Microwave toasties, throws and tiny luxuries: 12 cosy comforts you loved last month

Say what you like about mists and mellow fruitfulness, October can be a miserable month. Those of us who don’t get to spend it kicking through crunchy leaves in the warm embrace of a Hollywood romcom hunk and brand new autumn/winter outerwear could use some cheering up. So it’s with little surprise (and a whole lot of relatability) that I saw cosy lighting, heated throws and endless rounds of toast on the list of Filter recommendations you loved most last month.

You’ve been keen to add sparkle to your darkening evenings, too. Stick-on nails and Velcro rollers are among your October favourites, along with an LED face mask that you can either use to soup up your winter complexion or hide behind until spring comes.

The microwave toastie maker

Morphy Richards Mico

Toasters take not just first place but the top two places in October’s bestsellers chart. You really do love this stuff – and as someone who believes beans on toast to be the perfect meal, I heartily approve.

Morphy Richards’ nifty microwave toastie maker so impressed our writer Joanne Gould that it was her product of the year in our Filter anniversary roundup, where she admitted it had to be “prised out of my cold, dead hands” (how very Halloween) to donate to charity. Hang on, though – microwave toast? The Mico’s metal plates slot inside a silicone case for “toasting” croissants, bagels, toasted sandwiches or plain old toast, explained Joanne in our guide to the best toastie makers. A genuinely ingenious gadget for less than £30.

The ultimate toaster

Dualit four-slice classic toaster

Dualit’s achingly handsome four-slice model was the most expensive in our guide to the best toasters, but it proved to be your favourite – and not just because it looks so good. “There are few things that can go wrong” with this UK-made classic, wrote Rachel Ogden, “and if they do, every part can be replaced”. You can heat up as few or as many of its four slots as you need, and lift slices easily to check progress. Ultimately, declared Rachel, it’s “everything you could ask for in a toaster”.

The Velcro rollers making waves

Self-grip rollers

The popularity of Velcro rollers gladdens the heart of our beauty columnist, Sali Hughes, and sees £50 premium sets sell out regularly, she wrote in her recent column. Little wonder that her own favourite set, a snip at £12 from Hershesons, scored a win with you too. The self-grip rollers “work wonders in lifting roots and adding movement to lank, flattened hair” and cause “less hair damage than other styling tools”. Lank, flattened hair, you say? Take my money!

The depiller that rescues your bobbly jumpers

Russell Hobbs fabric shaver

Back go the clocks, out come the jumpers, and down goes your heart at the sight of all those bobbles. Bobbly woollens are easy to fix, though. A depiller (AKA fabric shaver) does for your jumpers what a depilator does for your legs, but more cheaply and much less painfully. Russell Hobbs’ depiller was nestled right at the bottom of our women’s autumn fashion updates, but you loved it more than anything else on the list.

The heated throw you’ll want all to yourself

Dunelm fleece electric throw

Electric blankets used to be sturdy, wired underblankets that never reached your feet and always made you worry you’d burn the house down overnight. Today’s best electric blankets span a far broader (and safer) range, from heated double duvets to king-size throws with timers and different heat settings for each side of the bed. Seems you’d rather have a whole blanket to yourself, though, because your favourite was a smooth fleece throw that writer Emily Peck judged great value and “perfect for one person”.

The Dior-alike rugby shirt

Cotton rugby shirt

After spotting a solid, no-stripe, white collar rugby shirt on new Dior designer Jonathan Anderson’s Instagram, Jess Cartner-Morley “instantly wanted to find a rugby shirt to wear like that,” she wrote in her guide to October’s style essentials. So did you, judging by how many of you snapped up John Lewis’s £45 lookalike. “This is so chic and preppy but not in an annoying way,” wrote Jess. “It’s menswear, so size down.” (Unless you’re a man, of course.)

The chic wireless table lamp

Rechargeable LED lamp

The big light is the enemy of comfy cocooning. Our guide to getting cosy offers many ways to bathe in the softer glow of table lamps, including models with light temperature options, remote controls and custom lampshades. Your favourite was this fabulous dimmable cerise number, which is wireless and rechargeable, so you can stand it anywhere – and it costs far less than you might expect from its elegant appearance.

The puffy shoulder bag

Soft shoulder bag

“Forget Hermès: when it comes to cult bags, Uniqlo is on a winning streak,” wrote our fashion team in their guide to women’s autumn fashion updates. The list was packed with stylish ways to get your serotonin-boosting kicks as the nights draw in, from Nordic knitwear to jazzy slippers, but Uniqlo’s slouchy, pocket-filled bag was your favourite accessory. It’s big enough to fit a laptop and has two pockets each on the outside and inside. Don’t tell my sister, but she is 100% getting this for Christmas.

The beauty calendar

Lookfantastic beauty Advent calendar

I’ve tended to assume Advent calendars cost more than the sum of their parts, but Sarah Matthews put me straight with her irresistible roundup of the best beauty calendars. This Lookfantastic calendar offers 17 full-size products and 11 minis for much less than the items are worth individually. Sarah loved its “balance of indulgent skincare, body care essentials, universally useful makeup, hair care and accessories”, and picked out highlights including the Medik8 Hydr8 B5 Intense serum, ideal for winter-stressed skin, and a Ren Clean Skincare Radiance eye cream that’s “perfect for mornings when you’ve burned the candle at both ends”.

The 10-minute DIY manicure that works

Mylee gel nail wraps

The product that finally ended Jess Cartner-Morley’s run of terrible luck with Instagram buys, these flexible, nail-shaped stickers of shiny gel polish were another of your favourites from her October style essentials. They come in all manner of finishes – “solid colours, ombre, squiggles, whatever your little heart desires” – and you simply press them on to your nails and trim to match the length, no UV lamp required. “On me, these last a week, rather than the fortnight it claims on the packet, but I’m thrilled with that,” wrote Jess.

The Ninja slow cooker

Ninja Foodi 8-in-1 slow cooker

Sometimes, when it’s really miserable out and you’re really miserable in, a slice of toast won’t cut it. You need “anything from pie and pancakes to slow-cooked roasts”, as rustled up by Ninja’s multi-skilled machine. In our guide to the best slow cookers, Joanne Gould declared the Ninja to be “a triumph of function, style and value – particularly if you can pick one up at a discounted price”, although a healthy (and hungry) number of you opted to snap it up at full price rather than hang around for Black Friday.

The LED mask

Shark CryoGlow

LED masks don’t come cheap, but these light therapy devices have flown off the shelves thanks to their purported power to smooth skin, improve elasticity and reduce blemishes. In our guide to the best LED masks, Sarah Matthews put 10 to the test and found the Shark CryoGlow – yes, from the vacuum cleaner people – to be the most effective for targeting multiple skin concerns. “The blemish mode did a brilliant job of calming spots and redness with sustained use,” she wrote. “I also liked using the skin sustain mode for a quick pick-me-up to brighten my skin before a night out.”

For more, read how to get cosy this autumn: 42 small, snuggly updates