Thoughts on Brit fashion mags, as I convalesce

I wish I could show you a pic of moi frolicking in the northern English countryside - today is the first warm, rain-free day we've had in the last six days. Alas, the Grunge Queen is sitting on her butt reading mags and a Nick Hornby novel (set in northern England, of course) as she broke her toe/foot yesterday - the same one she breaks on an annual basis just by looking at it the wrong way.

Wah.

But my mannie is looking after me, never you fear.

What I love about some of the chick mags here is you get free stuff with them - in this case a (rather toxic) liquid and pencil eyeliner duo and a (very nice) metallic pewter mineral powder eye shadow. (Last year my Brit mannie boought me one with a lip gloss - if you think I didn't love him before that you can bet I did after!).

I'm not a huge magazine buyer anymore, but I'm pretty sure we don't have the free-makeup-with-magazines phenom in Canada.

I actually like Brit fashion mags way better than the North American kind. They're cheekier (usually there's a funny he-said-she-said dual column where a male and female columnist give their perspectives on a particular gender or sex topic); less celebrity-obsessed; and contain lighthearted features (like the one in the cute, book-size Marie Claire, about a group of college grads 10 years on, a "Where are they now?" type thing); as well as neat fashion spreads (like what bloggers are wearing to the Glastonbury fest - which is essentially the Woodstock of the UK); and finally more serious features about female political figures.

In North America, the ethic of fashion mags seems more hyper-obsessive insecure. Generally, I hate them. So I am finding UK mags rather refreshing, like a breath of (cool, northernly English) fresh air.

Look, my mannie got some too - but all he got was a free magazine with one.