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hot it should should should it it hot hot

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KNIVES NEEDLES, NEEDLES,

shocking confession One beauty editor's One beauty editor's

& SCARS & DOWN

NEW THREESOME? NEW IS A FOURSOME THE THE FOURSOME A IS

LOVERS LOVERS

GREEDY GREEDY I AM COSMOPOLITAN JULY 2016 THE No.1 WOMEN’S GLOSSY MAGAZINE

Contents JULY 2016 ✱ On the cover

36 TAYLOR SCHILLING WANTS TO GET SOMETHING OFF HER CHEST And the star of Orange Is The New Black does just that 56 DOWN BOY! Swimwear so hot it should be illegal 66 NEEDLES, KNIVES & SCARS One beauty editor’s shocking confession 89 HOW ONE INTERN MADE A MILLION Here’s how you can, too 95 THE LA DIET EVERYONE’S DOING And guess what? It comes with a side of fries 114 GREEDY LOVERS Is a foursome the new threesome? ✱ Know

15 THE SECRET’S OUT Immersive cinema blows up 16 IN THE SHADE Stay cool in the heat with these chic sunglasses 18 TAKE A BROW How to ace summer’s new eyebrow trends 20 HOT RIGHT NOW! Summer beauty in a shopping basket 25 CONFESSIONS Your secrets… er… aren’t secret any more 28 THE COMPASS The only cultural advice you need 31 SOUND OF THE SUMMER Wellies? Tick. Round-up of the hottest new festival acts? Tick! 32 LOVE AT FIRST SENTENCE Gripping reads that’ll keep you 45 pinned to the sunlounger 34 WELL, HELLO THERE… Why the bucket bag has glamour Comedian and actor Jack

in spades Whitehall’s dating quirks i AT BREUER USING WELLAFLEX PROFESSIONALS AMY BANNERMAN. HAIR SASCHA DIRECTOR WHITE. FASHION JAMES PHOTOGRAPH COVER ARTISTS FORWARD AT NAILS MICHELLE SAUNDERS GROUP. THE WALL REN AND CHANEL AT HALPERIN FOR MAKE-UP LUCY STARWORKSARTISTS.COM. EARRINGS, GUCCI DAWN. £88, MADE BY MAJE. BIKINI BOTTOMS, WEARS: JUMPER, £229, TAYLOR ESSIE. FOR

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Contents 36 Orange Is The New Black’s Taylor Schilling

153 16 Box wine The dreamiest gets a classy sunglasses under overhaul the sun

✱ Wear 86 SHOULD WE STAY OR ✱ Lust SHOULD WE GO NOW? 45 TOP OF OUR BUCKET (BAG) What’s a Brexit? Here’s all you 147 SPOILT FOR CHOICE Tired LIST The new summer essential need to know about the EU vote of swiping left? Need some 46 FRILL SEEKERS Hold the help? There’s an app for that… froth: cool ways to style ruffles ✱ Move 148 FIRST LOVE Will Leoni 53 HEY, HOW DO I WEAR… and Ross relight their fire? Western boots? Here’s how 91 BOOKEND YOUR 150 MY BEST SEX EVER WAS… 102 WHITE HEAT Fashion that WORKOUT The latest exercise with a Premier League footballer shines brighter than the sun trend is a game of two halves 151 WORST DATES EVER Nine 92 TOUCH-DOWN TONE-UP readers’ cringeworthy nights ✱ Glow Stretch out and relax with our post-flight yoga routine ✱ Play 65 THE COCONUT EFFECT Nail 99 BO-YO NAMASTE Yogi polish’s totally tropical trend enlightenment meets boho cool 153 THINK INSIDE THE BOX Why 72 HELP! I’M LOSING MY HAIR! wine bags are the new bottles The bare facts on thinning out ✱ Read 154 HIP NEW PLACES TO GET 77 INGE HAS ISSUES Hands in HIM INTO BED Get a room… the air for natural deodorants 120 THE (INCONVENIENT) in Iceland, Tenerife or Glasgow 79 TAKE COVER! Crafty colour TRUTH ABOUT SUNSCREEN 159 DESIGN DOUBLES It’s brass tricks for hiding regrowth Could your SPF be doing you elephants in here harm? Read this before you buy 161 £10 DINNER PARTY Chef ✱ Earn 128 DOES SHE DESERVE TO Florence Knight’s bargain feast BE HATED? Tanya Gold 81 BLUE-SKY THINKING Why spends three days undercover ✱ And the rest… we’ll all be geniuses before to experience life in a burqa summer’s out, mark our words 134 THE DRIVE OF YOUR LIFE 10 MEET TEAM 82 LET THE SPARKS FLY Gloom- Fasten seatbelts for an epic Uber COSMOPOLITAN busting Pandora necklaces adventure with your driver Ilana 13 FROM THE EDITOR 83 A FIXER’S GUIDE TO FAILURE 140 IS YOUR NAME DANIEL? 170 COSMOPOLITAN CONTRACT How to heal your office faux-pas An original approach to dating Being a bridesmaid ◆

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RANDOM QUESTION OF THE MONTH What’s your worst ever holiday experience?

FARRAH STORR Editor PA to the Editor JESSICA BROWNING

Deputy Editor SHOSHANA GOLDBERG Creative Director STUART SELNER FEATURES I arrived at passport Features Director AMY GRIER Senior Editor CATRIONA INNES control in Turkey Junior Writer JENNIFER SAVIN Six hours into a 42-hour train just as I realised my Features Intern JOSIE COPSON journey from Goa to Delhi, passport had expired ENTERTAINMENT a man threw up all over the Entertainment Director LOTTIE LUMSDEN carriage, including my rucksack DESIGN Art Director VICTORIA HORN (maternity) Acting Art Director LEWIS CHAM Senior Designer HARRY WINFIELD Junior Designer JESSICA LOCKETT PICTURES Acting Picture Director GEMMA ROBERTS Acting Picture Editor PAULA BAKER GROUP EDITORIAL PRODUCTION Age 11, I got locked in Workﬂow Director CATHY LEVY a poolside toilet in Rhodes. Chief Sub-Editor HANNAH JONES Deputy Chief Sub-Editors ROBIN WILKS, SAMANTHA HARRIS Running around the The ﬁre brigade had labyrinth streets of to remove the door BEAUTY Hanoi, Vietnam, gone Beauty Director INGEBORG VAN LOTRINGEN Beauty Editor CASSIE POWNEY midnight, utterly lost Beauty Assistant LAURA CAPON and alone. Terrifying FASHION Fashion Director AMY BANNERMAN Senior Fashion Editor SAIREY STEMP Fashion Assistant NATASHA MILES COSMOPOLITAN.CO.UK Digital Editor CLAIRE HODGSON Digital Writer CATRIONA HARVEY-JENNER Beauty Editor BRIDGET MARCH Popping out for a gentle Fashion Editor JESS EDWARDS Social Media Manager LAUREN SMITH strolI in Croatia, I got lost CONTRIBUTORS on a hillside and had SALLY GILLAM, RACHEL MORRIS, AMANDA STATHAM, SHELLY VELLA I found a HUMAN poo to be rescued by the Editorial Business Manager MERRICK CASSANOVA in the lift of my emergency services budget Ibiza hotel GROUP PUBLISHING DIRECTOR CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER DUNCAN CHATER ANNA JONES

Head of Events and Sponsorship VICTORIA ARCHBOLD HEARST MAGAZINES INTERNATIONAL Brand Director HAYLEY LEWIS (maternity) Acting Brand Director LYNNE WHITBY President/CEO DUNCAN EDWARDS Regional Advertisement Director LISA BHATTI Brand Executive GEMMA POWELL Senior Vice President/CFO and General Manager SIMON HORNE Business Manager BRYONY DEERY Group Partnerships Director LAURA CHASE (maternity) Senior Vice President/Director of Licensing and Business Development GAUTAM RANJI Acting Group Partnerships Director ALISTAIR HOLT Partnerships Director SARAH WHEATLEY Senior Vice President/International Publishing Director JEANNETTE CHANG (maternity) Acting Partnerships Director AMANDA EGBOSIMBA Senior Vice President/Editorial Director KIM ST CLAIR BODDEN Partnerships Managers EMILY WILSON, GINA DAVOILE, KIRSTIE EDEN Fashion/Entertainment Director KRISTEN INGERSOLL International Editions Editor Art Director SIMEEN KARIM (maternity) Creative Solutions Acting Art Directors DALJIT KAUR BABBER, JACQUELYN GALGEY Editor-in-Chief, Cosmopolitan (1965-1997) HELEN GURLEY BROWN JOJO MA Partnerships Project Manager ALEXANDER STANHOPE INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS Partnerships Project Executive JEN HARRISON, CHARLOTTE WEBB Brand Partnerships Manager VICTOIRE LAURIN Head of Marketing Operations JENNIFER SMITH Editor, Argentina MARÍA JOSÉ GRILLO Australia Brazil JULIANA DE MARI Head of Marketing Promotions CHARLOTTE CUNLIFFE Head of Digital Marketing SEEMA KUMARI Bulgaria DETELINA STAMENOVA Chile IGNACIA URIBE Head of Consumer Sales and Marketing MATTHEW BLAIZE-SMITH China YVONNE LIU Croatia MARJANA FILIPOVIĆ-GRČIĆ Group Customer Marketing Manager NATASHA BARTMAN Cyprus STALO PAPANASTASIOU Czech Republic SABRINA KARASOVA PR Manager BEN BOLTON Events and Sponsorship Managers ELIZABETH HARDY, SOPHIE LUHR Estonia KELLY KIPPER Finland STINA MANTYNIEMI Production Director JOHN HUGHES Production Manager ALICIA GRAY (maternity) France MARIE LA FONTA Germany ANJA DELASTIK Greece LYDIA PAPAIOANNOU Acting Production Manager COLETTE CURLEY Senior Ad Production Controller PAUL TAYLOR Hong Kong RUQIYAH LAW KAM YING Hungary JOHANNA SABJÁN Ad Production Controller JONATHAN STUART Director of Hearst Magazines Direct CAMERON DUNN India NANDINI BHALLA Indonesia FIRA BASUKI Italy FRANCESCA DELOGU Regional Sales Director KEELY MCINTOSH Consumer Sales Marketing Executive LUCY PORTER Kazakhstan AZIZA YESMAGANBETOVA Korea HYUN JOO KIM Latin America Customer Marketing Manager SHIVONNE GOONAWARDANA Latvia GUNDEGA BICEVSKA Lithuania VIOLETA KALIKAUSKIENE Senior Customer Marketing Executive VICKY CHANDLER Malaysia Middle East BROOKE SEVER Mongolia Netherlands ANNE MARIJE DE VRIES LENTSCH Philippines MYRZA SISON HEARST MAGAZINES UK Poland HANNA WOLSKA Portugal SANDRA MAURICIO Romania DIANA COLCER Managing Director, Brands MICHAEL ROWLEY Commercial Director ELLA DOLPHIN Russia POLINA SOKHRANOVA Serbia NASJA VELJKOVIC Director of Communications LISA QUINN Chief Financial OfficerCLAIRE BLUNT Director of Slovenia MANCA ČAMPA PAVLIN South Africa CATHY LUND Editorial Strategy & Content LOUISE COURT Circulation & Marketing Director REID HOLLAND Spain ANA UREÑA Thailand PIMSIRI JAIYA Turkey OZLEM KOTAN Chief Digital Officer DARREN GOLDSBY HR Director SURINDER SIMMONS Ukraine USA JOANNA COLES Vietnam NGUYEN THI DIEU MINH

This magazine can be recycled either through your kerbside collection, or at a local recycling point. Log on to Recyclenow.com and enter your postcode to ﬁnd your nearest sites.

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FIRST WORD FROM THE EDITOR

To the outside world, I am a relative success. I edit a national magazine. I have won a couple of awards along the way for my job as a magazine editor. My CV is studded with flashy qualifications I have earned over the years. I’m married, too. Very happily, as it happens. To a man I’ve known for more than 15 years. So, like I said, to the naked eye, all is good. But it’s not the whole story, is it? In fact it’s not even a fraction of it. These are my successes. They are the things I choose to make visible. The things I want to define me. What I don’t tell you is everything I have failed at. And there has been a lot, let me tell you. In fact, yes, let me actually tell you… 1 The first boy I ever asked out rejected me (Marvin The failures behind Smith, if you’re reading this, yes, that was you). my success 2 I also got rejected from Oxford University. 3 And I basically got sacked from my first job as a sales assistant (not ‘polished’ enough was the verdict). 4 Sure, I’ve won a couple of awards, but guess what? I entered a hell of a lot that I didn’t win, too. 5 Oh, and I applied for a job on this very magazine not once, but TWICE in my career. And got From above: rejected by Oxford but rejected both times. accepted by King’s I could go on and on. But you get the idea. I’ve won a lot College London (here in life. But I’ve probably lost as much as I’ve won. You just with elder sister), which kickstarted my never hear about the setbacks and the rejections. But here’s career in journalism; the thing… you probably should. I failed at a lot of So I’m putting it out there: we know we should embrace relationships but found true happiness our failures. But what we’ve not been told is we should share with this guy; entered them, too. Imagine how much more we’d connect with countless child people if they shared life’s losses with us; how inspired you’d pageants and FINALLY Psst! won one at six feel and how much less you’d beat yourself up. Imagine Fancy a new place to hang out? how much you’d laugh (because retrospective failure can Good, then head to our brand new be really funny). But, best of all, imagine how many more lifestyle channel The Edge in association with The Estée Edit by risks you’d take knowing successful people fail all the time. Estée Lauder. This is the online place to ﬁnd out about the coolest beauty, the most rule-breaking fashion and the most inspiring, kick-ass real-life stories. This could even be your chance to write for us. See you there! RFARRAH STORR cosmopolitan.co.uk/theedge Edi ditotor PS: I’ve shown you mine, now tweet me yours (#failurefessup). 4Follow me on Twitter @Farrah_Storr and Instagram @farrahstorr

COSMOPOLITAN · 13

IF IT’S HOT AND HAPPENING, IT’S IN HERE...

