These nine beauty products changed our routines

25:43The days from probably the 25th to the 1st are the worst. Yeah. I loathe them. I find them really lonely. I find questions about what you're doing in the holiday period really daunting. And I have, I mean, I have since I've become single. It's just as simple as that. My advice, if you have that smart ass uncle or that annoying aunt, is to come up with what I would call in marketing world, a PR statement. Oh, here we go. So you need just a blanket statement. Now, maybe after five champagnes, don't say, well, why would I want a husband when you and yours only ever fight? But just something along the lines of, no, but I did manage to get that promotion and da, da, da, da, da.

26:23So I'm a little facetious back if I'm asked it and quizzed it because I'm like, really, of all the things I've done this year, what you want to know the most about is whether I have a boyfriend. Yeah. No. So that's my advice, is to come up with a personal PR statement. You could do it yourself. You could chat to the robots, have them come up with something for you. You might say, hey, chat to BT, make this 20 % sassier. You might say, hey, chat to BT, make this 20 % nicer, depending on how you're feeling. And my other piece of advice is, and I am so grateful to all of the special people in my life that do this, is if you know that someone is single this holiday season or you know that everyone kind of naturally gravitates with their partner to going and visit family and friends or whatnot, that you include them or that you just at the very least check in on them.

27:10And organising like a friend's Christmas Eve drinks or a Christmas night drinks with friends, sometimes just those things make it feel a little lighter. So a couple of friends and I are going to have a drink together on Christmas night after we've done the family thing because it, yeah, can be really lonely. Annika, what's your top tip for not the Kiwis, just anyone feeling a little homesick? I feel like I tie into yours because it's, for me, the holidays are about connectedness and coming together and celebrating it with your community, whatever that looks like. And obviously, coming from New Zealand, it means both James and I do often miss some family Christmases.

27:44And now we've got my beautiful little niece, Yuri, in the picture as well. It means mum will be back home with my brother and celebrating with him. So something actually that my parents started as a tradition when they lived in Melbourne. They grew up at the rugby club and the rugby club was their community. and so every year they would host a Christmas together and they would all come together. Anyone was invited, Tom, Dick and Harry. Like it was like kind of my dad's motto and so now we've always grown up with an open door policy at our house and my mum would be like anyone who's alone it doesn't matter if it's your friend, cousin, school friend, anybody, your teacher even they're always welcome and so it's something that James and I have continued and so this year we host in Christmas I'm not doing a thing.

28:26James is hosting Christmas I'll say. Great. If you've got the tree, you'll be better sort of love. We'll have a twig. We'll have the spray. We'll have the spray. The house will smell. Spray and a diptyque. Yeah, it'll be beautiful. But yeah, we've just created, I think, a time where anyone is welcome. And we often feel homesick. And it's like I think when some of my fondest memories are, like around the Christmas tree at home growing up, especially like with Dad not here. And so we try to have little moments where we reflect. Like I'll always light a candle for Dad. We'll always make sure we check in on our people.

28:57will always just show up for each other. Yeah. 1000%. But I think just going back to that, show up for people. If you know people alone, exactly like what Mad said, it doesn't matter. Christmas is a time to come together, spend it with your loved ones or any community. Yeah. And I think as well, there's like a homesickness isn't just not being somewhere. Homesickness can sometimes be for a person. Yeah. This is like the first Christmas I've probably had any joy around Christmas time since I lost my grandmother in 2016. Like I really didn't love celebrating Christmas following her passing because she was a big part of our family Christmas every year.

29:30I think sometimes people can feel homesick for a person or a time, you know, as you said, you know, missing your dad and wanting to light a candle for him and maybe it's having their favourite drink or being, you know, in that reminder that you're lucky to have had them and have that little moment. But I think it's checking in on people who've lost someone as well. Yeah. And even if you are juggling a very busy schedule on Christmas Day where you're trying to get to three different family commitments, even that friend that you know may be having a more difficult Christmas this year, even just sending a text message or giving them a quick call in the morning just to wish them Merry Christmas.

