BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Beauty Basics Do beauty magazines affect your confidence?

I get Marie Claire and the rest are health and fitness mags. I like the articles and see what products they recommend and supplements, etc.

I don't think they affect my confidence at all. I see them as a tool who can help inspire not only myself, but others. i also see the wrong things in them and am able to recognize what I don't want to be and don't wish for my clients to be.

I get Glamour, Cosmo, People, Vanity, inTouch and some oters

I don't think fashion mags ever affected my confidence. I looked at them for hair and clothing ideas. Now fitness mags are another story. Since I don't work out as much as I used to, when I look at the women in the fitness magazines, it does affect my confidence.

We tend to try to be frugal so the only magazine we get here is Newsweek which my mom pays for as a holiday present. I did pick up an issue of Fitness recently to get some tips on how to exercise better.

I guess to me I wouldn't get enough value out of a fashion subscription and handling the paper recycling would annoy me As it is we only get one paper a week - the Sunday paper - and it always bugs me how much paper that is that we are then recycling. I get all my news online, the non-tree way

To answer the underlying question though about seeing models "in general" not just in fashion magazines, I don't really let it bother me. It's like watching an Olympic skiier in an event. Yes, I know he's more talented than I am - and he also dedicates his life to that task. That is fine if that's his aim in life.

I just feel worse about myself, my self esteem is zero. i ask my self what if.
I think being older, and trying to shape up, and feel good about myself. seems like a losing battle some times. i don't look at fashion magazines any more. i read womens day and stuff like that.

I look at them a remind myself that there is magic in airbrushing photographs. And, a lot of the models are soooooo young!

Hi,
In my opinion, I don�t think they affected on my confidence. I recognize all the things right and wrong. Fitness mags are an additional story. When I look at the women in the fitness magazines I never lose my confidence.

Not much, well, it depends on my mood also, how deeply i read any article in the magazine.

Scott - welcome to the forum! It's great to have you

I definitely agree with Sunshine - the people in fashion magazines are often "created" people with airbrushing and so on. It's like looking at a painting.

We should strive to be the best we can be - but not to be like anyone else

Now that I'm a little older, I feel a little more affected by the images of young, perfect looking women.