THE SECRET’S OUT Forget hooﬁng it to a warehouse after being instructed to ‘tell no one’ – the once achingly exclusive immersive cinema experience is hitting a big screen near you this summer. Original franchise Secret Cinema generated £6.45million last year, and now there are opportunities all over the UK. Well, what’s the point of watching a ﬁlm if you can’t dress/drink/eat as your favourite character? Head to a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in North Yorkshire (Sneaky Experience, 11 June) to watch the 1951 version of Alice In Wonderland – just watch out for rabbit holes after a couple of Pimm’s. See Labyrinth at Picnic Cinema in a Cumbrian castle on 5 August, or go for what Sing-A-Long-A Cinema was made for, Dirty Dancing (Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, 2 June). Because immersive cinema’s worth

WORDS MARTHA HAYES. PHOTOGRAPH MITCH PAYNE MITCH PHOTOGRAPH HAYES. MARTHA WORDS singing, as well as shouting about, right?

15 £520, Anna-Karin Karlsson In the shade Fun, fearless and a little £200, Peggy Guggenheim by Saﬁlo bit Elton John, summer’s sunglasses are all about getting noticed

Summer does silly things to serious people. We’re talking grown women with ﬂower garlands in their hair; business men in Havaianas (oddly always the green ones) and the national, unquestionable belief that Pimm’s, at least from Wimbledon to the August bank holiday, is the best drink ever invented. Bonkers sunglasses also fall into this list – and why the hell not? After all, summer is not the £220, Marc Jacobs season to go incognito, but to stand out from the crowd. And these crowd-pleasers will oblige wholeheartedly. STYLING SAIREY STEMP PHOTOGRAPH IAN OLIVER WALSH

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£220, Matthew Williamson for Linda Farrow

£113, Dolce & Gabbana at Sunglass Hut

£280, Andy Wolf £450, Anna-Karin Karlsson THE BIG TRY THE 2 SMOKY BEST FOR: MID-TONE HAIR TREND Remember the youthful ﬂuffy brows you owned before getting tweezer happy as a teenager? Channel those again and you’ll take off years. “The key to keeping it natural is to use two eyebrow pencils – one the

JOHN GALLIANO S/S 16 JOHN GALLIANO S/S same shade as your brows and the other slightly darker,” reveals Estée Givenchy Lauder UK make-up ambassador Mister Brow Lynsey Alexander. “Start by brushing Groom, £17.50 the hairs upwards, then ﬁll in any gaps, a hair stroke at a time, alternating between the two shades.” Do some more upwards brushing to soften your just-applied “hairs” and repeat with a clear ﬁxing gel (hairspray for the brows, basically).

Smashbox Brow THE HIGH LINE Tech Highlight BEST FOR: DARK HAIR Stick in Gold 3 The 1930s called and Shimmer, £16.50 said you’re more than welcome GENNY S/S 16 GENNY S/S to give their sharply defined eyebrows a go. The dream technique for those who allocate minus-five minutes to getting ready in the morning – it involves one line to Take a brow scaffold the entire brow. “A defined upper brow lifts the whole eye area,” explains MAC senior artist Quick, painless and face-transforming Lesley Keane. “Lightly trace a line – introducing the next-generation brows along the upper brow, dipping at the arch and trailing off where the hair finishes,” she recommends. THE HAUTE Worried you’ll look like a cartoon 1 HIGHLIGHT villain? An angled brow brush BEST FOR: FAIR HAIR dipped in a tinted brow gel Gold is big news this summer, but if or cream will give you a softer, gilded lips and foil-effect eyes aren’t more blended line. your thing, consider some golden arches instead (no, not a Big Mac). Less ‘look at me’ than our catwalk inspiration (above), Smashbox national make-up coach Janine Bird advises running a gold pencil through fair brows to fake a fuller finish. “The gold shimmer attracts and bounces light Benefit to create a 3D effect,” she says. “It also Ka-Brow!, £18.50 acts as a spotlight for eyes, making the PAUL SMITH S/S 16 SMITH S/S PAUL

iris appear brighter and prettier.” Sold. STUDIOS LIFES HEARST STILL IMAXTREE. PHOTOGRAPHS POWNEY. CASSIE WORDS

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Lanolips Tinted Balm, Kiko Power Pro Nail £7.99 Dry lips Lacquer, £4.90 Lasting, love lanolin high-shine colour packed (an oil found with an array of nail- in sheep’s nourishing ingredients – wool), and stop being so impressive, now it comes Kiko! (Well, not really.) with a pretty tint. Baaa…

Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Blemish Jo Malone London + Line Correcting Marthe Armitage Serum, £39 Zaps Summer Afternoon spots and lines – Soaps, £30 for four now we’re talking… Modern bathrooms Jimmy Choo Illicit need a retro soap, Flower, £36 (40ml) and these summer’s This fresher EDT day scents will version of the transport you. bestselling perfume has won us over with its summery apricot and mandarin. Hot right Dior Milky Tints, £26.50 Slightly wet, pastel-toned, Bumble just-dipped-in- and Bumble milkshake-looking Curl Deﬁning lips… Need we now! Creme, say more? £23.50 Summertime and Add oomph to your curls the beauty is… really and ﬁght frizz, too bloody exciting, actually – then you’ve got the rest of the day Foreo Luna to take on Play, £29 the world. The silicone face cleanser now comes in this actual tiny travel size. Warning: you’ll want to coo at it like a small child.

Charlotte Tilbury Instant Look In A Palette, £49 All hail the palette of dreams: your ticket to getting Algenist Reveal Concentrated Charlotte’s Colour Correcting Drops, £30

signature glow. STUDIOS LIFES HEARST STILL POWNEY. CASSIE WORDS We’re adding these to our moisturisers in the pursuit of ﬂawless-looking skin, and · 20 COSMOPOLITAN guess what? It’s working…

ConfessBecause sometimesio life is strangern thans ﬁction

DRAMATIC DIRTY DANCING I was collecting EXIT ALL BELLS AND WHISTLES an award for my MY GIRLFRIEND AND contribution to While out for dinner in Thailand with my performing arts in my I WERE COOKING AND local community, but right before uncle, grandparents and a tour guide, the ceremony my period started. A GOOD SONG CAME Luckily I had a sanitary towel with I absent-mindedly clicked my fingers and me, but I was wearing a thong ON. THINKING WE WERE so there wasn’t much to stick to. whistled. All the men in the restaurant ALONE, WE GOT DOWN And of course it fell out on stage stared at me; our guide explained I was as I was collecting the award. AND DIRTY WITH SOME I sprinted off double-time and giving out a signal that I was selling sex. didn’t stay for the after-party. GRINDING. UNTIL I SAW HAYLEY, 27, HEAD OF PR How to make friends on holiday… HER AUNT IN THE AT BOXED OUT, ESSEX IRIS, 26, BLOGGER, LONDON DOORWAY, CRACKING TRAP DOOR UP AND MIMICKING Not used to having the extra height, I managed to get my North West-inspired top knot caught in the doors of the Tube. I was stuck trying to style it out for three whole stops, ALL OUR MOVES. before the doors ﬁnally opened on my side of the train again and I could escape. JOSIE, 22, JOURNALIST, BIRMINGHAM KAREEM, 26, FOOTBALLER, LONDON i

COSMOPOLITAN · 25 WAX ON, WHEN I WAS WAX OFF HIT THE DECK LIKE A BOSS DOING MY When I found out my ex was going to be I used to work for a major record label, and one year MASTER’S IN BIOLOGY, at a party, I was determined to look at a Brit Awards after-party, WE HAD A TIMETABLE amazing and bought a white dress and I pulled a hot guy on the SHARED BETWEEN sky-high shoes. But when the speeches dance ﬂoor – in front of my colleagues. On Monday STUDENTS AND started, I tripped over in front of the I was moved to another PROFESSORS TO BOOK stage. I was too embarrassed to get department. Turned out crawled he was an executive at my LAB SLOTS. ON THE up so I back to my seat. company – and married. SERSH, 25, LETTINGS CONSULTANT, MARIANNE, 41, FIRST WEEK OF USING IT, COUNTY KILDARE PUBLICIST, LONDON I CONFUSED IT WITH MY MUFFIN LOVIN’ OWN DIGITAL CALENDAR I was busy serving a massive queue of customers in the shop where I work when my dad AND ADDED IN MY BIKINI came in to see me. Usually this would be sweet, but he started waving his hands in the air and shouting, “Gem! Gem! It’s Dad, I GOT YOU A BLUEBERRY MUFFIN!” from the back WAX APPOINTMENT. of the line. Everyone turned to stare. It’s been months now and my colleagues still call me ‘blueberry muff’ for a laugh (which makes it sound like I have an STI). Cheers, Dad. I DIDN’T REALISE UNTIL GEMMA, 22, SALES ASSISTANT, BRIGHTON A FRIEND TOLD ME – A WEEK LATER – AND, OF THE BIG REVEAL I PLUGGED MY PHONE INTO MY WORK COMPUTER TO CHARGE IT, NOT COURSE, BY THIS POINT REALISING IT AUTOMATICALLY STARTS SHOWING YOUR PHOTOS ON SCREEN. MY BOSS EVERYONE HAD SEEN. CAME OVER TO ASK HOW MY REPORT WAS COMING ALONG, AND WAS GREETED WITH A ROWENA, 23, RSPB SCREEN OF PHOTOS OF MY DOG AND ‘SEXY’ SNAPS OF ME IN MY UNDERWEAR. I ACTUALLY MEMBERSHIP OFFICER, DIED OF EMBARRASSMENT AND AM COMMUNICATING THIS FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE. ◆ MANCHESTER LOIS*, 30, ADMINISTRATOR, SHROPSHIRE PETRONZIO. ANTONIO PHOTOGRAPHS JENNIFER SAVIN. TO CONFESSED AS BEEN CHANGED *NAMES HAVE SCHMITT. HAIR AND MAKE-UP NATACHA

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The Compass Pointing you in the right cultural direction this month…

ANTI-AGEING GIN PEDICURE TIGHTS Warner Leisure Hotels are Japanese company selling £34.99 bottles of Belle Maison now our No.1 tipple, distilled sells ﬂesh-coloured with collagen to keep us tights with pre-paintedd young. Yeah right, but toenails. Just no, good excuse, no? OK. ‘NO’.

EMILIA CLARKE CLUB 18-70S Mother of dragons, Insta The tourist industry genius and now blimmin’ predicts a surge in parents brilliant as Louisa Clark in taking their (skint) the ﬁlm adaptation of our grown-up kids on holiday. favourite book Me Before You. our boat Floating Ouzo shots with Mum and Take tissues. You will cry. Dad… we’re not convinced.

SILENT HAIRDRYERS UNATTAINABLE DENIM Dyson just saved a gazillion Nearly a grand for jeans? relationships. The clever No thanks, Vetements. Our so-and-sos spent four years search for the dream pair inventing a noiseless goes on in H&M and Uniqlo hairdryer. All yours for the because we won’t be spending bargain price of £299. the price of a small car.

HOT SINGLES IN YOUR AREA FLORAL CROWNS As in single earrings. Emma, Lara Unless you’re under 12

and Dree Hemingway are rocking our ship Sin ki ng years of age and attending it, so if you’ve got a drawer full of a CotsCotswolds wedding, leave odd ones, your fashion moment’s iit alone.n Taylor Swift says come. Wearing one wonky iit’s ch okers we need now. showstopper is the way forward. PPi xie and Katy, listen up.

RIGHT ON THE LIPS COMPETITIVE SUMMERING New research* claims if you Have you really been inviteedd turn your head to the right to a rooftop garden to for a kiss, you really fancy drink champagne? Or are your partner. National you actually just going Kissing Day on 24 June is to drink cider in the park a great excuse to test it out. like the rest of us? WORDS LOTTIE LUMSDEN. PHOTOGRAPHS GETTY IMAGES. *UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA *UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN, GETTY IMAGES. PHOTOGRAPHS LUMSDEN. LOTTIE WORDS

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Sound of the summer MUSIC Adele and Coldplay? Pah. Discover the hottest new acts this festival season instead. You’ll be glad you did when they headline next year… Jack Garraatttt Lady Leshurr WHAT: Electro-pop with a soul WHAT: Freestyle rap. vibe so smooth it bagged him WHERE: Wild Life (11-12 June), the Critics’ Choice gong at the Wireless (8-10 July), 2016 Brit Awards. Glastonbury (22-26 June). WHERE: T in the Park YOU’LL LOVE HER IF: You like (8-10 July), Glastonbury Nicki MinajMinaj, butbut grimier.g Not (22-26 June), Reading & Leeds that there’s any rivalry. She (26-28 August). turned downa arar ecrecor ord deal YOU’LL LOVE HIM IIFF: YoYou’rouu’rr e when they wantedwanteed to pit her pining for EEdd SheeraSheeran. Garratt against Minaj. Put it there, sister. hashas that lovable hipster YOU NEED TO KKNONOW: She’s one-man-band thing – he playplayss after a seat on TThehe X Factor the keyboard, guitar and drums panel. “It’s timetime [they] had at the same time. We know.w. a drapper ” she as has a jud ge,” YOU NEED TO KNOW:W: When said. Got ththat,att, Simon? Garratt was 13, he mammadede it IF YOU CAN’T MMAKAKE THE into the ﬁnals of thee oJunior FESTIVAL:F Dow wlonload her Eurovision Song Co oontest Queen’sQh Speech alba bum for a but came last. RRes sspect.. bitb of freestylingg ac ction from IF YOU CAN’T MAAKE THE some elaborately tit tled tracks. FESTIVAL: Warm hup to his Queen’sp ch Speech 1, Queen’s debut album Phase. He’s e cocome e Speechh2 2, QueQ enn’s SpeechS 3… a long way since “nuul. points”. You get the d drill.

