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0:07This episode of Stylish is brought to you by QV's FaceRange for sensitive skin. QV Face, powerfully sensitive skincare for life. This is Stylish, the podcast for all things fashion, lifestyle, brand and beauty. My name is Madison Sullivan-Thawpe. My co-hosts today are Joanna Fleming and Rhiannon Joyce. She's back. Welcome back. I'm shocked that you have a voice given that you only got home a few days ago. And given you've seen me in a karaoke group, you know how quickly that voice descends. You did have a few days to recover post-Kochella in LA there, but we have to hear all about it. I want to know, highlight, who was your favourite?

0:48It's just so hard to go past Justin Bieber. I felt like an immense amount of pride watching him on that stage. Like I just think everything he's been through, not to deepen it, but I'm going to, I was like this is incredible. And remembering all the hits, like when he was playing the YouTube songs, Beauty and a Beat will go down probably as one of the best songs of this lifetime for me. hearing that play but then also hearing like new music in such a different genre like daisies like he was incredible but honorable mention to somber that outdoor stage might as well have been the main stage it was jam-packed in every single section he is a star in every sense of the word he's giving celebrity like he's celebrating is that's not even a word but like he is like celebritying right at the moment and i loved like a lot of the artists will have billboards as you're driving down and it kind of took over social media for me the days before in the lead up to Coachella and I felt like a lot of you know accounts that I follow like because of marketing and things were all sort of speaking to them.

1:50Sombra's looked like it had been done by an 11 year old like it was amazing it was like Sombra adding an E is for excited and it's like a selfie of him it looked like it'd been done on paint and I was like this guy. Not even Canva paint. No it was paint like full throwback I'm like this guy has been let loose by the record company and I love every second of it. And he was just like, Coachella! He just kept saying it's so funny and he's now like a viral meme about it and I'm obsessed. I loved his outfit. I gave him a little shout-out last week. He had a real fashion moment, that leather fit with the lace bodysuit.

2:20He looked cool. Can I give a bold prediction? Sure. I think he's going to end up fronting a Saint Laurent campaign. I did think Saint Laurent. Yeah, I just think like the black, the leather, he's always in like a really like wayfarer frame. I mean, Saint Laurent have done a lot of those. Style name is SL462 for those who want the exact best. And what do you think of all the chatter online that week one was not as good as week two? Respectfully, had to be there. I was not at either, but they both looked amazing. Do you know what? I just don't think there's a bad weekend. Like traditionally more guest artists are there on the first weekend.

2:56We were with a couple of people who worked in the industry and they sort of said the first week is very industry heavy. The second week, the artists generally look more relaxed because they're not nervous. They kind of know what the crowd's going to respond to. They've got their set list. But, I mean, I watched all of it at home for weekend two as well. I'm like, was I shattered that Madonna wasn't there the first week? Hell yeah. But, like, did I still see Sabrina Carpenter and have the time of my life? No point doing the shoulda, woulda, coulda. Absolutely. I mean, ideal scenario, you're able to go to both weekends, but it's bloody expensive, so it's just the one for me.

3:26Look at Little Miss Positive in the corner here. I'm so proud of you. Guys, amazing what a vacation will do. A vacay can do great things. She's refreshed. She's back, baby. Not a like working vacay, like a real vacay. And you haven't had one of those for a while, so I'm glad you let loose and enjoyed yourself. Woo. Go, girl. And kept my voice. I haven't. You woman. I know. You lost it and I found it. All right, today we are discussing creatine and why it's having a major moment right now. And then we're chatting Meghan Markle's Australian tour outfits and why there's more than meets the eye. But first, we're doing our swaps.

4:01Riri, you're in Annika's seat. I was naughty. Well, actually, I'm looking at our notes. I thought I was naughty, but both of you are also naughty because you have two swaps as well. I just think one fundamental rule of this podcast is we don't like rules. Yeah, I'm with you. Bringing two swaps to the table, I also wanted to try tackling two different ends of the spectrum. So I've got a book, and I don't think anyone's going to be surprised by this, but I am recommending Emma Greed's book, Start With Yourself, our episode with Emma Greed on Stylish officially went live. We're recording on a Monday, so we went live this morning.

4:33You were in my ears from 6.30am. I was strung on every word. It was absolutely amazing, Rae. I'd already listened to it because we obviously recorded our intro for the year, but I just, I loved it so much. I wanted to listen again. Thank you. Yeah, we are biased, but I really, really enjoyed hearing from her. She's amazing. She had so many pearls of wisdom in the interview, but I highly, highly recommend reading the book. I'm not joking when I said I highlighted, honestly, guys, over 50 pages in this book, particularly if you are someone who is looking for a career advice or just wanting to level up.

