The Everyday Edit: April 2026

April Favourites: Comfy Shoes, Suspicious Glow, Claude AI and a Label Maker With Delusions of Grandeur

Last week I found myself standing in the kitchen holding my label maker, about three seconds away from printing a label that said LABEL MAKER for the drawer where the label maker lives.

This is the sort of moment that separates the merely organised from the mildly unwell.

I paused. I stared at the tiny machine in my hand. The machine stared back, smugly, as if to say, go on, you know you want to. I put it down, made a coffee, and congratulated myself on showing restraint.

Then I labelled the coffee drawer.

It now says COFFEE, just in case any of us were going to open that drawer, see the coffee pods, filters, frother attachments and suspiciously large stash of emergency Nespresso capsules, and think: Ah yes, batteries.

Anyway. April has been a decent month. Not dramatic. Not life-changing. Nobody here has moved to a villa in Tuscany or discovered inner peace through yoga. But I have found four things that have made everyday life in April slightly better, and frankly, at this stage of life, that’s the goal right?

Comfortable feet. Better skin. A clever AI assistant. Labels, lots of labels.

We begin, obviously, with the feet.

Archies Arch Support Slides

I first found Archies on Instagram about seven years ago. Archies claimed “total foot comfort.” Bold. Suspicious. The sort of promise usually made by shoes that look orthopedic, in the least stylish way possible. But I bought a pair of their flip-flops anyway, and I am still wearing them seven years later.

Seven years. Not a typo.

These flip-flops have outlasted several i-phones, a global pandemic, countless skincare phases, and at least three personal declarations that I was “really going to get into Pilates this time.” They are still going strong.

The magic is twofold: my foot does not slide around in them, and the arch support is genuinely excellent. I have narrow feet, and slides are particularly tricky. They never hold my foot properly, so I end up gripping them with my toes like a nervous bird on a branch. Not relaxing. Not comfortable.

A couple of years ago, Archies launched slides, and I was immediately interested. I bought a pair last summer and wore them almost every day until the weather turned cold and I had to pack them away, which felt unnecessarily cruel. Like saying goodbye to a very supportive friend.

A few weeks ago, during the annual excavation of warm-weather clothes, I found them tucked away in the back of my closet. We were reunited!

The arch support is built right into the sole, the foam footbed moulds to your foot over time, and they genuinely get more comfortable the more you wear them. This is rare. Most shoes begin as a hopeful purchase and slowly reveal themselves to be decorative torture devices. Archies do the opposite. They start comfortable and then become personal.

They also come in great colours, including a new dark chocolate brown that I am trying very hard to resist.

Worth noting: Archies almost never go on sale. Black Friday, maybe. Occasionally, a retiring colour gets discounted, which is excellent if you aren’t too fussed about colour.

They are an Australian brand, however Canadian orders ship from their warehouse located in Montreal, which means delivery is quick. No mysterious six-week international limbo.

My advice: if you struggle with flat sandals, foot fatigue, or slides that make you clench your toes like you’re gripping the edge of a cliff, try them. Your arches will thank you.

First Aid Beauty Hello FAB Coconut Skin Smoothie Priming Moisturizer

First, the name. First Aid Beauty Hello FAB Coconut Skin Smoothie Priming Moisturizer. This is not a product name, this is a ransom note assembled from a list of Sephora keywords.

I feel tired just typing it. By the time you’ve said the whole thing aloud, you could have cleansed, moisturised, and applied mascara!

But annoying name aside, I really, really like it.

It’s a moisturiser-primer hybrid, which is normally the kind of category that makes me narrow my eyes. I am not always convinced that two-in-one products are doing either job properly (think 2-in-1 shampoo-conditioner – no thank you). This concoction, however, works.

The texture is light and creamy, absorbs quickly, and leaves behind a soft, luminous finish. Not shiny, not sparkly, not greasy. Not “I’ve accidentally applied highlighter with a pastry brush.” Just skin that looks a bit more alive. Slightly fresher. As though you drank lots of water and slept a full eight hours.

I use it under foundation, and it behaves beautifully. No pilling, no weird separation, no tiny product crumbs rolling off my face like I’m shedding. On bare-face days, it gives everything a little lift, which is very welcome when you have menopausal skin.

It is not dramatic skincare. It will not make you look 10 years younger. It will not turn you into a glazed-donut looking celebrity emerging from a med-spa. It simply makes your skin look better.

The finish comes from micro-pearls, and the hydration comes partly from coconut water. It is also non-comedogenic and made with sensitive skin in mind, which is important because many of us are one “active” serum away from looking like we’ve had a run-in with a shrub.