Blossoms SStor mmzzy WHAT: Pure indie pop.op. WHAT:s The nsigned ﬁrsst u WHERE: Isle of Wigght trapper toa ap onpea ar o Later… (9-12 June), withw h lJoolH llands Holl . Glastonbury (22-262 WWHERE: Wild Liffee (1 1-12 June), June), Boardmasteers GlastonburyGlb 2 26 (22 June),2-2 (10-14 August). LoveboL x (155-16 6 July). YOU’LL LOVE THEMM IF: YOUO ’LL OLOOVE E HIM IF: You liked Arctic Monkeysnkeys Skepta is youryoour go-to guy in the good ol’ daysys befobefore onu da a yS atunight.urda Alex Turner starting quiffing his YOUYO NEEDD T O KNOW: hair and acting like a tool. Adele deddica ated Make YOU NEED TO KNOW: YouYl My Feel Lov Mey L to him Keyboardist Myles Kellock only attc a trec concert.cent knew the C chord (well, it’s He tweeted d, “Bro, on better than the C word) her on tour, then gave her mymf lifem I'm bugging before nabbing himself a spot Alessia Cara a 1989 bathrobe. Obviously. right gh noow … I swear in the band. He’s broadened WHAT: R&B pop, YOU NEED TO KNOW: toyo yoomanu, is his repertoire since then. served chilled. The house party in her dred amming gggg!” So We promise. WHERE: Festival d’été video for Here was as he’a sn, a then.fa IF YOU CAN’T MAKE THE de Québec (7-17 July), awkward as it looks. It’s IFI YOOU CAN’T FESTIVAL: Watch the video for Lollapalooza in Chicago a re-enactment of the party MMAKAKE THE At Most A Kiss on repeat. It (28-31 July), iHeartRadio she wrote the song about. FESFS TIV VAL: Listen makes Zigi’s Pillowtalk look like in Nevada (24 September). Guests an’ all. Shudder. to Wicked an episode of Teletubbies. YOU’LL LOVE HER IF: You IF YOU CAN’T MAKE THE SkeS engman 4. think what Taylor Swift says, FESTIVAL: She’s supporting WORDS JOSIE COPSON. PHOTOGRAPHS GETTY IMAGES, XPOSURE XPOSURE GETTY IMAGES, PHOTOGRAPHS JOSIE COPSON. WORDS goes. The singer heard Cara’s Coldplay on the UK leg of Bad Blood cover and invited their tour (4-19 June). COSCOSMOPO O OLITAN · 31 BOOKS Love at first sentence The best novels are the kind that hook you from the very ﬁrst line. Just like these quick starters

The spine- chiller Girls On Fire by Robin Wasserman (Little, Brown, £12.99)

Opening lines: “See them in their golden hour, a flood of girls, high on the ecstasy of the final bell, tumbling onto the city bus all gawky limbs and Wonderbra’d cleavage, chewed nails picking at eruptive zits, lips nibbling and eyes scrunching in a doomed attempt not to cry.” You’ll be instantly hooked… If Heathers is more your jam than Clueless. Why you’ll keep reading: A tale of teenage friends, it’s a potent mix of obsessions, paranoia and deadly secrets. Best place to read it: On a spa retreat with an old school friend. You’ll be reminiscing, and thanking your lucky stars. The choke-on- The tear-jerker The action- your-sangria All At Sea by Decca packed one Viral by Helen Aitkenhead (4th The Fireman by Joe FitzGerald (Faber Estate, £16.99) Hill (Gollancz, £20) & Faber, £12.99) Opening line: “The Opening line: “Harper Opening lines: thing to remember Grayson had seen lots “I sucked twelve about this story of people burn on TV, cocks in Magaluf. So far, twenty-three is that every word is true. If I never everyone had, but the first person she thousand and ninety-six people have told it to a soul, and this book did saw burn for real was in the playground seen me do this.” not exist, it would not cease to be true. behind the school.” You’ll be instantly hooked… If you’ve I don’t mind at all if you forget this. You’ll be instantly hooked… If you’re ever watched a viral video at your desk The important thing is that I don’t.” obsessed with The Walking Dead. It’s got and thought, “Thank God that’s not me.” You’ll be instantly hooked… If you love that whole post-apocalyptic world nailed, Why you’ll keep reading: You'll want the kind of memoir that’s so beautiful and but the twist is that this is told from the to see how strait-laced Su, who is in poignant, you finish it in one sitting, but zombie’s point of view. Clever. Shagaluf for a post-A-level holiday feel bereft for days afterwards. Why you’ll keep reading: There is brilliant with her sister, gets out of this situation. Why you’ll keep reading: Aitkenhead’s wry humour amid the darkness, and the It’s so gripping the team behind account of her partner drowning on action scenes feel like a movie. Plus Hill’s Broadchurch have snapped up the rights. holiday in Jamaica while saving their son dad is Stephen King, which helps. Best place to read it: Chilling on the transcends the traditional memoir. Best place to read it: Poolside anywhere beach in Ibiza with your mates. Probably Best place to read it: On the beach alone. – but make sure you use a tablet. At

best to avoid Majorca. You need to sit and process this one. 700-plus pages, it’s like tackling ’Thrones. GETTY IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHS HAYES. AND MARTHA ANDREINA CORDANI WORDS

32 · COSMOPOLITAN

WELL, Starstruck “Julia Roberts has a really emotionally HELLO charged scene in Mother’s Day [in which Jack plays a comedian]. I walk in, not knowing what’s going on. I’d been watching her on THERE... the monitor and was welling up, and someone had to tell me, Jack ‘You might have to sort your eyes out because they’re a bit red.’ Not Whitehall my most professional!” Comedian. Actor. An appalling ﬁrst date... There’s a lot Food of love “I’m romantic in my own way. you need to know I cook meals and stuff. I once made about this guy a pie with a pastry heart on it [for his girlfriend, actress Gemma Chan]. My signature dish is crab and chilli linguine, Jamie Oliver-style.” HIS VITALS Age 27

Hometown London Cheap date Nailing it “I once took a girl “I have soft hands Big break for a man. When Although well- out and my card got established on the declined, so the girl I was a kid, my dad stand-up circuit, had to pay. We would tried to get me to playing posh JP in have been cleaning up stop biting my nails C4’s Fresh Meat in by promising me 2011 put him in a the kitchen otherwise. league of his own. Really classy! There we could go for a was no second date.” manicure. Having Crazy fact #1 a manicure in a nail He went to school with R-Patz and salon on Putney auditioned to play High Street while Harry Potter. Yep, people we know things could have walk past and been very different. Child’s play “I don’t like being clean-shaven because I’ve got a stare through the Crazy fact #2 stupid child’s face. I look very young in Mother’s Day window… how is Back in the day, his because I’ve shaved – and my character has a baby! that an incentive?” dad, Michael, was a That was challenging. I went from thinking I was the theatrical agent to Dame Judi Dench baby whisperer to Satan in the space of a minute. ✱ Mother’s Day is and Colin Firth. I did learn how to change a nappy, though.” in cinemas 10 June WORDS MARTHA HAYES. PHOTOGRAPH JAY BROOKS/CAMERA PRESS BROOKS/CAMERA JAY PHOTOGRAPH HAYES. MARTHA WORDS

TAYLOR SCHILLING WANTS TO GET SOMETHING OFF HER ...and the star of Orange Is The New Black does just that i CHEST Words LOTTIE LUMSDEN ● Photographs JAMES WHITE CELEBRITY months and then flew here last SATURDAY week with a four-day pit stop in “Do we really want to shoot outside London. So I’m very jet-lagged.” today?” says Taylor Schilling, screwing She wears loose black trousers, up her face. It’s a statement rather a T-shirt and Adidas Gazelle trainers. than a question. “Let’s just stay Her hair is soaking wet (whether inside where it’s warm.” from a shower or the rain, I’m unsure) She might have a point. We’re in one and her face, make-up free. In the of those artfully cool LA homes that flesh she’s very pretty, but even those magazines invariably hire when perfect all-American features (blue, shooting a big Hollywood star. It’s on blue eyes; wide, expansive, expensive- a quiet, residential road high up in looking smile; the sort of small, Beverly Hills with a Slim Aarons-style sloped nose cosmetic surgeons have pool and verdant gardens. In a garage wet dreams about) can’t hide the dark, area by one of the guest bedrooms forbidding bags beneath her eyes. there are rails and rails of sugary pink Her publicist tells her that the clothes and white swimwear for Taylor Cosmopolitan team are jet-lagged, too. to try on, as well as a couple of giant “Oh, so we’re all in this together pink flamingo lilos ready to be blown then!” she says. up and join the party. Everything is in place. Well, except the sun. Things have certainly gone a little Usually you can see the whole city crazy for the 31-year-old Boston-native from here, but today there is nothing recently. Based on Piper Kerman’s but fog and grey skies. Not even the bestselling prison memoir, Orange Is Hollywood sign gives us a flash of her The New Black (OITNB) has been the pearly whites. Unlucky, given it’s only sleeper hit of recent years, making rained in LA exactly three stars out of its female-led times so far this year. cast (Laverne Cox, Ruby The problem doesn’t Rose, Laura Prepon…). seem to be the lack of ‘You have little About to air its fourth sun however. It is more meltdowns, series, it’s one of Netflix’s to do with the fact Taylor most successful original is tired. Very, very tired. but you just dramas alongside House She arrived on set sort of do it’ Of Cards – the first this morning at 10am season alone was – a whirling dervish of nominated for 12 kisses, hugs and effusive Emmys (it won three). introductions. (“This could be my But it’s Taylor who took the big Bardot moment!” she laughs when lead role – that of Piper Chapman “Do you know what they [the owners she sees a pink sweater.) Her publicist whose past relationship with a female of the house] do for a living?” she asks. gets the biggest hug, as they haven’t drug-runner, Alex, lands her in prison. Then, two hours later, things start seen each other in months. Then And she’s been working non-stop to get weird. it’s coffee – long and black – which since last summer. In December, after After hair and make-up, while Taylor arrives at the house not long after wrapping on a six-month shoot for the is trying on clothes with our fashion she does via its own taxi. Apparently fourth series of OITNB, she flew to director, her publicist asks to speak to Starbucks delivery is a thing in LA. Gran Canaria for film project The me. Taylor can’t do an interview with She was up late last night shooting Titan. That completed at the end of me today. It’s a blow given I’ve flown her new project, a film by producers March, she had a four-day stop in out to LA for an hour’s chat with her. the Duplass brothers. That’s why she’s London, then headed to LA last week, Don’t worry, I’m told – she’ll do it on so tired. She’s sweet. Smiley. And where she’s on location until May. Monday. And with that the publicist unbelievably approachable. But, you know, so far so good. Taylor disappears to meet with another of “My schedule has been crazy,” she is in good spirits. She looks round the her clients, tag-teaming with Taylor’s says. “I was filming in Spain for three house with big, incredulous eyes. other publicist who arrives to take over. CELEBRITY

stops and the sun comes out. Brave- faced, Taylor says she will come outside, but in doing so hits her head on a camera boom. She stops, stunned, and then starts sobbing uncontrollably. Her PR runs over to comfort her. We do everything we can to diffuse the situation. It’s no use. I’ve done hundreds of interviews and been on countless shoots, but I’ve never experienced anything like this. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen celebrities get upset – sometimes they just aren’t in the mood and on other occasions they’re tired and just need a bit of encouragement. However, mostly they are able to hold it together in front of the camera. Yet ever since Taylor arrived she’s seemed fragile, veering from over-the-top positive one minute to looking like she’s about to cry the next. And from that moment everyone except Taylor, the photographer, one of his assistants and the hair stylist are asked to stay off set. Myself, the fashion team, the creative director, two photographer’s assistants, the make-up artist and, at times, Taylor’s publicist stand in the garage wondering what’s going on. It starts to rain again. An hour later, Taylor’s manager (who wasn’t here before) arrives at the house and goes inside. It seems the actress has asked for her to drive over. At around 3pm, three hours before the shoot is due to end, Taylor appears in her own clothes. She bids us farewell, hugs and thanks everyone And it’s not long after that It’s upsetting to see. We all check and I’m told they’ll speak to me Taylor starts struggling. she’s completely comfortable with tomorrow, Sunday, to sort things out. As the photographer snaps away, her outfit, ask if we can get her And then, just like that, they’re gone. her mood shifts and she finds it hard a drink, and offer encouraging words. We pack up, silently. No one knows to compose herself. Then, when At that point the new publicist asks quite what to say – and I’m starting to she changes into a second outfit to speak to me in another room and worry how I’ll explain to my boss and is waiting for the lighting to be tells me we need to wrap the shoot up that we may not have a cover shot. adjusted, she turns her back on the as quickly as possible because Taylor is We’ve shot four looks, not seven, and, photographer. Her face crumples and finding it all too much. of course, I have no interview. she puts her hands in front of her I suggest getting anyone who is eyes. She is clearly crying. Silently. not vital for the shoot out of the The photographer asks if she’s house to give Taylor a bit of space. SUNDAY OK. She collects herself, and asks Six of us move outside and into I wake at 8am and cancel my plans in for something to sit on while she a garage area where clothing rails have case I need to be on call to meet Taylor. waits. We grab her a chair. been set up. Half an hour later the rain I’ve spent the whole night replaying i

