My 2025 Favourites || Clothing, Home, Tech

2025 was a year of change.

Sometimes, it felt like I was trying to hold on to my 2024 self desperately and other times, trying to accept the current day and self. In some ways, I'm still the same person, wearing the same clothes and doing the same things. But some days, I suddenly don't recognise myself because I look different and I'm doing different things. This is one of those posts which show how I've changed/grown in small ways.

I loved writing about my 2024 favourites and many of you loved it too. I hope you like reading about my 2025 favourites too! I'll try to link to product/purchase sites wherever possible.

clothing

My style changed again. Although I still like the flared pants I raved about last year and wear them often, I fell in love with straight pants this year. People in my current office dress much more professionally and look stylish all the time. I had to upgrade my style to fit in. There are still days when I dress like I care about nothing but most days, I put effort into my outfits.

1. black straight fit pants

I browsed a ton on Pinterest to figure out an elevated and classy style which would be good for work and was heavily drawn to the Korean dressing style. For reference, here's my outfit inspo Pinterest board. I was especially drawn to light coloured pants. I had recently dug out a pair of old cream-coloured jeans which I suddenly loved after years of hating it and that preference bled into this.

After lurking on Pinterest for a long time and really considering how that style would look on me because, obviously, my body type, skin, and hair are different from the inspo board. Firstly, I'm a fan of having more contrast, to work with the heavy contrast that my hair already gives to any outfit, and less "soft" colours. The Pinterest board mostly reflects that. It took me a long time to find so many pins with outfits having more contrast because the Korean and Japanese styles are often soft and low on contrast like this. They're also a huge fan of tan and beige colours like this which I don't prefer because I need some colour to brighten my skin tone.

Anyway, in conclusion, I decided that I wanted those formal type of pants with flare in black. In all my searching, I found only one good option on Amazon and I fell in love with it as soon as I got it. It's a bit different from the inspo board because it's not as long as them, but I still love them.

These black pants are very affordable (~500rs!) and make me look great. They accentuate my waist with crop tops and is an exact fit for me. I've worn them so many times. I don't wear them with longer tees though, because then I look like a triangle lol. They're great with short tops.

I also got them in beige in the same size but they were actually too loose and the zip was crooked. I took my mom's help to stitch it to be tighter and fix the zip a bit instead of returning it. There was simply no other affordable and good option with ratings and option to return in the Indian market. That's the problem with very affordable clothes—the quality is not always guaranteed. Unfortunately, there was no competitor under 3k. (Maybe there are options now? It's been a few months since. I don't need more pants though, lol.)

2. cream straight fit pants

I really wanted the pants in cream but I didn't find them in India (the above option was only in beige or white). Uniqlo Japan came in clutch during my trip. They fit me really well and I love the length. I've tried them with a few different top/tee combos and looked good in all of them. This is one of my favourite purchases on the year, hands down. I think it's this one on the Uniqlo India site.

3. black and white ribbed tank tops

I needed more basic pieces in my wardrobe which I could mix and match to make different outfits. After a lot of looking and trying, I finally found a good pair of tank tops which are just the right length (I wanted it cropped but not too much) and the right fit. I got these as a combo pair from Myntra and have worn them a lot this year. I've been loving all the layering outfits I've tried with these.

4. t-shirts from rare rabbit

I got one for winning a quiz at office and another for working in an event. Navy blue and black. They're Rare Rabbit T-shirts and I absolutely love them. Firstly, Rare Rabbit makes really good quality clothes. I own two of their jackets courtesy of my previous job (spoke about one in my 2024 favs too) so I already knew that it's a good brand. These tees reinforced that.

They're super soft and just a bit oversized to be great loose fit tees. They're very comfortable to wear tucked in or out. I love wearing them, even outside of the office. It helps that my long hair covers the super huge Google print at the back most of the time so I can pass them off as basic tees.

No purchase links for these because I have no idea which they are in the brand's site 😆 I'm assuming that they're version of the relaxed fit t-shirt, though.

accessories

1. shoulder bag from uniqlo

Got a black mini shoulder bag from Uniqlo in my Japan trip. Love it. More about it in my Japan haul post.

2. asics sneakers

Got this pair of sneakers from ASICS in Jan 2025 because I was sorely in need of a pretty pair of shoes to wear daily for work and hangouts. It was time to stop using running shoes for everything. I was torn between the pink-purple gradient model that I got and a light green one which was a bit like the matcha colour. I finally got the pink one because liking matcha doesn't change the fact that I like pink and it would go with most of my outfits.

The pair took a fairly long time to break in, maybe because of the shape of my toes. I like that it looks almost as good as new with a good wiping session.

home

While moving to a new city for work, I left behind a lot of things and got the chance to decorate a house to my liking for the first time. I know what I want, I have the space for it, and I have the money for it now. I got a few things which has made my new home my favourite place to be (along with my favs from last year, of course).

