My favourite glossy magazine (Red Magazine)

Member Name: KLockwood75

Product:	Red Magazine
Date:	23/03/09 (186 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good range of features, enjoyable to read

Disadvantages: Fashion is expensive, not affordable

I have always been a bit of a magazine addict - at the peak of my obsession, in my mid-20s I was spending a silly amount of money on magazines, reading a couple of women's glossies each month, at least one weekly celebrity gossip title and every wedding magazine I could get my hands on... at least once I was safely married I couldn't justify buying any more wedding magazines, although it didn't stop me lusting over all the pictures of beautiful dresses and expensive flowers. I then launched full-on into a pregnancy magazine obsession - until I realised that they're all the same and I could find out far more on the internet anyway.

So now, older and hopefully wiser, I have come to the conclusion I shouldn't be let loose in a magazine shop and I now subscribe to Red magazine. This feeds my addiction without costing me too much money or encouraging me to succumb to temptation and buy even more glossy titles.

Red is a women's lifestyle glossy, aimed predominantly at the 30-something age group. An average issue will contain features on fashion, beauty, celebrities, relationships, real-life stories, homes, food, health, diets etc... very typical of most magazines of its type. I find it a really good read and look forward to my copy dropping through my door at the start of every month. It is a more-grown up read than Glamour or Cosmopolitan, for example, but I feel that it is the next step up from those magazines - not too grown up to be fun to read, but not too young that it makes you feel old.

For the rest of this review, I am going to focus on the current issue (April 2009) as that's what I've got in front of me. It came with a choice of two free books which was a good free gift, although I didn't actually get the book I wanted... one disadvantage of subscribing rather than picking it up in the shop is that you don't get to choose your gifts!

Fashion
The fashion emphasis in this issue is on enhancing your style with clever accessorising rather than whole new outfits - this is very relevant in times of financial troubles, although a lot of their suggestions for accessories cost more than I would spend on a new outfit! The aspirational nature of the products doesn't really bother me though, and I love browsing the fashion pages for inspiration and then looking for more affordable versions on the high street. I definitely don't use the fashion pages of glossy magazines as a shopping guide as my idea of budget is very different from theirs.

Beauty
The beauty sections of this issue focus on a grown-up guide to keeping your hair looking good, including a feature on whether or not you should cover your grey hairs (believe me, as soon as I find any, I will be covering mine!), reviews of hair-colouring products and some of the new beauty products on the market - I always enjoy reading Red's beauty pages, although it can be an expensive read... I'm even more addicted to cosmetics than I am to magazines!

Celebrities
There are little bits of celebrity features scattered throughout the magazine, but the main celebrity articles in the current issue are an interview with Bill Nighy and an article on the style secrets of the women that Red deems to be the 10 most stylish, featuring an extended interview with Laura Bailey and a run down of the other 9 most stylish women.

Features
One of the things I like about Red Magazine is the range of features - this particular issue has a real-life stories about women leading less conventional lives, and a moving piece about euthanasia, an article about ending that 3am anxiety that so many people seem to experience, a really interesting article about people who have become stay-at-home foodies in response to the credit crunch, pre-natal DNA testing and the pitfalls of being on one faddy diet after another. There are also a good selection of recipes, some suggestions for updating your home, a look at close-to-home coastal getaways and lots of other features.

Price
It is £3.50 an issue but cheaper if you subscribe. They often have 3 issues for £3 deals if you look around on line (I got my initial subscription through Quidco with £5 cashback so actually made a £2 profit on those first three issues) and then subscription will be at their standard subscription rate.

Overall, Red is a magazine that I would definitely recommend. I love curling up on the sofa with a glass of wine and flicking through it - sometimes I just read the whole magazine from front to back, sometimes I skip straight to the articles that interest me most, sometimes it makes me aspire to be like some of the women featured in it's pages and sometimes it makes me feel lucky to have the life I have - but it's always a good read.

Summary: One of the best glossies around for women in their 30s