30:03Like that could be, you know, the thing that makes their day and makes them feel heard and seen and loved. 1 ,000%. My tip is very different to yours because it's a little bit more practical, something that we can apply in our lives. It's on brand though, isn't it? It's so amazing. So what I wanted to recommend was investing in sun safety accessories that you actually want to wear this summer. Now, obviously, I like to promote sun safety year round by wearing sunscreen every day, but a lot of us are going to be spending a lot more time in the sun and under the harsh UV that we have here in Australia.

30:42So I have several hats from brands like Avenue the Label, so I do recommend going having a little browse there. Solbari have some really good hats as well. UPF fabric, Cancer Council, Soleil Soleil, who are one of your brands, Anika. Proud mummy. What a lot of people probably don't realise about sunglasses is something that I actually wanted to talk about today. Because a lot of our fashion sunglasses and the ones that you may find in like fast fashion retailers don't meet Australian standards when it comes to like classifications for sunglasses. So what you should be looking for for sunglasses that you're going to wear day in, day out and getting prolonged sun exposure while wearing.

31:24So, for example, if you're spending all day on a golf course or you're at the beach, you really should be opting for a pair of sunglasses that meet these standards. And that would be sunglasses that are characterized category two, three and four. So I'd probably be looking for three and fours. You can find sunglasses by brands like Loveloo. I've got several pairs of their sunglasses. They've got a lot of category three sunglasses. Other brands like Oscar Wiley, Bailey Nelson, a lot of them have Category 3 sunglasses as well. Category 4 you'll more find in like the Cancer Council ones, but they have a lot of Category 3 as well.

31:57But if something is labelled fashion sunglasses or they don't feature the category on the product page or on the swing tag. That's a bum-bum. Red flag. Yeah. And look, you may want to wear them just to an event or something. Yeah, you're going to be not really using them for sun safety. Serving a look. Yeah, exactly. If you're serving a look and it's part of the outfit and you're not going to be, you know, getting a lot of sun exposure, then, yeah, you can probably get away with them. But throughout the summer when we're getting a lot of sun exposure, you really should consider those things because wearing both a broad broom hat and sunglasses can reduce UV radiation to the eyes by up to 98 % according to SunSmart.

32:35Wow. So that's significant. Like you see signs of sun damage in the eyes as well. I don't know if you've ever seen pterygiums in people's eyes where we've got a little bit of like overgrowth onto the iris of the eye. That's a sign of sun damage on the eye. You see it on a lot of surfers. Annika looks horrified. Yeah. Do I have that? No. No. Definitely not. There are a lot of types of sun damage that can occur to the eye, which you may not even put two and two together and be like, oh, that's sun damage. But it's really important that we protect our eyes because obviously our vision is so super important.

33:06So just one thing I thought I would flag before the summer period really kicks off. Thank you, Jo. We needed that. Thank you. Welcome. Anytime. Anytime you guys want to talk about sun safety. Quite literally. Anytime we want to talk about colour analysis or sun safety. Okay, so that takes us to our final segment of our episode, which is our Holy Grail beauty items of 2025. This was difficult to do. I'm not going to lie. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God. Especially for the makeup category because I looked after an entire makeup category. So picking one is like asking to pick a favourite child. Yeah. Don't have children, but I imagine that's a very hard task.

33:41It was so hard because we all swap in something every week. And like I'm sitting here adding to cart like a crazy person that I've tried so many products this year that I was like, OK. So before I throw to you, Annika, to start us off, we've each chosen our Holy Grail product of this year for the skincare, haircare and makeup categories. And we're going to share why it's changed our routine for the better. And I fear there may be some double ups with previous swaps. There will be. So kick us off. OK. So my skincare product that I am obsessed with was actually introduced to me by my best friend Nikki.

