Am i getting old if i have started reading Prima? (Prima)

Member Name: londongirl

Product:	Prima
Date:	01/11/08 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Only £2.50 - has a great range of articles and features

Disadvantages: None really - though if you are under 30 you may not feel like admitting you read it!

I think i must be the only one of my friends who reads Prima! I'm 30 and discovered it last year and now read it every month! I have always considered it to be a magazine for women probably 45+ . I suppose it depends on your lifestyle rather than your age as to whether you would find it interesting.
I started reading it last year when i was engaged and thinking about marriage, babies and houses and found loads of useful tips in Prima. Now i'm 30, single and not thinking about marriage or babies i still find Prima a great read!!

It has a little bit of everything in it - real life articles (that are actually sensitively written not sensationalist like the kind you get in Real People, or Pick Me Up or those kind of cheapy magazines). The most recent issue - December - for example has a story about a lady who found her long lost brother.

The standard contents each month consists of:
Fashion - a few pages dedicated to clothes for that season, they show clothes from High Street stores rather than designer which means its affordable fashion for most people. The models they use look like they are aged 30+ - again not all women in their 50's and 60's and the clothes they show are trendy rather than "comfortable"!! Prima also has a dress making pattern each month that you can send off for free. If you are a subscriber then the pattern is included automatically free every month. I can't sew to save my life so i've never sent off for one or attempted to make anything but the patterns are not for old frumpy style dresses and clothes they are fairly modern. The one this month is for a little black dress that can be worn for the christmas party season (if i attempted to make this i doubt i'd be finished by next christmas but that says more about my needlework skills i think rather than the quality or ease of use of the Prima patterns).

Another section they always have which i do like (though again due to previously mentioned lack of sewing skills i've never actually made any of these!) - they have a craft section - little craft projects that you can cut out and keep - 4 to an A4 page with the picture of what it will look like on the front and the instruction on how to make it on the back. I'm always cutting these out - they do lots of lovely shabby chic/ vintage looking items but unless you can glue them together rather than sew i think they are going to stay in the file i have for them collecting dust! For someone who is more crafty and handy than me then there are some great things to make. This month suprise suprise it is Christmas stockings - 4 different types all very cute and vintage style!

They have a beauty section including reader makeovers, a Real life section which includes true stories such as the one i mentioned about the lady finding her brother. But also they have short reads and articles and snippets - such as tips on how to do things, insights into other peoples lives and how they do things etc. For example this month being the Christmas edition they have focused on 6 women talking about special things that have happened to them at Christmas. (All very heartwarming and lovely!!) Also they have featured cut price christmas tips and usually each month they will have some kind of money saving feature.

I have to admit i like to save money wherever i can so i look forward to buying Prima when they mention they have money saving tips - i don't know why i do becuase 9 times out of 10 it is nothing new if you read websites such as moneysavingexpert.com or www.fool.co.uk but for others who aren't avid bargain hunters and money savers then the tips are usually quite good.

They have a homes and gardening section - again they show affordable items for the home and where to get them and this is my favourite section at the moment as i am hoping to move into my own little studio flat in a few weeks time!

There is a cookery section - the recipies are not fancy but more geared towards cheapish family meals and the occasional nice sounding pudding.

Lastly there is the usual pages you get in most magazines - star signs, a few competitions, some crossword type puzzles, a couple of pages on travel, some readers letters etc.

The topics covered in Prima are quite vast and i think thats why i like it - its not a fashion magazine or a celebrity magazine or even a home or garden magazine it is a mish mash of little snippets of information, stories and things of interest that makes the magazine great to just flick through and pick out what you want to read and then go back to different things later.
I love it and best of all when i'm finally finished with it i hand it over to my 86 year old nan who loves it too! So i guess it really is a magazine for all age groups!

Oh and it is also only £2.50! Cheaper than a lot of other magazines!

Summary: A great value, feature packed magazine for women!