Anyone else counting down the days to Spring? Let’s just say if we spot another friend swanning around in Europe’s heat, we might scream. So, instead of losing our minds we’ve decided to hack the hell out of the last few weeks of Winter. That means staying warm, obviously, but also eating well, rehydrating and priming our wellbeing to burst into spring like a bunch of giant sunflowers in full Summer mode. Here’s our guide to products you need to put in your cart now to make it through Winter final frosty finish with flying colours.
Keep Older Dogs warm this winter – Buddy & Belle Orthopaedic Lounge Dog Beds
The Buddy & Belle Orthopaedic Lounge Dog Bed is the one item in this guide tested by someone other than me, my greyhound, Maggie who claimed it within a few minutes. She is the kind of who dog gravitates toward the couch arm or the edge of a human chair to nap, this lounge bed is built for that exact instinct. She likes the high‑density memory foam mattress which cushions her joints, muscles, and spine which stiff, older dogs (or big breeds) can settle without waking up sore. Raised, bolstered edges create a cozy “den” feel that calms her (she has sleep startle) and gives head-and-neck support. The wide, low front makes stepping in and out easy for pets with limited mobility, while the non‑slip base keeps the bed from sliding on tiles or hardwood, its zoomie tested! Roaching is easy on this bed too. The cover is removable for quick washes, and the fill uses 100% post‑consumer recycled polyester, so it feels luxurious but treads lighter on the planet. It’s a pretty aqua colour, and at $209 for the large/extra-large, Maggie’s opinion is that it’s worth every cent.
Tea, all day every day – Neo Thermal Tea Infuser
Winter is a tricky time for us water drinkers. We have our emotional support water bottles at our side 24/7 every other season, but Winter really is tea’s time to shine. If you’ve ever done the back to the desk juggle with your water bottle, your phone, your laptop and your precariously balanced cup of tea, this one is for you. Neo’s Thermal Tea Infuser is SO SIMPLE yet so clever. The double-walled stainless steel water bottle is as exactly as it sounds, an insulated water bottle, but it also includes a stainless steel built in tea infuser chamber. Pop in your loose leaf tea (perhaps some of Neo’s very own organic Ayurvedic teas), attach the lid and away you go. The tea brews in your bottle, and will stay hot for up to 12 hours. Take the chamber out, use the bottle as a normal drink bottle, or use it for berries, herbs or lemon slices if that’s more your flavour. Australian former mechanical engineer Mona Webb is behind this brand and clever product. RRP $45 Buy it here
Full body flex on your finger – Oura Ring
Stress, sleep, exercise. The parts of life that always seem to hang in the most precarious balance, but do seem to be the most important to get right. Well, this Winter we’re all about thriving, not just surviving, so we’ve called in the big guns. Ironically, the Oura Ring is the smallest item on our list but perhaps the mightiest, certainly when it comes to pointing your body and your mind in the right direction. That’s definitely the verdict after road testing this hard working piece of jewellery over the last few months. The smart ring fitness tracker keeps an eye on your heart rate, your oxygen levels, respiration rate, different sleep rates, body temperature – 30 different biometrics – and uses them to build a picture about your stress, your recovery, even your readiness for the day ahead. Delve into the insights as deep as you like each day, with the ring learning more about you the longer you wear it. AI is hard at play here, you can use the Oura Advisor as your own personal life coach/PT/meal planner to help reach your health goals. We’ve been wearing the Oura Ring 4, there’s also Oura Ring 4 Ceramic in fun pastel ceramic finishes, and the brand new Oura Ring 5. From $398.30 Buy it here
Bottled sunshine – Cedarwood Road Wellness Oil & Body Butter
