#<- guy who wants to study other life games but hasnt liked any of the videos he’s found on yt

[mcybree]

Is anyone else around here in a (or have been in a) fan-hosted life series. do you guys wanna go in a circle and share how it went. do you guys wanna compare notes

[funnyscienceman]

Ok but like WHYY did ubisoft have to insist with the one game a year thing. Why couldnt they let syndicate cook in the oven more. Why do they have THREE queer men in the same game and not do ANYTHING with them!!!

Like yes, yes, i get it, i get wanting to for once make a story in a fun setting where you dont have to think about real life prejudice and hardships and bigotry and just have characters be silly, i love that too. I do! And id be all for that if doing it just didnt waste a potentially banger study of the characters and the setting ;-;

Like god i go back and forth on this constantly. I already love syndicate as it is, i think it's fun and neat and the happy gaming vibes about it is core to its identity, it's just that simultaneous to that, three queer men in the same game!!!

like GOD im still miffed that there are only, like, two or three fics about this, and so far i havent found any discussion or anything of it, but oh my god how different all three of them are from each other. You could do so much just with having any of them in the same room — and they are often enough in the same room (jacob and either ned or roth at a time), but nothing's really done there!

we have roth who sees fcking nothing wrong with getting kids hurt, because he doesnt actually care about anyone or anything, he's just some fucking joker wannabe that yeah, sure, probably has some anger and resentment at society because he's a gay man in his 40s or 50s by now, but jesus fucking christ retaliation against homophobia does not equal rampant needless unproductive violence roth!!!

then we have ned, who — i mean he doesnt ever give his opinion on whether kids deserve any respect or anything but considering in every other department he's pretty much just Some Guy, it'd be fair to assume he also has the extremely average stance of 'dont fcking kill kids and dont blow up buildings for no good reason??' in the grand scheme of the templar-assassin stuff he has just about as much relevance as roth: roth was just the boss of the blighters, ned just finances the fryes by virtue of them working for him. He probably doesnt even know about it, and tbh i dont even know if he'd care??? But like i imagine roth doesnt care in the way of 'as long as you dont get in my way, it's all set dressing,' ned i imagine would be smth like 'are yall fckin serious? are you kidding me rn? i have to skirt around transphobes on a daily basis, now youre telling me there's a secret society on top of that with even worse ideas?? What the fuck???'

like uh, not caring about it as in 'I cant deal with this rn i need a nap'

HE'S JUST AN EXTREMELY REGULAR PERSON (besides the crime lord stuff) IS WHAT IM GETTING AT.

then there's jacob, who's the youngest out of these guys btw, fckin 21 good god he should be at the club not trying to disassemble systemic oppression— ANYWAY

(ned is 27-28 over the course of the game, btw; we dont actually have a solid timeline for anything, just the year, so tbh jacob could've also been 20 and not 21 yet during the game. both he and ned have late birthdays, just a month apart)

so, yknow, being extremely early 20-somethings, both frye twins just take a train to london completely on impulse and dive headfirst into undoing the templars that've had an iron grip over the city for basically as long as they've been alive, yknow, as you do; and throughout the game jacob has to deal with goddamn daddy issues and fighting with his sister and insecurity and trying to be an assassin — and that's a lot for a guy to handle!! Especially one who's still just a couple years out of being a teenager! That's a fucking lot and if the devs are right, then he hasnt even realized that he's bi yet! Not until roth fucking kisses him while jacob's got a knife in his throat for the aforementioned indiscriminate, unproductive violence!

i mean, granted, yeah there were gay undertones during sequence 8, but i have to admit my bias here because i honest to god cannot take those missions seriously. Roth fucking preaches this and that about freedom and whatnot and then im plopped into the mission and it's the most rule-heavy shit ive ever seen in my short life as an assassin's creed player. Like what the hell, those missions were atrocious. Apprently i need to detonate the bombs a specific way, i cant just shoot them from a distance, i have to hold a button crouching down right next to the bombs, and then run the hell away! I have to avoid THIS and THAT while kidnapping xyz! Like there's freddy's apprehend missions and then there's THIS.