5:06One thing I really love about Emma Greed, if you listen to her podcast, Aspire by Emma Greed, you'll know this. She has such an appetite for learning. She never wants to stop learning. She really wants to encourage other people to have the same mindset and willingness to learn. And it really comes through in her book. She also shares some really tangible examples of moments in her life that she's been faced with adversity and how she's bounced back. There's an overarching theme of resilience that I think is really strong throughout the book. Jo, you and I were just bouncing about the interview and how much you really love that as well.

5:35Yeah. It's just all around a very good book. So I highly, highly recommend. I also want to recommend an account to follow. So I'll keep this one quick because I did slot in two. Her name is Megan Latto and she's on TikTok. she randomly popped up in my for you page and what I love about her account is she posts outfits inspired by random things and the one that popped up in my feed was outfits inspired by doors and it was I was like what and then stopped me in my tracks naturally and then all of these amazing doors from around the world and then she's got these outfits that are inspired by them guys the next level creativity it's feeling a little like the way they you know like when they you You know, they random objects.

6:15Yeah, I'm into this. Okay. Really cool. So Megan Latta is her name. I'm going to look that up later. Check it out. I just can't imagine. Guys, it's honestly one of those things where when you see it, you'll be like, oh, okay, that makes sense. I get it. But really cool account. Who's going next? Jo, you go. Okay. As someone who doesn't like the big light at home, hate the big light, always like the small light, aka lamp, hate a white light. I love a warm light. I love a soft light. So I'm all about a bathroom lamp. And one of my friends and I were talking about this the other day is a portable lamp that you can bring into the bathroom that you can recharge, just a small one.

6:51And I have two in my house because I also don't have an electrical plug in our hallway. And so I also have a rechargeable lamp there. So I've got one more affordable one for the bathroom, which is just from Target. It's the Anko brand. It's the Aspen table lamp, which is like a mushroom kind of brushed brass gold color. and you can adjust the light on it as well. So you have like three intensities of light. But I just like to have that on evenings where I just need to decompress when I'm having a shower or a bath and just not have the big overhead light on. So I love that feature that I can, you know, optimize my lighting in my bathroom.

7:28And the other one that I have is from a brand called Bloss Home. It's the Ori lamp in Calcutta Viola. So this one obviously is a bit more expensive. You have it at Calcutta. Yeah. Yeah. Reet, I actually think that you would really vibe with this brand. I can. But this lamp was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be. So it arrived and I was like, oh, okay. It's kind of like a micro lamp. A micro lamp. A tape measure. Yeah. And it was pretty expensive. I'm not going to lie. They often run sales though. I get emails from them all the time. So definitely wait for a sale to pop up before you invest in this if it's something that you're going to buy.

7:59But it just allows you to adjust where you put your lighting. I think it just makes it a lot more versatile. I love that. You have a lamp that you can put anywhere. You don't have to rely on a socket. Okay, you can show me the account after because the Calcutta's really got me sucked in. And we'll throw a link into the episode notes, I'm sure. Mads? Well, look, it'll be the last Coachella thing I say, but obviously long days in the desert. People aren't joking when they say the temperature drops and it is really hot during the day. So a setting mist, very important. I went to Sephora the day before I flew out.

8:31Classic, go and buy all the mini things like the mini dry shampoos. the lovely lady at Sephora Chadston was like you need this setting mist she's like I'm not here to upsell you I'm just here to make sure your makeup stays one size it's in that like pale pink packaging with the red label I'd seen it on like socials a lot but I didn't really know much about the brand I as we know a little bit of a slick brick so I do need something mattifying that makeup did not move I should not have looked the way that I did leaving Justin Bieber at 1 30 a.m and the makeup held in place. It's amazing. I have heard good things about that setting spray.

9:07It smells a little bit like a hairspray. I don't hate that. I kind of like when things smell like it. L 'Oreal setting mist is right up your alley. I am like a hardcore urban decay all nighter setting spray. I love that. I will always have one of those. But this was just so compact, really light. It's amazing. I mean, if it's desert approved. And let me tell you, I schlepped in that heat. And then my other one is the 60-minute segment of looks maxing, which is kind of an amazing segue into the creatine conversation we're going to have. I had seen so much conversation around that segment online that I actually watched this from my hotel room at 7am while I was in LA because I was like, I just hadn't seen, I guess, commercial television, a segment from commercial TV with that much popularity and conversation.