COSMOPOLITAN · 39 the shoot in my head – but mainly worrying about her. I Google her to see if there is anything online I’ve missed, but for an actress who fronts one of the biggest shows, there’s very little about her in the public domain. I email her team. Nothing. I call and it rings out. I’m genuinely concerned there may be no interview. Finally, 23 hours after our last contact, I get a short email at 2.29pm saying Taylor’s team haven’t been able to speak to her since the shoot. It gets dark outside. At 8pm, I receive a final email. Taylor can’t do Monday. She’ll do a Skype call later in the week when I’m back in London. I push back saying it’s not good enough. My flight leaves tomorrow. I go to bed having no idea what’s going on. MONDAY 1pm. My flight leaves in eight hours. Nothing. I’ve checked out of my hotel. And then, two hours before I leave for the airport, I get an email: Taylor will meet me at 8.30am the following morning. What’s more, Taylor will personally pay for me to stay another day. I book myself into a new hotel and wait. “You must be missing home,” she she wraps the Duplass brothers project. smiles. “I love London. I’d like to do Then she’ll fly home to New York. “I’m TUESDAY a play there. I visited last week to see so close to the finish line.” She laughs It’s a gloriously sunny day. I jump in Uze [OITNB co-star Uzo Adaba] in out loud. “What might not make it an Uber and head to Bru Coffeebar The Maids.” is my hair. It was a weird colour for where I’m to meet Taylor. Taylor doesn’t directly address Orange, then I had to dye it brown for I arrive at 8am and sit near the back Saturday, but is keen to impress on Titan and four days ago they made it of the spacious café, which is full of me how crazy her schedule is and that platinum [for this film]. I’m waking women in gym gear post-workout. she hasn’t had a day off in six months. up with clumps of hair on my pillow.” Twenty minutes later she walks in, “Zero,” she says. “I’ve been project She grabs a strand and jokingly heads straight for me and pulls me hopping this whole year.” She trails off whispers to it, “Just a few more into a strong embrace that lasts a and stares over her right shoulder as if weeks. You can do it. I’ll never good 30 seconds. she’s deep in thought. Taylor does this do this to you again.” She pulls away and clasps my hands regularly over the next 90 minutes. Taylor finds all the travelling in hers. “I’m so glad you could stay “A lot of the time I’m shooting she has to do for her job tough. another day,” she says. “Thank you.” six days a week, which I kind of love “It’s deeply difficult,” she says. “It’s She laughs and smiles, orders a because when I get in the flow of the not having a break in between. My coffee and we talk. It’s like a different project, I love going for it, but your body is not used to it. I miss my person sitting before me. Her skin body catches up with you.” friends a lot, and I miss rest. I’m very looks fresh, her bags have faded, and She looks seriously relieved she’ll much a creature of habit. I do well her hair is tied tight in a little bun. have some time off after 2 May when with a routine. You can reach

40 · COSMOPOLITAN CELEBRITY maximum capacity and then food. I didn’t have a choice. And scenes were cut. That must have been I feel like I’ve hit a wall.” that’s how I feel now sometimes.” disappointing? “Yes, it was. But it was She suffers badly from jet lag, too. She looks at the table. “I wonder if exciting to be a part of it all. Ben was “For me, it’s a very real thing,” she in 10 years I’ll look back at this time so kind. I knew it wasn’t personal.” says. “All cognitive faculties are shut and think, ‘God, you were hustling.’” She finally got her big break, down. I can only describe it as [being After graduating from Fordham however, in 2012 when she was cast like] a three-year-old trying to in 2006, Taylor landed a place at in OITNB. articulate themselves, but they don’t New York University’s Tisch School Has she ever struggled with the have it [the words]. And it’s just like… of the Arts, but she quit after her intense lesbian sex scenes she has to meltdown.” This is one of several times second year. “I got antsy,” she says. do with her co-star Laura Prepon? Taylor refers to having “meltdowns”. “There’s a bucking “They’re pretty easy,” She adds: “I can’t tell you how bronco inside me.” she says. “To me it’s a bit many nights in the past week I’ve But it paid off because of choreography, then been up doing meditation because she landed an agent and ‘I miss my everyone is on their way I can’t sleep at all.” started getting auditions. friends a lot. home. It’s not For this very reason Taylor is happiest But it wasn’t easy. comfortable, but it’s when she’s shooting OITNB in New “I was so poor. My I’m a creature simple. For Laura and York. She and the rest of the cast live agent once gave me of habit’ me it’s just old hat now.” there. “We go on trips together, go out money. I had zero dollars. There are limits and eat and sometimes do museums,” Boxes of off-brand though and Taylor does she says. “We sometimes cook.” cornflakes were my diet.” have a nudity clause. “It’s so nice [to film it in New In 2009 she landed her first “I don’t know who wouldn’t. But York] because it really prevents TV role on medical drama Mercy. nobody is trying to sneak a nipple in overwhelm,” she adds. “Travelling, It got good reviews but was there without telling you. Or an which is a really exciting part of my cancelled after the first season. errant pubic hair!” job, is also a bit disorientating… A few years later she landed a lead Despite the show’s success, Taylor “You feel lonely but also so deeply role opposite Zac Efron in film The doesn’t consider herself famous, even plugged in with your work and you Lucky One and in Oscar-winning Argo though she regularly gets approached forget almost. But then it gets to the as Ben Affleck’s wife, but most of her by fans. “In Spain recently, I was out weekend when I do remember and at dinner and went to the loo and it’s like, ‘Gosh, I haven’t talked to this woman knocked on the door. anybody in real life for a week. I was like, ‘I’ll be straight out’. I’ve only been talking to fake And she said, ‘No, no, I just want people, my fake friends and my a photograph.’ She just wanted me fake family.’ It’s so crazy…” to know she was there waiting!’” Taylor grew up in Boston. Her I’m interested to learn (given parents (Patricia, a university her exhaustion from travelling) administrator, and Robert, a that the time she has spent in former prosecutor) were divorced Spain and London recently has so she and her brother Sam split made Taylor consider leaving their time between the two. At 18 America and settling elsewhere. she moved to New York to study But she says it has a lot to do with drama at Fordham University. She the upcoming US presidential worked as a nanny to get by. election in November. “Let’s just “[Growing up] we never really say my time in London might be lacked for food, but it was very coming up sooner rather than tight,” she says. “I loved nannying. later,” shesays. “I am nervous [about I had several families that I worked the election]. It gives me anxiety.” for. It was kind of a lot. It’s like now, Taylor is all for Democratic you have little meltdowns, and you candidate Hillary Clinton. “I don’t just sort of do it. I look back at that know if we’ve had a candidate who Taylor with two of her Orange Is The New period of time and think, ‘How did Black love interests: Ruby Rose (top) and is as highly qualified as her in years I do all that?’ But I needed to pay for Laura Prepon (bottom) and I think that alone, regardless of i CELEBRITY her gender, would benefit our country tremendously. She also happens to be a badass woman, which is a plus.” As for Republican Donald Trump… “I am consistently flabbergasted, angry and sad. I feel that way when I watch the news. Particularly as someone who AYLOR SCHILLING identifies as a feminist, it’s very difficult to read his commentary on women in 2013 – present Piper Chapman, Orange Is The New Black “I auditioned with a casting director and two weeks later the creator, Jenji Kohan, public. More than anything, I’m sad… called me from her family holiday in Ireland to say she wanted me. I didn’t even “Maybe I need to go find a [screen] test for it. I was like, ‘OK, I’ll do it!’ It felt special. I loved the writing and Londoner. Do a play over there and that there was no interest in making Piper seem likeable.” meet somebody. London reminds me 2015 Natalya, A Month In The Country, Off Broadway, New York, with Peter Dinklage of New York, but with no bullshit.” “Peter and his wife [actress Erica Schmidt] are dear friends of mine. She got me my first Taylor is single and this weird agent. We had worked together before, which was magnificent, so decided to spend nomadic life she’s living can’t be some time making a play. I’ve not watched Peter in Game Of Thrones. The only thing helping things. “It’s a pressure for I watch on TV is an animated programme called Bob’s Burgers.” everyone,” she says. “I feel fulfilled by 2015 Emily, The Overnight [my job], but it’s only a part of me and I keep remembering it’s not all of 2015 OITNB won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in me and there’s a whole other piece of a Comedy Series at the Screen Actors Guild Awards “I don’t think the show would exist without the cast’s chemistry and what me that needs to be nurtured. I think GROUP, THE WALL N AT we’ve all been through. It’s a really brave and fierce group of women.” it’s going to be a lifelong balancing act IRST AND SECOND SPREAD: SPREAD: AND SECOND IRST S to discover how I can feed both sides.” 2012 Christine, Argo, with Ben Affleck Our time is up: it’s 9.50am and “I have such respect for Ben.” Taylor’s due on set. “I’m so glad 2012 Beth, The Lucky One, with Zac Efron this worked out,” she says. She gives “It was delightful kissing Zac and we had an epic sex scene. It wasn’t the type of work me another hug before she goes. I wanted to spend my life doing, but it made me feel like, “OK, things are moving in the “Thank you for being able to stay.” right direction. I’ve got enough money for another year of living!” I say I’m just glad she’s OK. “Yeah. I 2009 – 2010 Nurse Veronica Flanagan Callahan, Mercy was so tired after work yesterday I just “In some ways I feel OITNB was my big break, but this was the first job needed to crash. There was no way I got after university. It felt like the most exciting thing in the I wanted it to not happen and we all world. I was finally able to easily pay rent and buy food.” worked too hard to get through that.” 2002 – 2009 Worked as a nanny That night, as I board my flight “It was a special time. I had one little boy who only wanted to be referred to as Princess home, I’m still thinking about Taylor. Kitty! And another who could do the entire Michael Jackson Beat It dance. I still miss I’d feared that when we finally talked it, but I’m getting to the point where I could have my own kids instead.” properly she’d brush aside Saturday and act as if nothing had happened. Either that or she would be hard to talk to because she was embarrassed. Education But neither was the reality. 2006 – 2008 Graduate acting no resources, so I had to nanny. I didn’t programme, New York University’s have any option, which is why I’m proud While she’s clearly ambitious and of where I am today. Only recently has extremely talented, she seemed fragile. Tisch School of the Arts Starbucks stopped being a treat.” Tired and fragile. And a little fearful of “I quit after two years. I had nothing to go to. My whole family was like, ‘What?’ the crazy schedule that dictates her life. Mid-90s – 2002 Wayland High School except my dad who said, ‘Alright, monkey “I always felt like an outsider growing But her biggest struggle seems to girl, if that’s what you need to do.’” up. I was really tall, had weird clothes be holding it together in a mad, mad and a colourful family life. I still don’t world. No mean feat for any of us, 2002 – 2006 BA, Fordham know if I fit in now. I started doing but almost impossible in her industry. University, New York theatre when I was 11 and it was Season 4 of Orange Is The New Black “I wanted to be in New York far more the first time going to school felt easy. It meant I had a voice.” ◆ launches on Netflix from 17 June. than I wanted to go to college. I had USING REN AND CHANEL. NAILS MICHELLE SAUNDERS AT FORWARD ARTISTS, USING ESSIE. FASHION ASSISTANT NATASHA MILES. TAYLOR WEARS, F MILES. TAYLOR NATASHA ASSISTANT FASHION USING ESSIE. ARTISTS, FORWARD AT USING REN AND CHANEL. NAILS MICHELLE SAUNDERS GETTY IMAGE & SPENCER. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS CHUNG X MARKS ALEXA £35, ARCHIVE BY £605, EUDON CHOI. THIRD SPREAD: SHIRT, DRESS, Catch up on Seasons 1-3 now HALPERI MAKE-UP LUCY STARWORKSARTISTS.COM. AT BREUER, USING WELLAFLEX PROFESSIONALS AMY BANNERMAN. HAIR SASCHA DIRECTOR FASHION

42 · COSMOPOLITAN

IT’S WHAT’S ON THE OUTSIDE THAT COUNTS

TOP OF OUR BUCKET (BAG) LIST If you’ve had it with muddy festivals, damp rucksacks and a bad back this summer, then let us introduce your new seasonal stalwart: the bucket bag. This gold riveted beauty is by Arctic-cool French designer Jérôme Dreyfuss and will leave your hands free for the exacting tasks of re-applying suncream whilst taunting your storm-ravaged friends back home with sun-drenched beach selﬁes. In short, we’re digging it.

WORDS AMY BANNERMAN. PHOTOGRAPH IAN OLIVER WALSH. STYLING SAIREY STEMP SAIREY STYLING IAN OLIVER WALSH. AMY BANNERMAN. PHOTOGRAPH WORDS £555, Jérôme Dreyfuss

COSMOPOLITAN · 45 FRILL SEEKERS

Ruﬄes are one of the summer’s biggest and prettiest trends. Disclaimer: they’re not just for girlie girls

FASHION Sairey Stemp PHOTOGRAPHS Maximilian Vom Hofe

The off-the- TIP! shoulder Have you Top, £35, heard? Shoulders are Warehouse. Sunglasses, the new legs. This minimal £319, Givenchy flash of flesh is great for the body-shy. It’s worth investing in a good strapless bra (try Maidenform’s Minimiser Bandeau, £35 at La Redoute). If you’re blessed with big boobs, choose a minimising style for this look for a more flattering result.

Dress, £49, Warehouse. Sunglasses (in hand), £319, Givenchy. Shoes, £125, F-Troupe

46 · COSMOPOLITAN Skirt, £210, Orla Kiely. Shoes, £275, LK Bennett SUMMER x Bionda Castana RUFFLES

The multi-faceted TIP! ruffleWith a dress like this, which is The frilled slip a veritable sugary ruffle TIP! dress Delicate explosion, wear trainers chevron-effect frills and a simple, structured draw the eye to the centre cross-body bag to keep it of your frame, creating an cool. Save the silver strappy illusion of slimness. Add heels and a clutch for the a pair of chunky sandals to all-out wedding-guest look. offset the lightness of the slip, and you’re ready to go. Dress, £253, and trainers, £204, both Pinko. Bag, Dress, £60, River Island. £139, Radley i Earrings, £75, Matthew Calvin; rings, from £30, Rebecca Gladstone; choker, £80, Reason + Madness, all from Magpie On The Run. Sandals, £245, Loeffler Randall

COSMOPOLITAN · 47 Left: Sandals, £79, Michael Michael Kors. Right: Sandals, £245, Fiorentini+Baker

The A-line peplum TIP! frill Because an A-line top adds volume at the waist, you’re in danger of swamping your frame. Keep your shorts short or your jeans tight to make a neater, more ﬂattering silhouette.

Top, £42, The Fifth. The workwear frill Shorts, £115, Longchamp TIP! Newsﬂash: frilly shirts aren’t just for Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Wear over a pretty bra, tuck in at the waist and leave unbuttoned to reveal a peek of lingerie.

