinarily pay for just one pair.

Update after one year of wear: These pants have really held up. However, I hand-wash most of my clothes — these pants included — so my clothes tend to last longer because they don't face the wear and tear of the washer and dryer. They're comfortable and cute. My only wish is that the legs were less tapered and wider, but that's my own style preference.

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All in all, Everlane's $50 work pants are another standout from the company. The silhouette is flattering on different body types and heights (from 5'2 - 5'7 in our testing), the stretchy fabric is much more structured than you'd think, and we tend to like them more and more every time we wear them. For $50, they're a great value — especially considering how well the material and color have fared over the course of a year. 

Get a pair of Everlane's The Work Pant for $50 here 

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Why everyone should have these $7 metal straws

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Greens Steel straws

  • We create about 88 pounds of plastic a year — per person. And even if you sort your plastics into the right bins, less than 9% of plastic is actually recycled.
  • That's because some things like single-use straws and utensils are too small to be processed by recycling plants and get dumped in a landfill.
  • This $7 five-piece set of metal straws from Amazon is an easy alternative to using plastic straws, and I'll never use anything else ever again.
  • Updated 10/2/19 by Jada Wong: Three years later, these metal straws are still going strong. I still use them at home, and have even bought a second set to use at work.

I'd like to think that I was always pretty green — I reuse plastic bags from the grocery store as garbage bags, I donate clothes instead of throwing them out, and I sort my recyclables accordingly.

But it wasn't until I started reading about the disastrous effects of single-use plastics that I realized just how un-eco-friendly I really was. Suddenly, I started noticing just how many of the plastic straws I'd pilfered from the office or coffee shops were strewn across my apartment.

I used to recycle plastic straws but maddeningly enough, most plastic straws don't even get recycled. They're so thin and small that recycling plants can't process them so they get chucked out into a landfill along with the rest of the trash and get blown away or swept by rain into the ocean.

So in an effort to actually live more eco-friendly this time and reduce my own plastic usage, I started using metal straws. This $7 set from Amazoncomes with two angled straws for normal drinks like water or juice, two straight straws for thick drinks like smoothies, and a cleaning brush similar to a pipe cleaner or mascara spoolie to clean the inside of the straw.

The straws are made of food-grade stainless steel that won't rust and are free of BPA (which comes from hard plastics), phthalates, and lead. When I first used them, I was worried that I might taste that distinctive, and frankly, disgusting metal tang, but they actually didn't taste like anything or change the taste of my drinks at all.

In fact, most of the time, I don't even register that I'm using a metal straw — to me, it's just a straw. I use them at home and have a second set at work, though I haven't graduated to bringing them out to a restaurant yet. In those situations, I just tell the waiter that I don't want a plastic straw.

Of course, I need to acknowledge that forgoing plastic straws isn't going to make a difference if we're still using plastic bags or water bottles, or if recycling plants can't figure out a way to properly process them, but for me, at least it's a start. In fact, it has led to other good habits like refusing plastic utensils from my takeout orders, bringing my own tote bags to the grocery store, and even composting.

Buy the Greens Steel Stainless Steel Straw Set for $6.99 from Amazon

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Meet the 15 youngest, richest American billionaires

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Some people don't need to spend a lifetime building wealth.

Forbes just dropped its annual Forbes 400 list, which ranks and profiles the richest American billionaires, worth a total of $2.96 trillion. The youngest on the list — Evan Spiegel, co-founder of Snapchat— is just 29.

And that doesn't include all of the youngest billionaires in the US — while Kylie Jenner may be called the youngest self-made billionaire ever, her estimated $1 billion net worth didn't make the cut. In fact, a record 221 American billionaires didn't make the list. The minimum net worth required to make this list is $2.1 billion.

Read more: Meet the world's richest millennials, who have a collective net worth of more than $235 billion

To see how Forbes determined who made the Forbes 400, you can view their full methodology here. We narrowed that list down to look at the 15 youngest, richest billionaires on the list, who are worth a collective $146.9 billion.

All net worths are current estimates as of October 2, 2019. The full list below is ranked by age. In cases where two billionaires are the same age, they are ranked in ascending order of wealth.

SEE ALSO: The richest person at every age

DON'T MISS: Mark Zuckerberg spent almost $60 million on 2 waterfront estates in Tahoe last winter. Here's a look at the 10 properties he owns across the US, from a modest Palo Alto home to a Hawaiian plantation

15. Andres Santo Domingo is heir to a beer giant.

Age: 41

Net worth: $4.3 billion

Industry: beverage

Andres Santo Domingo's fortune is rooted in Anheuser-Busch InBev, which acquired beer giant SABMiller in 2016 for $100 billion. His father, Julio Mario, had a multibillion-dollar stake in SABMiller, which Andres inherited when Julio Mario died in 2011.

According to Forbes, he's a chairman on the boards of Conservation International and the New York Public Library.



14. Robert Pera is the founder and CEO of Ubiquiti Networks.

Age: 41

Net worth: $6.4 billion

Industry: tech

Robert Pera founded wireless equipment maker Ubiquiti Networks, which sells wireless broadband systems largely to emerging markets. Pera owns nearly 75% of the company. In 2017, Ubiquiti generated $865 million in revenue.

As Business Insider's Marissa Perino previously reported, he's also one of the richest people in Silicon Valley.



13. Sean Parker is a venture capital investor and philanthropist.

Age: 39

Net worth: $2.7 billion

Industry: tech

Sean Parker had a brief stint at age 24 as Facebook's president, which is where his fortune largely stems from. Parker invested in Spotify in 2010, leaving the Board of Directors in June 2017. In 2015, he created the Parker Foundation, which later established the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.

Despite being the founding president of Facebook, Parker criticized the company at an Axios event in 2017, saying, "God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains."



12. Joe Gebbia is the co-founder and chief product officer of Airbnb.

Age: 38

Net worth: $4.2 billion

Industry: tech

Joe Gebbia cofounded home rental company Airbnb with Brian Chesky and Nathan Blecharczyk in 2008. The company recently announced it expects to become a publicly traded company sometime in 2020.

 



11. Brian Chesky is the cofounder and CEO of Airbnb.

Age: 38

Net worth: $4.2 billion

Industry: tech

Brian Chesky cofounded Airbnb with Blecharczyk and Gebbia. Before Airbnb kicked off, Chesky was earning $40,000 a year as an industrial designer. As Business Insider's Katie Warren previously reported, he's pledged to give away at least half of his fortune to charity.

Read more: Airbnb just announced it expects to go public in 2020. Meet CEO Brian Chesky, who cofounded the company in 2008 to help pay his San Francisco apartment's rent and is now worth $4.2 billion.



10. Ernest Garcia III is the CEO and cofounder of Carvana.

Age: 37

Net worth: $2.3 billion

Industry: tech

Ernest Garcia III began Carvana, an ecommerce platform for buying and selling used cars, in 2012; it also offers financing services. In 2017, Garcia took Carvana public, raising $225 million.

 



9. Lynsi Snyder is owner and heiress to In-N-Out Burger.

Age: 37

Net worth: $3.6 billion

Industry: fast food

Lynsi Snyder received her full inheritance to West Coast fast-food chain In-N-Out Burger, founded by her grandparents, on her 35th birthday. Her father and uncle passed away young, and Snyder was the last family heir at age 18. In 2010, she became president and has since expanded In-N-Out.

As Business Insider's Áine Cain reported in October 2018, Snyder is very popular with her employees: At the time, she had a 96% approval rating on Glassdoor

Read more: What the sole heiress to the In-N-Out empire and one of the US's youngest billionaires' life is really like



8. Nathan Blecharczyk is the cofounder and chief strategy officer of Airbnb.

Age: 36

Net worth: $4.2 billion

Industry: tech

Nathan Blecharczyk co-founded Airbnb with Gebbia and Chesky. He was the company's first engineer. Airbnb now operates in more than 100,000 cities and has 7 million listings worldwide.

Read more: How 3 guys turned renting air mattresses in their apartment into a $31 billion company, Airbnb

 

 



7. Scott Duncan is an heir to Enterprise Products Partners.

Age: 36

Net worth: $6.3 billion

Industry: oil

Along with his three siblings, Scott Duncan inherited a stake in his father Dan Duncan's pipeline firm, Enterprise Products Partners, in 2010. The company owns natural gas processing plants, oil and gas storage facilities, and oil and gas pipelines. Duncan isn't actively involved.

The Duncans are one of America's wealthiest families: Collectively, they have a net worth of $24.8 billion.



6. Dustin Moskovitz cofounded Facebook and Asana.

Age: 35

Net worth: $11.6 billion

Industry: tech

Dustin Moskovitz cofounded Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. He left Facebook in 2008 to co-found workflow software company Asana, which earned more than $100 million in revenue in 2018. Moskovitz still owns a 2% stake in Facebook and has given $1.4 billion away to charity.

As Paige Leskin previously reported for Business Insider, Moskovitz numbers among the many successful tech moguls who never graduated from college: He dropped out of Harvard along with Zuckerberg to pursue Facebook.





5. Mark Zuckerberg is the cofounder and CEO of Facebook.

Age: 35

Net worth: $69.6 billion

Industry: tech

Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in 2004 and took it public in 2012. Facebook's stock has since increased by more than 408% for a current market capitalization of $547 billion, reported Lucinda Shen for Fortune. Zuckerberg still owns about 15% of the stock. He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, pledged to donate 99% of their Facebook stake during their life.

Read more: 9 mind-blowing facts that show just how wealthy Mark Zuckerberg really is



4. Julio Mario Santo Domingo III is an heir to one of the world's biggest beer fortunes.

Age: 34

Net worth: $2.1 billion

Industry: beverage

Julio Mario Santo Domingo III's late grandfather owned a large stake in SABMiller after it was acquired by his brewer Bavaria. In 2016, Anheuser-Bush InBev acquired SABMiller for $100 billion. Santo Domingo is an heir to the fortune and a disc jockey for the group Shek 'N' Beik.



3. Lukas Walton is heir to the Walmart fortune.

Age: 33

Net worth: $18.1 billion

Industry: retail

Lukas Walton is the grandson of Sam Walton, who founded Walmart. When his father, John Walton, died in a plane crash in 2005, he inherited about one-third of John's estate. While he owns a stake in Walmart, he doesn't work for the company and devotes time to philanthropic causes.

The Waltons are the richest family in the US: They have a net worth of $169.7 billion.

Read more: Income inequality in the US has hit a record high. Meet the 15 richest American family 'dynasties,' who have a combined net worth of $618 billion.



2. Bobby Murphy is the cofounder and Chief Technology Officer of Snapchat.

Age: 31

Net worth: $3.7 billion

Industry: tech

Bobby Murphy cofounded Snapchat, which has 203 million daily users, with Stanford fraternity brother Evan Spiegel. As of January 2019, Snap Inc. was worth under $8 billion, Keris Lahiff reported for CNBC.

As Alex Heath reported for Business Insider in 2017, Murphy keeps a relatively low profile and has only given a handful of interviews.



1. Even Spiegel is the cofounder and CEO of Snapchat.

Age: 29

Net worth: $3.6 billion

Industry: tech

Evan Spiegel cofounded multimedia messaging app Snapchat with Murphy. He and Murphy each own roughly 18% of Snap, but have voting shares that allow them control over the board. He's only one of three self-made billionaires in the world not yet 30 and has donated nearly $65 million in Snap stock.

Spiegel is married to supermodel Miranda Kerr.

Read more: Amid Snap's struggles as a public company, CEO Evan Spiegel gives this advice to founders: 'Don't go public'



The best luggage scales you can buy

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  • A digital luggage scale is a must for any traveler, particularly those who check baggage or tend to overpack.
  • Between its tare function, highly accurate sensors, and an affordable price tag, the $11 Etekcity Digital Hanging Luggage Scale stands out among the rest.

A luggage scale is a handy item to bring along on your travels, especially if you tend to overpack or you're facing restrictive airline policies. As many travelers find, a few extra items here and there can add up quickly. This is especially true if you can't return from a trip without getting souvenirs for your loved ones at home.

Most digital luggage scales provide fast and accurate readings, and they're generally compact and portable enough to slip into a piece of carry-on luggage. In most cases, all you need is a battery or two for operation.

Most luggage scales fall within the range of $9 to $20. Many travelers agree that's a small price to pay, especially when you could end up paying $50 or more if your bag is deemed overweight by an airline. There isn't a lot of variation when it comes to the best luggage scales, but subtle differences can help steer you in the direction of one particular scale.

For example, some scales automatically shut off to conserve battery life. A handful of scales are equipped with a low battery indicator. If you know you overpack, you may want to consider a scale with an overweight warning, which is typically generated in the form of an audible beep.

The majority of digital luggage scales have a weight limit of 110 pounds or 50 kilograms. Most also provide readings in both pounds and kilograms, which particularly comes in handy for international travel. Another factor to consider is the overall comfort and strength of the handle. Heavier bags tend to be tougher to lift and can strain both the handle and hook of the scale, especially if you often pack your bags to the brim.

Here are the best luggage scales of 2019:

Updated 10/2/19 by Jada Wong: Updated copy and formatting, and wrote a personal review of the Etekcity Digital Hanging Luggage Scale.

The best luggage scale overall

The Etekcity Digital Hanging Luggage Scale is just under five-ounces but can weigh bags and suitcases up to 110 pounds. 

I've had my Etekcity scale for more than three years now and I've used it on more than 10 international trips to Greece, Iceland, Amsterdam, the Maldives, and more. It's honestly one of the best purchases I've made.

I always overpack no matter where I'm going, so having a luggage scale really helps me streamline and prioritize the essentials. It also helps me avoid the embarrassment and time wasted trying to unload things in front of everyone at the airport, and most importantly, exorbitant overweight baggage fees.

But don't let the $11 price fool you — it's durable, dependable, and accurate. It fits into your pocket and weighs just under five ounces, but can weigh items up to 110 pounds. 

To use this luggage scale, just loop it around the handle of you bag or suitcase and lift. The weight will pop up on the digital screen either as pounds or kilograms. I set it to the unit of measurement that my destination uses (usually kilograms) so I don't have to do convert it m yself.

