Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2023 i Platinum

What’s the most important thing in your life right now? It’s a difficult question, isn’t it? I bet you could make a list as long as your arm of all the things competing for your attention. Because, for so many of us women, we are faced with a huge array of conflicting needs, requirements and demands. But which is most important to you? What is it that that small, quiet voice in your head (or heart) calls you to do? That’s one of the things we’re examining in this month’s issue. Because, as time goes by, we find our priorities, wants, needs and desires change. What was most important to us 30, 10 or even five years ago, might no longer be what matters most (or indeed, at all!). So…

My idea of fashion heaven has always been stumbling across a stylish gem, which rather than having a price tag that makes me want to faint in horror, is affordable and possesses all the hallmarks of a far more expensive version. This to me is the holy grail of shopping. It’s not easy, but it is achievable. Having banked over 40 years of being a dedicated follower of fashion, working on several daily newspapers and magazines, I became adept at mastering the famous Vogue adage: ‘More dash than cash’. Style on a budget was the goal. A stringent sartorial checklist when shopping is at the very heart of these tactics. First – and most important – is the fabric. Nothing destroys the allure of any item faster than a cheap-looking…

There’s nothing I love more than showing off a fresh mani. It may be hard to beat the professional finish achieved in a salon, but it’s possible to get results at home that are very close to it – and at a fraction of the cost. Pink and shell-like pearlescent finishes have been everywhere, thanks to the release this year of movies Barbie and The Little Mermaid. Personally, I love the beautiful, more natural glazed-doughnut trend, which is simply achieved by applying the chicest, sheerest milky nude, topped with a chrome glaze or glossy finish. A great way to wear bold colours without blocking the whole nail is to play on the traditional French mani by covering the nail in a clear polish adding a bold colour to just the…

Our very own Adele Parks MBE is the author of 22 bestselling novels, including the Sunday Times and ebook number-one hit One Last Secret (HarperCollins, £8.99). This month sees the release of her latest novel – psychological thriller Just Between Us (HarperCollins, £14.99) – available to buy now. Follow her on Twitter @adeleparks, and on Instagram @adele_parks JUST BETWEEN US by Adele Parks (HQ, £14.99) Once a year, my top book club pick is my very own new novel! I’m always torn about this – a mix of British reserve fights against a belief that you really will enjoy my latest, and I want to tell you all about it! And the need to flog books always wins out. Just Between Us is a novel about missing woman Kylie Gillingham.…

GAIL ROLFE STYLE Fashion expert Gail shows you how to get a million-dollar look for less! DR DAWN HARPER HEALTH & WELLBEING GP Dr Dawn shows you how to spot the signs of blood cancer, for a positive prognosis DOTTIE MONAGHAN BEAUTY Pamper your hands and nails, and fake a professional finish – beauty expert Dottie shows you how! JANE MOORE LIFE & TIMES Jane opens up about her recent surgery, and reveals the eye-opening results! SELINA BARKER LIFE & TIMES Life design coach Selina helps you reconnect with your values, and find more meaning KAY AND KATE ALLINSON HOME The Pinch of Nom creators show you how to eat healthily on a budget ADELE PARKS MBE BOOKS Adele rounds up the latest and greatest reads, to find…

Some years ago, a dear friend of mine celebrated her 60th birthday and soon afterwards started to feel tired all the time. She put it down to feeling her age. She was still working full time, and when winter came a couple of months later and she seemed to catch every cough and cold going, she decided she must be totally run-down. She didn’t tell me, or more importantly her GP, about her symptoms. No one knew how she felt until she noticed she started bruising easily. She decided to see her GP, and tests confirmed a diagnosis of leukaemia. My friend had several rounds of chemotherapy, and I am pleased to say has now been given the all-clear by her specialist. Her story, sadly, is not uncommon. Campaigns highlighting…

As we enter our fifties and beyond, it’s the most normal thing in the world for our faces (and the rest of us!) to start to show our years. But there are times in life when, suddenly, those signs of ageing can seem to accelerate, and we go from still feeling pretty happy when we look in the mirror, to feeling a little concerned. It might be particularly dry or red patches appearing, wrinkles gathering apace, or our once-firm jawline starting to sag. So what is causing this acceleration of symptoms, and what can we do about it? Stress could be a key culprit, explains Dr Naomi Newman-Beinart, a medical nutritionist. ‘When we are under pressure, our body releases stress hormones, such as cortisol,’ she says. ‘This is a normal…

The media is full of stories about those lucky enough to find new love when their long-term partner dies. Are they moving on too soon? Is their new partner richer/younger/better looking than the first? And what do their (probably grown-up) children think about it all? And if it’s a woman who has lost her husband, as with most things, the scrutiny is extra harsh. It’s an emotional minefield, and the press are always more than happy to throw a few additional hand grenades in the happy (new) couple’s way. But even for those of us not living our lives in the spotlight, moving on and finding new love after the loss of a partner can still feel like a huge hurdle – albeit one you might want to overcome. But…

