Lifestyle Desires — Australian living

A skincare routine being filmed in a bathroom mirror

Children’s skincare boom: girls learn correction too early

Children’s skincare boom is teaching girls to read normal skin as a problem, as dermatologists warn adult routines are arriving too soon.

Tahlia Park· 8 min read

A semaglutide-style injection pen photographed close-up, suggesting the next wave of metabolic medicine.

wellbeing

Retatrutide beyond Ozempic: what the trial really says

Hair-loss serum bottle held against dark hair, pointing to the private ritual behind scalp-treatment claims.

beauty

The oldest hair-loss promise in the bathroom cabinet

A woman speaks with a clinician during a gynaecology appointment, with medical notes visible between them.

wellbeing

Why women are still asked to doubt their own pain

Style

View all →

A model in pale tailoring, caught between fashion week appointments

Paris wants a showroom. Australia wants proof

Australian designers in Paris are being sold as an export story, but the new AFC showroom also asks whether local fashion can survive on attention.

Folded cotton T-shirts with cotton stems, a quiet still life for an ethics-of-basics story

Ethically made T-shirt cost: what feels fair now

Woman in an elegant dress looking out towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Chanel Sydney runway: Australia gets the mirror test

Tailored wedding couple outside a civic building with stone columns

What Dua Lipa’s bridal suit knows about weddings

After the noise, Jordan Gogos sounds clearer

Home

View all →

The Ikea sleepover wasn't really about Ikea

Ikea Sydney sleepover drew 5,000 hopefuls because $19.95 bought more than a bed: it offered a brief, playful version of home.

Home goods displayed on wooden shelves inside a decor store

What Kmart's K Home gamble says about us

When the guesthouse becomes the showroom

Cozy living room with art and layered furniture, chosen to reflect Australia's move beyond plain white walls

Australia is over its white-wall hangover

Travel

View all →

Sunset view from a plane window above the clouds, evoking the aspirational mood of a bargain holiday

When the bargain holiday stops feeling clever

Families and travellers on a Bali beach, the ordinary holiday at the centre of Australia's status argument

The holiday you sneer at is telling on you

Vintage camera resting on a folded travel map, a visual case for swapping apps for dedicated travel tools

The trip gets better when your phone gets boring

Travel documents and planning materials before a trip

The 2026 travel paperwork to check before you book

Travel toiletries and beauty essentials spread out before packing.

What the bathroom floor knows before a trip

A room at Castello di Reschio looking onto the Umbrian landscape.

When a beautiful hotel follows you home

Relationships

View all →

A woman sits alone at a warmly lit bar with a glass of wine

What solo-maxxing says about the price of being coupled

Solo-maxxing is turning dating costs into a relationships question, with $200 date nights making single life feel less like failure.

Students gathered around a table in discussion

What young Australians are asking sex ed to finally admit

A couple in conversation over wine at a cafe table

Dating in white spaces can cost more than love

A couple walking through a city at night, the kind of ordinary date that now comes with a visible price tag.

What free petrol says about dating now

A mother and child share a quiet moment at home, held close in black and white.

The bill comes due when you become the cycle-breaker

Culture

View all →

A vintage cinema projector, suited to an essay about Hollywood’s processed feel

The sausage-factory line is rude because it feels true

Tarantino’s Hollywood rant lands because viewers already feel the franchise fatigue: over-managed films, couch viewing and too much polish.

A clapperboard held against a dark film-set background

What YouTube’s Gen Z directors are doing to Hollywood now

Sydney Harbour glowing at night during festival season, with the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and CBD lit across the water

When Vivid’s drones faltered, Sydney kept staring

An older painter at work in the studio, a more grounded image for a story about the suffering-artist myth.

Why the suffering artist myth still flatters us

Food & Drink

View all →

Cold flavoured sparkling water cans and a glass on a kitchen bench

The cold can has become our clean little vice

Amber-lit restaurant dining room with tables set beside tall windows

What Melbourne’s best-designed restaurants are really selling now

A can of La Campagnola tomatoes on a kitchen counter with soft lighting.

Why tinned tomatoes still decide how dinner tastes

Rows of agave on a sun-bleached Queensland farm, where Australian distillers are betting the plant can anchor a local spirits future.

The prickly plant changing Australia's pour

A chilled glass of horchata with cinnamon sticks, echoing the cold creamy café drink at the centre of the story

Horchata slips into the café script

Exterior of a Guzman y Gomez restaurant, used as the hero image for coverage of the chain's US exit.

Guzman y Gomez could conquer Australia. America was another story.

Community

View all →

Woman seated on floor against a wall, conveying housing insecurity and distress.

What the rental crisis is doing to women who need to leave now

Australia's rental crisis is changing what it means to leave a violent home, forcing women to weigh safety against rents, paperwork and nowhere to land.

A young man lies on a bed reaching for his phone near a window — the suspended animation of adulthood in a childhood room.

Late 20s and living at home: the cost no one's counting

Woman working in a rural field, echoing Rachel Ward's shift from glamour to farm labour.

