Life in Colour - 25: My Favourite Purchases for 2025 (The Ones I Actually Use)

Episode Date: December 28, 2025

Not everything you buy ends up being a good purchase, which makes the ones you actually use and reach for worth talking about. This episode is a relaxed chat about the things I’ve genuinely loved buying for 2025 so far — not trends for the sake of it, and definitely not impulse buys that end up forgotten, but pieces and finds that feel practical, considered, and worth the investment. I share what I’ve been reaching for on repeat, why these purchases made sense for my lifestyle, and what made them good additions rather than just “another thing”. If you enjoy honest reflections on what’s actually useful (and what holds up over time), you’ll enjoy this one. It’s a real, easy conversation — the kind you’d have with a friend when you’re talking about what you’re glad you bought and what you’d happily buy again.   Want to go deeper with colour? If you’re just starting out, I have a free “Find Your Colours” guide that will help you begin understanding what colours work best for you and why. It’s a great place to start if you’ve ever felt unsure about choosing colours when shopping or getting dressed.👉 You’ll find the link to download it here. If you’d like personalised support, you can also book a Virtual Colour Analysis with me. We’ll work out your seasonal palette and I’ll show you how to use it in real life — from clothes to accessories and beyond.👉 All the details and booking links are linked here or www.lovingcolour.au/colouranalysis 🎧 Listen now on Life in Colour — available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Welcome to Life in Color, the podcast where we dive into the real, raw and wonderfully colorful aspects of life. I'm your host, Ashley, and I'm here to explore the ins and outs of seasonal color analysis, navigating motherhood, thriving in your 40s and beyond, and embracing health and wellness with a healthy dose of humor. Join me as we uncover the secrets behind finding your perfect palate, share stories of the joys and challenges of being a mom, and from practical tips to heartfelt conversations, life in color is your space to laugh, learn, and live life unapologetically in all of its colourful hues. So grab your favourite drink, settle in and let's add some colour to this adventure that we call

life. Welcome to Life in Color. Well, hello everybody and Merry Christmas. When this comes out, we're sort of in that time between Christmas and New Year. Now, today, I thought it would be really fun. I saw this on something else to do with something else in your life. You know, there's all these recap and review podcasts. about your year and everything. I thought, you know what, I'm going to go back through my wardrobe

and have a look at the things that I have purchased this year and take a look at the things that have been my favourite and things that I wouldn't purchase again and things that I am going to bring into 2026. So I thought that would be a really fun one to do. Let's get into it straight away because I know that time is precious. And you may or may not, well, you could be listening to this whilst reading a book. Well, you can't really listen to a podcast and read the book,

and whilst sitting on the beach, let's put it that way. Hopefully you're having a rest if you're like me and you're the one that's hosting Christmas and you just need a break in between that Christmas New Year time period. Now, if I look back at everything that I purchased this year, I didn't purchase a huge amount. Now, I don't normally purchase a huge amount when it comes to clothing, but I've definitely cut back even more this year

and I think that's again because I am so intentional with the purchases that I make. It's funny, I do get asked quite a bit, you know, you must have a really big wardrobe. I don't. I literally have the wardrobe that is in my office, which a number of you have seen on Instagram, and that's it.

Like, I have a chest of drawers. And yeah, in the chest of drawers, you know, everyone has your underwear drawer. I've got a draw for, like, scarves and belts and all that kind of thing. Sox. I've then got a drawer for swimwear. I've got a draw for my PJs and, like, workout gear, that kind of thing. And then that leaves me sort of with three drawers for everything else.