at least with ned's missions all you have to do is get the shit and go… i'm still salty that ubisoft cut his questline because they fucking insist on releasing a game a year >:((

my battery's dying. All these guys are different flavors of queer on top of just being pretty different and pretty similar in various ways, and there's just… barely anything about it. Ned especially, since he's just a quest giver whose screentime totals to, like, 2-5 minutes. I just wish they really did more with the setting; not just the queerness and these three specifically, but like, evie, henry, the class conflict — like there are shreds of it, seeds, but there's not much before you kill starrick and credits roll :((

idk. im just gonna refresh ao3 again cjemddjekjx

[leastdatablebracket]

ROUND 1, MATCH 53

Propaganda under the cut!

Baxter Ward

That Boy Needs Therapy

He ghosts you after the end of step 3, even if you try and date him.

look i love my boy, but baxter literally dumps you outside of your childhood home, shuts the door in your face even if you’re sobbing in the middle of the street, and then ghosts you for five years and then pretends he doesn’t care about you when you meet again. this is even if he’s aware that he’s your first love (if you chose to make him that). he literally says that you have bad taste in men if you choose to date him again before you’ve talked anything over shshhshssbb. love him but he needs a therapist waaaaayyyyy more than he needs a partner.

Ryouta Kazama

ok so i havent actually seen all of his route cause the game's only available in japanese and the streamer i watched play the game switched to a different guy like halfway through the game n i seriously doubt anyone else is gonna submit him i just need someone else to know about this so! ryouta and the player character (doesnt have a canon name but is given the nickname of marii by the two girl friends) were friends in kindergarten with ryouta having a very blatant crush on her n wished on a pinwheel for them to get married when theyre older he then moves to england as soon as he gets old and he n marii dont interact at all until nine years later when he comes back for high school and is still very blatantly down bad for a girl he last talked to when they were six but has spent the last nine years still thinking about (theres something in the game you can unlock called adv events where you get the love interests pov on moments in their lives and one of ryouta's reveals that even though he couldve he never sent marii any letters but very much did spend all those years thinking about her) n a lot of his interactions with marii are weird n circle back to him being obsessed with them being friends as kids and like a first it just kind of seems like oh he hasnt gotten over his puppy love yet lol but it is kind of like acknowledged that this is a weird thing in game as if marii gets his gift in the christmas exchange ryouta will say something about it being fate n marii pointedly ignores that n is like wow what a coincidence that we got eachother's gifts (not in an oblivious heroine way btw ryouta's straight up is like oh ok ur ignoring what i said) n he treats her like shes naive n completely innocent which like marii is cause shes a mostly blank slate otome heroine but its still noteworthy as being weird due to his aforementioned memorialization of them being friends in kindergarten n that none of the other love interests really treat marii that way or really make note of those being notable traits of hers that often while its something ryouta does frequently anyway so the moment that made my thoughts on ryouta switch from "lol hes kind of weird" to "i want to study him like a bug" is that His Bedroom Is The Exact Same As It Was When He Was A Six Year Old Child In Kindergarten And Hes Keeping It That Way On Purpose like genuinely thats immediately read to me as horror movie shit imagine reuniting with a childhood friend of urs who keeps bringing up stuff you did as kids (that you dont really remember cause you were like six n are now in high school) n making comments about how naive and easy to read you are n gets weirdly jealous about other guys being buddy buddy with you and then like a year or so after hes moved back n you've becomed friends again he invites you to hang out at his house so you go over and then His Room Looks Like It Belongs To A Six Year Old and hes telling you about how his room hasnt been altered (beyond cleaning) at all since he left n since hes come back hes chosen to keep it exactly the same n hes telling you this like its a reasonable thing literally what the fuck also while ryouta is the posterboy childhood friend love interest of this game theres another love interest who was both ryouta n marii's childhood friend and you'll never believe this he treats her like a normal person and is just a normal guy who barely remembers being friends in kindergarten and him n marii only learn that theyre childhood friends cause of ryouta being mildly exasperated that neither of them really remembers them being a trio when they were six theres definitely like worse love interests i could submit from this series (like the teachers n one of the three secret love interests in the second game whos route is just straight up him emotionally abusing the heroine) but im submitting ryouta cause his reasons for sucking as a romantic partner are bizarre n live rent free in my mind

[1tsjusty0u]

OK SO. poking around the property of hate comic yes yes. BUT BOTW OCS??????