Above left: Shirt, £22, Dorothy Perkins. Skirt, £35, Oasis. Sunglasses, £125, Marc Jacobs. Right: Shirt, £39.50, Hawes & Curtis. Skirt, £45, The Whitepepper. Sunglasses, £229, Fendi

48 · COSMOPOLITAN The midriff-baring TIP! top When you’re wearing a cropped blouse, make sure your skirt rests at the slimmest part of your waist (and isn’t too tight – do the sit-down test in the ﬁtting room).

Top, £68, N12H. Skirt, £140, Karen Millen. Sunglasses, £220, Marc Jacobs i

The organza pleat TIP! ruffleBalance the saccharine quality of a pastel tiered ballet skirt with high-tops and a classic grey sweat. Think of a modern-day Carrie Bradshaw (remember that skirt?).

Sweatshirt, £45, Selfish Mother at John Lewis (£15 goes to Women For Women International). Skirt, £65, Miss Patina. Sunglasses, £300, Fendi. Watch, £100, Baby-G by G-Shock. Shoes, £47.99, Converse at Office Top, £200, and skirt, £210, both Orla Kiely. Sunglasses, £215, Versace at Sunglass Hut

The drop-hem TIP! ruffleThere’s a ladylike restrictiveness to a ruffle-hemmed pencil skirt. A sporty slide and boyish sweat are the perfect antidote to primness. Great for cooler days – add a trainer if rain is a possibility.

Sweatshirt, £100, Etre Cécile. Skirt, £225, Edit. Shoes, £25, ASOS. Earrings, £60, and rings, from £40, all Pandora Skirt, £140, Karen Millen. Clutch, £219, Roksanda at The Outnet

The pie-crust collar TIP! frill A ruffle over the bust is hard to pull off if you’re bigger than a C-cup. Unless you have swan-like proportions, scoop up your hair nonchalantly to elongate your neck, and accessorise with a sculptural earring, or a matte red lip and washed-out blue jeans.

Shirts, £35 each, Archive by Alexa at M&S

Hair Charley McEwen at Frank Agency using Bumble and Bumble. Pure-white trainers Make-up Kenneth TIP! can be the ultimate Soh at Frank Agency accompaniment to using Masque a pretty dress. Wear them Bar and Kevyn bare (no socks) and look for Aucoin. Models slight touches of difference, Lily Lightbourn at like subtle stripes or, in this M+P, Terri Lee at case, a gentle frill. You can Wilhelmina. Fashion assistant Emma Hull always mix up your laces for added colour.

Dress, £253, and trainers, £204, both Pinko. Bag, £139, Radley ◆

COSMOPOLITAN · 51

HEY, 3 WHERE IN THE WILD? HOW DO Vintage stores and Ebay are your ﬁrst stops for past- season designer numbers. The more worn in the better I WEAR… – new ones can be as stiff as a Hugh Grant handshake. Or top specialist outﬁtter Jessie Western boots Western is the only UK store to offer fully customised Not just for festivals cowboy boots. Yee-haw. and fancy dress, here’s how to be queen of the rodeo all year round

4 KICK BACK AND RELAX 1 EVERYTHING Bought a new pair? Before IN MODERATION you end up with blisters, try OK. Don’t panic. We’re not asking wetting your socks – bear you to commute looking like John with us – and wear the boots Wayne. The trick to pulling off until the socks dry out. The this trend is to minimise cowboy water loosens up the leather references elsewhere on your person. in all the right places. They’ll Keep it breezy with ﬂoaty summer soon be as comfortable dresses and save your plaid shirt and as your faithful Nikes. Daisy Dukes for another day.

5 HEIGHT MATTERS Westerns have had a heel makeover. Keep to a chunky 2 WORKING block heel, like Kate Bosworth here and they’ll walk the walk THE COWBOY (you’ve just got to talk the If Miu Miu, Missoni and Valentino talk). Don’t forget, the higher are anything to go by, there will be the heel, the more often they’ll a pair of cowboy boots in everyone’s need reheeling. Try London’s wardrobe by the end of 2016. Classic Shoe Repair (you can Pick from basic to blingy, leather post them), where celebs take or suede and wear… everywhere. their precious Louboutins. i

TTthfurn the page for more ways to wear your westerns

COSMOPOLITAN · 53 4 STUDDED Get you, Miranda, nailing two trends in one – the thigh-split skirt and cowboy boots. This is a masterclass in understated styling, with the bonus that jersey won’t blow up in the wind. Go for embellished boots or pimp yours at memyselfandjonny.co.uk. Their boot belts will funk up a plain pair. Top, £140, Raquel Allegra at matchesfashion.com. Skirt, £36, Urban Outﬁtters. Sunglasses, £107, Ray-Ban. Handbag, £149, Love My Soul. Boots, £219, Ash

Miranda Kerr 4 PRINTED Rosie’s outﬁt is proof ﬂoral dresses look cooler paired with a printed boot. Don’t be nervous of putting snakeskin with other prints – the neutral tones go with everything and look really rock ’n’ roll. Dress, £22.99, New Look. Sunglasses, £241, Miu Miu at Sunglass Hut. Earrings, £75, Maria Black at Very Exclusive. PSST… Bracelet, from £49; charm, The fash-pack send their from £40, both Pandora. boots to shoedyeing Boots, £630, Sandro direct.co.uk for Rosie Huntington- a refresh and lick Whiteley of custom paint.

Kourtney Kardashian 4 HEELED Boot-tucking can be tricky, but here’s how to pull it off. Like Kourtney, stick to a white or grey V-neck tee and a structured boxy jacket to slim your legs and focus the attention on your envy-inducing footwear. Jacket, £150, Asos. T-shirt, £25, Calvin Klein Jeans. Jeans, £22.99, New Look. Sunglasses, £119, Polo Ralph Lauren at Sunglass Hut. Bag, £59, Modalu. Belt, £32, ◆ Topshop. Boots, £325, Toga TODD JODY XPOSURE, INF PHOTO, NEWS, COAST PACIFIC MILES. PHOTOGRAPHS NATASHA STYLING

54 · COSMOPOLITAN

Make a sp

CUTAWAY Thinking about exposing an erogenous zone or two? £18, Boohoo Choose your 16 HILFIGER S/S TOMMY favourite with a cutaway style.

£40, River Island £22, Missguided TIP! Use a higher than normal SPF when wearing these or you’ll get jigsaw-puzzle tan lines. Then fake it with St Tropez’s new Gradual Tan Tinted Body Lotion (£15).

£72, Calzedonia £265, Moeva

£19.99, H&M

£60, Kurt Geiger

£110, L’Agent by Agent Provocateur £32, Very

56 · COSMOPOLITAN

Dreaming about hanging out poolside? THE Us too. Picture yourself in the hottest EDIT S/S 16 swimwear, selected by SENIOR lash FASHION EDITOR SAIREY STEMP

£4£42,2, Midnight dh Grace aat Figglleaves s TROPICAL Top, £14.99; bottoms, £8.99, Picture both H&M yourself on a paradise Top, £26.50; island eating bottoms, £20, both Floozie by Frost a Bounty bar French at Debenhams in one of these beauties. Top, £19.99; bottoms, £15.99, both Mango

£69, TIP! £42, Butterfly by Matthew Bimba y Lola Want glossy limbs Williamson at Debenhams like Beyoncé? Use an oil-based SPF like

ANNA SUI S/S 16 ANNA SUI S/S Hawaiian Tropic Spray Oil (£7.50). Bonus: high shine works best with tropical prints.

Top, £8; bottoms, £5, both Tu at Sainsbury’s

£60, Triangl

£210, Mara Hoffman at Net-A-Porter i

COSMOPOLITAN · 57 Top, £16;bottoms, £12, one of these… going toneed a lilo,you’re lounger than found onthe likely tobe If you’re more CROCHET both Red Herring

£90, LisaMaree

TOMMY HILFIGER S/S 16 Top, £34.50; briefs, £29, bothBoden £250, Stella 20Stella £250 McCartney £225, KiiniatAvenue 32 at Beach £269, PilyQ Café 70, AnnaKosturova £1 Victoria’s Secret £76, £70, Triangl unappealing ‘bagand £35, Very To prevent thevery a crochet swimsuit sag’ effect, opt for £105, Rinikini that contains at least 25% spandex. TIP! i

60 them all… them all… you willlove swimsuits. And leftover slogan a job-lotof they’ve got The ’80scalled, GRAPHIC

COSMOPOLITAN Shopbop £64.84,

£38, Adidas Stellasport £25, AnnSummers

MOSCHINO S/S 16 £32, Vero Moda atLipsy £99, Wildfox atSelfridges £35, Rare £29.99, Bonprix £68, LimeBlonde £70, Tommy Hilfiger at Very Exclusive £54, LazyOaf high leg.Sexy? Yes. Hard The ’80ssloganswimsuit comes withaperilously size upfor modesty Sure. We say, buya to keep control of? measures. £39, Motel Rocks £28, Topshop TIP! Boohoo £20, ◆

STILL LIFES 3OBJECTIVES. BACKSTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS JASON LLOYD-EVANS, IMAXTREE COSMOPOLITAN PROMOTION Mix up LOOK SHARP There’s nothing quite like a glimpse of eye-catching sparkle to complete an outﬁt. The number one rule this season? Double up and stack ’em high! HOT RIGHT NOW SUMMER GO SHADES AHEAD This season, Valentino BREAK taught us that more is the THE new less. Stack across and up to mimic the catwalk RULES trend and complement with Forget what you’ve a fresh manicure in lilac, heard about mixing lemon and aquamarine and matching (see Dior metals, make S/S 16). a statement by combining chunky sterling silver bands with dainty rose tones in-between for maximum effect.

Our hands can reveal an awful lot about our personalities and our health even, but sometimes a slick of paint on our nails just isn’t enough. Jewellery is as much a form of expression as our hands themselves are, and one thing we’re noticing this KNOW WHEN season, both on and off the TO STOP catwalk, is excess finger (AFTER ONE bling. One ring can look MORE) formal, but one on each Play with patterns, shapes finger raises the cool factor. and sizes for an exaggerated but personalised look and 14ct gold stacking rings, from £225, Pandora Rose from £45, and Whether sterling silver, pile on flowers, crystals and sterling silver from £30. Explore the full collection at pandora.net 14ct yellow gold or rose hearts for extra length. The metal, we’re layering them trick is to stop when you on one by one. reach the knuckle!

YOUR NO–BS GUIDE TO ALL THINGS BEAUTY

THE COCONUT EFFECT Up until 2011, no one cared about coconuts, or Calvin Harris. Now Tay Tay loves Calvin and we love coconuts so much they’ve found their way into our bloody nail polish. Some of our favourite brands such as Barry M (best colours, best prices) and Nails Inc (best gel effect) boast coconut-water- infused polish. Why, you may ask? Well, turns out the fatty acids in coconut penetrate the nail bed fast, for strength and nourishment. The juice is antibacterial, too – perfect for preventing fungal infections because, err, who wants those? Barry M Coconut Infusion Nail Paint, £4.99. Nails Inc

WORDS LAURA CAPON. PHOTOGRAPH LEO ACKER. NAILS LOUI-MARIE EBANKS, USING ESSIE EBANKS, NAILS LOUI-MARIE LEO ACKER. CAPON. PHOTOGRAPH LAURA WORDS Coconut Brights Gel Effect, £15

COSMOPOLITAN · 65 CONFESSIONS

Firefighter, bomb-disposal engineer… Beauty Director? INGEBORG VAN LOTRINGEN has spent her career reporting from the front line OF A of the industry… and it’s not always been pretty bruising its only drawback – until I rocked up with my knees. Unlike my twice-CoolSculpted thighs (big success), they remained staunchly blue. And, not very encouragingly, nobody knows why. “We’ve never seen this happen before,” is the feedback from the company and from my very experienced therapist. BEAUTY Equally mysterious is why my eyes blew up like 99 red balloons as a result of a superficial eye and lip acid peel, the third in succession after two earlier ones went off with barely a hitch. Administered by a specialist I know and trust, no faults were made but there was no real explanation either, apart from guesses at a ‘rare allergic reaction’. By all EDITOR accounts, the peel, which is meant to I have two blue knees. They’ve been blue stimulate collagen and fight crepeyness since last December. It’s not really a problem: (sign me up), is terribly effective on most my legs are very unattractive and I never people – except me, obviously. I’m left with get them out anyway. So it’s probably eyes so traumatised they’ve gone more crepey, ironic that they turned blue as part of my which is frankly a rubbish result. lifelong and, in every sense of the word, vain And that’s just my beauty-related injuries pursuit of ‘better’ ones. of recent months. I’ve had thighs dotted with It’s CoolSculpting that did it – and weeping consumptive sores (glycolic acid let me say first and foremost that I love cellulite cream), a black bottom for about six CoolSculpting. I would (will) have it again. weeks (ultrasound treatment, cellulite again), You know those small pockets of a great big dent in my thigh fat that won’t shift through diet (first-generation, too-small nor exercise, and will probably CoolSculpting applicator), a still be there after a nuclear huge blood blister on my cheek holocaust, along with 'Mysteriously, (laser) and a large assortment of cockroaches? CoolSculpting my eyes blew welts and furious rashes from freezes them, painlessly, killing up like 99 facials. Among other things. the fat cells, which then get Some of these deformities were flushed out by your lymph system red balloons' expected, others were not. Most over two months. It’s the only went away – some, I suspect, by non-surgical fat-removal option sheer luck. The thing is, I’m not that works, with mild temporary a dunce who’ll have a go with i

