Lifestyle Desires
Modern high-rise buildings in Melbourne's skyline viewed from an apartment window
Community

Rental cooperatives: the housing fix hiding in plain sight

A new rental cooperative in Brunswick is offering something the private market can't: income-capped rent, long-term leases, and neighbours who know each other's names. In Norway, 40 per cent of housing stock works this way. In Australia, it's less than one per cent. I went to find out why.

Ngaire Brennan9 min read
A hand reaching for a coffee mug next to a laptop streaming content on a dark desk
Culture

Something Has Gone Wrong With Australian Streaming

Free aggregation apps like Stremio are gaining traction as streaming costs rise and the market fragments. What happened to the promise of easy, affordable television?

Jordan Atkinson
Senior woman exercising with dumbbells in a strength training session
Wellbeing

What my grandmother's jam jars tried to tell us

Dr Mira Joshi
Neatly arranged bathroom shelf showcasing various skincare products and accessories
Beauty

What I keep getting wrong about my niece's skincare drawer

Tahlia Park

Beauty

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Close-up of an LED light therapy face mask with red light illumination on a person
Beauty

A month in a $600 LED mask taught me almost nothing

I spent a month inside an LED face mask to find out whether the science holds up to the marketing. Between the $109 Kahlia Skin and the $690 4D Pro, here is what you are actually paying for.

Tahlia Park
Beauty

Bloom skin, the bottles that worked, and the trends I'm not yet sold on

Glass skin had an eight-year run. Bloom is what came next — hydration that sits in the skin, smaller routine, fewer bottles. The toners that did the work for me, the trends I'm not yet sold on, and what the Refinery29 list won't tell you about K-beauty in 2026.

Tahlia Park
Skincare bottles arranged on a white shelf in soft natural light
Beauty

Inside Australia's Clean Beauty Boom — and the $5.7 Billion Question

Australia's clean beauty market is on track to nearly quadruple by 2034, driven by ingredient-literate Gen Z shoppers and a sharp pivot toward Aussie-owned brands. Where the money is moving — and what it means for what's on your bathroom shelf.

Tahlia Park
Flat lay of natural skincare products on a warm rustic background

Culture

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Anonymous viewer holding a remote control in a dim living room, switching channels.
Culture

Two Cages, one Brontë and the May streaming pile

Bugonia, Marty Supreme, a Cage doubleheader and a Brontë adaptation I cannot quite defend. What I am watching, and what I am skipping, on the May 2026 Australian streamers.

Jordan Atkinson
A dimly lit lounge with a television glowing across an empty couch, late evening
Culture

Reading the Netflix top 56 from the couch this autumn

TVGuide's annual ranking landed in May. I worked through the upper bracket across the week, and have opinions. Five films, one half-watch, and a quiet suspicion of the form itself.

Jordan Atkinson
Person watching TV at home with a bowl of popcorn
Culture

Best New Shows Streaming in Australia This May

Sam Campbell finally lands a Netflix special, the Stranger Things successor drops, and Nicolas Cage takes his first proper TV role. Your guide to the streaming releases worth your evenings in May 2026.

Jordan Atkinson

Relationships

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Couple holding house keys after buying their first home together
Relationships

What an Adelaide preschool worker reminded me about waiting

A 34-year-old Vietnamese single mother in Adelaide spent three years on dating apps before finding the partner she'd hoped for. The kind of dating story we never run, and the part I can't stop reading is the timeline.

Dee Marlow
Relationships

I tried eleven dating apps. Here is what each one is for

Eleven apps tested over the year, including a regretted return to Tinder over Easter. Hinge, Bumble, Feeld, OkCupid, eHarmony, Coffee Meets Bagel, Happn, Thursday, Raya, Bristlr — what each is actually for, and why being on the wrong one is most of the fatigue.

Dee Marlow
Person looking at a phone in soft warm bar lighting
Relationships

Storybooking, and what Bumble got right about Australian dating

More than 80 per cent of single Australian women say they want more romance. They are not asking for grand gestures — they are asking for adult logistics. A columnist on the storybooking trend, what Bumble got right, and why women got bored before they got demanding.

Dee Marlow
Two coffee cups on a wooden table in soft afternoon light
Relationships

Why Single Australians In Their Thirties Are Done Apologising

Dee Salmin's new book, a viral Bridget Jones essay and a cultural recalibration around solo living: how being single past thirty stopped being a problem to fix and started looking like a choice worth making.

Dee Marlow
Young woman sitting thoughtfully at a cafe window

Community

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Aerial view of Gold Coast beach meeting the modern skyline
Community

The Gold Coast Reinvents Itself — Again

From schoolies trip cliche to lifestyle-migration darling, the Gold Coast has been quietly reinventing what it means to live and visit there. Inside the cultural and economic shift behind Australia's most polarising holiday destination.

Ngaire Brennan
Wooden verandah of an Australian country house in soft morning light
Community

What I keep getting wrong about the regional boom

Two-thirds of Australians live in the five biggest cities. The 2021 Census paused that, briefly, and the property newsletters called it a turn. From a verandah in the Adelaide Hills, the picture is more uneven and a lot more interesting than either the boom or the bust framing.

Ngaire Brennan

Food Drink

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Elegant dining setup with white tablecloths, cutlery, and wine glasses in a modern restaurant setting
Food Drink

Last Course: Quay Closure and the Crisis in Australian Fine Dining

Quay held three Good Food Guide hats for 24 years before closing on Valentine’s Day this year. I spent a week talking to chefs, owners and regulars about whether haute cuisine in Australia has an expiry date.

Henry Macarthur
Food Drink

What this year's Time Out awards say about how Australia is eating in 2026

Time Out's Food and Drink Awards landed Tuesday with the largest public vote it has ever run. The list, fifteen years deep, reads less like a leaderboard than a set of field notes from a quiet realignment in how Australian hospitality is operating in 2026.

Henry Macarthur
An intimate restaurant table set with empty wine glasses and warm candlelight
Food Drink

Vivid Sydney 2026 Goes Big on Food — Inside the Barangaroo Fire Kitchen

Vivid's culinary program moves to Barangaroo Reserve this year with the Fire Kitchen as headline act, an Indigenous-led D&D experience and a long-table Pearls and Plates dinner. The full food guide to Vivid 2026.

Henry Macarthur
Sydney Opera House illuminated during Vivid Sydney