I originally found this product at Sephora (of course), however I’ve located it for cheaper here. It has become one of those products I reach for without thinking. This is always the real test, not whether something looks nice in the bathroom cabinet. Not whether the packaging whispers “clean girl aesthetic”. Whether I actually use it at 7:42 am when I am half-dressed, not yet caffeinated, and already annoyed by my husband.

This one passes the test.

Claude AI

I debated whether an AI tool belongs in a monthly favourites post. Then I considered the fact that I have used Claude more this month than I have used several appliances I own, and the matter was settled.

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know I’ve been learning and experimenting with AI over the past year. I use ChatGPT a lot, and I still like it. But after all the noise earlier this year around Anthropic, OpenAI and US military AI contracts – a sentence that sounds as though it should be read by a man in a serious suit on the evening news – I decided to take a proper look at Claude. How could I not? My social media and inbox have been absolutely flooded with information and encouragement to switch to Claude.

And I’ve been using it ever since, and haven’t looked back.

The thing I like most is the way Claude handles ongoing context. You can set up dedicated workspaces, called Projects, and give each one its own instructions and background information. For example, you can tell it who you are, what you’re working on, what tone you like, what your goals are, what you hate, what you definitely do not want it to say, and so on.

This is extremely useful if, like me, you get tired of repeatedly explaining yourself to software. There is only so many times one woman can type, “Please make this sound human, practical, warm, slightly funny, and not like a LinkedIn post written by a smug intern.”

Once the project is set up, Claude starts to feel less like a blank chatbot and more like a clever assistant who has read the brief and understands the assignment!

I’ve been using it most for food tracking. As a middle age woman, I am obsessed with tracking my nutrition (I blame social media for that!), so I log everything I eat. Claude dutifully tracks my macros, calories and key nutrients. It also flags gaps, which is helpful. It is always calcium though. 😒

Every day Claude gently informs me that I am low in calcium consumption, with the calm persistence of a nurse holding a chart. I could eat yogurt, cheese, salmon and half a cow, and I suspect Claude would still peer over its little spectacles and say, “We may want to improve our calcium consumption tomorrow”

I also use Claude for editing, SEO research, blog planning and brainstorming. It is especially good when I give it very clear instructions and examples. Like all AI tools, it still needs supervision. It can be wrong. It can be too confident. It sometimes writes sentences that sound as though they were assembled in a corporate microwave.

But when it is good, it is very good.

If you’re curious about Claude, Anthropic has an amazing learning platform called Anthropic Academy, and Helena Di Biase’s Really Rich Substack has practical, non-technical guides that are useful if you would rather not begin your AI education by feeling as though you accidentally enrolled in computer science.

Which, personally, I would not.

P-Touch Label Maker

A label maker is not glamorous. A label maker will not transform your life in a dramatic montage where you suddenly become the kind of woman who owns matching linen trousers and always knows where the batteries are.

But it will make certain corners of your life feel much less irritating, and I am increasingly convinced that this is what happiness actually is. Small reductions in daily irritation.

I own a P-touch label maker, and I love it in a way that is disproportionate, possibly embarrassing, and frankly none of your business.

There is something deeply satisfying about a labelled spice jar. Or a file folder with a clean little label. Or a cable behind your desk that no longer requires a full forensic investigation every time you need to unplug something.

I have labelled spice jars, pantry containers, file folders, basement bins, cords, chargers, luggage tags, and even my lingerie drawer.

Do I occasionally label things that any reasonable person could identify without assistance? Yes. Would I label the toaster if left unsupervised? Let’s not test it.

The label tape comes in multiple colours, which is both delightful and unnecessary. Nobody needs seventeen tape colours. And yet, knowing they exist brings me joy.

If you want something fancier, the Brother P-touch Cube is probably the sleeker option. It connects to your phone, gives you more fonts and design options, and uses laminated waterproof tape that can apparently survive freezers, dishwashers and whatever other climates exists inside a family kitchen.

I don’t own it yet, but it is on my Amazon wish list, staring at me quietly.

If I were buying from scratch, I might go straight for the Cube, especially for kitchen use. The waterproof tape alone is persuasive. A label that survives the dishwasher has a level of resilience I personally aspire to.

Final Thoughts

So that was April.

Supportive footwear, better-looking skin, an AI assistant that gently bullies me about calcium, and a label maker obsession that my husband keeps a close eye on.

Not a bad month, really.

Nothing revolutionary. No grand reinvention. Just a handful of things that made ordinary life easier, nicer or marginally less chaotic. And honestly, that is my favourite kind of favourite.

Now tell me: what made your April better? A product, a show, a snack, a gadget, a highly specific kitchen tool you now can’t live without? Leave it in the comments. I am nosy, impressionable, and always one good recommendation away from making a purchase I will later justify as “research.”

Want more Everyday Edits? Check-out previous month’s posts here.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting this blog!

Share this post with a friend:

Copy LinkLink copied!