That's my knitwear. T-shirts, tops, shorts, you name it. So I really don't now. I do sometimes, I do rotate in and out because sometimes with my knitwear, but it's still those same three drawers that I have and it's just one tiny, like, container that I have that I rotate. It's not anything big at all. So that might be a misconception that some of you might have that in the job that I have. I maybe would feel the pressure to have more clothing in my wardrobe. And funnily enough, it's the opposite. I want to have less in my wardrobes that I'm showing you that you don't need a massive wardrobe in order to feel good in what you're wearing every single day. And also that I'm intentional with

my purchases, which I feel like I generally have always been, especially more and more over the last few years, and that I wear my things again and again and again. So if I think about what I have really enjoyed wearing this year, my top number one would be the cardigans that I got from JAG. Now, I remember JAG as a brand when I was younger and I really loved it. I didn't have many things in, but like I remember my mum and dad having things from JAG and like in the 90s, early 2000s, it was massive still. And then definitely in the last year or so, I feel like it's made a bit of a resurgence. And I remember seeing this cardigan. It was actually on Page Carmichael. And I remember seeing it on her and she had the pink. And you know me, pink is my all time,

right or die, favorite color. And so I went to the shops and luckily I didn't have. have any makeup on when I went. I was literally just ducking in really quickly. And I picked up the pink and I was like, oh, I'm not sure that that's my pink. And I was right. It's a cool toned, cool summer pink. It's just too cool for me to wear. I don't feel that it suits me as much. It makes me a bit more washed out. And then I saw that they had a blue, like a real ice blue. And then that was the one that I was going to get. And then I saw a yellow. And I had a yellow t-shirt at that time I had bought a yellow t-shirt the year before in Kmart to test the color to see how much I would wear it. And I discovered that I absolutely loved that kind of color yellow. Now, the color

yellow that I like to wear, I borrow from cool summer. I am a light summer, but I actually borrow it from a sister palette because I prefer it on me. It's got a bit more of a punch of color to it. It's more intense than a light summer yellow. I sometimes feel that on me, a light summer yellow verges into like that area of cream. And so the cream on me, I just, I don't like it, whereas I like it to be like a proper yellow. That has been my number one favorite worn item this year, without a doubt. I actually bought a few cardigans this year and I returned, I returned one. It was from Bowden. Now, I loved those cardigans. The color was just not right for me. It was too bold. I tried it for a little bit and realized that it was just too bold on me.

and I kept the Navy one with full intentions of wearing it, and I still may wear it next year, like autumn, winter. But at the moment, I've actually given it to my daughter, just because she is a deep autumn and she can borrow navy. And it looks stunning on her as on me. It's just that little bit too deep and intense, like it really is a deep winter navy. Now, these jag cardigans, there's a few reasons why I've loved them.

A, the colour, the yellow has been my favourite. it and I just love they haven't peeled like the I've got other things from other brands expensive brands and within a few wears like they've peeled or they've like got the little balls on them and this hasn't like it's a fluffy jumper and so I kind of expected it to do it and it hasn't and I have been super impressed because I have worn it a lot so that has been I would say my number one purchase in clothing this year that I have absolutely loved the next thing on the list that I have loved. They were actually some basic tops that I actually got from Glacons. They were, now, glasses, I know, hasn't got a great sizing range, but my daughter

was shopping in there and I happened to see them because she was looking at them. They were super soft. They were great layering pieces, but they were also really nice to wear on their own. And what I liked about them was that they weren't ribbed. I don't mind wearing a rib top. I've got quite a few of them, but I just was a bit sick of everything being ribbed, but they were still high neck. So it meant my chest was covered because my chest gets quite cold during the cold months and that way I can get sore throat quite easily. And so I was really happy. But those tops were, I want to say they're either 1995 or 2995. They would definitely last me a few more seasons. I have washed and worn them. They've gone through the dryer.

They haven't shrunk. I have been super impressed with them. And I've really, really enjoyed wearing them. So I think I got a navy, a white, a grey and like a pale baby pink in them. And I really have enjoyed wearing them so, so much, like just, yeah, really found that that was a fantastic investment that I made as a staple within my wardrobe. The other thing that I invested in this year was buying some pants for the winter times that weren't jeans. Now, I ended up buying two pairs of cord pants from Billabong and that in a color, one is like an ocean green and the other is in the lavender and I have loved wearing them. I actually started to embrace even wearing like color from head to toe. I've been very much because I, my style personality is classic. I would

normally pair a color with a neutral or a denim is how I would normally wear it. Whereas this year I feel like I've branched out more and I've actually tried to wear like I think I wore a pale blue or a pale pink with that lavender. And then with the pants, the ocean blue ones, I actually have like a lavender jumper that I put with it and a pink jumper. And it looked really, really lovely. That for me felt quite bold. And so like I've talked about this before, every single seasonal colour palette can be bold in style personality if you want it to be because of how you pair the colours together. And I really did feel like I was being a bit more bold and out there by doing this. But I was really happy with myself for doing that. And I did. I really, really enjoyed it.