9:53So if you're a listener who doesn't know what looks maxing is, because I didn't know what it was until last week, can you explain quickly what that is? I'm not on the side of the internet that is looks maxing. So I'm going to give you a definition of looks maxing from the internet so I don't get this wrong. It's an online subculture primarily among young men that is focused on maximising aesthetic potential through, I mean, what this segment really highlighted is rather extreme grooming, fitness, and in many cases, dangerous cosmetic hacks or surgeries to achieving a certain look. So the key figure that is in this segment, but also in this kind of subculture of online is clavicular.

10:33That's his name? Yes. I need to watch it in full. I've only seen a few clips online, but it's definitely caught my attention. Now, I know that we've all given two swaps technically today, but Annika has one for us too. So we'll throw that in here as well. Being freshly postpartum, I have just wanted to live in comfortable clothing. and something I lived in which I'm continuing to wear now are my Adenola leggings and what I love the most about them is that they've got a high waistband so they're really loose and relaxed on so they're called the wide leg yoga pant I wore these when I was pregnant before I was pregnant and I'm still living in them postpartum and they are the best and if you want to do like a full easy fit you can get the little matching tops which actually have like an inbuilt bra so as I'm currently breastfeeding these have been amazing because I just kind of chuck on a slinky top can breastfeed on the go breastfeed at home and then just chuck on the really chic outerwear piece really complete the look and I feel somewhat put together thanks Hanika at Enola at David Jones if you want to buy it in Australia otherwise you've got to buy it directly from their site yeah really chic brand by the way I'm there on my like next to be the next aloe kind of thing you have called that before yeah thanks Ray backing me up there okay next we're discussing all things creatine, but that will be right after a word from today's sponsor.

11:51I'm going to hold your hand as I say this. If you've got sensitive skin, you probably need to strip your skincare routine right back. Of course, we love nothing more than locking ourselves in the bathroom and applying layers of creams and lotions. But if you're a little sensitive, this can lead to unbalanced, irritated skin, depending on the products. Our friends at QV are the experts in sensitive skin and their advice is to switch to a simple routine that gently cares for your skin without compromising on results. The QV Face Range is a great place to start. The products are formulated especially for sensitive skin with gentle but effective ingredients like ceramides, niacinamide, vitamin B3 and avamide 15 and safflower oil while being free of fragrance, soap and other common irritants.

12:40Everyone needs a good cleanser and my pick is the QV Face Gentle cleanser, which helps to hydrate the skin as it cleanses. And the QV Face Nurturing Night Cream is perfect for before bed as it helps to replenish moisture, minimise the appearance of fine lines and visibly improve skin elasticity while you sleep. Try the QV Face Range available at your local pharmacy or supermarket. And a huge thank you to QV for making this episode of Stylish possible. I actually brought this topic of creatine to our chat last week. You did. While we were sniffing around for things to talk about on this week's episode because it has been dominating my feed lately.

13:19Creatine is just everywhere all over my TikTok and I also just can't get away from it because Adrian was also trying to talk to me about it at home. And as a result, I started taking it a couple of months ago. So we thought we'd do a little explainer on the creatine craze and how it's been targeted more at women lately. Creatine's a natural compound that's found in the body and it's in protein-rich foods like seafood and red meat too, according to WebMD. But creatine supplements are mainly used to enhance exercise performance and improve muscle recovery. But research suggests that they can also reduce mental fatigue and improve cognitive function.

13:54Previously, it was a product marketed mainly to men. Actually, I would almost say exclusively to men previously, but we've seen the pendulum swing. In an article for The Independent, writer Jessica Furseth describes the pink tax that's been applied to these products, writing, the problem is that marketers have called on that there's a new group of consumers who might like the product to feel more wellness than bodybuilder. And the price for these rebranded products has been significantly hyped. She continues, if the contents are the same, why is the pretty creatine so much more expensive? All I want is 100 % creatine monohydrate, which is what the research tells us works.

14:30But this feels like a creatine pink tax. Women are nudge to pay more for essentially the same product that men get for far less. Have you two been seeing creatine as much as me? Not as much, but it is prevalent in my life. My husband, Louis, has been taking it, honestly, I think for like two years now. So it's in the cupboard. I know what it is. I've never taken it myself, but ever since you brought it up in the feed by design, TikTok started serving me what I needed. This podcast disrupts my algorithm regularly. Let me tell you that. I hadn't seen much of it but truth be told I do make a really conscious effort to hold down the not interested button for a lot of these you know we researched peptides when we were doing that episode I got so much after that even things like a colostrum I saw so much of when I was in the US at Air One there were billboards for it there's a brand called Cowgirl and it is everywhere it's sold on Revolve.

