10 Of The Best Substacks To Read Instead Of Doomscrolling
Substack is the platform slowly taking over the internet. Your phone is full of newsletters that actually make you smarter, funnier, or better dressed, just waiting to be opened and read. We rounded up six Substacks that trade the endless doomscroll for something with an actual point of view, whether that’s fashion, beauty, or the internet itself.
Plus, scroll to the end of this article to discover and subscribe to The Handbook team’s very own newsletters.
Magasin, by Laura Reilly
Magasin is Laura Reilly’s biweekly fashion shopping dispatch, blending sale alerts and new launches with first-person reporting on what stylish people are actually buying.
What sets this apart from other fashion dispatches is Reilly’s impeccably chic taste. While you may not be able to afford all her recommendations, it’s a great place to start when looking for dressing inspo.
Perfect for anyone who wants their shopping impulses fed with wit and curation instead of an algorithm.
Crème de la Crème, by Aminatou Sow
Crème de la Crème is Aminatou Sow’s newsletter of record for what she’s reading, obsessing over, and laughing at, written with the wit and cultural fluency Call Your Girlfriend listeners already know.
Its recurring Gentle Suggestions segment is the highlight, dispensing Sow’s blunt, funny, big-sisterly advice on everything from skincare questions to how to survive the news cycle.
Blackbird Spyplane
Perhaps one of the most lauded and popular Substacks going, Blackbird Spyplane is Jonah Weiner and Erin Wylie’s cult favourite dispatch on style, travel, and culture.
It’s less “here’s what to buy” and more “here’s why this obscure Japanese workwear brand or vintage Patagonia fleece is worth caring about.” Reading it feels like getting put onto something cool by the two friends who somehow know about everything before it’s cool.
Ridiculous Little Things, Tahirah Hairston
Written by former Teen Vogue fashion director Tahirah Hairston, Ridiculous Little Things digs into the psychology of taste, using essays and interviews to ask why we want the specific things we want. In The Romance of Slow Burn Shopping, she traces the years-long pursuit of a pair of Céline pirate heels she’d coveted since 2017, making a case for desire as its own kind of pleasure.
It’s a newsletter for anyone who’s ever kept a mental wishlist of an item for years, waiting for fate (or a sample sale) to bring it home.
FLESH WORLD, by Jessica DeFino
FLESH WORLD is Jessica DeFino’s weekly interrogation of beauty culture, from the marketing myths to the internalised standards that keep us buying, injecting, and self-critiquing.
A former beauty editor turned self-described industry antagonist, DeFino applies real reporting rigour to questions most outlets are too advertiser-dependent to ask, like why “self-care” so often just means self-surveillance. It’s for anyone who wants to understand the beauty-industrial complex clearly enough to finally opt out of some of it.
Embedded, by Kate Lindsay
Embedded is Kate Lindsay and Nick Catucci’s twice-weekly field guide to internet culture, the newsletter that coined “the millennial pause” and has been chasing the internet’s weirder corners since 2021.
Beyond the trend-spotting essays, its My Internet Q&A turns extremely online people inside out, asking what they’re texting, watching, and doomscrolling through in a given week. It’s essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the internet’s moods without spending all day marinating in it themselves.
Book(ish), by Natasha Poliszczuk
Book(ish) is Natasha Poliszczuk’s newsletter for the pure pleasure of reading, mixing thoughtful reviews and author interviews with occasional detours into clothes and interiors.
Her monthly Good Stuff roundup is a highlight, an amble through everything that’s caught her attention that month, from bookshop mishaps to what’s worth buying on sale. It’s the newsletter equivalent of a long, unhurried chat with a well-read friend who also happens to have great taste in clothes.
Follow The Handbook team’s substacks
Mallory’s Calories
“Mallory’s Calories is basically my food journal. It’s mostly recipes, but also the thoughts and stories that come from a life spent cooking, eating and sitting around tables.”
“There are book reviews, overly specific thoughts on dishes and philosophical ramblings, but somehow it all comes back to food. As a food journalist who also happens to be an avid overthinker, this is basically my outlet to get incredibly existential about food. What’s in it for you is the recipes that come with it.” – Mallory, Junior Food and Drink Editor
Kitty Bovaird Postiglione
“I won’t pretend I’ve been the most reliable presence on Substack, but Autumn tends to bring out my ambition!”
“This season, expect a return to regular writing: book reviews and recommendations, beauty and fashion edits, and opinion pieces.”
If you like reading about films, TV and (sometimes) politics, you might like my Substack. A blend of quick retrospectives on my favourite films, essays on industry trends and other writings, like the occasional political analysis.
Rufus, Contributing Entertainment Writer