I really just use this to weigh my packed suitcases, but there's also a tare and memory function to track the weight of empty luggage, and a temperature function to make sure your bags aren't in extreme heat or cold. I haven't used either of these features personally, but Amazon reviewers say they've come in handy. 

The scale comes with a CR2032 lithium battery, and it hasn't died on me in the last three years I've had it. Granted, I use it only a few times a year on long trips, but even if I had to buy a replacement battery, it wouldn't be the worst thing to happen. 

Etekcity's scale has a 4.5-star rating with more than 5,000 Amazon reviews. You can read my full review of the scale over here. — Jada Wong 

Pros: Accurate sensors, low-battery indicator, required battery included, automatic shutoff

Cons: Small handle can make it tricky to balance larger bags for accurate readings, battery life could be better, display difficult to read in sunlight



The best multifunction luggage scale

The Urbo 3-in-1 Luggage Scale with Built-In Powerbank is like packing three travel-friendly tools in one.

When preparing for travel, it's always best to pack smartly. Sure, a luggage scale is handy, but what if said luggage scale could also double as a portable battery and a flashlight? That's the thinking behind the Urbo 3-in-1 Luggage Scale with Built-In Powerbank.

As a digital luggage scale, the gadget has a maximum weight capacity of 110 pounds or 50 kilograms. It also has an overweight warning, tare, hold, power saver, and low-battery alert functions. The non-slip grip allows for comfortable weighing. A small display indicates weight in either metric or imperial.

While most luggage scales are either left at home before a trip or in the luggage at the hotel, the Urbo 3-in-1 Luggage Scale with Built-In Powerbank is meant to tag along with you. Stuff it inside a backpack or purse, and you'll have a 6,000mAh battery for recharging phones (at least twice), tablets, ebooks, cameras, etc. And for safety, the scale has a built-in 60-lumen LED flashlight for navigating in dark environments. The strap, used for weighing luggage, can be removed.

Because there is a battery, the Urbo 3-in-1 Luggage Scale with Built-In Powerbank is heavier than other luggage scales. Despite the high price, it offers a lot of value — you're getting three products, after all. Good Housekeeping UK said it is "worth investing in" and it loves "its innovative design." The publication noted that it's great for campers, too, but it didn't like its accuracy with heavier luggage.

On Amazon's customer reviews, 84% gave it 5 stars, with an overall average of 4.5 stars. Most customers applaud the product, although some reportedly received defective units.

Pros: Built-in rechargeable battery and flashlight, comfortable grip

Cons: Big and heavy



The best luggage scale for overpackers

Every bit of weight counts when you're traveling, which is where the Travel Smart by Conair Compact Digital Luggage Scale's audible alert really comes in handy.

This compact digital travel luggage scale is an easy choice if you suffer from a severe case of overpacking. If your bag exceeds the weight limit, it will beep to warn you.

Unlike many other luggage scales, which generally hold up to 110 pounds, this scale has an 80-pound capacity. Of course, if you exceed the general weight limit for most airlines (50 pounds), it won't really matter. There is a digital display that shows weight in either pound or kilogram, and the blue color helps it stand out from the rest.

The simplicity in its operation makes it foolproof. Amazon reviewers found the scale to be small and lightweight. However, while most customers found it to be accurate, a couple didn't. One reviewer recommended adding 1-to-2 pounds as a buffer.

Another Amazon reviewer said the Travel Smart by Conair Compact Digital Luggage Scale was not only useful for international flights but a necessity. "Inter-continent flights have different luggage limits and this allowed us to accurately know what we had and shift things around as needed. Bonus - being able to switch to kilogram right on the scale rather than trying to convert to US pounds in our heads."

The Travel Smart by Conair Compact Digital Luggage Scale is made out of plastic, like most luggage scales. One Amazon customer said the scale felt like it's melting after some use. Overall, 65% of buyers gave it 5 stars, for an average of 4.4 stars. A big complaint is pricing, so if you don't need audible alerts, there are more affordable options.

Pros: Audible overweight alert, pound/kilogram conversion

Cons: Smaller weight capacity, a bit pricey



The best battery-free scale

A simple shake wakes up Ellessi Luggage Scale to provide fast and accurate readings.

Most luggage scales don't require more than two batteries for operation. However, between the inconvenience of having to purchase batteries and the fact that they will eventually need to be replaced, having a battery-free luggage scale means one less thing to worry about (because packing is already stressful enough).

This luggage scale by Ellessi doesn't use any battery. To activate the scale, simply shake it until it powers on. The mechanical motion creates the necessary energy to power up the scale. One traveler wrote, "It is a great convenience that batteries are not needed," adding that it's a relief to not "worry about dead or leaking batteries."

As with most other digital luggage scales, this one has a weight limit of 110 pounds or 50 kilograms; you can choose your preferred unit by holding down the M/T button.

When you're in a situation where every pound matters, having an accurate reading is crucial. This scale is equipped with high-precision sensors that deliver accurate results. The scale is "...pretty accurate compared to a calibrated scale at the airport," wrote one traveler. The accurate readings can "...save you a lot of money for overweight charges." With a weight of just 3.2 ounces, the scale can be easily transported along with your luggage.

Pros: High-precision sensors, no batteries required

Cons: No overload indicator, a bit pricey



The best luggage scale for frequent flyers

From its compact and lightweight design to a bright LCD display, the Tarriss Jetsetter Digital Luggage Scale checks all the boxes for frequent flyers.

As a frequent traveler, you're looking for a luggage scale that's durable, accurate, lightweight, and portable. This digital luggage scale by Tarriss costs a few dollars more than our overall pick, but many satisfied travelers agree it's a worthwhile investment.

For starters, the scale has a limit of 110 pounds or 50 kilograms, with a precision accuracy of 0.2 pounds or 0.1 kilograms. To test its accuracy, one traveler had "several sets of dumbbells laying around in my office, so I weighed them all. Every one weighed within the 0.2-pound of its labeled weight." The same reviewer said the luggage scale takes "literally a couple seconds" to lock in the weight, which is then displayed on the LCD.

Aside from its precise readings, the scale stands out for its numerous travel-friendly features. One example is the bright LCD, which doesn't require help from a backlight to read. This also means you won't drain the lithium battery faster by using an extra light. The scale automatically shuts off after 30 seconds of inactivity to help conserve the battery. A capacity load indicator lets you know when your bags are too heavy.

This compact scale weighs just 3.3 ounces, and is just the right size and weight for stashing it in a carry-on bag. One jetsetter commented, "This will pay for itself the first time you use it when you don't have to pay overweight fees; we travel a lot on smaller very restrictive airlines."

Another satisfied owner said, "I took it to New York with me and was so happy that I could weigh all my new purchases before taking my bags to the airport. With the scale, I was able to move some things to my carry on bag and avoid the weight overage charges!"

Pros: Lightweight, overload indicator, battery-saving features, accurate

Cons: Battery life could be better, needs to be held completely still to get accurate readings, some say there is a lag before it locks in the weight



How to check your Mac computer's storage space in 2 different ways

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  • You can check your Mac storage in a few different ways. 
  • To get a full breakdown of your Mac computer's storage space, click the Apple logo in the upper left corner and navigate to "About This Mac." 
  • You can also go to "Disk Utility" via the Utilities folder to check how much storage space you have left. 
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Whether you've received an alert that "your startup disk is almost full" or you're just curious about how much space you have left on your computer, knowing how to check your Mac storage can come in handy.

There are a few ways to check the storage space on a Mac computer, and two methods are particularly easy.

Here's how to do it.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

MacBook Pro (From $1,299.99 at Best Buy)

How to check your Mac storage via "About This Mac"

1. Click on the Apple logo at the top left of your screen.

2. Click "About This Mac."

3. Click "Storage." You should see a stacked bar graph depicting how much of your total storage is being taken up by different categories of data. Above that you can find out how much space is still available on your hard drive.

image1 mac storage

4. If you want to dive into the specifics of how much space each app or file is taking up, click "Manage" for a full breakdown.

How to check your Mac storage via "Disk Utility"

1. Click on your "Applications" folder located on the right side of your Dock, or open your Finder and click  the "Applications" folder on the left side of the window. 

2. Scroll down until you find the "Utilities" folder. Click on it to open.

3. Click on "Disk Utility." 

image2 mac storage

4. A window will pop open with a bar graph depicting how much of your total storage is currently taken up. Below that you'll see exactly how many megabytes or gigabytes are used and how many are free.

image3 mac storage

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

SEE ALSO: The best Macbooks you can buy

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How to stream live gameplay on your PS4 to Twitch, YouTube, or other streaming sites

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  • You can stream live gameplay from your PS4 to YouTube or Twitch, which is a great way to show off your skills.
  • Before you can stream, you'll need to connect your Twitch or YouTube account to your PS4 using the Settings menu. 
  • To start streaming a game, just press the Share button and choose "Broadcast Gameplay."
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

If you're dominating in a game, why not show it off? 

Your PS4 makes it easy to stream gameplay to video sites like Twitch and YouTube. Once you've set up and linked your account to your PS4, you can start streaming with literally just a tap. 

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

PlayStation 4 (From $299.99 at Best Buy)

PlayStation Camera (From $59.99 at Best Buy)

How to stream on the PS4

Link your accounts to the PS4

1. Using your controller, select "Settings."

stream 1

2. Select "Account Management."

3. Select "Link with Other Services."

4. Choose the service you want to use — either Twitch or YouTube.

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5. Follow the sign-in instructions. Both Twitch and YouTube make it easy to sign in with your existing account. However, you may need to use a computer or mobile device — Twitch, for example, asks you to enter a code into a web browser to confirm your identity and connect your PS4.

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Stream a game on your PS4

1. Start the game you want to stream. 

2. Press the Share button on your controller. Don't hold the button down — just tap it once. 

3. Select "Broadcast Gameplay."

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4. On the Broadcast Gameplay page, choose the streaming service you want to stream to — either Twitch or YouTube.

5. Before you can start streaming, choose your video options. You can give the stream a title, for example, as well as choose your video quality. You can also scroll down to invite friends to the stream. If you have a PlayStation Camera installed, you can also include live video of yourself in the stream.

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6. Select "Start Broadcasting."

You're now streaming video to the service you selected. 

How to stop streaming from your PS4

1. When you're done broadcasting, press the Share button on the controller again. The Share menu should pop out from the side.

stream 6

2. Select "Broadcast Settings."

3. Select "Stop Broadcasting."

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

SEE ALSO: 8 affordable PlayStation 4 accessories that'll help you make the most of your console

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The scam of reputation-washing: How corporations successfully cover up their big-money messes with small-dollar philanthropic giving

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Paul Constant

  • Paul Constant is a writer at Civic Ventures, a cofounder of the Seattle Review of Books, and a frequent co-host of the Pitchfork Economics podcast with Nick Hanauer.
  • In this opinion piece, he argues that the philanthropic system in America is "broken," with billionaires providing the funding for systems that have been defunded by elites.
  • The most egregious type of philanthropy is when companies "reputation-wash," or wash away their sins by donating a fraction of their revenue.
  • To that end, Constant says it's time to discuss ending tax loopholes that allow companies to profit from corporate giving.
  • For more on this topic, listen to the latest episode of Pitchfork Economics
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

It feels socially unacceptable for me to admit that our philanthropic system is broken. Bill and Melinda Gates, after all, are eradicating polio worldwide through the good work of their foundation. Around the country on any given day, corporations and the super-rich are donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities that house the homeless, help educate children, and generally improve the quality of life for the poorest Americans. How can any of this possibly be perceived as a bad thing?

Most of the social benefits that billionaires deliver now — space programs and vaccinations, scientific research, and educational investments — used to be funded with tax dollars and distributed through the federal government. But an ongoing campaign started in the Reagan Administration by proponents of trickle-down economics convinced pretty much everyone that anything government can do with taxpayer dollars, private enterprise can do better, faster, and more efficiently. (Which, by the way, isn't true — a growing body of evidence suggests that the public sector is more efficient than the private sector.) To a grateful nation that's been addled by four decades straight of runaway income inequality, the good works provided by wealthy people far outweigh the decades of punishment that those same magnanimous elites have delivered to the tax-funded safety net.

bill gates melinda gates

Journalistic firebrand Anand Giridharadas literally wrote the book on the charade of philanthropic giving. Subtitled "The Elite Charade of Changing the World," Giridharadas's new-in-paperback book "Winners Take All" explains the practice of philanthropy as a kind of shell game disguising the sins of the top one percent behind an ostentatious facade of do-gooding. Through philanthropy, Giridharadas warns in the latest episode of Pitchfork Economics, the wealthiest people and corporations on the planet "can do bad things in the billions and do good things in the millions."

Perhaps the clearest — and, to my mind, the most egregious — form of corporate philanthropy comes in "reputation-washing." Corporations do this all the time: they contribute some small (but very visible) amount of money toward the solution for a problem that they themselves have created in the hunt for outsize profits. The glow of philanthropic giving obscures the exponential wealth that the corporation draws from the situation they're ostensibly trying to solve. It is, literally, throwing good money after bad. 

You can't get much more stereotypically American than Coca-Cola. The sugary beverage-maker has for decades worked to hide its clear connection to obesity, while at the same time supporting youth sports initiatives and building playing fields for young women in underserved communities. This giving serves as a smokescreen on two fronts: in addition to creating a general air of concern about public health, it also advertises Coca-Cola products to children — a practice that Coke has sworn not to do. 

Coca-Cola, Coke, Coca Cola

Coca-Cola also donates thousands of dollars to "support citizen science efforts to study the prevalence of micro-plastics ... a serious and growing concern, both for the environment and for human health." (Coca-Cola uses three million tons of plastics in its packaging per year.)  And the millions of dollars that Coke puts toward clean-water initiatives is a drop in the bucket compared to the company's extractive water use

Reputation-washing isn't just for the soft drink business. Exxon earlier this year was proud to issue a press release announcing it has donated $350,000 "to United Way and the American Red Cross to support local flooding relief assistance associated with tropical storm Imelda in the Beaumont and greater Houston areas in Texas" — a terrible storm that was worsened by climate change caused by fossil fuels. Other oil and gas manufacturers like BP similarly donate to disaster relief funds.

