Novis Newsletter - February Edition

A Special Brazilian Dispatch - featuring a fairy godmothers, a puerto rican prince and going home before midnight

I’m writing today’s newsletter from an airport lounge in Rio as I wait for my gate to be announced (I have twelve hours in Manhattan, so if anyone has any brunch recommendations, send them my way!!) Full disclosure, I’m not usually a procrastinator and putting together these monthly recaps is one of my favourite things to do as the months draw to a close, but for most of February, I was living fast and hard. There was little downtime, and I managed to pack a lot of action into the shortest month of the year.

A Slow Start

I started the month at a slower pace, making my way over to my grandmother’s house as soon as I arrived in the country. I was told my background was serving “Latin grandmacore” in a Zoom meeting and took it as a compliment. My days consisted of breakfast with my mom and grandma, flipping through photo albums, the occasional doctor’s appointments and several naps on the hammock. I once again caught myself thinking about ageing as I compared my ninety-year-old grandmother to the woman I once knew.

It feels so scary getting old

CarnaRio is my new religion

I reached my final form during Carnaval in Rio this year. I’ve always loved the city. I spent every summer growing up on those beaches; it’s synonymous with family, with home. For the past few years, though, I’ve been rediscovering Rio as a place that is also fun, young, exciting. It stopped being my past, and I considered a move in the future, largely thanks to one of my childhood best friends¹ moving there for university, and showing me what my life could be like in the sunshine. Carnaval brought me back to life; it was everything I loved and didn’t know I needed. I also wrote all about it here, and have told all my friends they know where to find me forty days before Easter from now until the end of time (if anyone wants to join next year, let me know!)

PARTY REPORT - Carnaval Rio 2026

Fairy Godmothers and Puerto Rican Princes

I have the best godmother, and I can prove it. I spent a good deal of the month catching up with mine. Val and my parents met at university, she once said I’d be a best selling authour when I was a child, and my mom has never let me forget it. If I ever publish a book, she’ll be at the top of the acknowledgements. She’s a journalist, and now more than ever, I look to her for guidance. Whenever we came back to Rio as a family, I’d always tag along when my mother would catch up with her friends. This time, she was busy, and I went on my own, realising I had developed my own relationships with these women who watched me grow up, grateful for the people who have become my chosen family. Before leaving to spend a weekend in São Paulo with one of my mom’s oldest friends, I gushed with my godmother and her sister about Bad Bunny. He was playing a concert on Friday, and Irene was going, I joked about being jealous. Val defied all odds and managed to snag a last-minute ticket, letting me know just hours before the concert. I arrived in the city an hour and a half before Benito went on stage. With no time (or space) to change, I popped my contacts in at the back of my Uber and coated my lashes with several layers of mascara (which would end up streaming down my cheeks a few hours later). I was reminded of my middle school, wattpad-reading days as I worried about my greasy hair and travel clothes, how was Bad Bunny meant to fall in love with me after spotting me from the stage when I was dressed like that?! Nonetheless, I had the best time, and will be recruiting Irene for more nights out, as she has more stamina than a lot of my twenty-something friends.

What I bought (or wish I bought) in Brazil

• Sushi → I love going out for dinner whenever I’m in Rio, and a stop at Gurumê is a must. Canoa Sushi was a new and welcome discovery.

• Carbs → My favourite food group, I went to Il Leone and ordered from Cucco multiple times. The starters and drinks at Sult were incredible, and the lasagna was big enough to share (I didn’t). In São Paulo, I love Almanara for Lebanese food that tastes like home and Bachir for ice cream as you’ve never had before.

• Chopp - preferably Brahma, in a chilled glass. Jobi and Belmonte are the holy grounds. Drinking around Rua Arnaldo Quintela also never disappoints.

• Outfits from Carioca brands that will have you showering in compliments → though I barely had enough room in my suitcase, I always make new additions to my summer wardrobe when I’m in Rio. Everyone already knows about FarmRio, and I love shopping there (especially in Brazil where it’s so much cheaper), but I also reccommend checking out Oh Boy and Cantão for the best printed dresses, Richards for timeless pieces to pass down to your daughter (everything I have from there was poached from my mom’s closet) and Salinas for the perfect Brazilian bikinis.

• Body Care and Beauty → Real Brazilians don’t shop from Sol de Janeiro. Instead, we love Granado (their perfumes are my favourite souvenir to gift), Natura and spending an hour at the pharmacy.

  • My Brazilian Pharmacy Shopping List:

    • Nail polish: Rebu, Gabriela and Licor from Risqué, Jabuticaba from Colorama (you’ll never go back to Chanel’s Rouge Noir)

    • Granado’s Cuticle Balm

    • Azelan → an over-the-counter azelaic acid, you can get it in Europe (under the name Skinoren), but you’ll need a prescription

    • Paixão Body Oil (I can’t do moisturiser in hot or humid climates, this gives the perfect sheen, and the Bridgerton collaboration smells incredible)

    • Creamy Vitamin C serum → I’m trying this out, will report on results in a few months

Julia’s February Recommendations - To Read, To Watch and To Eat

To Read - An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector

• Full disclosure, I’ve never read anything by Clarice Lispector. Yes, I know it’s not very patriotic of me, but I’m trying to do better. This is my aeroplane read, and by the time this newsletter goes out, I’ll most likely have finished it. I also have The Hour of the Star for my next flight, and I’ll share my thoughts once I’m back in London. This year, I’m making an effort to read more in Portuguese (or just less in English, so any French or Spanish book recommendations are very welcome) and was waiting to come home to buy it as I refuse to read Latin authors in translation.

To Watch - The Secret Agent

• I also haven’t seen this. I’m terrible. It’s our Oscar contender this year, and I have been in love with Wagner Moura since forever. This scene in the telenovela Paraíso Tropical was my sexual awakening, and Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad) gets a yearly rewatch.

To Eat - A Brazilian Feast

• I consumed my weight in all my favourite foods this month. I left some restaurant recommendations above, but I’d never get sick of Pão de Queijo, Biscoito Globo, Mate com Limão and Agua de Coco.

Honourable Mentions and Other Things Bringing Me Joy

Watching

• Love Story on Disney+. If you see me wearing a headband, mind your business. If I consider going blonde, talk me out of it.

• Cazuza Além da Música on Globo Play. I’m feeling patriotic, and this made me cry. A touching docuseries about one of Brazil’s most important musicians and the impact of the AIDS epidemic.

• The Super Bowl Halftime Show on Repeat. I love being Latina. I love Bad Bunny.

Loving

• Punch the monkey; he has taken over my Instagram feed, and I would die for him.

• Caroline Beuley’s Tale Tellers Writing Club, the time zone gods were working in my favour this month, and I love how Caroline has managed to bring a community feel to Substack!

• Alysa Liu. That’s it.

1. hi Cath