Whenever I want something shiny and new and out of my budget, I open a new Chrome tab and start click-clacking away. First a Google search, then Sephora and Amazon reviews, and then—I embrace the wormhole. What can I say? I like this wild, digital ride. I found one of my favorite jewelry stores (pretty gold chains...hello) after rifling through tags on Tumblr. A simple, succinct tweet from @desusnice was enough to drag my finger to Amazon and click "add to cart" on a weighted blanket. And let's just say that I'm intimately familiar with citrus notes and which Santa Maria Novella soaps carry my favorites.

Only after my final shopping target has been bookmarked and screenshotted for safekeeping, do I retreat from my online haze of hot takes, satisfied and heart full. But the best part of this effort? I get to give back. Ask me about my lip gloss. I’ll let you know that it’s a nourishing lip oil, and that I bought it after comparing reviews of the Clarins one to the Hourglass one, before settling on YSL’s after reading an enthusiastic comment about it smelling like apricots. I love the internet. Isn’t it a blessing to know you can be egged on by virtual strangers who only want to see you succeed?

So, I’m here to ask: What’s the last kind of pricey thing you bought after thorough investigation? What’s the thing that was worth the splurge? Tell me I’m not alone.

—Utibe Mbagwu

Photo via ITG