>:D !!!! AND HAHA… MAYHAPS..,,,,,,,

i dont have a lot (yet) but i do have some! and some are more for funsies than others

first ones!!!!! the court poet and kass’s mother! i have an unfinished sketch of these two. the poet probably went a lot with zelda for shekiah tech escapades, so he probably knew purah robbie and link by proxy. i think hes heard of impa but hasnt really Met met her.

kass says that the poet knew a bit about ancient civilizations, though i dont know if he was actually interested in them? im taking this as he studied rigorously on them for a bit until being a poet/creating art became more of his priority. also because im not having link and zelda be interested in each other romantically thatll beg the question if the poet is still classist, which is a very funny thing to say out of context! for me i think he still is, its just more of an internal thing. (though i dont know how that will work with his upbringing? also i dont know how thatd work in general- in botw there wasnt really an upper class ? maybe the soldiers or knights were but the rich arent really depicted in that game (which makes sense considering the calamity), but i dont know how id translate into pre-cal. are class structures Exclusive to castle town and the closer you are to the castle the more likely nobility will exist. does the same apply for other races like the zora or gerudo..) i think he was raised in castle town but wanted to learn more about his heritage as a sheikah

kass’s mother is Just Some Guy. shes skilled in the sword, cannot play the accordion to save her life, and i like to think she was a mail person. she would probably do things reserved for warrior rito without permission and simply outrun consequences if there were any (likely social consequences, but otherwise i dont know how theyd stop her). she and the poet are friends (no i dont know how they met yet, and no i do not know how itd work with classism. the poet thinks kass’s mother is the Odd One Out and the rest are filthy low-life peasants or something and she sucker punches him. however they would still be friends despite the classism . being friends with the poet but shes shaking her head constantly to show she doesnt condone being nobility)

next is sheik! they r here more for fun than anything else. i think they were a shekiah assassin/warrior who just really liked sheik from the legends so they strived to be just like them. basically a teen finding out about naruto and consistently cosplaying as kakashi for the rest of school (/positive). they have a Mysterious and Cool persona, like the know more than they do, however that is a complete lie and if anyone spent more than a second of time with them Theyd Know. so to avoid that sheik basically just dodges social interaction the best they can. i dont think most people know they exist as theyd probably be a knight guard and guard in inconvenient places. i also like to think that theyd guard/spy on link specifically, but that depends on how important you think the royal family would view the hero/master sword as, and how paranoid youd think theyd be. otherwise every time theres no guards except link dont worry its simply shiek theyre just out of view of the camera hiding behind a rock or something similar

i also have links mom and aryll, though i dont have too much to say on them. they have roots in lurien/faron (and that may? be apparent once i design them including link) but i hc that they live in hateno and link visits yearly. aryll is younger and keeps asking for impractical souvenirs. stuff from savage lynel gear thats too heavy for her to carry or a brick from the castle. she’d think mipha is the coolest person on the planet, and would want to learn spears because of it. she’d also want to meet the champions and keep asking link to bring them over (he does not </3). but otherwise shes doing her own thing. she probably knows sword stunts/tricks due to link but isn’t knowledgeable in fighting itself. if someone Were to fight her she’d simply bite them <3. losho harbor is probably a notable spot for Family bonding (boat rides or sand structure making) however yeah not too much to say! good mom and good sister

the rest is misc ocs i know Exist but have done 0 (zero) things for . this includes making characters for. basically knights, maids, townsfolk, and people who have relationships with the champions (like mentors or friends). yeag 👍

[actualbird]

Ok but like, can we give Jake more love???? And Rich??? The poor boys went through so much??? Do you have any hcs for them???

sjdfhkdsf okay this is more on jake because i havent thought too much about rich but here. i got a lil bit carried away.