66 · COSMOPOLITAN Ice packs, painkillers, hypodermics… all in a day’s work for our Inge any quack in possession of a second-hand laser. But it is my job to be a human guinea pig for the treatments and procedures that you’ll soon be seeing in clinics and on high streets across the land. I’ve been a beauty journalist for nearly 20 years and, let me tell you, in the past five years I have seen more mind-boggling advancements than in my entire career. Some are excellent and truly work, some of them are completely bogus and others are quite frankly dangerous. Let me tell you what I, and my body, have learned. RISKY BUSINESS We take an awful lot of risks when it comes to ‘beauty’. A lot of that has to do with the warp speed with which ‘non-invasive’ beauty treatments have gone mainstream, and the way they are presented to us as the equivalent of having your lashes permed. In a world where a 17-year-old Kylie Jenner can acquire a new face ‘without surgery’, we have been conditioned to think of anything labelled ‘beauty’ as innocuous, even if it involves needles. Plastic surgeons are having a field day fixing botched filler jobs done by people with no medical qualifications: according to BAAPS’ most recent figures*, nearly two-thirds of surgeons dealt with complications stemming from temporary fillers in 2012. The numbers are still rising exponentially, says Dr Tapan Patel, medical director of the ‘The beauty The fact is that you can Unexplained facial Phi cosmetic clinic and treatment take every precaution you like, injuries? Strange someone I have trusted for but you’re still at risk. There’s contraptions? This is just how Inge rolls years. “I see at least one of these arena is called a reason why every clinic or cases per day, versus one every The Wild West’ salon treatment is preceded six months 10 years ago.” by a consent form to sign, and I wouldn’t be so stupid as why the most powerful cosmetic to let Maureen from the local ingredients are prescription-only. beauty salon loose on my face It’s not that they’re sinister, but with a syringe, but I’ve definitely been anyone can react adversely to any skincare guilty of overriding my own instincts ingredient, at any time. Reactions depend and knowledge in the face of risky-feeling on so many things, including your DNA, treatments promising ravishing results. so they are often impossible to predict. And I’m clearly not alone: whenever I show As for ‘non-invasive’ procedures that involve my latest war wounds to my friends and mechanics rather than chemistry, like lasers colleagues, the first question after the initial and fat-freezing paddles – well, you may not screams of horror invariably is: “But did it be cutting yourself open, but you’re still work?” We know perfection, like unicorns, causing trauma to living tissue in order to doesn’t exist, but we still insist on chasing it, achieve a result. And, of course, the more consequences be damned. dramatic a transformation you’re gunning for, i

COSMOPOLITAN · 69 the greater the possible backlash – be it temporary or permanent – from a body shouting “enough already”. WILD WEST WRANGLING The beauty treatment arena is notoriously unregulated (to the point where BAAPS refers to it as ‘The Wild West’), which doesn’t make it any easier to sidestep unforeseen scrapes. For example, dermal fillers can legally be performed by anyone as long as they have consent (yes, you read that right), while serious chemical peels (such as phenol peels; you’ll be forewarned of a red-raw face for days or weeks) ‘should only be performed by those with appropriate medical training’. Which is a vague recommendation that is routinely flaunted. So here’s what I do (and you should, too): Is there a doctor in the house? It doesn’t 1 matter if some of your treatments are done by a highly trained aesthetician (most peels and many laser treatments are), you need to know there’s a physician nearby in case there’s trouble. The ultimate responsibility should lie with a doctor – take it from Dr Patel. Be obsessive in your research. When it It's not all facials and should’ve been a red flag. As for my blue comes to injections, consultant plastic spa days, you know. knees: I bruise like an overripe peach at 2 Sometimes, beauty hurts surgeon Mr Marc Pacifico told me anyone the merest provocation, so perhaps they who’s not medically qualified shouldn’t go were an accident waiting to happen. near your face. How do you figure out who Do they specialise? It can pay to opt for to trust and who has a good eye? Ask to 6 a therapist who specialises in your skin see patient feedback and examples of type; I’ve noticed those with an affinity for their work, and get recommendations. acne can be a bit gung-ho with my paper-thin Online forums like RealSelf are, skin, while sensitive-skin specialists may not apparently, good for the latter. always be thorough enough if you suffer from Have they got options? A decent congestion. Do your research; pros always clinic offers bespoke treatment, and state their specialisms and passions. 3 Inge’s eye should suggest a wide choice of options peel aftermath Be stubborn. If you have a sensitivity, in your consultation (there should 7 stand your ground. I can’t count the always be one!). If you get the slightest number of times my fragrance allergy has whiff that they only have one or two been ignored – and ended up with a scarlet machines to push onto every customer, leave. lumpy face. I’ve learned to be clear and Beware the waiting room. A clinic’s adamant before a treatment, and to say, “Take 4 waiting room can be a revelation. that off my face, please,” when necessary. If the receptionist and/or customers show A bit of Wait a while. The newer the treatment, no detectable signs of ‘work’, chances are light laser… 8 the greater the chance not all side effects you are on to a good one. Google your have been noted. If you don’t want to be a potential doctor’s face as well. crash-test dummy, best avoid the latest crazes Know thyself. With my history of adverse until they’re established – give it three years 5 reactions to aggressive acids, the small at least. Or use your trusty beauty journo ◆ itchy patches after my first two eye peels to take the hits. At your service. HAIR CRAIG MARSDEN, USING MAKE-UP LAN NGUYEN-GREALIS, USING MAC. HOFF. ELISABETH PHOTOGRAPHS REISS. DRESS, THIS PAGE: TOPSHOP. TOP, PAGE: SECOND REISS. COAT, PAGE: INGE WEARS, FIRST KEVIN MURPHY. 2012 NOVEMBER 24 SURGEONS INTERNAL STUDY, PLASTIC OF AESTHETIC *BRITISH ASSOCIATION The blue knees, six months on 70 · COSMOPOLITAN

HELP! I’M LOS No woman is prepared for the soul-destroying impact of a bald patch.

TURN THE Do you tend to PAGE FOR notice it more in ANSWER A the autumn? TURN THE PAGE FOR No ANSWER B

Gradual Do you wear your hair thinning over in tight hairstyles like cornrows, or attach a period of time extensions regularly? (as in an expanding parting or thinner ponytail) TURN THE PAGE FOR No ANSWER C START Do you crash diet, TURN THE HOW WOULD YOU or eat more burgers PAGE FOR DESCRIBE YOUR than green stuff? ANSWER E Suffered an emotional HAIR LOSS? or physical trauma, such as a car crash, bad break-up or even Or perhaps No chronic illness, in the No you’re past three to six months? Sudden a vegetarian? and dramatic (as in overnight or Consider over a matter of yourself weeks, resulting stressed? No TURN THE No in an exposed PAGE FOR scalp) ANSWER L TURN THE TURN THE TURN THE PAGE FOR PAGE FOR No PAGE FOR ANSWER G ANSWER D ANSWER F

Have you recently undergone chemotherapy TURN THE Suffer from TURN THE treatment? PAGE FOR very heavy PAGE FOR No ANSWER M periods? ANSWER D

72 · COSMOPOLITAN ING MY HAIR! But it happens to one in ﬁve of us. Take our test to ﬁnd out why…

Talking of illness, TURN THE No TURN THE do you suffer from any PAGE FOR PAGE FOR conditions known to affect hormones, ANSWER K ANSWER J such as diabetes, thyroid problems Are you or polycystic ovaries? aged 55+? TURN THE PAGE FOR ANSWER H No No TURN THE PAGE FOR ANSWER I i Perhaps Have you started you’ve given any new medication birth in the in the past three last three to to six months? No six months?

COSMOPOLITAN · 73 ANSWER E Stress-related hair loss is What are my ✱C’MON… usually attributed to one traumatic event (see answer F) but don’t underestimate the drain long-term, treatment WHY THE low-level stress can have on your body. options? HELL AM I ANSWER F A shock or trauma can cause hair follicles to go into Minoxidil GPs will prescribe this hibernation around three months lotion for most hair-loss GOING BALD? after the event. As you recover, so cases. It can also be purchased at too should your hair growth. pharmacies. It works by blocking a pesky ANSWER G Hormones have enzyme on the scalp a real say in how your hair grows, that converts testosterone meaning any illness that affects into a hair-damaging hormone called dihydrotestosterone (let’s them can have a knock-on effect. call it DHT). You still need to find the trigger for your hair loss in ANSWER H Some medications order to cure it permanently, can cause hair loss, but don’t though. Regaine For Women stop taking prescribed meds Once A Day Scalp Foam, £34.95. without talking to your GP. Supplements ANSWER I A scatter-gun Postpartum approach to alopecia is down to oestrogen supplements isn’t levels taking a tumble after advised, so get a pregnancy. Your hair should blood test with your return to its former glory GP to confirm which vitamins and minerals you’re lacking. Still within a year of giving birth. desperate for a recommendation? Trichologist Iain Sallis loves Hair ANSWER J Androgenetic Jelly Protein Capsules, £29.95. alopecia, or female pattern baldness, is more common with Scalp tonics age, and affects around 50% of Leave-in tonics ANSWER A Don’t sweat it – most post-menopausal women. applied to the scalp can help to extend the people shed 5–7% more hair in hair-growth phase. the autumn. “Honestly this isn’t ANSWER K “Finding the trigger Azelaic acid is thought to an overly noticeable amount,” says for hair loss can be tricky,” admits have anti-DHT properties (present in trichologist Iain Sallis. Just keep trichologist Iain Sallis. To investigate Philip Kingsley Tricho 7 Volumizing an eye on it come January. further, seek advice from a member Hair & Scalp Treatment, £50), and some plant extracts have been of The Institute of Trichologists. shown to work (we’re talking about ANSWER B This is traction alopecia, you, baikal skullcap, key ingredient where tension on the hair can damage ANSWER L Chemo causes something in Phyto Phytologist 15, £79). follicles permanently – so loosen up! called anagen effluvium, where the hair cells are poisoned and die Densifying ANSWER C The minerals, vitamins temporarily. The good news: hair products and amino acids found in a balanced growth should recover around three to Products that diet are a must for healthy hair growth. six months after treatment has ended. promise to See your GP for a deficiency test. densify usually contain tiny fibres ANSWER M Visit your GP who can that cling to the hair to ANSWER D Cut out red meat? You investigate a possible autoimmune- instantly (but temporarily) thicken may be iron deficient. The blood related alopecia. The more permanent it. Try Viviscal Conceal & Densify loss from periods can also tip you ‘scarring’ form is extremely rare, so Volumizing Fibers, £19.99. ◆ into anaemic territory. don’t be scared to seek help, OK? BOOTS AT REGAINE AVAILABLE PLANEN PETKOV. PHOTOGRAPH POWNEY. CASSIE WORDS

74 · COSMOPOLITAN

COSMOPOLITAN PROMOTION Switch up YOUR METAL

This season, think metallic eyes and heaps of gold liner, paired with wow- factor earrings in matching tones

Whether it’s on your eyelids, fingernails or ears, metallics are huge this summer. What better excuse do we need to pile on the jewellery than to complement our shimmering eyelids? When you think of those hazy summer evenings, watching the sun go down or picnic dates and walks around the park, opt for a crystal heart- shaped earring – yes TO MATCH that’s right, just one, OR NOT we’re mixing up our TO MATCH earrings to stay on trend. Mismatch your earrings Many designers have yes, but keep your embraced the mix-and- metals matching. If match earring trend you’re wearing a silver eyeshadow, stick to a on the catwalk and silver stud to enhance we’re loving it. your shimmer. SOFT BLUSH AND ROSY LIPS Keep lips and cheeks to a soft neutral to emphasise the eyes. Use a dark grey or black base and add FULL METAL specks of glitter if NAILS you’re a little too shy to Silver and gold are flattering pull off the tin-foil look. to all skin types and will always be chic. Raise your Heart, Feather and Floral stud earrings, available from £40 at pandora.net bling game with a high-volume metallic nail laquer. See Essie or MAC for a super-slick finish. INGE HAS ISSUES Cosmopolitan’s Beauty Director INGEBORG VAN LOTRINGEN gets a few things off her chest SHOULD YOU INVEST IN… SKINCARE FOR HAIR? Green People Sure, hair is technically Quinoa & dead. But like skin’s dead Prebiotics outer layer, it acts like the Deodorant, undead: how you treat it £9.50 makes a big difference to how it looks and behaves. In fact, like skin, hair has a protective lipid layer and plumping proteins that We need to talk about... need topping up every time you attack it. Color Wow’s Bionic Tonic Cocktails, £22 each, put back Deodorant Bakel what colourants Deodorant and heated tools This month I’ve been trying natural you’ll naturally perspire less – and Spray Mint, £24 rob hair of, infusing it with deodorants. And here’s why.… botanical antibacterial agents will nutrients for “Aluminium salts in antiperspirants kill smells,” Gregoris assured me. strength, gloss work by irritating the sweat glands To my surprise, she was right. or thickness. so they swell up and block I’m sold. Don’t want to ‘adjust’? Call them perspiration,” says cosmetic chemist Soft & Gentle has launched three serums, or liquid supplements, Raffaella Gregoris. Eww. They also no-aluminium, no-alcohol Soft & Gentle or long-term give me itchy welts, so I’ve been antiperspirants (they shrink your 0% Aluminium hair insurance trying natural versions, tentatively. sweat pores with plant extracts), and Anti-Perspirant – they rock. “After two months of adjustment, guess what? They work really well. Deodorant, £2.99

PERSONAL SHOPPER OBSESSED IMPRESSED NONPLUSSED ✱ Bioderma Hydrabio ✱ Charlotte Mensah Manketti ✱ Revlon Colorstay 2-in-1 Eau de Soin SPF30, £9 Oil, £36 A non-greasy Compact Makeup & Concealer, Finally, a UV shield conditioning (it’s a mix of £13.99 It may boast that requires no oils and light silicones). of being “sweat- rubbing in. Mist it My coily-maned tester says resistant”, but don’t over make-up every her hair has never felt so wear it when you few hours for all-day soft and light, nor looked work out, or you’ll in-the-city protection. so beautifully finished. risk breakout city. PHOTOGRAPHS KYLE DELEU/THE LICENSING PROJECT DELEU/THE KYLE PHOTOGRAPHS

COSMOPOLITAN · 77

Editor ’s BEAUTY pick LAB Superdrug Colour Fix Instant Root Cover, £4.99 Despite only going as light as Dark Blonde, and my distrust of spray-on colour, this fine, non-tacky mist offered the quickest and most noticeable cover-up by far! Who says good hair comes at a price?