Rachel Ward found purpose where glamour ran out

Power lines and regional landscape on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula

The sea-change dream starts to flicker

Open farm country outside a small Australian town, a stand-in for the scale around Robinvale.

In Robinvale, half the town disappears when the census arrives

Wellbeing

View all →

Children’s skincare boom: girls learn correction too early

Children’s skincare boom is teaching girls to read normal skin as a problem, as dermatologists warn adult routines are arriving too soon.

Retatrutide beyond Ozempic: what the trial really says

The oldest hair-loss promise in the bathroom cabinet

Why women are still asked to doubt their own pain

Beauty

View all →

Children’s skincare boom: girls learn correction too early

The oldest hair-loss promise in the bathroom cabinet

Collagen supplement bottle with capsules and dried flowers on a dark surface.

Why collagen supplements still sound more certain than they are

Interior of Mecca's Bourke Street flagship in Melbourne with consultation counters and multi-level beauty displays.

Why Mecca thinks beauty still needs a room

A woman holds a small hand mirror indoors, echoing the self-scrutiny behind the GLP-1 look.

What Wegovy is doing to beauty standards

The chatbot beauty standard was always going to end up in a surgeon’s office

Money & Career

View all →

A mother and daughter sharing a quiet conversation at the kitchen table

What teaching a daughter to get rich really sounds like

Jannese Torres is building a million-dollar portfolio for her daughter — and rewriting the family script about who gets to have the grown-up money conversations.

Bright Melbourne-style living room interior, echoing the domestic space renters are now better equipped to ask more of.

What Victoria’s rental reset changes for renters

A worker at a desk in a workplace setting.

What disclosing a disability at work costs, and what it shouldn't

Payroll and superannuation paperwork on a desk

The super rise you notice late, and the payday shift behind it

What the Saturday auction sounded like after investors stepped back

Latest stories

beauty

The Lifestyle Desires brief

Style, food, travel and wellbeing — weekly in your inbox.

Children’s skincare boom: girls learn correction too early

Retatrutide beyond Ozempic: what the trial really says

The oldest hair-loss promise in the bathroom cabinet

Why women are still asked to doubt their own pain

Style

Paris wants a showroom. Australia wants proof

Ethically made T-shirt cost: what feels fair now

Chanel Sydney runway: Australia gets the mirror test

What Dua Lipa’s bridal suit knows about weddings

After the noise, Jordan Gogos sounds clearer

Home

The Ikea sleepover wasn't really about Ikea

What Kmart's K Home gamble says about us

When the guesthouse becomes the showroom

Australia is over its white-wall hangover

Travel

When the bargain holiday stops feeling clever

The holiday you sneer at is telling on you

The trip gets better when your phone gets boring

The 2026 travel paperwork to check before you book

What the bathroom floor knows before a trip

When a beautiful hotel follows you home

Relationships

What solo-maxxing says about the price of being coupled

What young Australians are asking sex ed to finally admit

Dating in white spaces can cost more than love

What free petrol says about dating now

The bill comes due when you become the cycle-breaker

Culture

The sausage-factory line is rude because it feels true

What YouTube’s Gen Z directors are doing to Hollywood now

When Vivid’s drones faltered, Sydney kept staring

Why the suffering artist myth still flatters us

Food & Drink

The cold can has become our clean little vice

What Melbourne’s best-designed restaurants are really selling now

Why tinned tomatoes still decide how dinner tastes

The prickly plant changing Australia's pour

Horchata slips into the café script

Guzman y Gomez could conquer Australia. America was another story.

Community

What the rental crisis is doing to women who need to leave now

Late 20s and living at home: the cost no one's counting

Rachel Ward found purpose where glamour ran out

The sea-change dream starts to flicker

In Robinvale, half the town disappears when the census arrives

Wellbeing

Children’s skincare boom: girls learn correction too early

Retatrutide beyond Ozempic: what the trial really says

The oldest hair-loss promise in the bathroom cabinet

Why women are still asked to doubt their own pain

Beauty

Children’s skincare boom: girls learn correction too early

The oldest hair-loss promise in the bathroom cabinet

Why collagen supplements still sound more certain than they are

Why Mecca thinks beauty still needs a room

What Wegovy is doing to beauty standards

The chatbot beauty standard was always going to end up in a surgeon’s office

Money & Career

What teaching a daughter to get rich really sounds like

What Victoria’s rental reset changes for renters

What disclosing a disability at work costs, and what it shouldn't

The super rise you notice late, and the payday shift behind it

What the Saturday auction sounded like after investors stepped back

Latest stories

Children’s skincare boom: girls learn correction too early

Retatrutide beyond Ozempic: what the trial really says

The oldest hair-loss promise in the bathroom cabinet

Why women are still asked to doubt their own pain

The cold can has become our clean little vice

Paris wants a showroom. Australia wants proof

The cancer too many women still cannot name

The Ikea sleepover wasn't really about Ikea

Ethically made T-shirt cost: what feels fair now

The Lifestyle Desires brief