15:24It's got entire bays, but I hadn't seen much of it. But I also have kind of trained my algorithm to get me out of this optimization culture. I think it's one of a few products that I've seen trending in the wellness category. We know that wellness is surging. We know that a lot of brands are really tapping into this space, even in food beyond creatine, you know, the trend of protein and fiber, like we're seeing that pop up a lot on labels. So it feels like to me, it's just one of many things that sit under this wellness umbrella that's getting pushed more and more to us. It was so interesting.

15:55I had this conversation recently with someone that we were talking about in the 90s, how like fat free was such a massive thing. And then in the early noughties, it was sugar free. And then now it feels like we're in this protein surge. I do wonder what will be the next frontier. And if, you know, this creatine, like, will it be things that are for like, you know, your mental clarity or optimization, like where it goes after protein. Yeah. When I spoke with Emma Greed in our episode, I asked her specifically what the next category she's most interested in and would she ever consider investing in other categories outside fashion.

16:29And she spoke a lot about wellness and also touched on quite a bit on women's supplements. And I know it's not creatine specifically, but I would say that it does fall under that category. So, you know, if the Emma Greeds of the world are looking at this category going, there's huge opportunity here, definitely feels like it's just going to get more and more. I know that she mentioned the brand Array, which was, you know, in quite a few stores that I was going into, I was getting served ads like the minute the plane landed. Another one that I have noticed a lot of is Symbiotica. And so there's a lot of things like vitamin C, vitamin B12, glutathione is kind of everywhere.

17:03Hayley Bieber and Kendall Jenner have actually also invested in that brand. So I think it's safe to say this like female wellness centric conversation isn't going anywhere. But I think it's the first time that conversations around protein and supplements have kind of happened outside these like macho men bodybuilding gyms where, you know, suddenly it's not just someone who's got a PT or a nutritionist telling them to track macros. Yeah. Let's talk about the pink tax here, because I do think it's an important part to bring this term up. When was the first time you guys heard this term? Oh, do you remember?

17:36Like 10 years ago, probably. I would say, yeah, probably. I'm like, how old am I? Yeah. Maybe like 12, 14 years ago, probably in a business management class. I remember it got brought up about razors. Yes. Female razors being more expensive than men's razors. I kind of set you up there. Perfect segue for you. Perfect segue because in 2019, there was actually research that cited in Australian reporting, they found that women were paying up to 29 % more for razors compared to similar men's razors. And there were three categories that overall women were paying more for fashion, personal hygiene and hair care.

18:09So just those three essential items that we need to operate in the day-to-day. And the razor piece is one that I think is the most blatant. The packaging is pink. Yeah. And it costs two to three dollars more on average. It feels very targeted to women. What do you guys make of that direction? Yes. I think when in terms of when a brand is trying to target a woman, it feels very obvious to someone who works in brand, you know, the way that it speaks, the copy, the naming conventions, it doesn't look like a plain mass market product. it's generally in individual sachets because they're designed for handbags or for travel which women have and they take to work and gummies because you know they're easier to transport and those sorts of things men traditionally are leaving them in their pantry and I think you see that you also see it a lot in flavor profiles so it will be in fruity fun flavors you will see berry you will see watermelon these aren't feelings they're facts those flavors appeal to women They are lighter coloured objects.

19:07There's a reason that the brands that we're seeing like Lemmy are pale violet and, you know, fun iconography. Like it very much is targeted to look like the beauty brands that we shop or fashion brands. It's extended outside of the categories we're traditionally shopping for, you know, sunscreen and moisturises into ingestibles. And we're seeing more female-centred brands now playing in this creatine space. Like the beauty chef have recently released a product that has creatine in it. Eve as well, who traditionally have done female focused products too, also playing in this space. It's really interesting to see these brands see an opportunity and be like, oh, okay, that's now appealing to women.

19:46So we're going to start exploring that. Yeah. I found that a lot when I was told to start taking a protein powder. And I remember going into, I think I went into Chemist Warehouse and I was like looking at the panels, like an absolute ingredient nerd being like, why is this one priced like this and this one's priced like this? A lot of it is down to the branding. And I'm like, I ended up with the ugliest protein in the aisle, but I'm like, I just wanted an unflavoured protein and I didn't need one that looked pretty in my cupboard. Do you think there's an element of us as women though, wanting to shop for things that seem like they're made for women because we don't trust that things are always designed for us in mind?

