The question I get is always some version of the same thing: "just tell me what to buy."
There's a question I get asked constantly. In DMs, in WhatsApp chats, at dinner parties, at school pickup. Sometimes from strangers, sometimes from women I've known for twenty years. The question is always some version of the same thing: just tell me what to buy.
They don't want a mood board or a list of forty things they'll screenshot and never look at again. They want to know what I would actually choose. The LED mask I'd actually buy. The candle that's actually worth it. The fragrance that's been sitting on my bathroom shelf for three years, not because I forgot about it, but because I keep reaching for it.
I've been writing about beauty and wellness for twenty-six years. My first beauty writing gig was at an indie magazine called Your Destiny when I was 18. From there, TV Week, where I had my own beauty and fashion page (and where I once had to rub bronzing cream on Chris Hemsworth's chest during a cover shoot because the makeup artist had gone home. True story.)
Then New Woman, then Glamour, then Vogue Australia for the better part of a decade. Then Beauticate, which I founded in 2014 because I wanted to build something more personal than a magazine and more honest than the algorithm-driven beauty internet we were all starting to drown in. And for all of that time, the most useful thing I have apparently ever done is be the person my friends text when they need to know where to buy a good candle.
So we built a shop. Then we rebuilt the entire website. Let me show you what's new.
01 — Beauticate Shop
This is where it all started. An edit of beauty, wellness and lifestyle products I actually use and believe in, with every order fulfilled directly by the brand. Nothing is here because someone paid for placement. Everything is here because it has earned its spot.
The launch lineup includes fragrance from Lumira and Tulita, Australian botanical skincare from Mukti Organics, wellness from JS Health and Eir Women, skin from SaintLouve, La Mav and Subtle Energies, and one of my all-time favourite lifestyle brands, Maison Balzac. You can shop by category, by brand, or by moment: the Deepest Sleep edit, the Winter Edit, Self-Care Sunday. A shop that thinks the way I think.
I've got some seriously exciting skincare and wellness brands coming — it's just working through the various levels of their business to get them onboarded that takes time. But I can't wait to share as they join. And then I'll be adding more brands to Style (think wardrobe staples for real life), plus Living (great things for your home) and Travel (everything you need to pack to stay sane).
Beauticate Shop
Editor's Essentials
But the shop is only part of what's new. We rebuilt the entire site, and there's a lot to explore.
02 — Ask Sig
An AI-powered beauty and wellness concierge that draws on twelve years of Beauticate editorial. Ask it anything, any time.
03 — Beautiful Inside Podcast Hub
The podcast has a proper home now, with a mood-based filter — browse by what you're going through, not just by episode number.
04 — Destinations
Travel curated by feeling: Girls Trip, Reset and Heal, Switch Off, Explore a City, Family Adventure, Romantic Escapes.
05 — The Beauty and Wellness Directory
A searchable directory of spas, salons, skin clinics, bathhouses, retreats and wellness venues across Australia.
06 — About Beauticate and The Collective
Completely rebuilt, with a full brand timeline, my founder letter and dedicated pages for every member of the Beauticate Collective: Kate Waterhouse on Style, Jocelyn Petroni on skin, Rae Morris on makeup, Michelle Bridges on fitness. Plus From the Archive, capturing twenty years of my print features across Vogue Australia, Studio, Body+Soul, New Woman, and Press for our press features, podcast appearances and brand collaboration highlights in one place.
07 — Beauticate Insiders
Here's how to become a founding Insider. Make sure you're subscribed to the edit, then place your first order within the launch month. That's it. If you're already subscribed, you're halfway there, all that's left is to shop. Founding status is not a tier you can buy your way into later, it's simply for those who were here at the start.
A note on what you might find broken
The new site is live. The shop is open. And if you spot something that looks wrong — a broken image, a scrambled article, a link that goes nowhere — please go easy on me. Six weeks of five AM starts got us a long way. It didn't get us all the way.
If you find something, I want to know. Email us at hello@beauticate.com and we'll fix it.
What I need from you
Tell me what brands you think should be in the shop that aren't. Tell me what's missing from your routine that you wish I'd curate. Tell me what doesn't work. Your feedback is how we decide what to build next.
We champion homegrown, female-founded brands, the ones made by women who pour everything into a single product. I want Beauticate to be where you find them. If you know one I should meet, or you're building one yourself, tell me here.
The shop has been nearly a year in the making, with a surprise six-week website rebuild tucked in at the end. There were moments I wanted to walk away from all of it.
But I kept coming back to that original question.
Just tell me what to buy.
Here's my answer. Come and have a look.
The edit, so you don't have to.
Sigourney x