Color Wow Root Cover Up, £28.50 The wider brush covered a large strip of regrowth quickly – good start. The Blonde shade made little difference to my roots but, surprisingly, Platinum Blonde offered a not-to-be-sniffed-at lift on my natural-looking dye job.

Take cover! L’Oréal Paris Magic Retouch Instant Root Camouﬂaging regrowth to Concealer Spray, £8.99 I find the minimise salon visits is thhe lack of control with spray-on root ultimate recession hack. B eauty colour unnerving, and the Light Editor CASSIE POWNEY decidid edd Blonde was more to get to the root of the issuee… of a mousy brown. I sprayed away, but my hair just John Frieda Root got wetter… Blur Colour Blending Charles Concealer, £14.99 I was unconvinced Worthington by the teeny Salon At Home powder pad and Instant Root brush – was this Concealer

for root-conscious Powder, £14.99 Impressive, easily Borrowers? Turns buildable colour. out it’s all you need My roots were to create fine, neutralised (but natural-looking not completely highlights. Not camouflaged) in enough coverage under a minute for dark regrowth by layering on on solid platinum the Light blonde, though. PHOTOGRAPHS JAMIE NELSON/BLAUBLUT EDITION, HEARST STUDIOS EDITION, HEARST NELSON/BLAUBLUT JAMIE PHOTOGRAPHS Blonde shade.

WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER…

BLUE-SKY THINKING If you want to make an impact at work, now’s the time to do it. According to a recent study by Belgium’s Liège University, seasonal changes have a positive effect on our brains, our cognitive efficiency (read: thinking) and our focus. Summer is a more productive time than bleak midwinter, and we’re actually at our most brainy in June. Some suggestions for using your new smarts: tackle War And Peace, ask for a pay rise, cure cancer or try to crack Tinder’s algorithm so you don’t

WORDS JOSIE COPSON. PHOTOGRAPH DENNIS PEDERSON. STATIONERY FROM PRESENTANDCORRECT.COM, LIBERTY.CO.UK AND PAPERCHASE.CO.UK LIBERTY.CO.UK FROM PRESENTANDCORRECT.COM, DENNIS PEDERSON. STATIONERY PHOTOGRAPH JOSIE COPSON. WORDS keep seeing that guy with the waxed torso... you choose.

COSMOPOLITAN · 81 COSMOPOLITAN PROMOTION Let the SPARKS FLY How do you add a little sparkle to an otherwise dull day in the office? With S/S 16’s instant BUTTON UP brightening statement necklaces AND LAYER ON Pairing a large pendant necklace over a buttoned- up crisp shirt adds a bit of oomph to your working- day outﬁt. When your colleagues see you, they’re more than likely to notice THAT how pretty your necklace SPECIAL is rather than how tired you SOMETHING are that Monday morning! Just like the rings you wear daily, necklaces can be extremely personal and hold sentimental value, whether it be a gift to yourself or a gift you’ve been given. Go for something special to wear each day, then dress up or down as you please.

With this season being all about the shirt (cropped, Bardot, shirt-dress, the list is endless) our bare décolletages are in need of some love. Layering delicate chains and pendants turns something simple into something special. Opt for alternative chain lengths, swap SHAPE IT UP pendants and colour Experiment with co-ordinate to dress up contrasting lengths to complement your your outﬁt. If your look shirt's neckline. Be bold is smart each day, play with and pair same-shape jewellery trends as a form pendants. Adding that extra edge, will set Sterling Silver and Pandora Rose necklaces, available from of expression; choose from your white shirt £30 at pandora.net pretty summer ﬂorals, apart from the rest. architectural shapes and colour-clashing metals. ‘TRYING THE OLD ‘HE CAN’T BLAME GAME, EXPECT US TO ARE WE?’ BUY THAT ONE, SURELY’

‘I WAS HUGELY SURPRISED MYSELF...’

The ‘yogurt stolen from the fridge’ inquiry had really escalated

(those M&S gins in tins have a lot to answer for). Own it. “Any time you take ownership of a problem and A FIXER’S GUIDE admit there was an error, people are forgiving of that,” explains Judy. When tennis player Maria Sharapova failed a drugs test recently, she called a press conference to announce she’d been TO FAILURE suspended before the news leaked. Meet the authority in handling A-list f**k-ups. Judy Smith, the The result? She was applauded for inspiration behind TV’s Scandal, knows how to save your skin coming clean. Whatever you do, don’t try to cover it up. “When you deal If you watch Scandal, you’ll know Lewinsky and cigar-gate? Yup, she fixed with mistakes by hiding things and Olivia Pope is the one woman on TV that political shit heap, too. Here, she then people discover it – that’s way you’d want on your side. As a ‘fixer’, she shares her strategies for bouncing worse than saying, ‘I made this error,’ can make any indiscretion disappear. back from workplace failure. As and moving on from it.” What you might not know is Pope is Olivia Pope would say: it’s handled. based on real-life crisis manager Judy The situation: EVERYONE Smith, who, in her 20-year career, has The situation: KNOWS YOU BALLSED UP fixed some of entertainment’s biggest YOU’VE MESSED UP AT WORK “One of the key strategies in a crisis is crises. Remember when those Sony So those confidential documents you addressing it quickly,” says Judy. Saying emails were leaked, including one were tasked with looking after are sorry speedily is key, but there’s a calling Angelina Jolie a “spoiled brat”? now halfway to Glasgow on the train golden rule – you have to mean it. Judy cleaned up that mess. Monica – while you got off at Birmingham When Sony had its emails hacked in i

COSMOPOLITAN · 83

every crisis there are lessons to learn JUDGE JUDY – and opportunities.” Lewinsky, who, See these smiley, WESLEY SNIPES in her own words, was “the first person to have their reputation happy people?* Judy eShe helped the actor nret afterurn he was jailed completely destroyed worldwide via Smith put a smile fforx a tavoidancx e. Shame the internet”, now campaigns against on their dial by eshe couldn’t sort out cyberbullying and is an ambassador getting them out his glasses too. for charity Bystander Revolution. of the proverbial “People think that once the crisis is done, it’s over. But you have to think, what’s the plan now, how do I rehabilitate my brand? That’s important,” says Judy. Sony boss Pascal also became caught PAULA DEEN MONICA LEWINSKY up in a controversy over the When this US celebrity gender pay gap (when an email Smith guided ML through chef admitted to the media storm after her racial slurs, Judy had exchange revealed Jennifer “inappropriate” liaisons to resuscitate her Lawrence was on less than her with Bill Clinton. Cigar? all-American image. male co-stars), but she now runs What cigar? her own production company championing female talent. So, yes, that video of you murdering a Madonna song at office karaoke might feel mortifying now. But who’ll be laughing when you get all the MICHAEL VICK SONY credit for planning the next work bash? The NFL player pleadadedd eWhen The Interview, a film guilty to dogfighting. sbased on Kim Jong-un The situation: YOU GOSSIPED Judy allegedly wroote ( abbove), was cancelled TO THE WRONG PERSON this dawg a 45-paage after threats from hackers, What’s the harm in a little office Jud yyw as the crisis adviser. damage-control pllan.. tittle-tattle? Plenty. It was only the reason the Monica Lewinsky affair was exposed in the first place… 2014, then co-chair Amy Pascal to do something – whether that’s Monica confided in a co-worker apologised for “insensitive words”, making a statement or doing a that she’d had a brief fling with the specifically about President Obama, television interview,” says Judy. You President (well, we’ve all been there), but was open about Hollywood’s might not have to come clean on live but her ‘friend’ secretly taped their cut-throat nature, saying: “If we all TV, but admitting you’ve messed up is phone conversations. “You can actually were nice, it wouldn’t work.” still never easy. “If you’re getting ready be talking to a co-worker about In other words, say sorry for the bit to explain yourself, you want to know a colleague but really have no idea you actually are sorry about and then all the facts. Then you can anticipate what that person’s relationship is move on. Grovelling is never a good questions, so you feel confident.” with the person you are gossiping look – remember Vernon Kay? Watch any Monica Lewinsky interview about,” says Judy. And it’s no surprise on YouTube and you’ll see she doesn’t the woman who helped fix the fallout The situation: YOU’VE GOT flinch – because she knows she’s from the Sony scandal is wary TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF prepared her answers thoroughly. of email communication (Sony The jig is up, and your boss has asked reportedly now sends all confidential to see you in her office. What’s that? The situation: information by fax). “If you’re angry You’ve suddenly come down with YOUR REPUTATION IS IN TATTERS with a situation and you want to send a contagious vomiting bug and need “When you’re in the middle of a an email, just pause and take a few to go home now? Nice try, but you’re crisis, you overanalyse and can feel hours. Then, if you feel the same way, putting off the inevitable. “I tell clients that it’s the end,” says Judy. “But it’s send it – but, 90% of the time, when ◆ WORDS CLARE THORP. PHOTOGRAPHS GETTY IMAGES. *WELL, APART FROM KIM JONG-UN *WELL, APART GETTY IMAGES. PHOTOGRAPHS CLARE THORP. WORDS the best way to get past something is the beginning of the next phase. In people wait, they usually don’t.”

COSMOPOLITAN · 85 SOULD OR SH WE GO ’ h of the titans: It’s a David clash Cameron i ft (mercifully Minaj vs Sw withi less Lycra). whether Britain quits the European Union or not. REMAIN

★ ★ Job stuff ★ Staying safe ★ Saving your pennies Find yourself thinking, “What ★ With the recent bombings in ★ All those in favour of budget has the EU ever done for me?” ★ Europe and what seem like ★ hen dos to Lisbon and Prague, Well, the answer is quite a bit, ★ increasingly fluid Continental ★ say aye. You can thank the EU actually. Four weeks’ minimum ★ borders, it’s tempting to want to ★ not just for the existence of annual paid leave, 14 weeks’ paid ★ pull up the drawbridge. But senior ★ low-cost airlines like Ryanair maternity leave, the guarantee of ★ British security figures argue that ★ and Jet2, but for forcing down the same or an equivalent job on ★ sharing information through EU ★ the cost of data-roaming charges. returning after pregnancy – all ★ systems keeps the country safer. ★ Opting to stay within the EU workplace benefits instigated by the ★ Although some claim that the ★ will also limit the negative impact EU. Compare this to the US, where ★ freedom to live and work anywhere ★ of tax-duty hikes, the type that paid parental leave is considered ★ in the EU has weakened security, ★ threaten to recast your regular a company benefit, enjoyed by ★ Britain has retained passport checks, ★ lunchtime jaunts to Zara into just 12% of workers, and suddenly ★ unlike many borders in Europe. ★ a high-cost excursion. We’re talking remaining part of the EU becomes ★ And the EU won the Nobel Peace ★ up to an extra 12% on clothing if a much better deal for those ★ Prize in 2012 for helping to make ★ Britain leaves, piling pressure on planning on having a family ★ war in Europe ‘unthinkable’ over ★ high-street chains to raise prices – even in the distant future. ★ the last six decades. ★ to cover any new costs. PRO-REMAIN BY DAVID CHARTER (BITEBACK PUBLISHING, £8.99) (BITEBACK CHARTER DAVID BY Lily Cole, actor and entrepreneur: June Sarpong, TV presenter: Cl éémence Poésy, actress: “I cling “I have personally decided to “As a mother, I’m really to the idea of why the EU was vote to stay in, for reasons of grateful for the rights the firs st created. It’s a beautiful idea peace and economic stability.” EU has allowed us to get.” – wwe’re richer as one.” EUROPE: IN OR OUT PHOTOGRAPHS DREAMSTIME, ALAMY, REX FEATURES, GETTY IMAGES. GETTY IMAGES. REX FEATURES, ALAMY, DREAMSTIME, PHOTOGRAPHS WE STAY OULD NOW? and Boris Johnson toughing it out like Come 23 June, we’ll all get the chance to choose EU expert David Charter weighs up both options LEAVE Tax issues Central meddling Immigration A major plus of going solo is Many Brexit supporters believe According to a leading poll, recouping the money we pay the EU controls too much, from immigration is the number one to be an EU member: a net the hours we’re allowed to work (48 concern among British voters. contribution of around £165 a week, unless you sign an opt-out Currently, all EU citizens have the million per week. This positions agreement) to limits on the power right to visit any member country the UK as the second biggest of your vacuum cleaner. Although for three months’ holiday or six funder of the EU, after Germany. we’ve managed to retain the pound, months to seek work. If you find Cutting ties will also make it the House of Commons library says a job, you can set up home there and far easier for Britain to dismiss that up to 55% of British laws use services like healthcare, schools European taxes, like the extra follow EU rulings, although this and the welfare system. If Britain 5% charge we pay on tampons percentage does include laws about votes to leave the EU, we could and sanitary towels because the characteristics of olive oil, so impose visas on EU nationals, with the EU deems them a ‘luxury’ not all life and death. And while entry papers only granted to those item. Yah, yah, just leave your we can vote for Members of the with certain skills. But, with that normal with wings next to European Parliament (can you kind of system in place, Brits keen the Porsche, vintage Krug name yours?), it’s unelected to work on the Continent would and the chopper. eurocrats who devise all those laws. face similar restrictions. ◆ PRO-LEAVE

Joana Collins, actress: She Julie Burchill, author: “The Vickyk Pattison, TV personality twe eeted the single word ‘Brexit’ millions blown weekly on the and model: “I ﬁrmly believe we foll lowed by three Union Jacks, EU could be better spent on need to leave the EU and be a th humbs up and a heart. the priorities of women voters.” a strrong, sovereign country.”