And I really loved it. Another thing that I have done this year is, bought, like I've wore more matching set kind of colours. And I've really thoroughly enjoyed that. And that's something that I'm going to continue to do. I have bought a set in from Seed, a hot pink one. I haven't worn it yet. And I, it's like my version of hot pink. And I cannot wait. Cannot wait to wear it. I'm so excited. That is going to be my Christmas Day outfit. So if you listen to my episode that would have gone out a couple of weeks before, that's what I would be wearing on Christmas because it's not traditional but it's me and I'm really excited to wear that outfit on Christmas. So matching sets, I bought that one and then I bought another pale pink one and that was in a pair

of shorts and a holtneck top. I have a lot of shorts in my wardrobe now in so many different colours and I just love that cohesive kind of look and sometimes it's not that they're necessarily like the seed one is a matching set like they're the same exact same colour and they were made in the same collection by seed. Whereas I've got a pair of elastic waist, cornflower blue shorts, and then I've got a cornflower blue top, which comes from Country Road. They're very similar in colour, but they're not exact, and I wear that as like a matching set. And I've just really enjoyed it and leaned into it. And I haven't necessarily worn anything like in matching stripes or anything like that or a print and pattern. My particular style personality is I like

block colour rather than a pattern. But I have really enjoyed wearing more and more of that. I would like to do probably more of it in the cooler months. I probably do more of this in like spring, summer, you know, the weather months of Australia. But that's something that I've really enjoyed and leaned into this month as well. I've continued to invest in like linen shirts. Linen shirts are a staple within my wardrobe, especially like in autumn and winter, sorry, autumn winter, especially like an autumn and spring where you're in those trans seasonal parts of the year where you're not sure if it's warm or if it's cold or if it's going to warm up during the day or vice versa. So that's something that I have really, really enjoyed. The other thing

I kind of focused on this year was, which what are we up to? Number four, can I keep track of the numbers? I knew I should have written it down, but it doesn't matter, is I want more coloured shoes and I feel like I have done that this year. So I invest in a pair of pink. tassel shoes and I've invested in it. My parents bought me a pair of navy shoes which I'm so excited to wear those in autumn, winter next year because I actually think the reason I'm not wearing enough dresses and skirts in the colder months of the year, I didn't have the right footwear because it's very easy to then wear black. Majority of people would wear like black if they're wearing like, I wear navy tights. I don't wear black tights. I wear navy tights. And so it would then be very

easy to wear black or potentially even a burgundy. I don't wear those colours within my wardrobe at all. And so I wanted a colour that then I could wear other parts of the year as well with a pair of jeans or something. And so I'm so excited. I've got a beautiful pair from Millwoods that are pointed like ballet flat and I'm really, really excited to wear those. In terms of other investments that I've made this year, I'm going to shift a little bit into makeup now. I switched to the MCO Beauty hyaloronic, oh no, it's the miracle hyaloronic tinted serum and I have been so happy. I must have been wearing this for at least six months now. I literally smashed one on the bathroom floor the other day. Unfortunately, it all fell off.

I don't have much space on my bathroom counter and it fell off and one smash. Luckily, it was not exorbitantly expensive and so I could replace it easily. I have been so happy with that because I've been feeling that my skin with perimenopause is definitely like I've talked about this on a previous episode, which I'll link below for you if you want to go back and have a listen to like my favorite makeup and hair products. But it's definitely become more textured with perimenopause. And so I wasn't happy with how my foundation was sitting on it. I felt my pores were even highlighted even more. And so I switched to that and gave it a try. And I love it. Like really, really love it. So that's been something that I have thoroughly enjoyed using

in 2025 and I will be continuing to you. So that was a great purchase for me. I then decided that I wanted some more lipstick. Now, I haven't quite found a pink lipstick that I 100% love for me with my allergies. It is a bit tricky. But I have found workarounds and I found some really nice nude lipsticks that I like as well. So I invested some money in finding some lipsticks this year and I'm really, really happy that I did that.