1. blackout pink curtains

I'm a pink girlie and while I don't want everything in my house to be pink, I definitely want spots of pink everywhere. Especially in my room. I got light pink curtains after a bit of searching and I love them. They're a light pink but not a bright pink so they add the colour without grabbing attention, adding to the cosy feel. They block the light really well too and I can easily sleep in till noon, haha.

2. vidja floor lamp

Ever since getting the mushroom lamp from Ikea in 2023, I've become a fan of lamps with warm light. Moving to this new home, I wanted to set things up so that I don't have to use the overhead harsh lights as much as possible. Obviously, bright lights help in the kitchen and are okay for the bathroom but not for the places where I spend most of my time.

For my room, I got the Vidja floor lamp from Ikea. I use the mushroom lamp on my desk for writing and whenever I'm on my desk. I use this floor lamp the rest of the time, especially when I'm reading in bed because it's next to my bed. It's lights up the room without making it too bright. I love it.

3. simrishamn floor lamp

For the living room, since it's mostly a place for lounging and watching TV, I wanted a lamp that's less bright and more stylish. The Simrishamn floor lamp from Ikea has been perfect. It adds elegance and style. It's bright enough and makes the room cosy. We still use the overhead lights when we need it but the lamp is on most of the time.

4. cable organiser

One drawback with my new home which is a very old build is the low number of plug points. I'm using an extension board for my "main station" with my chargers, homepod cable, and lamp cable, and it looked messy. Especially since I don't keep big blocky tables which can hide them behind drawers. This Amazon basics cable organiser has really helped hide the mess on the side table. It looks neat and only the ends/required lengths of the cable are seen. I have the charging cables exposed through the slats on the lid which makes it easy to plug things in and rest them on the lid's partitions. My iPhone looks great rested on it while charging with the dock mode.

tech

I didn't purchase much of tech this year so this section will mostly highlight the stuff that I already had and still love. They're still my favourites so I want to talk about them again.

1. sony wh-1000xm5 headphones

Already said a lot about them last year. I still love them. The xm5s have become my work companion this year. I use them at the office to zone out everyone and get stuff done. I've become used to them so I can easily wear them for hours and be in deep work zone. They look great too. A couple of my colleagues bought them after seeing mine 😂

They touch-with-palm-to-lower-volume feature is actually quite handy. I find myself using it fairly often at work to listen for my order at the café or to quickly listen in on my teammates' conversation to see if it's relevant to me.

P.S. If you're considering buying headphones and can afford it, I highly suggest the xm6 (the newest model). I tried a friend's and it is noticeable better than the xm5 in the ear cushions and noice cancellation.

2. airpods pro 3

My Pro 2s served me well for a few years. After I dropped them on the road a couple of years ago, they've given me issues on-and-off with charging and audio. I can sometimes hear something rattling inside when I run with it. It's also fallen down a lot from my hands. Totally my fault and I would've kept it for longer but I got a chance to upgrade through some budget allowance at work. Instead of researching and getting another brand, I stuck to the trusted pair and got the Pro 3s.

The Pro 3 isn't that different from Pro 2 but different enough to make a difference. Firstly, the build is different. The angle of the earbud has changed which took a while to get used to but fit better than the Pro 2. The noise cancellation is much better too, I could immediately feel it after wearing them, even without playing music. The buds create a better seal. Earbuds are my go-to for travelling and I can't wait to travel with these.

3. kindle paperwhite

I got the pink Kindle 12th gen in December 2024 so when I spoke about them in 2024 favourites, it was based on initial impressions. Now, I can definitely say it's one of my favourite things.

Most of my reading in 2025 has been on the Kindle. It's just more convenient. I still love the pink and I recently put a photo of me and a couple of friends on the back which looks awesome. I got used to the size (a bit bigger than my previous Kindle). Having the popsocket at the back makes holding it more comfortable too so I'm glad I got that. The popsocket is on my Kindle all the time, I got annoyed with having it on my phone.

They're available only in black in India. I'm glad I asked my friend to get the pink from the US. I hate that there's so much we don't get in India. We're much bigger fans of colour, that too!

4. goodnotes

Moving on to software, I have to highlight Goodnotes first. I tried a digital planner this year and used Goodnotes for it. Although I've used the app before, this is the first time I've used it consistently for a long time. The app is just very convenient and well designed. They re-designed the UI this year which took time to get used to but it's better than the previous one. I like that it syncs with iCloud and I can use it on any of my devices. I wish I had the iPad + Goodnotes combo when I was a student.