a non conclusive list of things jake is very into and very good at: chess. track and field. Not Getting Hangovers, What The Hell. shooting things into the trashbin without looking. 

jake dillinger is a low(high)key a multi-talented genius student. for somebody to want to engage in all those extracurriculars (even fleetingly) is frankly terrifying. he’s totally the guy who’s like “Oh, damn, I totally forgot to study for this test,” then he gets an A-.

so there’s that and he’s popular, hot, and has a bustling social life. half the student population looks at jake is like How Are You Real? the other half is convinced he sold his soul to a faustian deal the beginning of freshman year

(the trade off is an abysmal sleeping schedule)

(also his parents were pretty hard on him. as a child, he tried to get their attention through good grades and medals from various sports. but it never did get anything more than a dismissive “that’s nice.” by this point, he accepts it, but the habit of perfection is too much to shake off. without it, who is he?)

he signs up for the school play because he’s just so genuinely moved by christine’s performance and he wants to be a part of something that’s real and sincere!!

jake and rich have been friends since sophomore year. while most of their friendship pre squip-cident is mostly founded false douchebaggery for the sake of coolness, they both truly cherished each other (even though neither of them at the time would ever admit it)

(rich tried to make a “how’s the weather up there?” joke once and jake was like, “see for yourself, man,” and jake lifts him up to sit on his shoulders. it’s maybe one of the few uncool things they did back then.)

post squip, all the barriers go out the window and theyre grossly into making sure everybody knows theyre best friends who love each other so much “I LOVE MY BEST FRIEND, JAKE DILLINGER, THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE” Rich yells intermittently when he’s at the hospital. Jeremy desperately wants to be discharged. 

jake and rich are cast buddies. jake’s left leg cast is filled with rich’s incomprehensible doodles (”What is that? Lasagna?” “Fuck you, it’s an alligator”). the right leg is just all tic-tac-toe. rich’s casts are designated for hangman games since there’s more surface area.

jake’s legs heal up but he needs a cane to walk with. rich thinks it’s the flyest thing ever. (”You look like a gentleman pimp!” “I’ll take that as a compliment?” “It absolutely is a compliment!!!!”)

jake made rich a crocheted friendship bracelet. both of them refuse to take it off ever.

when jake realizes that he loves rich more than just the usual I LOVE MY BEST FRIEND feel, he’s uncharacteristically unsmooth about it. “Dude, check out these cool socks Brooke gave me.” “You’re beautiful….I MEAN. THE SOCKS. ARE BEAUTIFUL.” “Wow, I didn’t know you were so passionate about tiny pizzas on socks.”

jake’s used to people falling over to be with him, so he’s rather clueless as how to actually court somebody. jake decides to go classic, buying rich flowers, chocolate, opening the door for him.

i like to think it all goes disastrously. rich apparently has awful allergies to flowers, doesnt like dark chocolate, and jake accidentally elbows him in the face when he tries to open the door for him once. jake is so out of his element; he hasnt been this bad at anything like, ever.

rich finally catches on that this isnt all just jake being the Nicest Boy In The World when jake lends him his jacket which is too long for him in the sleeves department. when rich tries to return it at the end of the day, jake just says, “Keep it. You might get cold on the way home.” rich’s tiny heart: BADUMP

jake gets rich a cactus. this is the breaking point. rich basically leaps for jake.

“I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND, JAKE DILLINGER, THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE,” Rich yells intermittently in the hallways, holding Jake’s hand. the cactus sits happily on the windowsill of Rich’s room. its name is Theodore.

[flauntpage]

Garbage Game – Observations from Blazers 130, Sixers 115

When you get booed off of your home floor four times in one game, it probably wasn’t your day.

The Sixers were atrocious on Saturday afternoon, and that’s putting it mildly. They couldn’t defend, couldn’t rebound, couldn’t get a loose ball, and couldn’t shoot the three. The personnel decisions were questionable and the effort was worse. It was one of those games you’d like stricken forever from your memory, like when the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones use that mind-eraser thing from Men in Black and you instantly forget that aliens exist.