34:16And she used this throughout her pregnancy and swears by it. So she kindly gifted it to me. And now I'm addicted to the point where it's so expensive. I will live on tuna and rice just so I can incorporate this into my routine. But it is the Augustinus Beta, the body cream. Now, it's$310 a pot. It's expensive, but. My body would never be so lucky. Oh, my God. How quickly did you go through it? I'm on my second pot and I'm at 27 weeks and I started using it at maybe 14 weeks. So you did the math. Okay. Yep. A while. But I only use it on my stomach, which is growing. My boobs, also growing. And then my thighs.

34:56Okay. So all of these kind of areas where you're likely to stretch and grow. Yep. Obsessed. Can I do you a favor and just suggest you try something as an alternative? Absolutely. the Naturium multi-oil body butter. I love it. Quite a bit cheaper than what you got there. Quite a bit cheaper. Okay, where can I get it from? Sephora. Okay. Which Jo did predict was going into Sephora. I did mention. I mean, she knows a thing after we had Jojo. I think maybe you just try it. Okay, I'll give it a go. And if you don't love as much as the Augustinus butter, then you can always go back to it. Just trying to help you out.

35:29Thank you. My bank account thanks to you, so does James Palman. So does your fridge. Thank God we can have something other than tuna and rice. Okay. Okay, so Mads, do you want to give us your skincare one? Yeah. This is really hard. I put two down and I know that I can't cheat and I have to pick one. My greedy little girl. Meany, meany, meany, meany. Like which one will I pick? I'm going to go with the one that I've been using the longest. It is the Rationale No. 1 serum. And I went and had a facial with Rationale at the start of this year. I also go to Skin Angel on High Straight and Armadale.

36:03Angelina also uses Rationale within my facials. and I'd used it years ago when I had really terrible cystic acne. Started having a couple of breakouts. I mean, the irony that I've also got a couple of breakouts still, but, you know, that's life. It's one of those products that you go, why did I ever stop using this? And it probably was because I'd gone back to working at Mecca, had 40 % off. Naturally, it's like quite hard to justify any other beauty purchase when you've got 40 % off, you know, a skincare category and an abundance of amazing skincare brands. But I have really enjoyed using that.

36:34I just use it in the mornings. It's just made up of a great amount of B vitamins. It's super nourishing. I just feel like it really hydrates my skin but also helps just deal with some of that inflammation and anger that can come from a little breakout. It's very antioxidant-rich. Adrian actually stole this from me and he still uses it. He loves Russian on the body. He's got great skin. She noticed that at the winner. Did you? Thank you so much. You look so proud. Yeah, a lot of people complimented his skin on the day and I was like, thank you so much. This means a lot to me. This is my project.

37:06Like a proud parent. Well, speaking of the wedding day, my skincare pick is actually a repeat recent swap, which is the Radurin turnover sheet mask. I did say you did these. Was it the morning of or the night before? We did them the morning of. Amazing. So I intended to maybe do them the night before. And then I was like, actually, I've got a fair bit of time in the morning. I'm going to do it in the morning. Because my skin tends to look like really quenched after I use them. So I put them on both of us the morning of. We did LED the night before and then we put the sheet masks on the morning of and everyone in the venue was like, whoa, because I was just walking around like, hey.

37:41I love it. I love it so much. Scaring people. But very soothing, very hydrating. Obviously, it was great for skin prep as well. So, yeah, no complaints. And everyone was saying, Adrian, skin looked amazing. So you both looked phenomenal. But you honestly, like, we're radiating on that day. Like, oh, my goodness. Mads and I looked at you and we're just like, look at our sweet child. Like we're literally giving her away. Look at this glowing goddess. I mean, Sophia, your makeup artist. We should swap her in. And she, well, I mean, just swap her in. Like one, like everything she wears, great. Her makeup, great.

38:15She's actually also great at doing her own blow waves. She's really lovely too. What can't you do, Sophia? Yeah, what can't you do? She walked over to us and she just goes, it's fucked. She looks fucked up good. You know what she said to me on the day? I had this video of her doing my makeup because I filmed it. And she was like, you look fucking glad wrapped. She did say that to us as well. So that's our skincare selections. What about makeup? Okay. Well, this is where I go low. I have become addicted to lip liner. 2025 for me was like the year that I discovered a lip liner. I know I live under a rock.

