The Moment Before

There’s a particular moment in shopping when the fantasy is cleaner than the reality. You see a GoPro and imagine yourself filming at places worth filming. A Chromebook and you’ve already decided on your tech philosophy—not Apple, not Windows, just Google all the way down. Rocksmith and you’re the kind of person who just picks up guitar, you skip the part where you’re bad at it. Limited Nikes because some things are only available if you’re lucky enough to find them. The H&M x Lana Del Rey collection and suddenly you’re living with that specific mood she does, that bored-glamour thing.

The products on this list are all selling that moment. They’re selling you the version of yourself that exists right before you buy them.

I’ve fallen for it plenty of times. You buy something and for maybe a week you feel like the person it promised. Then it’s just a thing you own and you’re still you, just smaller by whatever you spent. But those few days of feeling like someone else—that actually works. It works on all of us.