By far, the biggest disappointment Saturday was on the glass, where the Sixers conceded 19 offensive boards. Jake Layman had 6 himself, a career high in 28 minutes off the bench. Portland didn’t even shoot all that well, just 5-23 from three, but the combination of Enes Kanter and Jusuf Nurkic working pick and rolls just annihilated a Joel Embiid-less Philly team that ended up allowing 66 points in the paint and 19 second chance points.

Which brings us to the center position:

There’s no reason for Amir Johnson to be in the game. None at all.

He was a -10 in four minutes on the floor, getting posterized on the defensive end before chucking up an air ball three point attempt on the ensuing offensive possession. Johnson had not played in an NBA game since January 26th and was coming off a Friday night in which he went down to Delaware just to get some run. Jonah Bolden, who played eight first-half minutes spelling Boban Marjanovic, didn’t return to the floor until garbage time.

Brett Brown said several things about that after the game, beginning with a question from Rich Hofmann, who asked if the rebounding disparity was why he went with Johnson in the second half.

Brown:

It was Rich, and big ball wasn’t getting it done either. They had 14 offensive rebounds in the first half. I tried to look at Amir to see if that could help with some rebounding stuff. And it didn’t. When you try that sort of combination and that too didn’t work, big ball didn’t work. We really didn’t fix much with Amir. My instinct is, when the game is clearly leaving us, that I’m going small. We’re gonna switch stuff and I’m gonna try to speed it up and hunt threes. It still hurt us, but I think they only had five offensive rebounds (in the second half). Big ball hurt us. Really, as it relates, we can’t connect the dots with small ball and offensive rebounding, that’s not true. So yes, to your point, why did we, it was for those reasons.

The Sixers small look featured Mike Scott playing the five, and it’s true that the rebounding disparity didn’t change via the small or big look, but the defense and effort was pretty poor throughout.

I asked Brett if had any thought on going back to Jonah Bolden in the second half:

I mean it gets to a stage where I made a decision to go with Amir over Jonah. Most of that was driven for I hoped defensive rebounding purposes. When we went back with Amir, the game escaped us a little bit more than we had hoped, and at that stage, I felt like the small ball environment was going to be our best chance.

Follow up question:

Was there a part of him that thought about the fact that Amir hasn’t played an NBA game in almost a month?

Brett:

A little bit. But I also sat and watched him play courtside down in the G-League last night and I thought he looked good. I respected his effort. When you’re searching without Joel and you’re reminded of what Amir has done in the past, I’m not afraid to try to resurrect a 13-year NBA veteran. I’m not intimidated by the fact that he has not played the quantity of NBA games. I hold zero regret of giving him that chance.

I thought that was a forceful quote, and I get it. You trust the veteran to come back and pick up where he left off. I think that shows a lot of respect from coach to player.

However, I’m in the camp of people who believes that Amir just does not have anything left in the tank. He’s 31 now and playing his 14th year in the league. When your legs go, they go, and there’s a reason he came out of the rotation 20 some odd games into the season. Don’t go back on that now unless you absolutely have to.

Yes, I know Jonah Bolden has his rookie deficiencies, and this was a tough matchup for Boban Marjanovic, who can’t slide laterally in pick and roll defense like a more mobile big, but I just can’t come up with a reason why Amir Johnson should have been in that game. I would have preferred to see 23 year old Bolden get obliterated vs 31 year old Johnson getting obliterated. One guy is just beginning his career and could use the learning experience. The other is nearing retirement.

Derek Bodner asked about Bolden and the balance between the rookie learning curve vs. just having a tough matchup against two good bigs in Nurkic and Kanter:

Brett:

I think a lot of it is completely the newness of all this stuff we’re going through. I really do. I think as a simple example, when we’re in pick and roll defense, how many times can you not let the roller get behind you. Can you collapse and absorb the drive, and at some point in that charge circle area make a decision? He’s so bouncy and he wants to come up and it’s a lob fest with rollers going behind him. I think that type of newness and rookie side of Jonah stands out. What I expect from him going forward, I’m not sure. We’re studying this and feeling this. We ‘get’ Joel, and then it’s ‘now what?’ We went through the evolution of Amir, then in the playoffs we had Ersan. We went small. Ersan was our backup five. What does that mean for this year’s group? I don’t know. I’m sharing the experience because that’s ultimately where you have to make the decision to grow the team, guessing where you will end up…

I was gonna cut some video, but I don’t see the point. This was a forgettable game, a bad matchup with the Sixers missing their best player. If we do a sidebar on pick and roll defense, we’ll revisit this game and pull 4-5 clips as an example of what not to do. Plus, it’s Saturday night, and most people are doing more important things than reading about a shitty Sixers loss.