38:45We get it. Whatever. Boomer. Okay. But... Did you just nag yourself? Yeah, we've never said that. I'm a self-aware queen. Anyway, Mecca Max Pal Pencil in Classy is my holy grail. And I say this like every time I lose it, I feel lost without it. Like I am so obsessed with this product. You can pair it with MAC Velvet Teddy for like a really nice evening look. Or during the day, you can do it with the Summer Fridays balm or even like the League balm and just clear. And it kind of gives like a really natural looking lip. I am obsessed. I love that. $16 at Mecca. Off you go. You know what? If 2025 was the year of lip liner for you, I was also going to swap into lip liner.

39:26But let's spice things up. 2025 was the year of eyeliner for me. And gosh, do you look good. I love eyeliner. Oh, yeah. You bring 60 back. I just think everyone needs to wear eyeliner. Rhiannon Joyce, I'm looking at you because I usually attack her. Yeah. Whenever she's wearing an eyeliner, I'm like, perfect. I've actually never seen her with eyeliner. No, she looks really good with eyeliner. She looks so good with eyeliner. Let's make those eyes pop. Yeah. She's got the most beautiful base for an eyeliner too. Anyway, you know how I feel about tightlining. I love a tightline. So the Hourglass 1.5mm mechanical liners are my favourite for tightlining.

40:02I do the black. A lot of people go, oh, do you get the black or the brown? I don't notice a substantial colour difference between the two, if I'm completely honest. And I just think if I'm doing it, I'm doing it unapologetically and applying it. See what I did there? I love what you did there. Can I throw in a bonus eyeliner swap for you? I had really moved away from liquid eyeliners for a really long time, But then I got my hands on the Mia Connor liquid liner. It's like a pen and it's in the shade Bruna. It's a brown, but like a warm brown. I'm actually wearing it today. It looks beautiful. It really does.

40:34So it's not like a charcoal-y brown where it's super dark. You can't tell the difference between black and brown. It's like noticeably brown. Yeah. And it's just a bit lighter and softer. Yeah. And so I feel like for daytime, I can add these really nice wings on without it seeming like evening makeup. My makeup swap is actually a MST recommendation and it is the Tower 28 Serum Concealer. I have the shade DTLA. I just find this is a really beautiful formula. It's not super expensive. It's$38. So in comparison with some other concealers on the market, we know that's certainly not the most expensive.

41:12It's quite light coverage. I'd say it's buildable. There's a pretty good shade range, I would say. Yeah. And it's a really nice formula. I'm wearing it today too. Are you? Yeah. In Misty. That's what's up. Whoop, whoop. Raising proof. May I offer you a tidbit about that concealer? Now, I've said on the mic before I did do a project with Tower 28. So I do have a natural affinity for this brand, but I loved this brand before I was working with them. Amy actually developed, Amy Louie, the brand founder, actually developed that brand for eczema sufferers. So anyone who does experience eczema under the eye area or around the face, I can't recommend enough that this is a concealer that you can trust with sensitive skin.

41:52So that is just a little tidbit. If anyone's going, because I am prone to a little bit of eczema under the eye at certain times of the year, it's just a nice lightweight, like hydrating concealer. Really good for that area. Yeah. This is a great concealer. She's got my vote. Hair care. Let's go. You got another expensive one for us? No, you guys are just going to be like, oh, my God, I had this one. So on one of my late night doom scrolls, I may have been served a lot of hair inspired tools, devices. It actually might have been from sitting in here on my phone listening to me. But anyway, the Timo Ring Plus.

42:29Have you guys even heard of this brand? No, what is this? Can I do a quick Google? You can. It's going to send you. Ring Plus. So literally I was spammed by Instagram and the slide came up of this woman doing her hair. and one side was like super curly, like afro-like, and then the other side was sleek. I know, I know. It's so rogue, you guys. So it's like a hot brush. It's like a hot brush, and I could you not. My hair is afro naturally. Like this is so curly. It's coarse. It's a mane. Yeah. I literally put this through my hair, and it is so straight it's not even funny. Really? Yes. It has really good reviews.