Another thing, so we're up to number five or six. I lost track. I'm just going to stop using numbers. Another thing that I changed and bought this year that was new was glasses. I started that. It must have been earlier in the year. I actually can't quite remember when. But I changed my glasses. And funnily enough, I changed to a pair. I initially chose a blue pair. I had a blue pair and I had a pink pair. And I chose those because they were more in keeping with my color palette. They were much, much better for my skin tone color. They were much better for my under. tones than the tortoiseshell ones that I was wearing. I felt like they sort of dominated me. And looking back at photos, I can definitely see that. Funnily enough, the pink ones are the ones that I have worn continuously. I think I've only worn the blue maybe two or three times. So much so that when my rebate re kicks in next year for my private health, I'm actually going to get a second pair in the pink and just put them to one side just in case anything ever happens with them because I absolutely love them. I love the shade. I love the shape. And I love how it

looks with the colours that I choose to wear. So that for me was a really big, I was an investment because obviously glasses are never cheap, but it was a really big investment and change into aligning something within my colours, my colour palette and my wardrobe and how I wanted to look. I knew that my glasses weren't right for me for a really long time. So search for them, if that's you, make that change. I can't tell you the difference that it has made by just changing the colour of my glasses. But, you know, I wear them every day. I do. I wear them every day. I do wear contact lenses and I am trying to get more and more into wearing contact lenses, but because I've got an astigmatism and other bits and pieces going on, finding the right

balance for my contact lenses can be quite tricky. So I do wear glasses every single day at some point and wearing a pair of glasses that I feel sort of not disappears on me, but just works so much better on me and harmoniously on better on me. Like I know I use that word harmoniously a lot, but that's exactly what colour analysis is. It's everything harmoniously working together. I swear there's a rubbish truck now. I always choose to record. On a rubbish track day,

hopefully you're not able to hear that. But that has been a really big thing for me this year that I'm really happy I made the purchase. One thing that I forgot to mention, just going back on the matching set, I had been looking for a matching denim set, shorts and a shirt for a really long time, like a short sleeve shirt.

and I managed to find them and I found them in Country Road and boy do I love them. They make me feel like the bees knees when I wear this. And so I really feel like this year in 2025, I've aligned my style even more to how I want it to be. I've looked at things and been like, you know what, I don't really like wearing long dresses. I like wearing jeans. I definitely next year, which this will be more on a podcast episode for next year of things I want to try for next year. But I'd like some more knit pants next year. I do, I'm getting sick of wearing jeans all the time.

But I feel like I've made a really great, not inroads, but realignment of what I wanted to be. I think with perimenopause, with your changing shape, and also with your season of life of how life is changing. Yes, I work from home, but style is, as you know, such a big thing for me still. And so more and more I'm making about how I want it to be and to fit my season of life rather than feeling

you know, I never feel pressured about the trends ever because that's just not something that is relevant to me. If I see something like the denim set and I think, oh, I'd like that. That's totally different, but I don't feel I have to wear it in order to fit in. I hope most of you feel like that too, or if you do that you're working towards what you want it to be and what you want your style to be rather than actually feeling that in order to stay relevant and modern, and I hate those words. Like seriously, it really bugs me when people say, you know, just stay looking modern. It's not about staying looking modern. It's about staying being you and looking who you are. So I get off my high horse on that one now. But yeah, I was so happy when I

found that. And it was an investment to buy that outfit. I remember that. But I'm so pleased that I bought it. And these are the things that when I wear them, I do. I just love it. And then one of the last things that I bought this year that I've loved, I bought a blouse from Suzanne Gray. And I love blouses. It's not a shirt. It is a blouse. And it is so light. And it is so beautiful and it's so feminine. And that's what I love about it. And it wasn't an expensive purchase at all, but it's been one of my favorite things that I have bought this year. As I said, I've got a number of things that I would like to add on for next year. But I really, I haven't added up how much I have purchased this year, either in monetary value or in items. When I sat here