There’s no more SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) here folks. That’s largely thanks to these very hard working products from Melbournian Rochelle Toia’s brand CEDARWOOD Road. We’ve been keeping the Citrus Sunshine Wellness Oil on our desk, where it’s like bottled sunshine boosting our day. A gorgeous glowy yellow oil dotted with rosehip buds, meadowfoam seed, Jojoba, lemon, lime and mandarin, the oil is 100% natural and plant-based. Pop a few drops on your palms, warm it up and then apply to your face and body. The pick me up has been just enough to help power through the 3.30pm slump. Pair the oil with one of CEDARWOOD Road’s body butters, and you lock in the kind of deep hydration that will make you look like you haven’t spent three months sitting as close to the heater as possible. The Sweet Orange Butter has us dreaming of lazy afternoons in the Spanish sun, and applying it is a nice little self-care ritual we’ve come to relish. Completely oil-based, it’s soft and lush to spread on your skin and great for those with eczema or sensitive skin. CEDARWOOD Road Citrus Sunshine Wellness Oil RRP $37 Sweet Orange Butter $32
Your last line of defence – Warmür
We’ve reached that time of year when Winter is in its final throws yet still seems determined to ensure you feel the cold right down to your bones. You are just a few early mornings away from giving up and wearing your Oodie or your pyjamas on your next Zoom call. Or hey, maybe you’re already there, no judgement here. Fear not. Warmür is here to save you from an office faux pas that will follow you all the way to next year. The premise is simple – a blanket that wraps around you, and your chair, and looks more blazer than blanket. We’d say it’s more poncho than blazer but the lapels are levelling up our Zoom game from our constant rotation of jumpers so that’s a major win. There are buttons and a zipper to help secure the Warmür to your office chair, and the underside is a soft cosy material that keeps you nice and toasty. We’re big fans of the beige Warmür’s tassels, which make us dream of European sundresses, but the black has a fringe that’s very on trend too. RRP $189.99 Buy it here.
All the good stuff, none of the waste – Produce Pods
Vitamins, minerals, fibre, we need you! Let’s be real, doubling down on vegetables is probably as close to biohacking as we’re going to come this Winter and we’re not mad about it. Enter Produce Pods. The clever bags are designed to keep your vegetables fresh for longer – not just an extra week mind you. Gone are the days of throwing out beans, broccoli and floppy carrots. There’s a two part design here keeping hydration locked in, but letting the produce breathe. First, you dampen the cotton inner layer, which you use to wrap up your dry vegetable (the dry part is important), then pop the parcel into a second zip up pouch bag. Pop it in the fridge and voila, longer lasting veggies. We’ve been experimenting with the pods for the last few months and aside from not reading the instructions properly (mushrooms go in a dry cotton bag, not a damp one), have been feeling very smug about upping our vegetable quota and, just as important, not having to run to the supermarket as often. Of course, helping combat food waste, that makes us feel pretty smug too! From $46.99 Buy them here
Calm in a jar – IJB Magnesium Body Butter
Identity. Journey. Body. (IJB) is the brand behind this hard working body balm. It’s doing double duty keeping us hydrated yes, but also working extra hard with magnesium, jojoba and lavender at play. The vegan butter is brand new, and comes with a strong encouragement to use as a self care ritual. Slow things down, take a pause, use your balm as a quick reset throughout the day. With a shea butter base, it’s a dreamy lush kind of ritual we can definitely get behind. RRP $59 Buy it here
Filthy Clean – Eco Clean Starter Pack
Ditch plastic landfill with Aussie Plant-Based Detergent Filthy Clean who make dissolvable cleaning sheets for the jobs that usually mean lugging heavy, leaky bottles home from the supermarket. It’s a new brand, with a range covering laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent, wool dryer balls and, the one I didn’t see coming, toilet cleaning. No plastic bottles, no measuring cups, no spills in the boot of the car, and it’s all eco-friendly to boot. I started with the Laundry Detergent Sheets and the Dishwashing Detergent Sheets, which were. All pre-cut rectangles, pop one in, no measuring, no bulky bottle under the sink anymore. But the Toilet Cleaning Sheets are the ones I love. A sheet for cleaning a toilet sounded a bit odd to me at first. You toss it into the bowl, wait about ten seconds, then stick your brush in and it just starts foaming. There’s a lovely clean forest perfume to it too, not overpowering at all, and by the time I’m done my brush is spotless and the bowl is sparkling. I finished the range off with the Wool Dryer Balls, which cut down my drying time and static without a single dryer sheet in sight. I dot mine with Notre laundry perfume, which I’m addicted to. Starter Pack $112.