43:08Like have I given a review? What temperature does it go up to? Well, that's what makes it even more amazing, because go on go on literally so it's for international voltage so you know when you travel and your tools don't work I mean yeah so my tools never work when I travel it's so annoying this it just heated up in New York in Paris in Italy in Australia we get it you travel I know okay Brad okay Mr. Walton honestly like this product is $109 probably like there's always like buy one get one free 30%, 40%. Sorry, it's actually$119.99 today. Okay, well, yesterday was my own. And they're going to be using this as their next ad.

43:50It goes from 120 degrees Celsius to 210 degrees Celsius. Has nine temperatures. And I think it's got a ceramic plating, so it's good for your hair, right? Sure. Sure. But anyway, it's amazing. It took me like 10 minutes to do my hair with this, and I've put away my hair straightener, and I use this, and I travel with this, and it's so compact and small. It's amazing. I'm so sorry that I laughed at you, because I'm absolutely going to buy that for Coachella. Everybody was laughing at me. Like the girls at work were like, you did not just buy that. Like you did not buy the Instagram ad. And I was like, come on, guys.

44:20Would you have normally used a straightener? Yeah. So I usually have to blow dry my hair and then I've got to straighten it. And it's generally like an hour to an hour and a half for me. Like it's such an ordeal. Yeah. Appreciate that one. You're welcome. Mertz? Mine. Mine is to address the many messages I get about my sleek bun. Oh, yes. Good one. Now, my slick bun, otherwise known as Slick Rick, is actually never really the same combo. And I'm very passionate about my slick buns. So I just thought I'd give like a couple of products that I use to get it in there. So I usually alternate between Olaplex No.

44:563 that I use to bond the hair. So it's like a hair mask while I've got the bun in. Or I use 11 Pomade, which I've spoken about before. But religiously, the one hairspray that like makes it stick is Knack, which I don't know if you guys have heard of NAC Hair Care before. I think they're at Hair House. It's a relatively inexpensive hairspray, and that shit sticks. Okay, I need that. I never use hairspray for my slick hair. What? Yeah, so if I use the Olaplex, oh, and the L 'Oreal. Ray got me onto this. Metal detox. The L 'Oreal Metal Detox. Yeah, that's a great one as well. Yeah, I'll often use the Redken ABC leave-in treatment.

45:36Love this. Put that in and then I use the People hair care stick. Yes. That looks like a deodorant. You can get it at Coles. Yeah. I've done that as a swap before. Yes, you have. And I just do that and I don't need hairspray. I love that. Jo, what's yours? No surprises here. K18. Oh, yes. Air wash dry shampoo. Amazing. I didn't put that as mine because you had it in. Oh, well, I'm glad I beat you to it. Yeah. But no, that if you hadn't, I would have said thank you. But I did influence you on that. You did. Yes. And Miranda as well. I bought it too. Yeah. It's just, it's a great dry shampoo. Honestly, it's the best dry shampoo I've ever used.

46:12I agree. And it is absolutely worth the expensive price point. I'm sorry, but it is. It works. And in fine hair that I find I'm having to wash more and more frequently. Yeah. It is just so handy. Yeah. Yeah. Highly recommend. When it takes you like an hour and a half to do your hair. Exactly. I'm like any investment. I'm like, this is worth it. Money while spent. Yeah. Yeah, and I often find the day after using it as well, it looks even better. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. How is it not dirty again? Whereas other dry shampoos you put in, it lasts an hour and then it's a grease ball again. It doesn't feel amazing, but that's okay.

46:44Most beauty things don't feel amazing, but they look good. I don't think in general dry shampoos feel amazing ever. They all kind of feel a little bit coarse in the head. I do feel it has a different texture to it though. Oh, you reckon? Yeah. Oh. Maddie's hot take. Hey, I'm not here to diss it. I love it. I mean, so hard to pick a favourite. in each of those categories. And so hard to know that this is actually the final Wednesday episode. I think it's rich to say it was hard to find. In fact, we literally gave multiple swaps around that segment. We cheated. Yeah. We absolutely cheated. We're liars when we said that we would only do one.