Shortly after I completed my degree, I received an invitation to attend a writing retreat in Portugal, entitled Write Your Future Bestseller, hosted by literary agent Jacq Burns and writing coach Laura Gale. It seemed like a counter-intuitive thing to sign up for, given that I had spent the better part of two years on pictures. Yet the workshop description piqued my interest. ‘Can’t figure out what to focus on? Have a lot to say but don’t know how to say it? Need time away from work and home?’ Yes, to all of that! I was at a pivotal point in my journey. Armed with my new knowledge, skills and creative ideas, I was ready to take on the world. But what exactly was I going to do with it?…

CODEWORD Each letter of the alphabet has been replaced by the same number throughout this grid. Use the decoded letters given to work out the identity of other letters and fill in the grid. The alphabet list and reference grid will help you to keep track of the letters you’ve decoded. WORDWHEEL You have ten minutes to find as many words as possible using the letters in the wheel. Each word must be three letters or more and contain the central letter. Use each letter once, and no plurals, foreign words or proper nouns are allowed. There is at least one nine-letter word. AVERAGE: 34 wordsGOOD: 46 wordsEXCELLENT: 51 words CELL BLOCK Fill the grid by drawing blocks along the gridlines. Each block must contain the number of squares indicated…

It’s been a tough year for Vanessa Feltz. But although ‘shattered’ after the end of her 16-year engagement, she’s coping by keeping incredibly busy. When she’s not presenting TalkTV or This Morning, spending plenty of time with her four grandchildren helps take the 61-year-old’s mind off her painful split from singer Ben Ofoedu earlier this year. And she’s also managing to squeeze in filming a series of Celebs Go Dating – which she’s taking part in, rather than presenting. ‘I’ve had a broken relationship, and it was only in the middle of January,’ she says. ‘So it’s been a bit of a leap, really, but I’m doing my best – I’m trying to be happy. Every month that goes by I feel a bit more used to it, a bit…

It’s one of the side-effects of travelling to wonderful places: our bodies can take a while to adjust to the different time zones. And, unfortunately, research shows that the phenomenon of jet lag can affect us even more as we grow older. Scientists aren’t quite sure why, but some aspects of jet lag – especially the sleep disruption – have been shown to hang around for longer once we have more of our own miles on the clock. So while you might have planned to head out exploring as soon as you land, your brain and body are telling you to crawl into bed. Next thing you know, you’re wide awake at 3am and wishing you could get back to sleep before dawn. ‘Travelling across multiple time zones puts both…

‘Ooh, you look tired. Long day?’ enquired a shop assistant recently when, actually, I was feeling fairly energetic. Clearly, she needs to be trained better in customer relations, but her comment played in to a narrative that had being going around my head for a long time. That my ‘resting face’ made me look a lot more clapped out and disinterested in life than I actually felt. It wasn’t ‘resting bitch,’ as the famed description goes. At best, I look bored, at worst, utterly exhausted. And I know that the main culprit was my increasingly saggy – or hooded, as it’s usually described – eyelids. As a regular on ITV’s Loose Women, I’m lucky enough to get my make-up applied by a professional before each appearance and, every time, they…

As I raised my glass to celebrate my 49th birthday on 11 March 2021, at home with my husband and two children, I was buzzing with excitement on the inside. I felt like I was on the cusp of a new era in my life. I was finally finding my ‘element’ – that magical place where the things you love to do, and the things you’re good at doing, come together. Earlier that strange day (we were still in the middle of yet another lockdown) I had received an email from the editor of a digital magazine called Marmalade & Kindness. She liked the article I had submitted to her about how cooking had helped me and my family through lockdown, she wrote, and wanted to publish it on her…

Caroline Ingham used to be frightened of bees. But, now, the 61-year-old is at her happiest surrounded by thousands of the insects. And with urbanites setting up hives on their balconies; honey being made up and down the country; and a whopping 1.9 billion views for the social media tag #beekeeping, this summer might just be the busiest time for starting this buzzy new hobby. ‘Urban beekeeping offers people a rewarding chance to connect with nature and contribute to conserving our pollinator pals in urban settings,’ says Amanda John, a professional beekeeper. ‘This form of beekeeping has become increasingly popular, as the importance of protecting our bees becomes more prevalent.’ Ingham, 61, from Holmfirth, Yorkshire, has now been beekeeping for five years. ‘I used to be a volunteer at our…

I’m stood in the middle of a rustic, old, Italian kitchen, feeling like a total failure. Mara – a nonna who is teaching me how to cook Italian food – is shaking her head and wafting my disc of freshly made pasta at me, tutting and muttering in her native language. She doesn’t speak a word of English, but Beatrice, who is translating for me, reveals I’ve used too much flour. My pasta is too hard and no longer any use for ravioli – it is only good enough for tagliatelle. The shame is real. Thankfully, slurping some delicious red wine, and licking the spoon from the best tiramisu I have ever tasted in my life, soon takes the edge off. Mara and her co-chefs, Edoardo and Emma, arrive in…

‘I’ve realised it’s never too late to change course, to try new things – life is so much about second chances, and it’s about being brave enough to take those steps, having people who open doors for you and create the opportunities for you. ‘And with all the experiences that I’ve had and things I’ve seen, places I’ve been and people I’ve met, there was an opportunity to create a work of fiction to share some of that. ‘Covid gave a lot of us a glimpse of what it’s like to slow down or retire, and I thought I’d hate it – but for the first three months, I absolutely loved it. I didn’t have to pack a case or go to the airport. ‘I discovered my bike through Covid,…