Other notes:

Saturday was Franklin’s birthday. Happy birthday, Franklin.

T.J. McConnell enters the game, very first play is a steal off an inbound pass and run out for a layup. I thought that energy might help kick start a sluggish team, but it really didn’t.

Terry Stotts reminds of that Nate Duncan guy who does the nightly NBA commentary on Twitter.

The Sixers couldn’t fight through a screen to save their life on Saturday. It was like watching an undersized linebacker trying to shed a Mike Alstott lead block.

Ben Simmons took two early jumpers in this game. He missed both.

JJ Redick had another bad outing, just 1-10 from the floor.

I’ll leave you with this:

“You talk a lot of shit for being ass. Be fuckin’ quiet. You talk a lot.” – Ben Simmons getting SPICY pic.twitter.com/DTORSTO7SF

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) February 23, 2019

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[beauticate]

Erin Holland, Model & Presenter

Given her on-the-rise showbiz career includes brand partnerships with Sephora, and her latest as Neutrogena’s Sun Care Ambassador – Erin Holland makes an ideal girl to chat to about all things beauty. Inviting us inside her Sydney home, Erin shared with us how she got started on the path to Miss World, how she takes care of herself while she is constantly on the road, her ultimate accessory for a big night out and her favourite beauty product of all time.

“I have always wanted to be a performer, and I consider the presenting work I do now to be an extension of that dream.

Whether it’s singing on stage, presenting on camera or live hosting an event, the rush, adrenaline and satisfaction is the same. It’s all I ever wanted to do with my life. I grew up singing and dancing and had Broadway aspirations, doing some modelling on the side to get me through my studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and attending musical auditions. 

After getting so close to landing a few gigs, but to no avail, I decided to put myself up for Miss World Australia in 2013, which I won and went on to compete in Miss World. Thanks to my amazing manager Morgs Barta, this brought about some incredible opportunities, including amazing brand partnerships and travel, and now I am busier than ever.

The best part of my job is that no two days are the same. 

The spontaneity of not knowing what next week will bring is always, always more exciting than it is terrifying. Some of the best experiences and jobs I’ve ever had in my life came about last minute. I am someone who tends to get bored easily and requires a lot of variety, so this life and career are perfect for me.

I am a product fiend. Working with Sephora just enables my makeup addiction in the best possible way. There’s always something brand new to get my hands on and try. 

I love experimenting with different looks and taking inspiration from my fave Instagram makeup accounts. You’ll often find me trying to recreate a photo I have found on the ‘gram for events or nights out! I do definitely have some staples in my kit that I know will never fail me, but then Sephora is constantly stocking new products, new brands - it would just be rude not to try them all, right…?

My absolute, number one makeup tip? Get yourself a Beauty Blender. 

This little guy has been a game changer for applying my base. It just gives you the most seamless, flawless finish without any hassle, regardless of what foundation or concealer you are using. You just have to get one immediately - you wont be disappointed.

My approach to beauty is versatile and my look is completely dependant on the situation or my mood. 

One day it’s all about the winged liner, another a pop of colour in a strong lip, or it’s pared back and the focus is all on dewy skin. Don’t be afraid to try new things and change it up - beauty is so fun. Speaking of which, for a night out I can never go past Ardell Lashes. I use either the Individuals or Demi Wispies. Either type are such an easy way to add some glam to your look, and they really do last all night.

The basics of my skincare routine are simple - cleanse, moisturise, sunscreen. 