47:18But that is actually all for this week's episode of Stylish. This year of Wednesday episodes of Stylish. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for joining us and tuning in every Wednesday. And slowly but surely this community has continued to evolve and to grow. And, you know, we appreciate every single one of you who listen. And thank you so much to the two of you. I think we've had a big love fest today. We have. And you, Mads. Couldn't do it without you. And we couldn't do it without our audience. We couldn't. So we thank you all for listening every week. And we love being here chatting to you, with you, every week.

47:56Yeah. I like to say with. With them. We love you guys. And when you come up and say hi and introduce yourselves, I still like get like I blush I get a little shy I get so embarrassed I know and I've only just learnt to stop saying I'm so sorry when they say I listen I walked past a lady the other day walking her dog and she was like Mads you're literally in my ears and I said I'm so sorry instead of saying thank you it's just so cool like and I feel like knowing that we're reaching out to people all over the globe like that's what really just I don't know amazes me every time even like when I was travelling earlier this year and I was in Italy in the south of France, I had people come up to me being like, we love what you guys are doing over at Stylish.

48:36Shout out to Millie Hockley, actually, from New Zealand. Loved your intro on the weekend. I heard a lot about you. Thank you for tuning in. But no, we love you guys. We love our community. And we love when the community writes in to us. If you can't come up and find us at a wine bar or maybe you were at the memo buying something for the baby. But you can drop us an email anytime. We love when you give us your dilemmas. We love doing opinions, please. Our best email is style-ish at shamelessmedia.com.au or you're always welcome to slide over into the DMs at stylishpod. Of course, we couldn't do any of this without the Shameless Media team, our head of podcast Lucy Hunt and senior podcast producer Kate Emmerberg, who often has to sit giggling in the corner at all of the silly things that we say.

49:17We love you, Kate. We love you so much. Ray and I will be back this Friday for the final episode of Stylish for the year. and as we mentioned at the top of the episode, we hope that everyone is safe doing what you need to do and surrounding yourself with people that you love in these challenging times. Our thoughts are with you all and we hope that you have a safe and calm, peaceful holiday season. And we'll be back with you on January 7th. See you then. See you then. Bye. Bisu bisu. Bisu bisu. Ciao, ciao, ciao. Kiss, kiss, kiss. This podcast was recorded on Wurundjeri land. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

50:02Hello, it's Ruby here, the host of Shameless Media's interview show Inherited. New interviews drop every single Tuesday. And I wanted to remind you about the special life lessons episode with my nana, Kay. A few weeks ago, we sat down in Perth together and unpacked the last 80 years of her life. It's a really interesting story. The Inherited team are actually going to share their thoughts about this episode. First up is Annabelle Lee. Hi, I adore this episode. It's got to be one of my most favourite episodes of Inherited because obviously you guys have such a close, special bond. Nana Kay has such a fascinating story that I did know about, but not this much.

50:43Also, just one last thing. I really love, this is kind of random, but I really love how many times Nana Kay said your name. It was just so special. She was just filled with so much love and I just adored this episode and Nana Kay. I love this episode so much as someone who has lost all of their grandparents. I actually lost them by the age of 11. I've never been able to have a conversation with them as an adult. So I don't know what they were like. And it was so cool to see Rubes now in her 30s talking to her grandma about what she was like in her 30s and asking questions that I don't think that you can ask in normal family circumstances.

51:22So it was just a fascinating conversation. I cried 10 minutes in. I wish I could have a line with her. Ruby's Nana is just so thoughtful, reflective, and has an emotional depth to her that I think a lot of grandparents probably can't access. It's that reflective chat over a lifetime that you just really wish you could go that deep with your grandparents. So yeah, it made me cry so much. To listen to this conversation in full with my Nana Kay, just search Inherited on your favourite podcast app and Inherited interviews drop every single Tuesday. So we'll see you then.