Genuine, personal recommendations are always the best. We looked back on our bank statements this month to remind ourselves what nice things we spent our hard-earned cash on - other than food and coffee…

D.S. & Durga Breakfast Leipzig auto fragrance, $20

This makes my beat-up 2004 Nissan Sunny smell like a fancy European bakery. My obsession with this fragrance brand started with their Debaser perfume, which is my all-time favourite green scent that smells exactly like fresh tomato leaves. I’ve had the candle version of Breakfast Leipzig before and loved it so much I decided I needed it while driving. According to the brand, they “wanted to create the scent of the café in Leipzig where Bach wrote his famous Java Cantata in the 1700s.” I can’t attest to that, but it has definitely improved the aroma of my car which has a tendency to smell like 3-day-old damp washing. - Lara Daly

Ashley & Co YuleTide Candle, $50

I bought this candle in December and re-bought it last week when I realised the recent freezing weather is the closest we get to the white Christmases you see in the movies.

The label says it smells like Siberian Pine - I'll have to take their word for that but personally I think it smells lovely and clean and a bit warm in a woody way that isn't overpoweringly Oud-y. Even the proudest Gremlin Girl will admit it can be hard to romanticise winter when the sun goes down at 4:30pm, but this candle is helping me focus on the cosiness. - Tyson Beckett

Everyday Wine 'Roly Goes Snorkelling' Spiegelau wine glasses, $80 for four pack

It’s a wine glass with a cat on it: of course I immediately hit ‘add to cart’. The little snorkelling kitty doodle is by Lily Paris West, a very talented visual designer, illustrator and musician (she’s in the band Mermaidens) whose playful, vintage-inspired aesthetic is very in line with my own. She creates some of Twenty-seven Names’ seasonal prints, and her work adorns a few different Garage Project wine and beer can designs too.

I’m the opposite of a wine snob and would happily drink wine out of a mug but these are by glassware brand Spiegelau, which is apparently good for the wine yadda yadda yadda I don’t care, it has a cat on it! - Zoe Walker Ahwa

Emma Jing scrunchie, $65

I generally don’t do accessories of any kind, bar my wedding/engagement rings and a standard brown elastic hair that spends most of its time around my wrist (to the horror of my stylist friends). But this large, soft silk scrunchie functions as both a very practical hairtie (it goes twice around my very thick hair) and as a beautiful scarf that I don’t have to tie. I’m a convert. - Rebecca Wadey

Mugwort sheet mask set, $48

My skin threw a massive tantrum this month, partly from the cold weather and mask-wearing, and partly my chronic over-exfoliating. These Harry Potter-esque mugwort masks aren’t a new discovery for me - I’ve been buying the single $10 sheets for a while now, every time I’m near a Hikoko store. They really work to calm and hydrate my skin when it decides it hates me, so I invested in a 10-pack to get me through winter. I highly recommend! - LD

Four Thousand Weeks: Time And How to Use It Four Thousand Weeks: Time And How to Use It by Oliver Burkeman, $38

I interviewed Theresa Gattung recently. I absolutely adored her; her insight into life and leadership was as intelligent as you’d expect. She mentioned this book she’d read recently and the impact it had on her and her ability to evaluate her priorities and where she places her time. She was so convincing I rushed out and bought it. Still haven’t had time to read it though… Chicken, egg etc. - RW