Perhaps the most craven form of reputation-washing can be found in the firearm industry. The website for the National Rifle Association trumpets the fact that "Smith & Wesson supports children's charities with its annual Night of Laughter event featuring live comedy acts," without acknowledging that their AR-15-style rifles were used in countless mass shootings, including the Parkland massacre. It's entirely possible — maybe even likely — that Smith & Wesson has donated some small sum to a hospital that has treated victims of a massacre committed with weapons made by Smith & Wesson.

Read more: How American culture and a sense of 'aggrieved entitlement' in males can lead to mass shooters

In the end, philanthropy serves as a kind of respectable Dr. Jekyll to a corporation's profiteering Mr. Hyde personality. For less than a tenth of one percent of its total revenue, a corporation can wash all its sins away. In fact, if you want to find out what a corporation's worst transgressions are, you don't have to be an investigative journalist: just look at where it donates its charitable giving. Those blandly named funds and foundations and grants and prizes all gesture directly to the source of the corporation's unimaginable wealth — a problem's cause and its effect, all wrapped up in a package of good vibes and glossy marketing.

The value that these corporations enjoy from philanthropy doesn't just end at good press and positive consumer feelings. Even though reputation-washing is the equivalent of putting a Band-Aid on top of a broken bone, corporations profit from the tax deductions they earn in exchange for their charitable giving. It's time to begin a public discussion about ending or capping the tax-deductible loopholes that corporations ruthlessly exploit for profit and public relations. The system is broken, and no amount of feel-good donations can fix it.

Paul Constant is a writer at Civic Ventures, a public policy incubator based out of Seattle, and a cofounder of the Seattle Review of Books. His writing has been published in the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed News, the New York Observer, and the Seattle Times.

Listen to the Podcast: In 2014, venture capitalist Nick Hanauer warned his fellow plutocrats that our growing crisis of economic inequality would lead to an uprising or a dictatorship. Two years later, angry voters elected Donald Trump. In Pitchfork Economics, Nick explores why the pitchforks are coming, who they're coming for, and how the stories we tell about the economy can change the economy itself.

SEE ALSO: Female CEOs are 45% more likely to get fired than males. Here are 6 high-achieving women who bounced back after a major firing

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Most hurricanes that hit the US and Caribbean islands come from the same exact spot in the world

How to turn off Sticky Keys in Windows 10 permanently, and stop turning it on accidentally

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Sticky Keys is a feature in Windows that allows modifier keys like Ctrl and Shift to remain active even after when you're not pressing them. This can help users with physical impairments, who have trouble pressing two keys at a time (like using Shift to make uppercase letters).

By default, you can turn it on by pressing Shift five times in a row. But this shortcut only turns Sticky Keys on — it won't turn it off, no matter how many times you press it. This makes it easy to turn on by mistake.

Here's how to turn off Windows 10's Sticky Keys feature for good, and disable that shortcut.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Windows 10 (From $139.99 at Best Buy)

How to turn off Sticky Keys in Windows 10, and disable its shortcut

1. Turn on Sticky Keys by pressing shift five times in a row.

2. The Sticky Keys icon, which looks like a few white keyboard keys, will show up in your taskbar at the bottom of the screen. 

3. Double-click it to bring up Sticky Keys' options in the Ease of Access center. 

4. Uncheck the boxes "Turn on Sticky Keys", and "Turn on Sticky Keys when SHIFT is pressed five times."

Screenshot_01

If you can't find the Sticky Keys option in the toolbar, or it won't appear, you should instead:

1. Press the Windows logo on your keyboard, or click the Windows icon at the bottom left of your screen.

2. Search for "Ease of Access". 

3. Select "Ease of Access keyboard settings."

Screenshot_02

4. Toggle the switch under "Sticky Keys" to "Off." You can also turn off the shortcut, so it won't activate again.

Screenshot_03

And finally, if you're just looking to turn off Sticky Keys temporarily after you turn it on accidentally, just press two function keys at the same time (Ctrl, Alt, Shift or the Windows key). 

This won't prevent the problem from happening again, but it will solve your problem immediately.

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

SEE ALSO: The best tablets you can buy

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The best double strollers you can buy

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  • Handling one baby is hard enough, but twins double the challenge. A great double stroller is essential to ensure you can stay on the move.
  • Many double strollers can accommodate up to 35 or even 40 pounds per seat, so you may be able to use one stroller for the entire time your kids need one.
  • The Bugaboo Donkey2 Complete Stroller is our top pick because it's adaptable, heavy-duty, and smooth.

I don't have twins, but I do have two kids. Going from one child to two was a huge adjustment for me and my wife. It was hard to fathom just how much more work handling a pair of kids would be, and I can hardly imagine the challenge when both kids show up at the same time.

Families with twins need to give themselves every possible advantage, making the parenting process as seamless as possible. And a great double stroller is one of the most important pieces of gear to help there; they function as everything from a mobile nap center, to a piece of exercise equipment, to an on-the-go storage locker for diapers and formula.

Strollers aren't cheap, and they aren't all the same, so it's important that you spend the time considering which stroller best suits the needs of your family, and that goes for the twins and the folks. If you love running, then a jogging stroller might be a great choice. But if you live in a crowded city where that oversized jogger will constantly jostle pedestrians, you might want to opt for something smaller and get your exercise in while your partner is on parent duty. On the other hand, if you live in a suburban or rural area where you'll be off-road (or sidewalk) at times, you may need a bigger piece of equipment with rugged tires and a solid suspension.

Don't forget to think about the size of the stroller when it's collapsed, as well. I know that even when collapsed, our larger two-kid stroller fills the back of our SUV and barely fits into the trunk of our crossover. If we had a smaller car, we'd have to strap the thing to the roof. If you and the kids travel frequently, stroller size and weight is of even more importance.

The good news? Having struggled to jam enough strollers into a enough trunks, closets, and airline travel bags over the years, I made sure to research some good compact models for you parents doing double duty.

Here are the best double strollers you can buy:

Updated on 10/2/2019 by Caitlin Petreycik: Updated prices, links, copy, and formatting.

The best double stroller overall

The Bugaboo Donkey2 Complete Stroller can be configured to carry two bassinets, two forward- or rear-facing seats, or it can be collapsed down to a single child stroller.

Two things to note here: First, I own a Bugaboo Donkey stroller and use the thing multiple days every week, so I can confirm that it's well worth its price. Second, this stroller is really, really expensive. As in around $1,900 if your kids use it from birth. The base price is about $1,300, which is still crazy pricey, but to make full use of the stroller, you'll need an extra bassinet from the get-go and an extra seat as your children get a bit older.

The good news? It will also be the only stroller your twins ever need, as each seat supports up to 37.5 pounds, a weight at which most kids are aging out of stroller use anyway. And if you can keep something between you and me? I've used our Bugaboo Donkey with kids who weigh well over 40 pounds and the thing still handles fine.

The base Donkey stroller is a large, rugged single child stroller that comes with a big storage basket that clips in beside the seat. The stroller also has a spacious storage compartment underneath. With a flip of a few locks, the frame expands wide enough to accommodate an entire second seat (or bassinet), making the Donkey into a double stroller perfect for twins.

Its large wheels work well on varied terrain, the seats are spacious and comfortable, the five-point harnesses are easy to operate, and with multiple recline positions and forward- or rear-facing orientation, the stroller is easy to customize to your children's needs.

I do have to add that the stroller is heavy and bulky even when folded, but it's the smoothest, best handling large stroller I've ever used, and that's saying something: I've used a lot of strollers.

Pros: Smooth and easy to maneuver, adaptable and expandable, great storage space

Cons: Very expensive, large and bulky



The best budget double stroller

Save some cash for diapers, wipes, and toys by getting the budget-friendly Delta Children LX Side by Side Double Stroller.

The Delta Children LX Side by Side Double Stroller costs less than $75. When it comes to the stroller market writ large, there's a word for a unit that costs that little: cheap. But the LX isn't a bad stroller. In fact, it's a pretty good piece of equipment, and at a price that low, pretty good is pretty great.

The stroller weighs only 18.3 pounds, it's easy to carry it from the car to the house or up the apartment stairs. Each seat can support a kid weighing up to 35 pounds, so it will be useful for a number of years. A pair or storage bags slung behind the seats and a parent cup holder add some convenience.

The Delta Children LX Side by Side isn't the best stroller for jogging and it has no business off road. It's also not durable enough for daily use over a long stretch of time. But as a travel stroller, for use at amusement parks or zoos, or to keep in the trunk of the car, its low price makes it a great model for every family to have on hand.

One recurring complaint on Walmart's website was that the straps don't secure tightly enough, so using the Delta Children LX Side by Side with smaller infants probably isn't a wise idea.

Pros: Very low price tag, lightweight and collapses small, easy turns and control, secure brakes

Con: Straps don't tighten enough



The best double jogging stroller

Thanks to its 100-pound capacity, you could be jogging along with the twins in the Baby Trend Expedition Double Jogger until they're well into elementary school.

Most kids pass 50 pounds sometime during their seventh year. Given that each seat of the Baby Trend Expedition Double Jogger stroller can support 50 pounds, you could be using this stroller until the kids are well into elementary school.

The Expedition has an articulating 12-inch front wheel and large 16-inch rear wheels, all of which feature pneumatic bicycle style tires that work well on all sorts of terrain and reduce the impact felt by your kids as you go running along. A foot-activated brake secures the stroller when you need to stop for a water break, while dual cup holders and a large storage area below the stroller allow you to bring plenty of gear on your outing.

While this is a smooth, stable stroller that's great for jogging and hikes, that doesn't mean it's right for every family. It's a large stroller even when folded down, and is in fact too broad to fit through many doorways, so it's hardly a great choice for urban living. Although the seats can be reclined, they can't be repositioned to face backward, nor can the stroller accommodate car seats.

But if you already have your primary twin stroller and you love getting exercise outdoors, by all means get your hands on the broad padded handlebar of the Baby Trend Expedition Double Jogger.

A number of Amazon reviewers did note the cons, though. One shopper said that "going through doors [with the stroller] was not fun" and was unhappy that "this stroller takes up the entirety of my trunk."

Pros: High weight limit, pneumatic tires, large storage area

Cons: Large and cumbersome during travel or storage



The best double umbrella stroller

The Chicco Echo Twin Stroller folds down small enough to fit in the overhead bin of most airplanes, but each of its seats can support a kid weighing up to 40 pounds.

The Chicco Echo Twin might not appear to be the most rugged stroller ever built, but its looks are somewhat deceiving. Despite the rather slender components of the frame and the small wheels, this stroller can support up to 80 pounds between its two seats. The independently adjustable seats are safe for kids as young as six months old.

Like any good umbrella stroller, the Echo folds down small for easy tucking away into the trunk of the car or the coat closet in the hall. But the comfort and safety of its seats make it suitable for use as a primary stroller; if you live in smaller home or apartment with limited space, that's not a bad idea. 

The seats can be laid back almost flat or set upright, and each has an adjustable leg rest as well. The twins can nap in comfort using those adjustable features; the relatively comfortable ride on streets or sidewalks makes falling asleep easy. Although the Chicco Echo's wheels may be on the smaller side, the fact that there are 12 tires in total helps absorb impacts and keep things rolling smoothly.

A writer from MadeForMums.com called the Echo "lighter than it looks and surprisingly sturdy, too." She did note that the sunshade was rather small, so bring a light blanket along to add sun protection on bright summer days.

Pros: Compact when folded, smooth and agile, good storage space, fits through standard doorways

Cons: Sunshade too small for adequate coverage



The best double car seat stroller

With the Joovy Twin Roo+ Car Seat Stroller, you don't have to get the twins out of their car seats to get them out of the car and on the move in a stroller.

If you have kids, you know that awful feeling as you reach out toward your slumbering child, knowing you are about to disturb her sleep to pull her out of the car seat and strap her into the stroller. And I'm not talking about the feeling of interrupting her precious rest. I mean the fact that you are about to deal with sleepy baby rage-screams. If you have a car loaded with sleeping twins, that's twice as bad. 

With the Joovy Twin Roo+ Car Seat Stroller, your kids' car seats are their stroller seats, too. Multiple popular brands of car seats pop right into this frame, so there's no need to transfer the twins from seat to seat. Because it's really just a frame with wheels and a handlebar, the Twin Roo+ is much less expensive than most strollers, too.

Its design also allows for lots of undercarriage storage, while dual cup holders and a tray at the rear of the unit (perfect for a phone or snacks) add to the convenience for parents.

Car seat strollers have the drawback of a relatively limited working life, as your babies will outgrow their infant car seats within a year or so; you can't swap in regular seats that allow for more adjustability. But every time you don't have to unsettle a calm or sleeping child as you transfer him or her to or from the car, you'll be glad you made this thing a piece of your family's baby gear lineup.

In a video review, a product tester from Baby Gizmo demonstrated how car seats "clip right into the Joovy Twin Roo+ Car Seat Stroller in a matter of seconds, and just as easily release and pop back out.

Pros: Kids don't have to be removed from car seats, low cost, large storage area

Cons: No option to use regular stroller seats



Check out our other great baby gear guides

The best travel strollers you can buy

If you've ever experienced a stroller fail while on vacation, you know how important a good travel stroller can be. While all of the strollers on this list fold up easily, roll along smoothly, and enjoy excellent safety ratings, not all are suitable for the same uses and the same ages. But, hey, that's why we feature options. 

Here are the best travel strollers you can buy: 


The best baby bottles you can buy

A baby's bottle delivers the nutrition a child needs to thrive while offering the caregiver a chance to connect with the infant. But not all babies will like all bottles, so get ready to shop around, caregivers.

Try one bottle for a few feedings and, if the baby is rejecting it, try another. Then another. It might take some time and some money, but you will eventually find one the kid will accept. And quite likely, it will be one of the excellent baby bottles on this list.