5. money mgr

I've been using Money Manager for 3+ years now. Everything I said in 2024 favourites still holds good. Additionally, I found a new feature in it in 2025 which made me love it even more.

The app allows you to track in different currencies and it automatically converts to your main currency based on the day's conversion rate. This was especially handy during my Japan trip because I was spending in Yen but I want to track and eventually see stats in Indian Rupee.

I'm grateful that this app is free and hope it stays that way. I will be backing up my information, though.

6. snapchat

Shoutout to Snapchat again for keeping me connected with my friends without having any distractions. This is the only social media app I use because it's designed in a way that I can be connected with only friends without any temptation to "follow" other people or see random blocking ads. It's just me and my friends.

I was annoyed with the addition of ads this year but I'm glad that it's easily ignorable (so far, at least). They also made storage beyond 5GB paid (for people who snap a lot and save everything) but it's not affected me yet. It's also easily circumvented by choosing to save in phone gallery instead of Snapchat cloud. Considering I'm a software engineer and understand what the company has to do to store so much data for so many people, not to mention the $300-450 million storage cost for snaps alone, I'm surprised it was free until recently.

7. spotify

I listen to a lot of music. It's been noticeable lesser this year because I'm trying to reduce my dependency on it. I've begun using YouTube for some music this year since I like a lot of covers and lofi compilations which aren't on Spotify. Spotify is still my go-to though. I've found a lot of good music through it this year.

8. gemini

This won't be a software engineer's favourites post without an AI mention at this point. I used ChatGPT the most until last year but even that wasn't too much usage, maybe a couple of times a month. I watch trends but I'm a bit slower to trust things. I used Gemini the most in 2025 mainly due to my work. Gemini is integrated in all of the tools at work and I can use the Pro models as much as I want without paying. So my AI usage has gone up a lot.

Considering personal use alone, I prefer Gemini simply because of what I'm looking for. I still use ChatGPT sometimes. ChatGPT does a better job in laying out answers clearly, in my opinion. It's helpful for just getting the answer without a lot of fluff. For example, I recently used it to figure out how much advance taxes I had to pay.

Gemini says a lot more in the responses, comparatively. It gives more explanations and context, mentions assumptions, and I can see the "thinking" too i.e. how it arrived at the answer. I prefer this style because I don't trust the answers until I understand the reasoning and information behind it. With the "wordy" answer, I can correct AI on any wrong directions/assumptions and also trace back to sources.

Gemini was really helpful when I worked on my Japan itinerary. I spent hours working with AI to make it more optimised. I gave it everything—our high-level itinerary, preferences, airbnb check in and out times, when we needed luggage storage, etc. and told it to figure out all the details and suggest rearrangements to make the itinerary better. I'd rather it figured out distance, travel times, trains, luggage storage etc. instead of me doing it manually. It genuinely cut down several days of effort into 1 day.

I also find that Gemini's Thinking mode is good at creative thinking. I've used it a few times for my blog posts to help with outlining based on my notes and SEO research. Recently, I used it to check a newsletter's flow and it gave some really good suggestions (what to emphasise on, what to cut). It also suggested a much better title than what I had in mind. (It was for this newsletter, if you're curious.)

Of course, these are based on how I've used AI and what I'm looking for. Every person's experience can be different. (Not going into the ethics of using AI in this post but I am firmly or using AI and coming up with guidelines, rules, and boundaries for it.)

miscellaneous

1. tumblr water bottle

I got a 1.2L tumblr water bottle (similar to the famous Stanley bottle) from my office for something I was a part of. I was already planning to get a bigger water bottle for home because my 750ml one was annoying (I try to drink a good amount of water and I don't like filling it multiple times a day). I got this huge one at the right time.

I love it. It's always close to me at home. I love that it keeps hot drinks hot for hours (was super helpful when I was sick). I like that I don't have to fill it too many times. It looks great. My water intake is doing very well.

2. chopsticks from japan

Wrote more about it in my Japan haul post. I don't use it all the time because Indian cuisine does not go with chopsticks but I use it fairly often for snacking on things like vada, bajji, dry fruits, and chips.

3. aiya matcha

My friend got a packet of matcha from this brand while visiting from the US last year. The 50g lasted me about 9 months since I used it maybe 1-2 times a week. It really grew my love for making matcha lattes at home and figuring out how I like it the best. I don't know if it's the best quality or whatever. Just a shoutout for being something I looked forward to and loved in 2025.

chat with me!

This post ended up much longer than I intended it to be. I ended up not talking about a few things which weren't that much of a favourite compared to the rest to not make it even longer. Since this post is the place to talk about everything I loved which I don't usually talk about (like clothes and apps), I had a lot to say.

What were your 2025 favourites? What did you use regularly which made a difference? What was your best purchase of the year? What did you buy before 2025 which remained a favourite?