At home with Antoni Porowski: "I injured my jaw using a gua sha too hard"

Open the door to Antoni Porowski’s New York apartment and don’t be surprised if a landslide of white T-shirts and candles comes pouring out. An obsessive collector in both, the Queer Eye food and wine expert mercifully keeps the two collections separate: the candles “in a closet that should be dedicated to storage” and the white T-shirts — of which there are “fifty or sixty” — in the wardrobe.

Alongside his fiancé Kevin Harrington and rescue mutt Neon, Antoni lives in a unique space, built of “95 per cent vintage or one-off or custom made” furniture and, right now, the inevitable detritus that comes with intensive wedding planning. As the pair pave the way to their custom Etsy-designed nuptials, we picked Antoni’s brain on what his essentials are, both in and outside the chapel.

Let’s talk about your essentials room by room, starting with the bathroom — what are the grooming bits you’d hate to live without?

To set the vibe, I always like to light a candle when I’m doing my nighttime skincare routine, even if it’s just for 10 minutes. I’m a very sensory person and I love a good smell, so I’m always burning a candle if I’m taking a bath on a weekend or anything like that. In the office room, there is a closet that should be dedicated to storage but it is entirely stacked with candles because that’s definitely a thing that I’m on the obsessive side with.

What kind of candles are in there?

We’ve been getting a lot of rain when I’ve been driving this summer, and there’s a really lovely one by Byredo called 'Summer Rain' that just came out. D.S. & Durga is a really great, slightly more affordable brand. They have a pasta water candle which is so random but there’s something really salty about it that I really love. And then I have all the classics by Diptyque, obviously. A full range, truly.

When your candle is set, what products do you use?

In the mornings I love a dry brush: I’m very into lymphatic massages recently so I use a dry brush on my whole body. I’m also learning how to use a gua sha even though I injured my jaw because I went way too hard. But I’m learning to be a little more delicate with that and it really helps.

Which is your dry brush of choice?

I did have a wonderful Goop dry brush and then I sadly lost it but I picked up a really inexpensive one from the pharmacy and I felt like it worked just as well. What I learned about it is that you don’t have to brush very hard because then you scratch your skin. Gentle is very key. And watch some tutorials on YouTube on how to do it properly: that I definitely had to do because I was not doing it right. It’s all the direction in which you brush.

I’m detecting a theme of you injuring yourself with grooming products.

That’s literally me. Even when I got into exfoliants…I started using them way too often. I went through my whole life never having a facial until Queer Eye came out and then I would go every six to eight months. That’s the one thing I try to do on a fairly regular basis. But my aesthetician told me that Americans exfoliate way too much. She was like, “You are a Polish boy with delicate Polish skin. Be gentle with it”.

What about your sleep routine — how do you approach that?

Getting my eight hours of sleep is non-negotiable, so I keep my room really nice and cold. A sleep mask is very important…Slip, the silk ones. Because I’m a snorer I love to use nasal strips and then there is this German tape called Myotape which is brilliant. It’s for my fiancé because he’s a light sleeper.

Then…this one’s a little over the top but it’s incredible but this mattress pad called Eight Sleep. Oh my gosh! There’s a humidifier component and it keeps your body cool and it warms up whenever it’s time to wake up. It’s got a full app and everything. When gadgets are functional and actually help me with my quality of life, I’m all in.

What are some gadgets you swear by for the kitchen?

Tweezers. So important. For years, I’ve talked about how important tongs are: you should have silicone-coated tongs and classic aluminium ones to grab stuff whenever you’re roasting. Tweezers are really good if you want to apply herbs to a piece of fish — I was just watching a scene in The Bear season one yesterday on my flight and there’s a lovely scene when she’s applying parsley, dill, basil and mint to a Chilean sea bass. They’re really good for little details or if you have any fresno chillies you want to pickle or something that’s spicy and you don’t want to get it on your fingers. They’re cheap; they last forever; they don’t break down or dull because there’s no blade.

Okay, talk to me about your and Kev’s wedding plans.

Wedding planning is something I’ve never really thought of and suddenly I’m in that world. I was actually so excited when Etsy came on board with this awesome collaboration and opportunity to work together. In some ways, you’re going to want to lean into brands, but our dog [Neon], who takes up 95 per cent of my brain space, we want her to have a mini little tux situation and Etsy was able to provide for that.

For wedding party gifts and guests that were travelling from outside town, we wanted to do something special. I was able to pick out on Etsy these beautiful boxes that are engraved and I was raised in Canada so I wanted to have little maple syrups in glass bottles with little wax tops.

Finally, please tell us where you get your clothes! You have a Thom Browne situation, right?

My stylist always tells me whenever we’re picking something out to think about the outfit ten years from now. Are you going to be embarrassed that you wore it? For sure sometimes it’s a flash in the pan and you want to wear something that’s a little bold, or an oversized jacket that’s double-breasted or something. But for the most part, I try to go on the traditional side, or that leans into nostalgia.

With Thom Browne, the way that he cuts his clothing…there’s something very 1960s schoolboy about it that feels very much like a uniform that I love. Even though it is bolder, it’s something that I can repurpose and wear over and over again. I have the jacket, the shorts, the vest [waistcoat], I even have a kilt that goes with it. With classic Adidas Stan Smiths and white tube socks, that kilt and a Haines T-shirt or a basic, simple white tee. I have 50 or 60.

Wow. And which are your favourites?

For the high-end, I love my classic The Row T-shirt: yes, it’s extremely expensive but it’s the perfect fitting T-shirt, it never loses its shape, you don’t get any armpit stains from deodorant or anything like that. Elwood is a fantastic brand and they have these awesome worn-in T-shirts that when you get them you feel like you’ve been wearing them for ten years already. When I’m travelling and I really want a thick T-shirt that has no hem on the sleeve, John Elliot is a fantastic one as well, and Save Khaki. And when I want a really nice tight-spun, Japanese cotton T-shirt, James Perse is fantastic.

Any parting style recommendations?

Guest in Residence, Gigi (Hadid’s) fashion line of cashmere. I don’t know how but it doesn’t pill. I have three of the cardigans which I’ve worn with Thom Browne shorts and a white T-shirt and I’ve worn with mesh shorts on a plane. It’s the cosiest cardigan. I have it in green, camel…black is my favourite.

Shop Antoni and Kev's Etsy wedding edit here.

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