thinking of the things to tell you, I could instantly think of the things that I loved. But then I started to search in my brain thinking, okay, am I missing something that I haven't, that I've bought that I haven't actually mentioned? And I was like, no. And the reason for that is, is that because I haven't bought a huge amount this year at all, which I actually love because it really does mean I'm using and wearing and loving things that I've got and I'm shopping my own wardrobe. So I'm really, really happy about that. An honourable mention would go to, for a really long time post-COVID. I used to wear my active wear like during COVID. that had the pockets in it. And I would put my keys in it and I would put my phone in it and I would

then be hands free. And I stopped using handbags for a really long time. And then I saw a handbag in my colour palette from Target and I absolutely loved it. I bought it instantly because it had been like I've mentioned before, I have my list, which is what we're going to, I'm going to tell you about that in January things on my list for that year that I want to invest in. And when I say invest, I'm not necessarily talking about something expensive like this bag that I bought was from Target. I'm not talking about like a Gucci handbag. But I loved it. So I've started using that and then I started using like an tan handbag that I've got. And so I really have enjoyed starting to use handbags again. I did see one who walked into Oraton the other day. My husband and I were in the QVB and such

beautiful building. And I saw this bag, the cutest bag. Now, it was in red. And you know, I've talked about red. I don't have a red in my palette. It's more like coral kind of red. potentially get away with it if I wanted to. The cream was cream, obviously, not a white. And I don't really have white handbags anyway. And then the tan was too orange. So I did, I had a look at this. It's like a miniature little bag. And I looked at it. And I was like, oh, that's really pretty. And it's the first time in a long time that I've looked at a handbag, apart from like the target one and thought, oh, you know, I'd like to start venturing more into different handbags for next year. By doing that, it also means I need to start going more

places during the week in terms of like I work from home. I want to start working from places like cafes and other places. Ivory's a bit more next year, but that means a bag that needs to be able to carry my laptop, which this tiny little one wouldn't. But the price tag with it was something like when I lifted it up and I said to the shop assistant, I'm just wondering how much this is. And I think she said it was like 435 for this postage stamp bag. And if it had come on sale, I may have thought about it. But for me, again, it's cost per wear. I know I wouldn't use it to enough and it's not in the color that I would use enough anyway. But I am really happy with my purchases this year. I love everything that I've bought. There have been other things obviously

in there. I've purchased that I haven't mentioned to you like I bought some all made well jeans because I absolutely love those. I bought them on sale. So I got a really good deal on those. And what else did I buy? I bought some tops from Singapore or some bras from Victoria's Secret, which I love. I changed up some underwear, which I love. And I bought two knit tops. They were on my list as well. I wanted some knit tops that were short sleeve, but they were like a heavier, and I bought two of those, and I have loved them, and I have worn them constantly. And they were like $50 each Australian from Marks and Spencers. So I'm really happy with the things that I've bought this year, and I have worn them and I've worn them again and again and again. And then I have worn a number of things

from previous years within my wardrobe too, but I will be doing a wardrobe clear out at the start of next year because there were things in there that I kept hoping I would wear them again because I used to wear them years ago, they're not serving me. They're literally just sitting in a container and it's time to let them go because I'm just not going to wear them again. Also, some of them now is that kind of fabric where it's stretched out so you wouldn't wear it again anyway. But that is a whole other podcast episode. So thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you've enjoyed hearing all about the things that were my top purchases this year. And I highly encourage you to do the same. Go through, look at your purchases that you have made this year. What were your favorites? Have you

worn them lots and this can be like makeup hair stuff accessories all of the shoes that kind of thing too and then look at the things that you've purchased and you haven't worn and I would like you to write down why and if you get a bit stuck use chat GPT to give you some journal prompts that you can use for that because then you will know that you won't take that into 2026 and you won't be buying more of those things that you haven't worn and then potentially there might be more of the things that you have worn that you would like more colors to experiment with that say in 2026 as well anyway take care. I hope you have had, like I mentioned, a wonderful Christmas and have a fabulous new year and I will catch you in 2026. Take care, everyone, sending lots of love and enjoy your break.

You know,