Here are the best baby bottles you can buy:


The best baby carriers you can buy

A baby carrier lets you and your little one explore the world together. You'll be glad to have your hands free and your child nestled close, while babies love feeling warm and secure.

Here are our top picks for the best baby carriers:


The best strollers you can buy

With the right stroller, you and your young one are ready for anything, from a quick trip to the store to a week-long overseas vacation.

Here are our top picks for the best stroller you can buy:

 



Everlane’s $115 Day Glove flats look and feel like they cost a lot more — here’s what we think after wearing them around New York City for a year

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  • Everlane's Day Glove flats ($115) are made from a soft Italian leather and have features like a higher upper that bends with you smoothly and securely, side perforations that ventilate, and an easy pull tab.
  • Four women on the Insider Picks team tested them out to see if they're really as comfortable as Everlane promises. Then, they provided updates on how the shoes held up to over a year of regular use. 
  • You can read our thoughts below, or grab yourself a pair at Everlane in 15 Nappa leather colors or three suede options for $115.
  • Read more:Everlane has a new $98 women's flat made of recycled plastic bottles

The Day Glove, ($115), with its characteristically elongated upper and glove-like Nappa leather, was first issued as Everlane's follow-up to its massively popular Day Heel, (a low block heel with an elastic back which once acquired a 28,000 person waitlist). Since then, the Day family has expanded to include booties and higher heels.

The Day Glove comes with the same big promises of comfort and style that customers came to associate with the Day Heel. According to the company, they've created a flat that gives you sophistication and ease without asking for trade-offs like discomfort and blisters. You're supposed to be able to literally run, bike, and cartwheel around in them as well as wear them to a Monday morning meeting with the higher-ups. In terms of style, they're subtle, versatile, and look like a chic update to the classic you know. 

In other words, Everlane's Day Glove is the flat you never thought to ask for until now. It's made from soft Italian leather (from a factory you can take a virtual tour of), has an easy pull tab on the back, perforated side vents to keep your feet from getting hot and sweaty, and a cushioned insole that's soft and contoured for all-day comfort. The shape and leather work together to mold to your foot, coincidentally, like a glove. 

Right now, you can pick up your own pair for $115 in 15 beautiful colors in Nappa leather, and three in suede

To back up their claims of radical comfort, Everlane put it to the test for 24 hours in LA. They even asked Everlane customers to wear them for two weeks ahead of the launch and critique the fit. 

To see how close the Day Glove comes to its claims in real life, four women on the Insider Picks team tested them out. You can read our initial reviews, plus how the shoes have weathered a year of regular use, below. 

Shop all the Day Gloves at Everlane here, or continue on to read our reviews of them: 

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Sally Kaplan, Insider Picks editor: The Day Glove in white, $115

I like to think of myself as an Everlane super-fan, but I'll be the first to admit that its shoes can be a bit hit-or-miss. I have two pairs of its loafer mules (the ones without backs) because most of the shoes I've tried from the brand that have stiff backs cause me near-instant blisters. 

I also have a pair of the Day Heels which I love — specifically because the backs are made from a buttery soft leather with elastic stretch — so I was really excited to try the somewhat similar Day Gloves. I got a white pair, despite my better judgment as a city-dweller, and they look super modern and sleek with everything from jeans to slip dresses. 

Though they don't have any sort of stretch by the heel tab, these flats are still exceptionally comfortable. The leather is thin and flexible so there's no extreme stiffness, and I wore mine all day with zero evidence of blistering or rubbing. Everlane recommended that we go up a half size when sending in our choices, and I'm glad I did. I think it would have been cramped otherwise. The toe area of the size 8 felt fine for me (I wear a 7.5), but I have pretty average feet when it comes to width. I will say that if you have really wide feet, these probably aren't the shoes for you.

Since it's still pretty cold out here I can't say whether the small holes for venting really kept my feet from getting too sweaty, but I'm looking forward to testing that out in the summer (update — the vents are very helpful!).

Overall, I have to say — I think these flats are more than worth the price, and though Everlane could definitely get away with charging more, I really appreciate that they don't. 

One-year update: There exists on this earth no better flat than the Day Gloves. The original pair I got for this review is still in constant rotation for me (yep, the white leather has held up and proved itself to be easy to clean!) but I fell so hard in love that I bought myself another pair in a cognac brown color since then. They wear beautifully, are super easy to clean (just wipe them down with a damp cloth), and mold to your feet like malleable leather socks. I love them so.

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Malarie Gokey, Insider Picks guides editor: The Day Glove in black, $115

As a general rule, I don't wear flats. I'm 5'2" and I like to feel tall(er) by wearing 2-3-inch heels every day. I've also just never found a pair of flats that were comfortable enough to wear all day long. They always seem to chafe my ankles, pinch my toes, and feel unsupportive.

Everlane's Day Glove Flats are much more comfortable than any other flats I've tried. They actually fit my foot and move with me — not against me. The black leather is soft, comfortable, and stylish enough to go with anything. They're long in the toe, so you don't feel like your toes are running into the edges of the shoe, and the heel fits comfortably without chafing. The softness of the leather has excellent give, so I almost felt like I wasn't wearing shoes at all. That said, they're not terribly supportive, so if you need support from your shoes, these are not for you. But as far as flats go, I think they're wonderful.

One-year update: I don't wear flats often, but Everlane's Day Gloves are my favorite pair. They don't chafe or rub against my ankle or toes in any way. I actually keep my pair at work for "shoe emergencies" when I just want to switch into something more comfortable or swap out my rain boots for a nice-looking pair of shoes. Like the Day Boots, these flats have very slim soles and delicate leather, so I imagine mine would be more worn out if I wore them more often.

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Mara Leighton, Insider Picks reporter: The Day Glove in white, $115

I spend a lot of time in flats, and these are definitely the most comfortable (and flattering) pair that I've worn. I haven't always had luck with Everlane shoes, but these are undeniably great.

They really do fit like a glove, and the soft, flexible Italian leather is only going to get better with repeated wear. The colors are all beautiful neutrals that have a luxe sheen in the sun, and the elongated upper converts them from an average pair of flats to a chicer iteration. And in terms of comfort, it elevated the experience: I never slipped out of them (or felt I would) and I ended the day without angry red lines from where the leather cut into my feet when they bent. 

The real highlight, though, is the ventilation holes Everlane added. Flats have a habit of becoming gross, I-don't-want-to-take-these-off-in-front-of-you shoes in the hot summer months. Adding perforation to the sides to encourage airflow is the kind of upgrade I wish I had thought to look for years ago. 

The Day Gloves are much pricier than what I would normally spend on a pair of flats and I did need to size a half size up, but given how often I wear them, how comfortable they are, and how much of my closet they go with, I'd rather have one pair of these than cycle through the run-of-the-mill pairs I typically buy.

One-year update: These are the best flats I've ever worn, and one of the first products I recommend when people inevitably ask me 'what are the best things you've tested?' when they learn what I do. I loved them so much I wrote a second review. They're versatile, come in a whopping 18 colors now, and have aged really well. My white pair has been easy to clean (I use a damp paper towel), and I still wear them multiple times per week. Despite that, they show little signs of wear — some creasing of the leather, but nothing major. 

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Ellen Hoffman, Insider Picks director of content strategy: The Day Glove in light blue, $115

Like a lot of workingwomen, I simply don't have time for uncomfortable shoes. I've bought enough of them to know better at this point in my life. I need shoes that are supportive and versatile, and that can handle all the walking I do in New York City every day. And gratefully, Everlane's new Day Glove seems up to the task.

The Day Glove surprised me with its out-of-the-box comfort and all-day-long breathability. The backs and sides of ballet flats typically blister and irritate my feet, but after a super short break-in period for the Italian leather (yep, these babies are made from only premium and ethically sourced materials, but they do still require a little time to mold to your feet), I was able to traipse all around the city in my Day Glove — in complete comfort.

Get yourself a pair in your favorite color (I'm partial to the light blue) — trust me, your feet will seriously thank you. Just make sure to size up half a size for a perfect fit. I normally wear a size 8, but I got an 8.5 per Everlane's recommendation, and an 8 definitely would have been too small.  

One-year update: I'm wearing my Day Gloves as I write my updated review at work … which is to say that I still really like them a year and a half later! As a product reviewer, it's really saying something when I consistently come back to a product, and Everlane's Day Glove is the one pair of flats I'll always come back to for its comfort and easy style. I have three pairs of the Day Glove, two leather styles (in light blue and tan) and the new ReKnit version (in yellow). I slightly prefer the ReKnit version because my feet tend to sweat a bit in the leather style.

Shop the Everlane Day Gloves in 19 styles, $115

Join the conversation about this story »

Melinda Gates just promised to put $1 billion towards gender equality over the next 10 years, and she says she has 3 priorities she wants to focus on

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Melinda Gates

  • Melinda Gates plans to spend $1 billion over the next decade in hopes of reducing gender equality, the philanthropist and investor announced in an essay she wrote for Time.
  • In the essay, published October 2, Gates wrote that she has three priorities for the funds: making it easier for women to advance professionally; increasing gender diversity in the technology, public affairs, and media fields; and jumpstarting reforms in male-dominated organizations. 
  • Gates and her husband, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, have a collective net worth of $107 billion, Business Insider previously reported.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Melinda Gates is afraid that Americans will forget about gender inequality.

To make sure they don't, the billionaire philanthropist pledged to spend $1 billion over the next decade empowering women, Gates announced in an essay published by Time on October 2.

"Too many people — women and men — have worked too hard to get us this far," Gates wrote in Time. "And there are too many possible solutions we haven't tried yet. That's why, over the next ten years, I am committing $1 billion to expanding women's power and influence in the United States."

The $1 billion pledge will be used to fund and grow female-focused programs through investment and incubation firm Pivotal Ventures, Gates wrote in Time. The specific initiatives to be funded by the pledge will be announced at a later date,  a representative for Pivotal Ventures told Business Insider. Gates founded Pivotal Ventures in 2015.

According to Gates, the United States is currently in a brief window of time when gender issues are at the forefront of the national conscious thanks to #MeToo, making it the right time for her donation.

Gates wrote that she has three priorities with her pledge:

  1. "... dismantling the barriers to women's professional advancement;"
  2. "... fast-tracking women in sectors with outsized impact on our society — like technology, media, and public office;" and
  3. "... mobilizing shareholders, consumers, and employees to amplify external pressure on companies and organizations in need of reform."

Read more: Melinda Gates reveals the secret to a strong marriage and the surprisingly simple answer to the world's toughest problem

A focus on ending gender inequality

Gates, 55, has long spoken out against gender inequality. A report released by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in September noted that "gender inequality stacks the deck against half of humanity."

Social issues like gender inequality are among billionaires' favorite causes to donate to, Business Insider previously reported. In 2018, 61.7% of the world's billionaires made donations within the category, which also includes crime prevention, poverty reduction, and unemployment programs, according to research firm Wealth-X.

Gates and her husband, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, have a net worth of $107 billion, Business Insider previously reported. Gates was named "the most powerful woman in philanthropy" by Forbes in 2018 for her work as the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The couple has also spent money on educational reform and public health, according to the Foundation's website.

Read Melinda Gates' full essay in Time >>

SEE ALSO: Bill Gates is no longer the 2nd-richest person in the world. Here's how he spends his $107 billion fortune, from a luxury-car collection to incredible real estate.

DON'T MISS: Meet Laura Arnold, the billionaire philanthropist taking on the parole system with Jay-Z and Meek Mill

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Jeff Bezos is worth over $160 billion — here's how the world's richest man makes and spends his money

The world's first hydrogen-powered superyacht was unveiled at the Monaco Yacht Show. Here's a look inside the game-changing 367-foot vessel concept.

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Sinot AQUA_EXTERIOR BOW SIDE VIEW

  • Sinot, a Dutch yacht-design company, unveiled a detailed model of what would be the world's first hydrogen-powered superyacht at the Monaco Yacht Show.
  • The 367-foot vessel would be completely powered by liquid hydrogen and fuel-cell technology and emit only water.
  • Aside from the technological innovations, the yacht would have all the lavish trappings of the typical luxury superyacht.
  • Take a look at renderings of the futuristic, eco-conscious superyacht.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A model of a 367-foot yacht designed to run on liquid hydrogen was unveiled last week at the Monaco Yacht Show, the world's biggest superyacht event, Forbes reported.

The detailed miniature model, presented by a Dutch firm called Sinot Yacht & Architecture Design, is just over 6 1/2 feet and showcases the innovative direction the superyacht industry is taking.

Read more:I got into a Monaco Yacht Show gala for VIP superyacht buyers and industry elite. Here's what it was like at the exclusive party, which overlooked $4.3 billion worth of superyachts in the port.

The watercraft, named Aqua, would be the first superyacht to run on liquid hydrogen and fuel-cell technology, Sinot said. The yacht's only emission would be water, and the system would depend on two 28-ton vacuum-sealed tanks of liquid hydrogen stored at -423 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beyond cutting-edge technology, the vessel would feature state-of-the-art design and amenities.

Here's a look at renderings of Aqua and an inside glimpse at the future of eco-conscious superyachting.

SEE ALSO: A hair extension company wrapped a $20 million superyacht in gold — here's how they pulled off the lavish transformation

DON'T MISS: 25 photos show how the 1% live it up at the Monaco Yacht Show, from cruising in on helicopters to partying aboard multi-million dollar yachts

Aqua, the 367-foot superyacht designed to run entirely on liquid hydrogen, would operate at a top speed of 17 knots and have a range of 3,750 nautical miles.

Source: Sinot



The technology depends on two 28-ton, vacuum-sealed tanks that store liquid hydrogen at a cool -423 degrees Fahrenheit. The tanks would be viewable through a glass panel at the base of a spiraling staircase at the center of the vessel.

Source: Sinot



The superyacht's futuristic looks aim to complement its eco-conscious, cutting-edge technology with the luxurious air of a typical superyacht, according to the designer.

Source: Sinot



The team at Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design spent five months designing Aqua. "Our challenge was to implement fully operational liquid hydrogen and fuel cells in a true superyacht that is not only groundbreaking in technology but also in design and aesthetics," the lead designer, Sander Sinot, said in a press release.

