Before Offspring, and before Love My Way, there was The Secret Life of Us; that other TV series that meant we never made plans on a Wednesday night. And Kelly introduced us to the trifecta for happiness; relationship, home and work. And, ding, ding, ding, I have all three. So why then, like Nina Proudman, is my happiness sometimes accompanied by a sense that the bottom will drop out of [...]

The Modern Woman’s Survival guide is offering TWO lucky glamazons the opportunity to win a Certificate II in Makeup Services Summer School from the nationally renowned Academy of Makeup! This amazing prize is valued at $2170, and is being offered in Melbourne and Brisbane on January 2nd-24th 2013.

Amy Cassell recently finished reading Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L James. In case you’re not into chick-lit with a dash of erotica (how could you not be?) and haven’t heard of it, she takes it upon herself to enlighten you. The question is, does it live up to its hype?

To celebrate the amazing new range at REISS, they have two stylish Skinny Leather Belts to give away to one lucky winner! The Brooke Belt in lizard print blue leather and soft creamy ivory are a classic skinny style featuring cutwork detail to the small gold buckle with a fashionable waist-cinche.

Every now and then, someone decides it’s okay to tell me how to live MY life. And it gets under my skin. And for the people who say I should be strong enough to not let it bother me or that I’m too sensitive – I call bullshit. Because they’ve clearly over stepped the mark by projecting their opinions onto me. And I’m not the one who needs to be wasting my precious energy with self analysis of my life choices.

We’ve been to New York with Sami Lukis, and ventured through the Canadian Rockies, and now in part 3 of this holiday series we stay in unique holiday accommodation that feels like a home away from home.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been discussing the phenomenon of the ‘Beer Fairy’ and the results of a recent survey that women are turning away from the stereotypical beer drinking man. Do you have a Beer Fairy in your life, that you’d prefer to be a little bit more Don Draper?  Would you like him to change some of his beer drinking habits? i) Thou shall consider other forms [...]

Beer Fairy noun   be·eer fair·ree A dying form of the male drinking species. Boring and predictable male who only drinks beer. Placing requests for additional refreshments involves eloquent commands of the English language such as, “Can ya get me and me mates another beer will ya love?” Does not own shirts with buttons, due to the size of his protruding beer belly.  This does not bother him as he [...]

To celebrate all things love we have a copy of The Younger Man to give away to one lucky reader!! All you have to do is simply tell us in 50 words or less; What is the craziest thing you have done for love? Did you quit your job? Move overseas? Jump out of a plane? We want to know the goss! Good Luck!

By Lauren Burgueno From McG, the director who gave us Charlie’s Angels, ‘This Means War’ is a hybrid of genres: part action, part comedy and part romance; a little something for almost anyone to enjoy! Soon to be released to DVD, “This Means War” is a simple, easy to watch and relatively enjoyable film. Starring an almost uncannily completely blue-eyed cast; Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy are charismatic [...]

Dear Hazel, It is May 1987. Starship’s ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’ is Number One in the charts and you have just turned sixteen. You can’t stand the Starship song, even though you secretly liked the movie it was from, Mannequin. You like Kim Cattrall’s nose. You can’t really enjoy movies or music at the moment though and you still cry every time you hear Simple Minds ‘Don’t You Forget [...]

Steph Little reviews Love and Other U-Turns by Louisa Deasey – a warm, honest, page-turning memoir that will leave you yearning to let go, to live life harder and faster and to get out and see more of our beautiful country.

Cheapskates – we’ve all dated one; the guy who “forgets” his wallet every time you go out, the one who drives around in circles for hours looking for free parking, or, god forbid, the one who takes you to McDonald’s and offers to split a burger with you. But what do you do when, despite the telltale signs of stinginess, you fall in love with a cheapskate? Before you write [...]

The vintage era is our favourite here at The Modern Woman’s Survival Guide. The stunning beauty, the gorgeous dresses, and of course that dramatic hair. Revlon Professional has reminded us of why we love a polished ‘do with their Cinematic Collection. Each of the four hair styles have their own ‘persona’ and are the perfect way to make your hair vintage inspired whilst still being a fabulous Modern Woman.

The universe has a bitchy sense of humour. She also has some pretty exceptional comic timing. This is a story of the universe’s nasty streak. Advice nugget: Never get cocky. Always be confident. But crossing this line seems to make the bitchy universe act like she’s on universe sized PMS.

Whilst I was dressed to the nines and demurely sipping on cocktails a.k.a. Carrie Bradhsaw, there was always that specimen who saw it fit to obnoxiously violate my personal space, with a “hello love, how ya goin’?” whilst simultaneously spilling the contents of his drink down the front of my new Lisa Ho top.

By Gaynor Alder Mother’s Day is the day we honour our mums. We buy them gifts to thank them for all they’ve done and sacrificed for us – all selflessly and with endless love. But how can you really find a gift that represents that kind of love? Only words can really do that. And even as a writer, I struggle. They say that we’ll never really know what our [...]

Jo Bassett from Living Savvy, says that when we’re aspiring to live an extraordinary life, we need good friends who share our vision, celebrate with us, encourage and challenge us to be true to who we are and what we believe. We also need to steer clear of those people who hold us back, drain our energy, or try to make us into something we’re not.

Gaynor Alder used to be high maintenance. On the beauty front that is. And she loved it. Every god damn single second of it. But then something happened.
Life got in the way. Her hair got frizzy, her nails started sporting chipped polish, and her lily white skin was there for all to be blinded by. Audrey Hepburn would roll in her grave.

When Jo Bassett was asked to write a letter to her younger she wondered if she wanted to. She believes that life is to be experienced. Through your choices, successes, mistakes and stumbles, you create your own extraordinary life and, to be totally honest, she still doesn’t like being told what to do and – sound like someone you know?

With Mother’s Day fast approaching on Sunday May 13, Magshop’s magazine subscriptions are the perfect last minute gift idea. Because after all, what mum doesn’t love sitting down with a cuppa and a magazine?