20:23I think particularly in the health category, yes, often there is this feeling as a woman, and again, I'm speaking from a personal place of feelings, that you aren't seen or you aren't heard. So when you see that in the packaging, the messaging, all of that feels like it's speaking to me, of course. Yeah. What do you think, Mads? I completely agree. It's not an uncommon conversation for women to be mistrusting of men in the health space. There's a lot of instances, you know, when we talk about things like endometriosis or PCOS, where women feel that they are not heard by male physicians. and generally speaking, of course, I'm not typecasting here, but there is a real mistrust in the healthcare space and you want to be seen and you want to be heard and I think naturally women feel safer with women by female brands, female products, because you feel heard and seen in that.

21:13And also in like the research space as well, women just aren't considered as much as men are. No, majority of the time things that are done in clinical studies for things are not with women involved. One thing that I will say about creatine in particular, though, is that often when things like this are being marketed to us, it's for an aesthetic purpose. I actually didn't mind that this was being marketed to me and that I was learning more about it because it was more to do with my cognitive function and being able to operate better. It wasn't that it was going to make me muscly or, you know, ripped.

21:44Jim Gaines, bro. Yeah, I wasn't even thinking about it from that perspective. I was like, oh, okay, it could improve my mental clarity. Okay, I'm interested to hear more about this. It's going to make me able to do my job better. That's why I kind of wasn't opposed to exploring it and taking it. Can I ask a question about, I guess, your own relationships with supplements and ingestibles? When you compare it now to, say, five years ago, what is your relationship like? Do you think that it's changed because of that aging process or because of the media that you're consuming and the ads that you're being targeted?

22:16yeah interestingly I actually think I flipped I used to take a lot of supplements religiously like I had a JS Health subscription I had a Beauty Chef subscription I was very very you were a marketer's dream literally a marketer's dream I don't take anything now the only thing I consume as an ingestible is AG1 and even then I've actually started paring back what I actually take I feel like I've had almost information overload and also I've just started to just like wean off supplements and really focus on diet and finding actual nutrition in my food. Now that's not always possible. I've almost gone the other way where I'm like, I'm spending so much money on these products.

22:55A lot of the time I do think it is placebo and I will die on the hill for placebo because it still works. So I'm going to sit here and like neg on that. But yeah, I feel like I've actually gone the opposite way. So I'm a bit of a problem child here for you when answering that question. I take supplements out of convenience. If it's on the bench and I'm making a smoothie, I'll throw it in there. But I'm not like, oh, my God, I missed all my supplements today. Oh, what am I going to do? Like, I don't really think twice about it. If I happen to take it three times a week, cool, great. Interestingly, when I think about when I was obsessed with it, it was COVID and I wonder if that routine and that habitual behaviour of every morning waking up and feeling like I had to do something.

23:31And also it was there. I was like only at home. So I'm like, I'm going to do that. I'm not going to miss out on it. And maybe an underlying health fear of just like, I want to be the healthiest I can be. and that kind of felt like a signal or gateway into being the healthiest version of you. Yeah, definitely. Let's bring the conversation around the pink tax and the category of creatine together, because when you're a consumer, it can be really confusing. And I honestly wouldn't know what to look for. Yeah, we actually reached out to a specialist GP and functional medicine doctor, Dr. Yasmina Dedich-Hagan, to help us understand more about how creatine actually works and why it's being pushed to women so much lately, because I'm not an expert.

24:09I might be taking it, but I don't know everything about it. So Dr. Yasmina told us this, creatine monohydrate is the gold standard. It works, it's safe, and it's backed by decades of research. She also told us that creatine isn't just for the gym, saying it has meaningful effects on both body and brain. For women, this is important because we naturally have lower creatine stores than men. So the response can be noticeable. Creatine plays a role in brain energy metabolism, which can show up as better focus and mental clarity, improved cognitive performance under stress and potential support for mood and resilience.

24:41Think of it as helping your brain keep up when life feels full, which is so interesting given that it's been largely a men's product to date. Yeah. But then bringing it back to your point earlier, Jo, when we were talking about what's been marketed to us as women, they are really pushing that brain cognitive messaging. So they're obviously leaning into the facts and being like, that's the messaging that's going to resonate with women. We need to go hard on that. Yeah. And Rhi, I know that you've got some notes around what to avoid as well. Yes. So we also spoke to a nutritionist and dietitian, Millie Padula, and she gave us some tips on what to look out for when you're choosing a creatine supplement.

25:17So if you're in this category and you're wanting to buy something, you don't want to be influenced by the ping tax. You want to know, okay, what do I need to consider? She said, try your best to avoid products that have large quantities of filler ingredients. So that's artificial sweeteners, added sugars. There's nothing inherently bad about these. However, more concentrated forms of creatine warrant greater results. So they're just pretty much getting in the way. Lower quality creatine products may cause digestive discomfort or bloating in some individuals, particularly when they contain unnecessary fillers or lower grade ingredients.