Source: Sinot



The exterior was inspired by the flow of ocean swells, resulting in curved exterior lines and glass band windows.

Source: Sinot



The five-deck superyacht would accommodate 14 guests and 31 crew members.

Source: Sinot



It would have a master pavilion, two VIP staterooms, and four regular staterooms. All rooms would feature floor-to-ceiling windows and have a minimalistic, Japanese-inspired style.

Source: Sinot



Amenities would include a cascading infinity pool and extensive outdoor lounging space.

Source: Sinot



In addition to several casual indoor-outdoor entertaining spaces, the yacht would have a formal dining area that seats 14.

Source: Sinot



The superyacht would also have an expansive indoor health and wellness center featuring a gym, a hydro-massage room, and a yoga studio, reflecting the wealthy's growing interest in wellness as a status symbol.

Source: Sinot

Read more:'It's like going camping': Miranda Kerr said she and Evan Spiegel mop their floors with eucalyptus oil and turn off almost all the electricity in their house at night — and people have questions



And because superyacht owners love their toys, Aqua would also have carrying space for two 32-foot tenders and three Jet Skis.

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Source: Sinot



Allbirds' Wool Runners are still the most comfortable sneakers out there — even after wearing them for 2 years

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allbirds wool runner

  • Since officially launching in 2016 with its first shoe, the Wool Runner ($95), San Francisco-based startup Allbirds has experienced rapid growth. It now makes six different shoe silhouettes and has experimented with a variety of sustainable materials. 
  • However, it's still most known for its Wool Runner. The sneaker, currently available in 13 colors, is lightweight, breathable, and very soft. It's also easy to maintain because it's machine-washable. 
  • Many of us own and love our Wool Runners, which have been with us to work, play, and everything in between. 

Allbirds is one of the hottest footwear brands in recent years — and it's not just because its shoes are made of wool.

The sneaker startup came about when Tim Brown, a New Zealand native, teamed up with San Francisco-based engineer and renewables expert Joey Zwillinger.

In 2016, they launched their first shoe, the Allbirds Wool Runners— a sneaker that's innovative, comfortable, and sustainable. The brand quickly became popular because of its use of merino wool.

Most people think wool would be hot and itchy, but Allbirds uses a proprietary dual-faced wool that's super soft and itch-free on the interior and dirt-resistant on the exterior.

With Allbirds' special construction, the wool actually has many natural properties that make for amazing sneakers. They're lightweight and breathable, cool in the heat, warm in the cold, and for those that like to go sockless, they're odor-resistant. And the best part is, you can throw these sneakers in the washing machine, instead of meticulously scrubbing away stains like you would with traditional sneakers. If you're looking for a pair of sneakers that are comfort, durable, stylish, and affordable, Allbirds is the solution.

 

Since it was first founded, Allbirds has expanded its product offerings significantly. It now sells six shoe silhouettes total, from a high-top sneaker to a women's flat, as well as three sock styles. And, in addition to wool, the company has experimented with other sustainable materials, including eucalyptus fiber for its Tree shoes, and environmentally friendly water repellent for its Mizzle shoes

Still, the most popular and recognizable shoe from Allbirds is undoubtedly the Wool Runner, which many members of the Insider Picks team have tried over the years. Read on for our thoughts on how they feel and fit, plus how they've held up since we first tested them in 2017. 

Shop all wool shoes at Allbirds here

SEE ALSO: 7 sneakers that will never go out of style — and they're all under $100

Amir Ismael, Insider Picks reporter

Buy the Allbirds Men's Wool Runners in 13 colors, $95

September 2017 review: Before I even got to the actual shoes, my first impression on receiving my Allbirds Wool Runners was the box. As a sneaker collector, the box is sometimes just as important as the shoes themselves — it's definitely something I wouldn't throw away. Building on its efforts to improve sustainability, Allbirds ships its shoes in the same box that they're stored in. The box unfolds and two separate compartments hold each sneaker.

Once I did get to the shoes, I was immediately impressed. When I think of lightweight sneakers, mesh or engineered knit comes to mind first — not wool. Upon learning about Allbirds, I actually thought wool sneakers were a bad idea, but the Wool Runners definitely proved me wrong. 

The Allbirds sneakers are super comfortable, lightweight, and stylish. I'm able to wear them all day long because of the plush insoles and flexible outsole. I went with the Natural Grey pair for a minimal and subdued look, and I absolutely love them.

October 2019 update: I wore my Allbirds a few times after I initially reviewed them and they held up wonderfully. I can remember them being comfortable and surprisingly cool in warm weather, despite being made out of wool. As much as I liked them, I ended up donating them last year because I have way too many sneakers. They were still in lightly-used condition, so I can't speak to how quick or badly they wear out.

Over the past two years, Allbirds has come out with several different shoe designs, but the original Wool Runner is still my favorite. I definitely wouldn't mind owning another pair, but I know I'd have a hard time picking out a color — there are just so many great ones to choose from now.

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Connie Chen, Insider Picks reporter

Buy the Allbirds Women's Wool Runners in 13 colors, $95

September 2017 review: Silicon Valley is obsessed with these wool shoes, and now I understand why. I love wearing sneakers with dresses or skirts to add a sporty-casual feel, and my white Allbirds Runners were a seamless addition into my weekend daytime look.

One day, I wore these shoes after spending the entire previous day in heeled boots, and my sore feet seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. I'd normally be a little paranoid trying to care for bright white shoes, but I don't worry at all about any scuffs or dirt that attack these shoes since I can just throw them in the washing machine at any time.

October 2019 update: The Wool Runners are still one of my favorite sneakers to wear because of their soft and supportive comfort. I used to wear the shoes without socks, but now I usually wear socks because I've discovered they're even more comfortable that way. From experience, the insoles can start to smell if you go barefoot for too long, so that's another reason to pair your Allbirds with some socks. Or, hand-wash those insoles often. 

While I love white shoes, the maintenance is admittedly more intensive than one of the many other colors Allbirds offers. My Allbirds have some scuffs and patches of dirt that I didn't get rid of right away, and they're pretty difficult to remove now as a result. If I could go back, I think I would choose a different color (and luckily, there are plenty to choose from). 



Malarie Gokey, Insider Picks senior editor

Buy the Allbirds Women's Wool Runners in 13 colors, $95

September 2017 review: I don't wear sneakers very often, but when I do, they have to be comfortable and stylish. The Allbirds Runners meet both requirements in spades. These merino wool shoes are ridiculously soft — I couldn't stop touching them when they first arrived!

I've never worn sneakers without socks before, but the wool was so silky and smooth that I gave it a try, and it worked. The Runners are super comfortable to walk in, and they're also very light and breathable with or without socks. 

September 2019 update: I don't wear my Allbird runners too often, so I can't speak to how much heavy wear they can withstand, but they've held up to light wear well. I wore them on a long hike once and they got a bit dirty, so I washed them by hand, and they looked like new afterwards. Anyone who's ever labored over a pair of dirty or stained sneakers knows just how convenient it is to be able to wash your shoes without ruining them. They also seem to get more comfortable with age as they mold to my feet.

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This could be our first look at Apple’s next AirPods, which are rumored to support noise-canceling (AAPL)

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Apple Airpods

  • Apple reportedly has a new and improved set of AirPods in the works.
  • The new AirPods would represent the first major update to the AirPods since they launched in December 2016.
  • The expected improvement include water-resistance and noise-cancellation technology. Those additions are said to up the overall price as well, somewhere above the current price of $160.
  • Though Apple has yet to confirm the next-generation AirPods, an image uncovered in a beta version of the iPhone operating system depicts headphones that appear to be the unannounced headphones.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Apple is reportedly planning to unveil the first major update to the AirPods, with enhanced features such as water resistance and noise cancellation.

Rumors point to a 2020 launch window and a higher price tag for the next-generation AirPods. But what will they look like?

That's the big question, and a newly unearthed Apple image from the iOS beta may have just offered us a first look:

Apple AirPods icon, iOS 13.2 beta

The image was discovered by MacRumors, and lines up suspiciously well with an early photo leak of the next-generation AirPods. In that leak, a pair of what are claimed to be redesigned Apple AirPods appear — distinctly different from currently existing AirPods in a few crucial ways. For one, the stems are shorter. Even more importantly, though, both Apple's image and the photo from months ago depict headphones that use little rubberized tips to seal against your ear.

The AirPods revamp comes as Apple faces increasing competition in the wireless earbuds market that it has until now largely had to itself. Last month, Amazon unveiled its $130 Echo Buds, and on Wednesday Microsoft announced the Surface Earbuds, which will cost $249.

Apple representatives didn't respond to a request for comment as of publishing.

Read more:Apple is expected to launch 3 new iPhones this year — here's everything we know so far

Technically speaking, Apple already updated its AirPods this year.

AirPods second generation pricing

The second-generation AirPods, pictured above, added "Hey, Siri" functionality and a longer battery life. Apple also introduced a wireless-charging case as an option for an extra $40.

This more iterative approach, which kept the look and $160 price of the original AirPods, reportedly isn't being abandoned with the third-generation AirPods.

According to Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst with TF International Securities, a more subtle update to AirPods will also arrive along with the upgraded pair. These AirPods will retain a lower asking price, but are unlikely to feature water resistance and noise cancellation. They are expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2020 along with the more heavily updated AirPods.

Apple has yet to acknowledge the rumors or announce new AirPods officially.

SEE ALSO: Everything we know about the new AirPods that Apple could release later this year

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Jeff Bezos is worth over $160 billion — here's how the world's richest man makes and spends his money

How to build a billion-dollar company in 5 years, with Huda Kattan of Huda Beauty

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Huda Kattan Sophia Amoruso 2

  • Girlboss Radio is a podcast by Sophia Amoruso.
  • Here, she interviews Huda Kattan, the founder and CEO of Huda Beauty, who discusses her journey from working at Dunkin' Donuts to being named one of Forbes's richest women.
  • When Huda first set out to sell lashes, nobody would bite. When she finally sold what was meant to be a year's stock to a Sephora in Dubai, it sold out in a week.
  • Huda also described getting up at 5 a.m. every day, working with a life coach, becoming a parent, and her proudest moments so far.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Sophia Amoruso: Girlboss Radio is the show for and about ambitious women exploring the wins, losses and insights learned on the winding road to success. I'm so happy you're joining me today.

If you're a makeup lover, our next guest needs no introduction. She's known all over YouTube and Instagram for her quirky, fun and super helpful videos filled with all sorts of beauty tips. She's also a massive entrepreneur. Her name is Huda Kattan. She's the founder and CEO of Huda Beauty. Huda went from being a makeup artist and YouTuber to a fully fledged entrepreneur who is at the top of her game and has been for a while. In a few short years since Huda launched Huda Beauty with her two sisters, the company has now grown into a billion dollar business. And it all started with some eyelashes, and a willingness to stick to her vision.

Huda Kattan, founder and CEO of Huda Beauty

Sophia Amoruso: We have a lot in store for you in this episode, so stay tuned to hear how Huda got started, how she organizes her workdays and how she manages to stay balanced while growing her beauty empire.

Hopefully, it's helpful. It was certainly helpful to me. Here's our conversation.

So Huda, wow. You have about 45 million followers across your social channels.

Huda Kattan: Yeah.

Sophia Amoruso: Your company is worth over a billion dollars.

Huda Kattan: Yeah.

Huda Beauty

Sophia Amoruso: Your net worth is over $550 million and you have an incredible chart topping beauty collection, a Facebook watch series. I want to talk about your incredible trajectory, but first I want to start at the beginning because we all have a first job and usually those aren't as glamorous as the kind of things we're going to talk about today. Huda, what was your first job?

Huda Kattan: So I had a couple of jobs I did at the same time when I first started. I was working at a clothing store and then I was also at Dunkin' Donuts, which, I was really good at making coffee, I have to tell you. I was like a barista.

Huda worked at Dunkin' — and it still influences her career

Sophia Amoruso: What did you learn from Dunkin' Donuts that you think you might be applying to your career today?

Huda Kattan: Do you know, what's so funny is I feel like very early on, I really liked serving people and I still feel it now, it's really weird, but I feel I love the idea of being of service to people. It's really funny but I feel like we don't think about it a lot of times, but a lot of us actually do like to do that. With your mission Girlboss, that's clearly a huge service to all women. So I think a lot of times we don't think about it but we are serving people and I actually genuinely love it. There's just something about it that just feels very gratifying. Maybe it sounds selfless but it's actually kind of selfish as well. We feel good when we do that , so I love it.

Sophia Amoruso: Does Dunkin' know like you worked at Dunkin'?

Huda Kattan: I don't think so.

Sophia Amoruso: You should totally do something with Dunkin' and teach us all how to reapply lipstick after we drink our coffee.

Huda Kattan: Maybe, maybe. I wore a lot of makeup when I was at Dunkin' Donuts.

Sophia Amoruso: And you worked in finance at some point?

Huda Kattan: Yeah, I graduated. I did my undergrad in finance and I didn't really work in finance because I didn't want to be an investment banker or any of that stuff. I hated it. Very quickly when I like was about to finish my degree, I was like, "I made a mistake. This was not what I should've done. I should've done marketing," but it was too late and it would have taken too long to graduate. So I ended up going in as an investment ... As a recruiter for finance.

Huda Kattan

Sophia Amoruso: Oh wow.

Huda Kattan: So I didn't like that either.

Sophia Amoruso: There's so many of our guests who start in finance in some way and then just describe how much they hated it.

Huda Kattan: Oh, it's bad.

Sophia Amoruso: But I think maybe, I would recommend to our listeners, get into finance and hate it because you end up being a really successful person.

Huda Kattan: It's funny because I think it can be quite ... It can be quite challenging to work in finance. The industry itself, the people who are there are not as friendly. So I think that can be really, really hard for some people.

Sophia Amoruso: It doesn't sound very ... Maybe not very funny.

Huda Kattan: Yeah.

Sophia Amoruso: And you're probably making more ... You're definitely making more money now than you would have in finance.

