Things I’ve consumed and am loving this week.

This series usually lives over on my Instagram stories, but it’s making its Substack debut - which means I’m allowing myself to cheat with a few things I’ve been loving considerably longer than a week. New platform, new rules.MERIT Complexion Stick
I would love to be one of those girls who says “I don’t really wear foundation.” The truth is that even on a good skin streak I want a skin tint at minimum (hi, Chanel Water-Fresh Tint). Efficiency runs through every corner of my life, including makeup, which mostly happens in the car, en route to wherever I’m running to.

I’ve had this complexion stick five, maybe six months now. Sparingly on the good skin days, heavy-handed on the rest and yes the best in-car throwing on a face companion. I’m yet to meet a MERIT product I dislike, but this one sits at the top of the pyramid and having worked across the makeup category for a prestige beauty retailer, I’d like to think I know a good complexion product when I see it. I wear the shade Palomino and because finding your shade online can be a ‘mare, my method is feeding my existing complexion wardrobe into my robot friend ChatGPT or using

Bonus recommendation: the MERIT x Ritz-Carlton getaway set, a very clever out-of-the-box collab. For my marketing PR friends, you can read more about it here.

FWRD Sale (aka Bargain Bonanza)
I don’t know what’s going on at FWRD, but I’m watching closely. They appear to be on a stock-clearing mission across their in-house brands - SRG, Helsa etc etc. I’ve collated my favourite finds, all sitting at min. 70%+ off, here. We’re talking trench coats under $250 and cashmere under $100, there is no need for girl math here, most of these price points are cheaper than DISSH.

My New Favourite Shirt
Full credit: I copied the always impeccably dressed, Emma, in the partnerships team at Shameless Media. I’m a sucker for anything oxblood or pale blue, so when this shirt brought the 2 together and appeared in the Zara sale section I snapped it up with the speed I usually reserve for a Bomberries restock in the freezer aisle. It’s currently $52. I suspect it will be on heavy weekly rotation in the office.

Acquired
My deep, deep love for the Acquired podcast is not a secret. Two hosts, one topic per episode and a commitment to uncovering every corner of the how they got there story. There is not an episode I haven’t loved, even topics I’d usually shy away from (read NFL ep, had me hooked) but the two I hand people first are LVMH and Hermès.

Quarter Zip (Obsession Continued)
There are very few things I suspect finance brothers and I have in common. It appears AFR subscriptions and quarter zips are two of them. Mine, however, are reserved strictly for activewear hours and nunu o’clock. This one has been on heavy rotation for George’s walks. This khaki fleece one is next on my wishlist.

The Phia Controversy
Like most people, I’m glued to this one as it continues to unfold. There’s a lot of information going around and a lot of tech language attached to it. This Back Row article is the best explainer I’ve found, and this TikTok breaks it down most simply. Affiliate is one of my roman empires, so I’ll be watching this one play by play. If audio is more your thing Anika, Jo & Rhi also covered it on this week’s episode of Style-ish.

Strangers by Belle Burden
This book is simply a must-read for all women. Belle Burden is old money - two trust funds, a hedge-fund husband, a house on Martha’s Vineyard. None of her financial situation is relatable to me, but this isn’t really a story about money. What the book actually undresses is how a smart, capable woman hands over small pieces of her life one perfectly reasonable decision at a time - the career, the accounts, the knowing, until a message from a stranger tells her more about her own marriage than twenty-one years inside it did.

Burden writes it without self-pity and without asking to be liked, which is exactly why as a reader you’re drawn to her. You don’t need to be married, divorced, rich or even mildly in love to read it. If you’ve ever trusted someone with a piece of your life, it’s already about you. I loved it so much I’m re-reading it - this time with sticky notes and a highlighter in hand.

Body Care Routine
I am terribly guilty of a methodical, multi-setp skincare routine that stops at my chest, leaving the rest of my body gasping for air, pleading “what about us". I noticed my rather scaly-looking legs recently, and while I love a croc print, I’ll leave that one to the Birkins. So I’ve locked in. The current winter ritual involves this body wash (also adore this but have just ran out), followed by the LUI body moisturiser.

The Girl Who Has Everything, Gift Idea
I am forever head-scratching over what to buy my girlfriends for their birthdays. Most of them sit firmly in the “if I want it, I’ll save up and buy it myself” camp, which makes thinking outside the box hard and almost always ends with me back at MECCA buying a Diptyque candle.

Cue

Hommey Slippers
Melbourne winter attacks the feet first. Mine hit the floorboards at 6am before they pound the frozen pavement on a dog walk. These Hommey Sheepskin slippers are the perfect little luxury that makes a dark, frozen morning (and the touch of seasonal depression that arrives with it) feel a degree more manageable. Bonus they’re just cute as hell!