| Product: |
Now |
| Date: |
02/10/08 (112 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Passes the time, keeps you up to date with celeb gossip
Disadvantages: 30% adverts
Now Magazine
I am rather partial to a celebrity trashy magazine every once in a while, and my two favourites are Heat and Now. I have decided to buy both and review them, so this first review is for Now.
The issue I have bought is 6 Oct 2008, and it cost £1.20.
The front cover advertises stories on Jade Goody and her new agony following her hysterectomy; Brangelinas crisis move to germany; Kym Ryder trying to get her partner to commit or it is all over; and Myleene and her "Quickie wedding secret".
The first 3 pages inside the magazine are adverts. A Next advert, which already loses points for me, I hate magazines that are full of adverts, especially a double spread advert, it just seems a waste of gossip inches to me, and then a Head & Shoulders advert.
The next 15 pages of the magazine show the stories advertised on the cover, all of this weeks celebrity gossip. Then there are 4 pages of outfits that the stars have worn this week on the red carpet. This consists of mostly the cast of Desperate Housewives.
There are two articles on the whole magazine that are not about celebrities, one is about a girl finding out she had breast cancer at a wedding dress fitting, and the other about a girl who killed her 4 year old who had cerebral palsy. The rest of the magazine is pretty much taken up with celebrity stylings and gossip.
There are 18 pages of Fashion, starting with the Hotlist - this weeks colour to wear, which is apparently hot pink. Then we are told it is the week to try the Layered look. There are 5 suggested outfits to copy, and a couple of celebrities showing how it is done.
Style Stalker is where readers write in and ask where celebrities got their clothes from, so if there is a particular dress you liked on Eastenders, you can write in and be advised where it came from.
Next there is a bag review page. I am a bag fan, and there are 30 bags or so being suggested, apparently the brighter the better! They are a bit too bright for me, leopard print isn't my cup of tea.
To be honest, I find the fashion pages a bit dull. Considering most of the magazine is about celebrity gossip, you can check out what they are wearing on all of the other pages, nevermind dedicating 18 pages (including some adverts) to fashion.
We then move onto Beauty, there is a special on boobs, and how to love them. This includes advise on getting a boob job. Hello? I thought this was about loving your boobs, surely you should be encouraging people to love what they have got, big or small, instead of encouraging them to get them changed.
There are some reviews for shine serum - surely they should know you can get some good reviews for that kind of thing on dooyoo? :-)
Problem pages - these are always great for a laugh. Ask Dr Dawn - is a bit disappointing, there are only 2 questions on there. Luckily there is another section - Agony forum, this sounds more interesting. This is all about sex. There is even a dilemma that the readers of the magazine can write in and give advice about.
Holiday news and this week focuses on Siena in Italy and has some good deals and suggestions.
The rest of the magazine is a bit of a hotchpotch of Horoscopes, a recipe for chicken Caesar salad, some readers comments, whats on TV highlights, and an interview with an Ugly Betty Star as well as a fair few adverts.
In total 100 pages of magazine, including the front and back cover. With 31 pages of that taken up with adverts, that's 35% of the magazine on advertising, quite a high amount I would say.
The magazine is published weekly, and the magazine described above is a pretty average magazine. Depending on the time of year the coverage changes, so when Big Brother is on, there is a lot of big brother gossip in the magazine. This weeks has an interview with Lisa Snowdon who is currently taking part in Strictly Come Dancing, so I imagine over the coming weeks, this television show will be featured heavily.
For £1.20 this magazine is not too expensive, it is not the cheapest celebrity magazine out, and I must admit, I have thought it was thicker than other cheaper magazines and therefore would contain more articles, but since counting the number of pages taken up by adverts, it has opened my eyes a little, and I might try the other magazines and review them to see how this compares in actual article space.
The magazine passed a lunch break for me, I definitely wouldn't bother buying this every week as there is only so much fashion and celebrity styling that you can take. A recommended magazine to take on a plane, or a bus journey to while away an hour or so.
Summary: Okay for a journey or to kill time on your lunch break
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