Huda Kattan Sophia Amoruso

Huda Kattan: Yeah, I know. Well, depending on like what I was doing.

Sophia Amoruso: Yeah. So prior to your beauty empire, you were a makeup artist. How did you get your break into that? Because you worked with a lot of celebrities, which I think even that alone is really challenging. How did you get into that?

Huda Kattan: So I was really confused about what I wanted to do as far as what was going to be my next step because obviously I spent my whole entire life building my resume and believing that that was the role I needed to take it. Then we had the financial crash in 2008 that was literally the year I graduated. And I was like, "Well, this is obviously what I thought was going to be so solid and it's not." I'm driving up the road, I'm broke, I have no money but I need to feel good so I'm going to buy lipstick to make myself feel good.

It was crazy because I really didn't realize what was happening in the world and what was going on. But there was a change and it was an interesting time I think. I'm so glad I studied finance then and I graduated then because had I maybe worked a longer, I would have probably been more patient. If I didn't go through what I went through and if I didn't get fired, I'd still be working there.

Sophia Amoruso: So you got fired. What'd you get fired for?

Huda Kattan: My boss said I didn't belong there. He was right. He was right.

Sophia Amoruso: That is a really weird reason to get fired.

Huda Kattan: Yeah. He said to me —

Sophia Amoruso: "You don't belong"?

Huda Kattan: Yeah. He said, "Why aren't you studying makeup or fashion?" And I was like, "I'm going to prove you wrong and work even harder." He's like, "No, you're not."

Sophia Amoruso: That's a great push in the right direction.

Huda Kattan: It was.

Sophia Amoruso: Sometimes things that seem really, really bad and really hard for us ... We're pushed out of things that seem to be our pat and send us in the right direction.

Sophia Amoruso

Huda Kattan: Totally, yeah.

Sophia Amoruso: You were a very early YouTuber and you mentioned someone who can get into vlogging now. Do you think ... How much harder and more crowded is it now? Are there people that you're seeing breakout right now in the vlogging space?

Huda Kattan: It's definitely happening. There's some people who've come in quite late and they're blowing up really fast and I really think it depends on if what they're offering is something new and something interesting. I think people are looking for people who have a different perspective, a different point of view and they want to hear it. People who aren't afraid to speak their mind. I love following that. So I think there is definitely space. It just depends on what do you think is your point of differentiation?

Sophia Amoruso: Are there any up and comers that you would shout out or be like, "Damn," —

Huda Kattan: There's a lot.

Sophia Amoruso: I think they're really interesting. Is there a few that we could go follow?

Huda Kattan: There is a lot. Gosh, where do I even start? I obviously know the ones on Instagram a lot. Oh man, there's so many. There is this one girl that I'm obsessed with who just recently got pregnant. Her name is Jesus Gang. She's so dope. She's Nigerian. She's in New York. She's just so beautiful. All her pictures are stunning. She's kind of a natural beauty. She's just so beautiful. I also met this really cute girl the other day. Her name is XOXO Charlie MUA. So adorable. Does a lot of colorful eyes. She's beautiful. Her makeup beat is like lawless. Yeah, I would give the two of them shout outs. They're really sweet.

Huda started her YouTube channel in 2007, and watched the platform surpass blogs

Sophia Amoruso: So you started your YouTube channel back in 2007?

Huda Kattan: So I was actually ... I opened my account and I think I was watching videos.

Sophia Amoruso: Okay.

Huda Kattan: I wasn't actually making videos yet.

Sophia Amoruso: Because we went all the way back to the beginning. It was 2010 when you started making things?

Huda Kattan: To be honest, for YouTube I started but I feel like I didn't really properly do videos until recently. I was popping a video out and people were like, "Oh my God, your YouTube tutorials are the best." And I wasn't doing them regularly. I was really focusing on a blog. Huda Beauty was my blog at the time and that's all I was doing. So it's kind of crazy because now I feel like YouTube is definitely bigger. Blogging has kind of died.

Sophia Amoruso: Yeah. How did you build your ... Because people don't go to websites in the same way that they used to.

Huda Kattan: We still get a lot of unique users.

Sophia Amoruso: Yeah. Yeah. How did you go about building that audience on your blog?

Huda Kattan: We were using so many ... We were, at the time, it's so funny because I feel like now you do 360 social marketing. You promote yourself on Twitter, you promote yourself on Facebook, you promote yourself everywhere. We were doing that at the time. We were trying to grow ourselves on Facebook. We were just starting on Instagram and we were literally like pushing everything, all the posts, 360 at the time. And that was really good. Facebook was probably the first thing that we used and that was really helpful because we were able to go global really, really well. We were so popular in the Middle East, but getting to other parts of the world, like New York and California or Australia, Asia, we really had to use social media for that.

Sophia Amoruso: So you are one of the most followed people on Instagram. You have 37 million followers. Just tell me how. I'm sure it's a really long story, but what are the things that you think primarily contributed to what you've achieved, at least with your Instagram following?

Huda Kattan: Yeah, I think we are not shy or nervous when it comes to beauty, so we definitely pushed the envelope.

  ... Are nervous when it comes to beauty, so we definitely push the envelope a lot. And I think people like it. Sometimes when I run into people ... Like I was doing a video once with Bella Hadid, and she was like, "I see the weirdest shit on your Instagram, and I can't stop watching it. I get lost in this vortex on your Instagram page." And I feel like that's one thing ... I will put almost anything on my face. I'll almost try any procedure or anything, just because I, first of all, I'm so curious about how it works. And then, secondly, I just think it's fun. And so I think people are like usually interested that we're going to show them something new, most probably.

Sophia Amoruso: And you are ... You have a Facebook Watch show called Huda Boss?

Huda Kattan: Huda Boss.

Huda Boss

Sophia Amoruso: All right.

Huda Kattan: Who is the boss?

Sophia Amoruso: You're the boss, just by the way. And you create so much social content. What does your team look like? How do you create that much content across multiple accounts? You've @Huda, you have @HudaBeauty, you have @HudaShop?

Huda Kattan: Yeah, that's right.

Sophia Amoruso: Shop?

Huda Kattan: Yeah. HudaBeautyShop.

Sophia Amoruso: I followed all three.

Huda Kattan: Oh, I love you.

Sophia Amoruso: I already followed you. But what is creating that amount of content like? I mean, you wake up ... How early in the morning does that start?

Huda Kattan: Oh my God. Do you really ... I'm a nerd. I'm not cool. I pretend to be cool on social media, but I'm not.

Sophia Amoruso: We're all nerds here.

Huda Kattan: I wake up at, usually on the latest, 6 a.m., but I try to wake up at 5 a.m., pretty diligently every day. And then I start my day really early, and then by 10 a.m. I'm done with my day and I'm ready to start meetings. And I'm very firm on that. That's non-negotiable. If I don't do that, I'm really bitchy.

Read more: I'm an executive headhunter and emotional intelligence expert. Here's my 3-pronged solution for making salary negotiations easier.

Sophia Amoruso: And be done with your day by 10 a.m. What does that mean?

Huda Kattan: I've done everything I need to do. I've shot my tutorials, I've done my personal content, I've spent time with my daughter, I've journaled, all that shit that I need to do, like from ... I will do yoga, or whatever it is from 5 a.m.  til a.m.. So those five hours for me are everything.

Sophia Amoruso: How many hours a night do you sleep?

Huda Kattan: I sleep eight to nine hours a day.

Sophia Amoruso: So you go to bed at like, 9:00.

Huda Kattan: Yeah, 8:30, 9:00.

Sophia Amoruso: That's amazing.

Huda Kattan: If I wake up at 5:00, I have to go to bed kind of early, so I usually do try to wake up at 6:00 if I can.

Sophia Amoruso: So you started Huda Beauty in 2013 with your sisters?

Huda Kattan: Yeah. So complicated.

Sophia Amoruso: Yeah, what led you to start your own line? I know you had ... There was a debacle with eyelashes that that started everything.

Huda Kattan

Huda Kattan: So true. There was no good eyelashes out there. And I have no eyelashes. Literally, when I remove these, if I were to move them up, I have no eyelashes. It's so weird. I am such a hairy person, and for whatever reason I have more hairs on my lip than I do on my eyelashes. It's so weird. So I became very obsessed with them at a very young age. I was like, "Oh my God, I want lashes. My sisters have beautiful lashes. I feel like a boy." And so I didn't know ... I did not want to start a brand. Personally, I did not think I was capable of starting a brand. I always told myself," I'm not a business woman. I am not capable of that. That's just, I'm staying in my lane. Content creator, that's who I am." And I genuinely love to create content. But then my sisters kind of forced me to start our brand.

And I'll be honest, I've gone through a lot of positions and also emotions, and I've transformed a lot as a person. Like having to be in a place where ... I always say this: We don't know what we're capable of. And you get put into position, and you don't even know, all of a sudden you become somebody you never thought you would become. I didn't want to become CEO of our company. My husband was like, "You have to be." And it really taught me so much about myself. It's really crazy. You don't know what you're capable of until you're forced into that position. And so I can't say that enough.

Sophia Amoruso: I think people underestimate, they say, "Work, work, you're working all the time," but when you are on a trajectory and you're able to go down rabbit holes and learn things, it's ... Business can be such an opportunity for personal growth, because you're just pushed into things you have absolutely no control over, and you're buried under it and you have to find your way out.

Huda Kattan: If you don't have the personal growth, you won't be able to deal with what's to come. And I feel like we've ... I've always, I do a lot of personal development, and I feel like I do the inside work so I can deal with the outside. If I don't, I literally, I can't talk to people. I can't, I'm almost debilitated. So I think it's really important. I've been forcing my team to do that, too.

Sophia Amoruso: And you work with a coach?

Huda Kattan: I do. I've had a life coach for three years.

Sophia Amoruso: How is that ... What does your life coach do?

Huda Kattan: She's almost like my therapist.

Sophia Amoruso: Do you go to therapy, too?

Huda Kattan: No, I don't. She's kind of both, if I'm honest. She's amazing. She's a psychologist, but she's also genuinely an amazing life coach. And I feel like a lot of times just saying things out loud puts things in perspective, and you're almost like, "Okay, so I feel this way. I feel frustrated because I want to do this, and I feel like there's so much more that I want to happen," but you have all those feelings inside. And then when you start putting them outside, all of a sudden you're like, "Oh my God, this is actually how I fix this, and this is why this is happening. And maybe I need to be a little patient here." But it's just, it puts a lot of clarity. The only thing I will tell you is I know there's a lot of life coaches out there, and I think that you really need to find the right one for you. That's really what changed my life a lot. She's amazing.

Sophia Amoruso: So I want to get back to Huda Beauty.

Huda Kattan: Yes.

Sophia Amoruso: How did you initially fund it?

Huda Kattan: So I borrowed $6,000 from my sister, and I promised her if I didn't sell the lashes, I was going to wear them all and then pay her back one lash at a time. And she agreed. She's really nice. I actually calculated, I was like, "Wow, that would have taken me my entire lifetime to pay her back." It would have been crazy. And then, so we funded it ourselves, and then it wasn't enough, honestly, so I had to do a couple of makeup gigs. But we were struggling. We were struggling so badly for the first couple of years, and actually, the distributor we had at the time was like, "Hey, we'll help fund you guys." And it was really challenging, because then they ended up not ordering that many products, because I think they wanted to keep our value down, and it was really challenging.

Huda and Mona

Sophia Amoruso: How did you figure out how to make eyelashes?

Huda Kattan: Oh, God. My sister Mona forced me into it, because I was like, "I'm not going to do this. We're not starting a brand. We're not going to do it." She's like, "No, we are." And she actually found manufacturers that we could work with, and I was cutting them up and making them, and she was taking those and sending them over. She forced me to start this. She literally forced me.

Sophia Amoruso: Are you so grateful?

Huda Kattan: I am, but I don't know if she's grateful, because I feel like I drive her crazy now.

Sophia Amoruso: Well, hopefully she has equity in the company.

Huda Kattan: She has a lot.

Sophia Amoruso: She can be grateful for that.

At first, nobody was interested in Huda's lashes — then they sold out a year's supply in a week at a Sephora in Dubai

Sophia Amoruso: You had some early issues, obviously, it sounds like with your distributor.

Huda Kattan: Yeah.

Sophia Amoruso: But when you tried to get your lashes into Sephora, they didn't bite.

FILE PHOTO: People walk into a Sephora store in Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York, New York, U.S. April 2, 2017. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

Huda Kattan: No. Nobody bit.

Sophia Amoruso: How did you transform that no into a yes?

Huda Kattan: It took a lot of time. I know it's really weird, but I'm a firm believer in energy and all these things. And I always, I know this sounds so weird, and I can't say this enough, I trust my intuition before I trust a logical decision. And I've used it 99% of the time, and the 1% of the time that I haven't, it's always been something I've regretted. So the company knows sometimes I'm going to make a decision that's going to be completely based on gut, and they need to trust it. And I feel like I'm very connected with it.

So when we were picking out who we needed to go with as a distributor, basically everyone told us they didn't think we had a chance. Finally, somebody, these two girls, they were amazing, they believed in what we were doing. They put us in front of Sephora, and we pitched the hell out of it. Sephora US was not interested in us at the time. Nobody really was, except for this Sephora Dubai Mall. They were willing to try us out and see how we did, and we closed up shop. We sold everything. Everything they had, they had thought they were going to have for a year, we closed out in like, a week.

Read more: I'm a mom who quit my job, sold my house, and invested every dollar I had into launching a company that's grown 2,000% in 5 years

Sophia Amoruso: And Dubai's an amazing market for the beauty business.

Huda Kattan: It is, yeah.

Sophia Amoruso: Why do you think?

Huda Kattan: I mean, people there love beauty. They're not afraid to experiment with beauty. It's part of the culture from a very young age. I feel like in the States, people don't wear as much makeup. They don't necessarily need to. We have features that can take a lot of makeup. Like my eyelids, if I don't wear a ton of eyeliner, they just look different. I look so much better with liner. So I do feel like it's ... You know, it's so weird. I grew up in Tennessee and I was like, "Why am I wearing so much eyeliner? I don't understand." But it's genuinely our features can take it. I wear crazy lashes.