I like Endota products for my skin, particularly their milk cleanser and the Peptide Firming Moisturiser. After moisturiser I always apply sunscreen before I apply my makeup. Our skin is just too important not to do so. I’ve been raised to be super diligent with my sun safety, growing up as I did in North Queensland and having our family experience skin cancer, so using Neutrogena Hydroboost Water Gel Lotion SPF50 everyday is a must for me. And in practical terms, we’re not going to use a daily sunscreen that doesn’t work with our lifestyles, which is another reason I love this – it works so well as a base under makeup. Because it’s lightweight and dries matte, makeup goes on so easily afterwards because the sunscreen hasn’t made you greasy or shiny.

When it comes to your hair I think, if you can, it’s good to get to a salon for a treatment and a blow dry pretty regularly. Treating your hair with the same love and care you give your skin and your body is important. 

Remington Schulz is my go to hair man and he is absolutely incredible. For someone who constantly has their hair professionally styled or has extensions in, my hair is in amazing condition. My affordable at-home hair routine is all about quality shampoo and conditioner from Alterna, and then investing in a good set of hair tools. Bad quality tools will burn your hair, so my Dyson Supersonic dryer and GHD tools are life savers. And they give me the closest finish I can get to Remington’s standard!

Listen, if you live in Sydney (or even if you don’t, I promise it’s worth the trip) please do yourself a favour and visit The Parlour Room. 

Natalie and her team are honestly the best in the business. I see them for all my beauty needs - on a regular basis that would be SNS nails, Shellac pedicures and eyebrow tints (as a natural blonde I need constant tinting to match my dark hair!) 

For facials, Endota Spa is my absolute fave retreat in Sydney. The Intense New Age Light Therapy is super active yet incredibly relaxing – it does wonders for my skin. My face really cops a lot with the consistent flying and heavy duty makeup, so I try to get one of these facials every month to thoroughly clean out and rejuvenate my skin.

So that I can take good care of my body, I need a large variety of different exercise to keep me motivated. 

I usually train 4-5 days a week and that consists of a mixture of Ben Lucas PT Sessions from Flow Training Centre twice a week, with the rest of my sessions made up of classes taken at Flow Athletic upstairs. They have a huge variety that I make full use of, so I do anything from Spin, Strength, Yoga to Reformer Pilates. Keeping my mind fresh and constantly trying new classes really is the key to staying motivated for me.

I find it important to have a good stretch session each day, and listening to a relaxing playlist on Spotify (full of lots of James Bay, Vance Joy and Ben Harper) is my favourite way to unwind. Music is absolutely everything to me and has played a part in every big moment in my life. It’s my meditation.

As someone who travels consistently, I can’t really stick to a specific diet. I just try and make good choices at every meal. 

My menu always includes lots of salads, fresh protein and veggies, fruits and good carbs (whole grains, sweet potato etc). When I am travelling I take a daily probiotic just to stay on top of my gut health, but other than that I try to keep things very simple. I also don’t drink much and prefer to save alcohol for social occasions, where I will break out my fave champagne, Moet.

My stylist Donny Galella has taught me SO much over the years. Classic chic with an occasional edge is what we usually go for. 

I am definitely more a clean cut kinda gal, but I love how Donny pushes my fashion boundaries and constantly encourages me to branch out and try different looks. I’m loving Rebecca Vallance and Tom Ford lately, along with Steele, Seed and Kindred for a more relaxed vibe. My latest purchase was a nude YSL envelope handbag with gold hard wear – it goes with everything.

I hope to age gracefully by looking after my face and body in regular, small ways.

People think all too often about the quick fix, but taking the time to invest in your skin by doing simple things like wearing sunscreen everyday (even when you’re not necessarily outdoors) really adds up down the road. I think it’s part of what my mum instilled in me growing up – not to be sloppy, and to take pride in my appearance, both now and for the future. Even to this day I won’t leave the house looking completely terrible. You don’t have to wear a full face of makeup at all times, by any means, but it’s worthwhile to always take pride in yourself and put your best self forward.

Story by Zoe Briggs. Photography by Alice Mahran. Styling by Jess Pecoraro.