Clean Kitchen, Clear Conscience – Who Gives A Crap Scrub Sponges
Who Gives A Crap’s the world’s cheekiest toilet paper brand also has kitchen supplies. We tried their crubbing sponges. They come in a pack of four, and are made from natural loofah, responsibly sourced wood pulp and water based ink. One surface is soft the other is rougher and tackles stuck on dirt. They handled kitchen surfaces really well, but were a bit too soft to get burnt on food solids off my pans. WGAC puts 50% of profits toward building toilets and improving sanitation in the developing world so I get to scrub a genuinely clear conscience. $14 for a pack.
Hill Smith Wines – Leading the Trends This Wine Season: Y Series, Nautilus & Dalrymple Vineyards
Hill-Smith Family Estates owns a fair chunk of Australia’s smarter wine thinking, and this month it sent me a few labels arguing opposite cases. Y Series is a playful new approach to red wine. Dalrymple, tucked into Tasmania’s Coal River Valley, is a serious and stunning winery and Nautilus in NZ. Same family, owning a number of different wineries with different instincts. Y Series Sunset Red is the provocateur: a Shiraz I am instructed to chill, not cellar. Twenty minutes in the fridge, 12–15 degrees, and it swaps brooding for boysenberry, raspberry and a sly blueberry-cheesecake note. I At $15 from Dan Murphy’s, it’s cheap enough that you stop waiting for an occasion. Dalrymple’s Chardonnay 2024 is the family’s other instinct entirely a Tasmanian “climate wine” its well structured, pale straw, white peach, lemon, brioche, a chalky finish. At $47 it’s the guide’s one splurge. Nautilus wine maker Clive has created a 2025 Sauvignon Blanc which has the typical NZ aromas of lemongrass and juicy grapefruit finish.
Up Grade your Home and Car Tech! – Belkin Car Vent Mount, Wall Charger & Noise Cancelling Headphones
Of everything I tested this round, the Belkin BoostCharge Magnetic Charging Car Vent Mount is a winner. It clips into almost any car air vent, and the magnetic alignment meant I could snap my phone into place one-handed without even looking it just found its spot and held. From there it wirelessly charges at up to 15W for Qi2-compatible phones, worked fine through my case, and swivels a full 360 degrees so I could go from portrait to landscape for maps without unclipping anything. At $79.95. The other Belkin I tested is the UltraCharge Retractable GaN Wall Charger 45W, which solves the one problem every charger has given me: the cable is never where I left it. This one has its own retractable USB-C cable built straight into the plug, plus a second USB-C port, so I could charge two devices $59.95. I also tested out Belkin’s SoundForm Isolate Noise Cancelling Headphones ($89.95), and they’re a great entry point if you’re not ready to spend Bose or Sony money. The CloudCushion ear cups are comfy and 60 hours of playback per charge means I’ve barely thought about charging them. If you are prone to losing headphones, these don’t break the bank but the sound doesn’t quite match the high-end brands, and the noise cancelling isn’t as deep either. But for the price, they nail the basics.
For The Coffee Obsessed – Veneziano NEW Winter Warmer + Crave & Elevate
Veneziano Coffee Roasters started sourcing and roasting coffee in 2002 in Victoria. This month I tested out their new seasonal Winter Warmer ($25) which is roasted for both espresso and filter. Before I even made a coffee I was on a high smelling the aroma from the packets freshly delivered to my door. They offer subsciption too. Its a rich blend with notes of black forest, milk chocolate, malt biscuits, the kind of cup that feels like a jumper. I found it an easy, comforting daily drinker. Elevate is a good all rounder, medium strength with a milk chocolate tone. Then there’s Crave ($20), which is the more grown-up option and as a latte drinker I liked its strong, punchy personality with dark chocolate, nutty and caramel notes that hold up beautifully in milk. I found it particularly good in a latte, where the caramel and chocolate really came through without tipping into bitterness. Three very different moods, and I’ve kept both in the cupboard. If you can’t decide take their coffee quiz on their website.