Sophia Amoruso: They're beautiful. I've been looking.

Huda Kattan: Thank you. Thank you.

The value of having a great product

Sophia Amoruso: You've really cut through a lot of noise, and that doesn't come from having a huge audience. You have to have a great product.

sophia amoruso

Huda Kattan: Thank you.

Sophia Amoruso: What would you say the unique value proposition is about Huda Beauty? Because it's, yes, of course it's you, but the product stands for itself.

Huda Kattan: I think a couple of things. I really think we're very innovative when it comes to products, and I feel like it kind of reflects back onto our content. We always push the boundaries when it comes to content, we always push the boundaries with product. We are one of the brands ... Quite frankly, we were the first to do many things, whether it was asking people ... We created these amazing pigments back in 2016 when we first launched makeup, and it was like, you had to use your finger in order to use them, and everybody was so mad at us. But then it became a thing, because your finger was better. And so many other brands started doing it, and we're talking luxury brands, who were telling us very directly, "We loved it. We were inspired by it." Who ... I won't name names, but it was really, it was amazing to see happen. And then we had a lot of things like that happen. And I feel like now there's an expectation on us to deliver high quality but also innovative products.

Huda Beauty False Lashes

Sophia Amoruso: How do you stay on top of things? Because the beauty industry changes really quickly. There's trends that emerge, what you described with applying makeup with your fingers, and then now we're on to something else. Do you do trend research? Do you just stay close to the content creators that are making things today? We can be really successful, and then be like, "Oh, that worked," and keep doing the same thing.

Huda Kattan: I'm not data-driven though. I refuse to read data.

Sophia Amoruso: Okay. So is it all gut? Like, "This is what's next?"

Huda Kattan: 100%. Actually, I create trend moodboards for my team to come see. Because they're always like, "The Pantone color — " and I'm like, "It's wrong this year. I guarantee you guys, it's wrong this year. I promise you, I feel like it's something else." And I feel also like everybody else is doing something, and why are we going to do the same thing? So a lot of people will be absorbing the same data. I'm like, "If I'm getting this data, that means all the other companies are getting this data as well. So maybe we need to do something different."

Yeah, we have the most amazing team we have. We're a little bit under 200 people right now. So we're not small, but we're also not big for a beauty brand. We're actually quite small for a beauty brand. But we have a very interesting team. I feel like they are very intuitive. They understand the importance of feeling and emotion, and putting those things into products, and I think it's really powerful.

Sophia Amoruso: How has your role in the company changed? Because you're obviously not someone who just slaps their name on things. This product —

Huda Kattan: Yeah, I feel like I drive everyone crazy because of that.

Sophia Amoruso: Wouldn't be as great as it is if you weren't doing that. And I know you're probably very much in the weeds, as all founders are in the very beginning. You have 200 people now, it sounds like you finish the content part of your day at 10:00 AM, and you're very involved with your business. How has your role changed, your contribution to the company, and the team, and the way you're spending your time changed from day one, to year two, to now?

Huda Kattan: It's really weird, because in the beginning, you're doing ... I mean I remember the first lip product that we did. I literally had ... I mean, we had an office, but nobody was in it. I took a plate, like a plate for food, and I was mixing paint to make the shades. And I did everything wrong then. Like we did the packaging, but we didn't finish all the compliance at the time. It was really bad. And so we were such a small team, but we were so gritty and so scrappy. And I feel like now, we're bigger and we're doing things more correctly, but I still feel like we're still so small. So I don't know, maybe in my head I still want to do the small stupid ... Like yesterday, I edited my video for Instagram, and then I created a lot of content for Snapchat. And then I sent it to my team, and was like, "Oh, can we create this kind of stuff?" I probably should be less involved. I just can't help myself.

Sophia Amoruso: So you got private equity from TSG.

Huda Kattan: Yeah, 2017.

Sophia Amoruso: Which is primo money.

Huda Kattan: Yeah.

Sophia Amoruso: I can't remember who they've invested in, but —

Huda Kattan: NYX cosmetics.

Sophia Amoruso: The best.

Huda Kattan: Yeah. Smashbox. They're great. They do, there's a lot of consumer goods for them.

Sophia Amoruso: At what point did you know it was time to take that kind of institutional capital and catapult your business and your valuation to over a billion dollars?

Huda Kattan: Yeah. I felt like there was a point where we needed help, and I just felt like in order to really compete in the beauty industry, we needed more people. And really, really, we have the most amazing team who built the company, but they need better mentors. Because at that point, I was kind of a lot of people's mentor, and I was not the best person, at all. They needed a real product development strategy, real PR strategy, real distribution strategy, and all of my stuff is gut. So I'm always like, "I feel like we should be there, because that's where I shop." And, "That's where I feel like we need to be because of this." And don't get me wrong, we still use a lot of that, but now there is a lot of ... We were just talking about that, there's healthy debate, because I'm like, "I feel like this." And then they give me a reason, and then we kind of, we're all reasonable people. We hire really amazing, kind, genius, reasonable people. And I feel like because of that, we use intuition, but there's also data there, too.

Sophia Amoruso: What do you look for when you hire those team members?

What it takes to be "Huda Beauty material"

Huda Kattan: Oh, we have a type, we call it Huda Beauty material. It's a type, you'll feel it. And if you're in our UK office, our US office, oh man, the Dubai office, there's a type. They're a little quirky. They're not boring. They're really smart. They give so many fucks. I feel like that's a prerequisite. They have to care so much, so much. That's probably the most important thing and then I like nice people. I don't work with assholes.

When Huda made it onto Forbes's richest women list

Sophia Amoruso: I think the way people work when they take their work personally and they take accountability for their work and they own their work and they also feel like they can go run with their work to a certain extent. It sounds like you're letting people do that more and more —

Huda Kattan: Trying to.

Sophia Amoruso: ... and you're listening to smart people's feedback and sometimes getting proven wrong, which can be also really thrilling.

Huda Kattan: It's great because it's like a different perspective.

Sophia Amoruso: So you're number 37 on the Forbes richest women list. That's a big deal. How did that feel that moment that Forbes called you and said, "Listen, you're one of the richest women in the country?"

Huda Kattan: So I'm very private. So when that number came out, to be honest, I was a little taken back. I felt I had not submitted ... My team had actually shared some data and we didn't realize that that was then going to go into that list and I'm honored to be on the list. I love Forbes. I think it's an amazing publication. I just didn't know I was going to go onto that self-made list. So at the time I was shy, I guess. If that makes sense. I just didn't know. Like we've been very private with everything. Our company had been so successful but been very private about that. And so that was something that I kind of thought we would keep. And then at that point we were like, let's just, for the most part, everything's out there.

Sophia Amoruso: Did you celebrate?

Huda Kattan: No.

Sophia Amoruso: That's amazing. That's who the boss? You the boss. Just keep moving.

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Huda Kattan: Yeah. Because the reality is too, I don't think where you are really determines what you're doing. I think where you're going determines who you are. So for me it's like, I always say to my team, "We may not be where we want to be yet, but it doesn't matter. It's like, where are we going?"

Sophia Amoruso: Where are you going?

Huda Kattan: Where are we going? We're going, ah, you know, I think to put it best, TSG said this to me and I really, I fell in love with them for a few reasons, but one, I feel like they saw the vision and they said to me "Like Estee Lauder was the 20th century. Huda Beauty is the 21st century." So they really understood that Estee Lauder is something that I aspire to be like. I love the idea of becoming a conglomerate and the idea of being something that can change the beauty industry. That's something we talk about a lot.

We really want to change the face of beauty. I feel like it's time. Beauty has been a certain message for a long time and people want something different. And if there's any brand to do it, we have to be the brand to do it. We do it, we're doing it. But I really want to make sure that people know that it's our commitment. It's our mission.

Sophia Amoruso: What is your definition of beauty?

Huda Kattan: When I was young it was something I feel like people either had or they were had nots about it. And you really felt it. Like if you didn't feel beautiful, it felt terrible. And for me it was more of an image at the time. And now I feel like it's completely an emotion. It's completely a feeling. And that's why I feel like it's so empowering. I felt like it was probably not represented correctly and I feel like there is an opportunity to show people how powerful it can be. When people feel beautiful, they feel powerful, like straight up. They feel powerful, they feel empowered, they feel just more strong. They feel strength, feel good.

Sophia Amoruso: It's transformative.

Huda Kattan: It is.

Huda Kattan

Sophia Amoruso: You know, Nasty Gal, it was like, it wasn't a leather jacket. It was a leather jacket that a girl bought and basically, it was like —

Huda Kattan: She bought it —

Sophia Amoruso: I'm more confident. I'm wearing this and I'm going to go out in the world and this is an alchemical experience. I've been transformed. It was like a prayer to her future, more than it was a purchase.

Huda Kattan: 100%.

Sophia Amoruso: That feeling is really important. It's really, really rare that someone can build a brand that gives people that kind of feeling.

Huda Kattan: I mean it's, it's work. We do it all the time. The team is really vested in that, so we do it all the time, but it's something you have to constantly talk about. You have to constantly tell people that that's your mission. Because sometimes they'll forget. They'll take their makeup off and then they'll feel like they're not beautiful anymore. I'm like, well no, you're the same. They're the same person. So it's something that we constantly have to kind of communicate to people and let them know what is facts.

Sophia Amoruso: So you're into fragrance now.

Huda Kattan: Yes.

Sophia Amoruso: You've launched fragrance recently. Tell me about, is it Kayali?

Huda Kattan: Kayali, yeah. Kayali, which is Arabic, which means my imagination and the concept really is derived around creating these mixes of fragrances. It's my sister's project and I want to support her in it. But it's beautiful. It's beautiful to say the least. She's very talented.

Sophia Amoruso: I wish we could all smell it over the podcast. 

Huda Kattan: Well make sure you guys get some.

Sophia Amoruso: There's so many huge accomplishments over the course of your career. What would you say your proudest moment is? Or what are you proudest of?

Huda Kattan: That's a tough one. I have a lot of personal things that I'm more proud of. I think I'm growing as a human being. My daughter, being a mom to her has been really rewarding. I didn't want to be a parent in the beginning and then I got pregnant accidentally and it's been a beautiful thing. It's taught me a lot of patience. I feel like that's like the thing I've learned most from being a mom is that you need to respect the time and everything and it's been beautiful. She makes me more creative too, which I love. She makes me feel good.

Read more: I prioritized my career over my personal life, and I have (almost) no regrets

Sophia Amoruso: So there's this question I ask everybody who comes on Girlboss Radio. There's actually two questions I ask everyone who comes on Girlboss Radio, and one of the things that we talk a lot about is this concept of success. Because you just talked about your daughter and that's not financial, that's not about your career. It's something you're proud of that doesn't have do with what the typical definition of success is, which is being on the Forbes list. Which is having Instagram followers. Everyone wants Instagram followers. What would you say your concept of success is? What does success mean to you?

Huda Kattan: I feel like I have a very clear concept.

Sophia Amoruso: All right.

Huda Kattan: It's just happiness. It's pure happiness, feeling really good. Because the reality is last year I hit a point where I realized that when we finally got our investors in and it's something you would assume would make somebody feel really good, I felt really bad. Because I just started thinking about my purpose and how I'm supposed to pay my dues forward. And I realized I wasn't happy with a lot of things. I didn't feel good enough in many ways. And I know that's a whole nother conversation, and it's time to wrap. But it made me understand that happiness. People who are truly, utterly happy were the most successful in my opinion. And that's not something that's easy to come by. And that's why I think it's really important. I wrote down the most important things in my life and I'm a spiritual person, so spirituality is really important, family's really important, health is really important. And then work is the last, but I was doing things the other way around. And I was like, "Shit." That doesn't make me happy. Realizing that my priorities are not in the right place.

The importance of filling your cup

Sophia Amoruso: Another thing that we ask everybody that comes on Girlboss Radio is, what is your most recent girl boss moment?

Huda Kattan: So it wasn't something I did for myself, but it was something that really changed my perspective. My husband took me to Iceland and I let him spoil me. I don't ever do that, like ever. I don't spoil myself. I don't let anybody spoil me. I mean I spoil myself with material things. I don't think that's right, but you know what I mean? This was like a a point where I was like, I'm going to let somebody take care of me and it filled my cup so well. Like it was amazing. I came back into the office and shit was going down. I was like, "It's okay, we're going to figure it out." And people were like, "What happened to Huda?" And it was one of the most amazing things. I realized the importance of filling your cup, the most important ways to do that. And I now really put an effort into it, like so much. And I think it's really important to have that balance. I don't do it all the time, but I think it's very important. It just changes your life.

Sophia Amoruso: Huda, thank you so much for joining me on Girlboss Radio.

Want to meet more women like Huda Kattan? You can — by joining the Girlboss professional network! Girlboss is a free platform for ambitious women to connect, ask questions, and level-up, together. We're calling it "professional networking 2.0," where connecting is about quality, not quantity. No sliding into DMs, no spam, no mass-connecting. Join fellow founding members and get access to our weekly Digital Fireside chats where you can get advice from entrepreneurs, marketers, creatives and side hustlers from all trades. Head to girlboss.com to sign up and create your profile today.

SEE ALSO: I built a multimillion-dollar business in two years. Here are 3 templates I used to make my first $10,000 in 3 months.

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How to change your startup programs in Windows 10, and make your computer start faster

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Dell XPS 15 2019

  • You can change your startup programs in Windows 10— the applications that start when you turn on your computer — by going into your settings.
  • Having too many startup programs, like Skype or Spotify, can slow down your computer, and even cause Windows to crash upon startup.
  • On the other hand, if there are programs that you want to open on startup, you can pick your own startup programs too. 
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Having programs open on startup can save you a lot of hassle if you use them frequently. When they open by default, after all, you won't have to spend time searching for them on your computer. Popular programs like Skype, Spotify, and f.lux will usually be set to startup by default.

However, having too many startup programs can make turning on your Windows 10 computer an incredibly slow process. This is especially true for older computers with less processing power.

It's possible to turn this function off for individual programs, as well as enable it for other programs. This means that you can set it so only the programs that you need will start up right away.

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Windows 10 (From $139.99 at Best Buy)

How to change or disable startup programs in Windows 10

1. Click the Windows logo at the bottom left of your screen, or press the Windows key on your keyboard. Then search and select "Startup Apps."

Screenshot_01

2. Windows will sort the applications that open on startup by their impact on memory or CPU usage. If you're experiencing slow startups, start by disabling the programs at the top and work down.

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3. If you don't recognize a program on this list, then it might be a good idea to search its name in your internet browser to see if it's important. Either you'll find out what it's there for, or realize that it's unwanted software that you should consider uninstalling. For information on how to uninstall programs in Windows 10, see our article here.

You can also disable startup programs via the Task Manager. 

1. Open the Task Manager by right-clicking the Windows icon, or by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete. 

2. Click "More Details" at the bottom of the Manager, and then select the Start-up tab at the top.

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3.  You can disable options in this list by right clicking them.

You can sort programs in this list by how many resources they take up when they start.

How to set a program to launch at startup in Windows 10

1. Click the Windows logo at the bottom left of your screen, or press the Windows key on your keyboard, and then type the name of the application you want to run at startup.

2. Right-click the application and select "More." 

3. Select "Open file location." If you don't see that option in the More menu, then you can't set it up to open at startup. 

4. In the folder that opens, right-click the program's icon and select "Copy."

5. Either click the Windows logo in the bottom left again and search for the Run application, or hit the Windows key + R on your keyboard. 

6. In the Run window, type "shell:startup" and then press Enter.

Screenshot_04

Paste the shortcut into the new folder that appears by right-clicking on an empty space and selecting "Paste."

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

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How to 'unzoom' your iPhone by turning off the zoom Accessibility feature in 2 different ways

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iPhone XS Max

Your iPhone makes it easy to zoom in and take a closer look at text or photos. 

And when you enable the zoom feature in your Accessibility settings, using three fingers on the screen, you can double-tap to zoom in or out, drag to move around the screen, or tap and drag to adjust the view.

Many find this helpful when reading, navigating the web, or using apps that don't offer a zoom function on photos or instructions. 

However, the zoom feature can also get in the way when trying to send text messages or view pages normally.

If you prefer not to use the zoom feature, it's easy to turn it off by accessing the Settings app on your iPhone or connecting your device to iTunes on your computer.

Here's how to do it. 

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How to unzoom your iPhone by turning off the zoom Accessibility feature

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

2. Tap "General" and then "Accessibility."

3. Under the "Vision" section, click "Zoom." If this feature is activated, it will say "On" on the right hand side of the screen.

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4. Under Zoom, tap or swipe the toggle to switch this feature off. The switch will turn from green to white.

image_2__zoom_toggle_

How to unzoom your iPhone by turning off the zoom feature through iTunes

You can also turn off the zoom function after connecting your iPhone to iTunes on your computer.

1. Open iTunes on your computer and connect your iPhone. 

2. Under the "Summary" section of your iPhone, click on the "Configure Accessibility..." button under "Options."

image_3__iTunes_summary_

3. Uncheck the box to the left of "Zoom."

4. Click "OK" to finish.

image_4__iTunes_zoom_checkbox_

Once the zoom feature is turned off — whether through the Settings app or through iTunes — your device will remain on its standard screen view.

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

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The best moisturizers you can buy

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  • Everyone wants healthy, smooth, and soft skin. Dry skin not only looks dull and flaky, but it also feels tight and itchy.
  • The solution? Use a good moisturizer.
  • Our favorite moisturizer for both face and body is the CeraVe Moisturizing Cream, but we've also chosen our best picks for different budgets, skin types, and needs.

As we enter the cooler months, one issue our bodies' skin will face is dryness. Even if you have extremely oily skin, you need a moisturizer to keep your skin hydrated, healthy, and balanced.

Moisturizers help skin retain its moisture barrier, which is the outer layer of the skin called the stratum corneum. When viewed through a microscope, it looks somewhat like a brick wall, with dead cells making up the bricks and lipids — the primary three naturally found in skin are fatty acids, cholesterol, and ceramides — making up the mortar. Skin that is excessively dry loses these lipids, weakening the skin's defense mechanisms and opening it up to irritation, damage, and a flaky, dull appearance.

On the most basic level, moisturizers help heal dry skin by attracting and sealing in water, thus replenishing what is lost to the atmosphere. Choosing the right moisturizer, though, can be an exercise in frustration. The typical drugstore has hundreds of moisturizing products on the shelves, all claiming to improve your skin.

Luckily, we're here to help. We sorted through the seemingly endless drugstore moisturizers, tested them ourselves, and found the ones most recommended for a wide range of skin types, budgets, and needs. 

Here are the top moisturizers you can buy:

Updated 10/2/2019 by Caitlin Petreycik: Updated formatting, prices, copy, and links. We are currently testing and researching new options and will be updating this guide again.

SEE ALSO: The best sunscreen you can buy

The best moisturizer overall

The CeraVe Moisturizing Cream is a dermatologist favorite that soothes, pampers, and restores skin at a price that's also nice on your wallet.

CeraVe Moisturizing Cream contains three essential ceramides, hyaluronic acid to restore skin moisture, and time-release technology to help keep your skin moisturized for 24 hours. It doesn't have any fragrance or oil, and won't clog pores either.

This thick cream glides on smoothly but absorbs fully without leaving you greasy or sticky. It's excellent for normal to dry skin and is even safe to use on sensitive skin, eczema, and babies' extra-delicate skin.

Self chose this as one of the top drugstore moisturizers. 

Pros: Suitable for use on both face and body, safe for sensitive skin, large container

Cons: If applied too thickly, it can be hard to layer foundation makeup 



The best for under $25

Neutrogena Hydro Boost gives your face every bit as much moisture as more expensive creams for a fraction of the price.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost moisturizes like a cream but absorbs as quickly and completely as a gel. The result? A healthy, moisturized, and comfortable complexion.

Although the gel moisturizer is geared towards normal-to-dry complexions, it's remarkably well-suited for slightly oily faces as well. It contains no oils, won't make you break out, and soaks in quickly, making it an excellent choice for use under makeup.

The water-based gel is a favorite of Byrdie because it's oil-free and made with hyaluronic acid to leave your skin moisturized and glowing without feeling oily. 

Pros: Lightweight, soaks in quickly with no greasy feel, suitable for most skin types, good under makeup

Cons: If you have very dry skin, this might not be moisturizing enough for you



The best for oily skin

With La Roche-Posay Effaclar Mat's mattifying moisture, your oily skin will look and feel great.

Oily skin can be a conundrum — too much moisture and it looks greasy, too little moisture and it can also look greasy to overcompensate for moisture imbalance. It's like the story of Goldilocks, and La Roche-Posay Effaclar Mat is the one that makes everything just right. It absorbs excess oil by providing the light hydration oily skin craves and leaves behind a soft matte finish.

Byrdie praised La Roche-Posay not only for producing a moisturizer that effectively reduces shine while improving skin texture, but also for supporting its claims with scientific research.

One Amazon reviewer said, "I have oily acne skin, and this moisturizer does not clog pores (it's oil free) and really helps to keep the problems under control, while keeping the skin hydrated."

Pros: Helps reduce shine, absorbs well, good under makeup

Cons: Tube is small, expensive



The best inexpensive organic moisturizer

Want to keep potentially harmful ingredients off your skin while treating it to a healthy glow? Then try Pacifica Coconut Probiotic Water Rehab Cream.

I made the switch to organic facial-care products a few years ago when I realized that the silicones found in many traditional formulas made me break out like I was back in my teenage years. To further complicate the matter, my skin is oily, maturing, and sometimes gets flaky, tight, or dull.

After much trial and error — and many wasted dollars — I discovered Pacifica Coconut Probiotic Water Rehab Cream, and I'm not looking back. No silicones, no oils, no fragrances, no parabens, no comedogenic troublemakers. Just 100% vegan ingredients including aloe vera, coconut water, vitamin E, and plant-derived amino acids to soothe away dryness without any greasiness, shine, or breakouts.

It feels a bit thick when it first goes on, but dries quickly to provide an excellent makeup base for my pressed powder mineral foundation. It also keeps shine under control for at least a few hours.

Pros: All natural ingredients, no silicone, suitable for just about every skin type

Cons: Small size 



The best for very dry skin

Kiss itchy, flaky, dull skin goodbye after smoothing on Vaseline Intensive Care Advanced Repair Unscented Lotion.

If you suffer from the maddening itch of dry skin on your legs or body, you know how frustrating it can be to find a product that stops the itch without further irritating your skin. Luckily, Vaseline Intensive Care Advanced Repair Unscented Lotion is rich enough to conquer even the driest knees or elbows, and it doesn't contain fragrance or other sensitive skin-aggravating ingredients.

InStyle chose this moisturizer as one of the best options for sensitive skin according to dermatologists. Target reviewers wrote, "Saved my skin," "My skin thanks you," and "Smooth and silky!"

Pros: Very inexpensive, safe for sensitive skin or skin with eczema, very rich and nourishing

Cons: Might be too thick for some



The best for very sensitive skin

If you have extremely sensitive skin or suffer from eczema or psoriasis, you need the dermatologist-created Vanicream Moisturizing Skin Cream.

Developed for those with the most sensitive skin, Vanicream Moisturizing Skin Cream is notable for the many things it does not contain — like dyes, fragrance, lanolin, phosphates, parabens, formaldehyde, and other common skin irritants. What it does contain is soothing, rich, moisturizing ingredients that settle down even the most irritable skin on your body or face. It's also been given a seal of approval from the National Eczema Association.

Self included Vanicream in a list of the best drugstore moisturizers. The site's medical reviewer highly recommends it. 

While the cream is thick, it does absorb fairly quick and won't leave you feeling too greasy or sticky. Some buyers complain that the pump dispenser does not work well, however.

Pros: Suitable for very sensitive skin, safe for body and face, non-comedogenic, okay for use on eczema or similar conditions, very large container for a low price, convenient pump 

Cons: Some complaints about the pump on the container



The best with clean ingredients

Nécessaire Body Lotion is packed with vitamins, antioxidants, and omega fatty acids to nourish your body as well as you'd normally do with your face. 

We're probably more careful with the skin on our faces than on our legs most days, but Nécessaire's Body Lotion aims to balance that out with its vitamin and antioxidant-packed formula. It includes niacinamide, vitamins A, B, C, E, two types of omega fatty acids, and shea butter, as well as marula, cacay oil, and meadowfoam oils. The lotion is also considered clean, as it's made without questionable ingredients like sulfates, parabens, and fragrance. 

Despite the rich and nourishing formula, the lotion itself is lightweight and fast-absorbing, a few passes left my skin hydrated, gleaming, and protected from the elements. Here's our full review of the lotion.

Pros: Skin-care-level ingredients, lightweight, absorbs quickly, clean formula 

Cons: Expensive compared to others on this list 



The best budget antiaging moisturizer

If you want to keep fine lines at bay a little longer, try Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream.

Although no moisturizer can perform miracles, plumping, firming, and moisturizing ingredients in Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream, like niacinamide, amino peptides, and hyaluronic acid, can help give your skin a boost. You'll see immediate plumping and smoothing of fine lines, and subtle reduction of deeper creases over time.

Good Housekeeping gave the cream its seal of approval, and wrote, "This 24/7 cream outperformed 10 competitors — even a prestige brand that costs $440 — in our Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab's clinical and blinded consumer studies."

Target reviewers praised the quick results, improvements in fine lines and skin texture, and lack of fragrance or other sensitive-skin triggers.

Pros: Effective ingredients, safe for sensitive skin, absorbs well, good under makeup, reasonable price

Cons: Not suitable for very oily skin



The best hand cream

Aveeno Active Naturals Skin Relief Hand Cream keeps your hands soft and smooth for hours without any greasy feel.

Although I struggle with oily skin on my face, my hands have the opposite problem: they're dry and tend to crack and bleed. Any hint of fragrance or other irritating ingredients makes the problem even worse. The skin over my knuckles turns flame-red and burns like fire. To add to the problem, I can't stand any slippery, greasy, or tacky feeling on my skin.

Thankfully, I discovered Aveeno Active Naturals Skin Relief Hand Cream several years ago, and I hope the company never discontinues this wonderfully soothing, fragrance-free, and intensely moisturizing hand cream because it fulfills all of my requirements.

It isn't greasy or sticky feeling and only requires a couple of applications each day. There's no burning, stinging, cracks, or parched skin. And best of all, the Aveeno cream is very inexpensive. The only downside to the product is that it isn't a very large tube.

Pros: Suitable for sensitive skin, not greasy or sticky, very soothing to extra-dry skin, concentrated so only a little is needed

Cons: Tube is not very large



Check out our other great skin-care guides

The best exfoliators you can buy

Regular exfoliation sloughs off dead skin cells, revealing brighter, more refreshed skin underneath, and helps to keep your pores clear. While exfoliators have a reputation for being harsh and abrasive, the latest crop delivers gentler sloughing and smoothing. Glossier's Solution is our top pick, thanks to its powerful mix of acids that leave skin glowing. But, it may not be the product for you, depending on your skin's needs. Check out our list below to find your perfect exfoliator match. 

Here are the best exfoliators to buy in 2019: 


The best clay masks you can buy

Clay masks are an easy and cost-effective way to give your skin a boost without hitting the spa. Our top pick is the Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay Mask because it's super affordable, all-natural, and deep cleans your pores. But if you're looking for something more particular — maybe a mask that hydrates, exfoliates, or brightens — check out the rest of our list. 

Here are the best clay masks to buy in 2019: 


The best face cream for dry skin

If you're one of those people whose face feels flaky whether it's December or August, finding the right face cream can be difficult. But if full-on hydration and protection are what you're after, Dr. Jart+ Ceramindin Cream is your best bet. In addition, we have four other face cream we would recommend that you check out. 

Here are the best face creams to buy in 2019: 

 



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