SELF ‘It’s more MADE important to be respected than liked’

VANITA PARTI MBE, 45, explains how she ditched the day job to build the multi-million- pound Blink Brow Bar brand. Notepads at the ready…

³ You’re never too old to intern Once you’ve had your business idea, get relevant experience. When I decided I wanted to bring eyebrow threading to the masses, I had no idea how it would work – back then I worked in brand management for British Airways – so I went to a local salon (Sonali in Wembley) and asked if I could shadow the staff for a week. I watched the therapists (ideally in 30 seconds), your objectives will and took note of what customers asked for. VANITA’S CV be crystal clear, easy to swallow, and it will I was on work experience at 33 and it gave be easy for customers to connect with what me the foundation of my business plan. 1996–2002 Worked you’re doing. Be persistent; if you believe in ³ Don’t let emotions affect business in brand management it enough, you can make others believe in it. at British Airways ³ Don’t expect to get rich quickly I have to remind myself of that every day. 2002 While on maternity Your business is your baby, so it’s easy to leave, saw a gap in the It’s a myth. If you’re leaving a job to start feel emotional, but I learnt to toughen up market for a quick, premium up your own venture, make sure you have because business is tough. When I started brow threading service at least six months of savings in the bank. Be Blink, I’d train people and then they’d set 2004 Opened first Blink calculated with your moves and have a Plan Brow Bar in Fenwick, up copycat businesses, which hurt. I learned New Bond Street B – sometimes your first idea won’t work it’s more important for a boss to be respected 2006 Launched and you’ll need to find another job while than liked – your job is to give customers first Bbrowbar product you plot your next move, and that’s OK. what they want and meet your goals. You to go alongside in-store ³ Be your own customer have to motivate staff to feel passionate treatment services If you aren’t going to be a customer of 2015 Blink Brow Bar about work, not necessarily befriend them. extends to 26 brow a product or service, it probably isn’t the right I now have a workforce of 200 women, bars across the UK business for you to launch. Before Blink, in and that feels great. and one in New York the dotcom boom I founded an Asian dating ³ Nail your pitch in under 60 seconds 2016 Global expansion of website (Bombay Mix) with my sister; In the beginning I was a nobody with the Bbrowbar product range we had a solid business plan in place, then across Europe, America a weird concept, calling department stores and the Middle East I decided to ditch it. I didn’t love the idea and trying to find one to invest in my enough, so couldn’t sell it. I also struggled business – getting a minute of someone’s with the technology – but I took what I’d Hearst Empowering Women time was precious. If you can express why is an initiative to support learned and found a new gap in the market ◆ AS TOLD TO JENNIFER SAVIN TO TOLD AS your idea is brilliant in less than a minute women’s careers in technology to start a business I felt passionate about. and other industries. Find more at empowering.hearst.co.uk COSMOPOLITAN · 89

STRETCH YOUR BODY AND YOUR MIND... *CANADIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED *CANADIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED

BOOKEND YOUR WORKOUT Bookending: no, not the sex position of choice for intellectuals, but the latest ﬁtness concept of starting and ending your day with exercise. “It’s better to do two 45-minute sessions than a single two-hour session, as it’s been shown that breaking a moderately intense cardio session in two, and performing two high-intensity cardio sessions instead, can burn more calories, provided there’s a break of over six hours between them*,” says Luke Barnsley of London’s Third Space gym. Just remember, it’s not a long-term thing. “Bookend for a fortnight at a time, or you’ll exhaust your body. And take two non-consecutive rest days a week,” adds Barnsley. For best results, wake up with cardio and tone at the end of the day; cardio before breakfast can burn up to 20% more fat than the same workout after PHYSIOLOGY 1998. **JOURNAL OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING RESEARCH 2015 AND CONDITIONING OF STRENGTH 1998. **JOURNAL PHYSIOLOGY WORDS VICTORIA JOY. PHOTOGRAPH TRUNK ARCHIVE. PHOTOGRAPH JOY. VICTORIA WORDS you’ve eaten**, and lifting weights in the evening can help you sleep better. Double whammy.

COSMOPOLITAN · 91 Touch-down tone-up

Celebrity yogi Tara Stiles gives you the pre-holiday workout high ﬂyers swear by

he average plane seat is 17in wide with just 28in of leg room. That won’t only cramp your style but your T back, neck and digestion, too. But here’s the good news: this four-move plan, devised by possibly the world’s most famous yogi (well, apart from Gandhi), can ﬁx all that.

POSE 1 Downward dog split TARGETS Hips and legs 1 Start in a plank position, then inhale and lift your hips up and back to bring your body into an inverted V. Relax your neck and hold for three breaths. 2 Keeping your hips square, inhale deeply and lift your right leg high. If it feels good, open your hips and shoulders by rolling your right hip higher than your left. Aahh…

92 · COSMOPOLITAN POSE 2 Knee hover EXPRESS TARGETS Shoulders, arms and core 1 Still in downward dog split, breathe out and bend WORKOUT your right knee, keeping it in the air. Drop it around to the right, until the front thigh rests on your upper right arm. You can even bend your elbows, to create a shelf for your thigh. 2 Now inhale deeply and lean your body forward. Hold for three breaths, on the third inhale lift your leg back up to downward dog split pose.

POSE 3 Knee cross TARGETS Core, shoulders and arms 1 Bending your right knee, drop it down and across your body on an out-breath, until it touches your upper left arm. Try bending your elbows and resting the outside of your right thigh on the upper left arm. 2 Inhale, leaning into the the ththhee twist, and take three deep breaths. Then, breathe in and lift your leg back up, rising onto your toes this time.

POSE 4 Low lunge TARGETS Legs and core 1 Exhale and, keeping your left leg straight, bend your right knee as you drop it down and forward, stepping your foot between your hands. 2 For an extra stretch, you can rise up on your fingertips and sink into your hips. Make sure your right knee is TIP! directly Post-flight numb bum? above your For an extra glute workout, right ankle. pulse 10 times when in the lunge position in pose four. Now go find Just make sure you repeat your sun on both sides – lopsided lounger. buns in a bikini are not a good look. FOLIO-ID PHOTOGRAPH THOMAS. LIZZY ILLUSTRATIONS

COSMOPOLITAN · 93

THE THIRD WAVE OF VEGANISM Tofu, beans and, er, Big Macs… Welcome to the world of the rebel vegans

o you have a few wines and she just anything vegan?” wants to have fun. “I’m 70% “ It’s Friday night vegan,” the architect from D and Jennie’s in Edinburgh says. “About a a pop-up pizza joint. She’s year ago, spurred on by all shunned fish, meat and dairy the blogs out there, I turned all week – even bringing in full-time vegan for three almond milk to work to add months. But it proved too to her coffee, and marking difficult. This way, I am ‘Jennie’ on it in bold letters doing some good, but when to ensure her colleagues on I want to indulge, I can.” a health kick don’t steal any. Veganism is definitely But when the waitress points having a ‘moment’. Ellie out a couple of sad-looking Goulding and Ariana salads on the menu, Jennie Grande are adopters, and simply hands her back the it’s the diet of choice for the menu and says: “F*ck it, I’ll honed and toned Victoria’s have the Pepperoni.” Secret Angels. Three of the Jennie, 26, hasn’t suddenly current New York Times broken all her own bestselling cookbooks are rules after years of self- 100% vegan, while over deprivation. She’s a rebel here Deliciously Ella’s vegan – and she’ll go right first plant-based offering back to scrambled tofu and achieved the highest The game of lentil bolognese tomorrow. first-week sales for a debut hide the sausage But for now, well, she’s had cookbook in history. On i had gone too far

COSMOPOLITAN · 95 You say tomato, the country with Croydon’s I say tomato on a Buttercream Dreams meat feast selling out of food on pizza its opening this year. ‘Rebel vegans may The trendiness of veganism isn’t the only feel they’re cheating, reason people are giving but theirs could be up meat in their droves. The World Health Organization the healthiest diet' recently declared processed meat a carcinogen, following a long line of studies that showed vegetarians were produce a pound of the 40% less likely to develop stuff. However, while rebel cancer compared with meat vegans may feel they’re eaters. And a study by cheating slightly, actually The American Journal Of they could be on to the Clinical Nutrition found healthiest diet of all. Instagram #vegan has over elements of the diet that that, compared with other “People assume vegans are 24 million posts, on the work for them. It’s the secret vegetarian diets, vegans tend automatically really healthy,” accounts of glowing men behind LA’s hottest bodies to be thinner, have lower says nutritionist Steve Grant, and women who portray – Jennifer Lopez went vegan cholesterol and lower blood who’s studied the effects veganism as not just a diet, for just five weeks, while pressure. Then there’s the of the diet on athletes for but a way of life. Beyoncé adopts the diet for environmental impact – beef 10 years. “Environmentally What’s not making the 22 days at a time. They create in particular has significant it makes sense, but final edit of these accounts is their own rules, whether it’s environmental ramifications nutritionally it’s not the odd drunkenly ordered going ‘veggan’ (which means because of the amount of without its shortfalls. Those late-night burger or mounds still enjoying eggs, with the grain and land used to who don’t get enough of cheese grated onto a bowl hashtag delivering 6,000+ protein and healthy fats of spaghetti – a recent survey posts on Insta), or trying it can suffer from irregular of 1,789 vegetarians in the for a month, with 50,000 #VEGAN blood sugar and energy UK found that a third of people signing up for dips.” The same study that Who you should them had eaten meat when ‘Veganuary’ at the start found vegans to be thinner follow on Instagram drunk. And they’re allowed of this year. Some even also discovered they were Camembert! Because, while choose a meal or day deficient in nutrients we may all want to live like to stick to it – January’s @NOMYOURSELF including calcium and Chef Mary Mattern’s these Amaro-filtered green bestselling diet book omega-3s. “Following this healthy, filling goddesses, the reality is quite Tiny And Full, by recipes got her part-time and ensuring you different. “I could recreate a celebrity nutritionist spotted on Insta focus non-vegan meals on carbonara using nutritional Jorge Cruise, advocates by Ellie Goulding. the nutrients you’re missing yeast and soaked, blended eating vegan until She was snapped up to be out on is a very healthy way the singer’s personal chef. cashews,” says Corinne, 29, lunchtime. of living,” adds Steve. from London, who adopts High-street restaurants @THUGKITCHEN “When I was a vegan veganism for three months have also cottoned on. Serving up recipes full-time I did feel a year. “But it would also Zizzi and PizzaExpress that so don’t seem tired,” says journalist mean spending a fortune on now sell vegan pizzas to vegan, with a side Lou, 24. “I now stick to ingredients and trekking to a meet demand, and even of swearing, these it at home, but when health-food shop; or I could Wetherspoon – home of the guys are the I’m out I’ll eat dairy punks of veganism. just get some eggs and bacon £1.99 ham, egg and chips – – and I have more energy from my local and whizz it has launched a vegan @SWEETSIMPLE than ever. I’m the healthiest up in 10 minutes.” menu. Then there’s VEGAN I’ve ever been, but I’m not Cue the rise of the rebel the independent cafés Ice cream for sacrificing my social life. breakfast is totally ◆ vegans who pick and choose cropping up across It’s the perfect balance.” GETTY IMAGES INNES. PHOTOGRAPH CATRIONA WORDS possible with Jasmine’s colourful, 96 · COSMOPOLITAN laid-back creations.

BO-YO NAMASTE When yoga gear goes boho… you get this bundle of loveliness

STYLES THREADS CCottonf is great for restorative yyoga,fr like yin or hatha, but for srweatier styles like Bikram or Vinyasa, you need to look ffror sweat-wicking technology in the la be l, li kelld Chlimalite. And as this iis yoga, anything with the word l‘sea mless’ inll hit wi lblld help you bend that. little bit more. Namaste.

BBac cklekle ss Mat, £62, top, £48, Lululemon Manuka Life

Top, £45; leggings, Backpack, Plastic-free £70, both Varley at £180, Eastpak bottle, £23, activeinstyle.co.uk x House of Ghongha Hackney

Top, £40; shorts, £25, both Björn Borg Mirage at Figleaves

Top, £22, ASOS

FYI Tree pose not happening? Hands slipping during downward Top, £99, dog? Pop liquid chalk on Ted Baker your palms and soles. Try yogamatters.com Leggings, £135, Mara Hoffman

STYLING SAIREY STEMP SAIREY STYLING Bag, £42, Roxy at B London Boutique

COSMOPOLITAN · 99 LIPS AT Forget about eyes, this season it’s all about lips, baby. We teamed up with Nude ’90s THE TREND: The ’90s revival is still going strong, but you don’t have to wear an unﬂattering shade of brown lipstick. GET THE LOOK: To bring this trend up to date for spring/summer, avoid browns and greys and go for a more ﬂattering pink-tinged nude. We love Burt’s Bees Lip Crayon in Carolina Coast (looks especially beautiful on pale skin tones). It’s lightweight texture is perfect for spring and all Burt’s Bees crayons are 100% natural! Apply to the whole lip and use the crayon nib to subtly over line your lips around the Cupid’s bow and lower lip for extra ’90s super-model fullness.

Just-bitten THE TREND: Deep burgundy stained lips were the main feature at Burberry’s S/S 16 show and it’s easier to achieve than you think. GET THE LOOK: For the perfect Edward Cullen mouth, apply a layer of Burt’s Bees Lip Crayon in Redwood Forest all over the lips. Don’t worry about a perfect lip line here, you want that just-kissed look. Blot with tissue, before applying a second layer, this time concentrating the colour around the centre of your lips. Blot once more for lips that will last all night. For a completely matte finish, dust a little transparent powder over the top. COSMOPOLITAN PROMOTION THE READY Burt's Bees to show you the four trends you need to know about Perfectly polished THE TREND: Clean, bright and perfectly shaped, this is definitely not a lazy girl’s lip. High maintenance but totally worth it. GET THE LOOK: The perfect red lip was the star of Oscar de la Renta’s S/S 16 show. Using a lip brush, paint around your lip line using Burt’s Bees Lip Crayon in Napa Vineyard, before filling in the rest of your lips. This will give you the perfect outline and also means you can skip lip liner. For a patent effect, apply a layer of Burt’s Bees Lip Shine in Pucker over the top.

Blurred lines THE TREND: A pop of bold colour in the centre of the lips, effortlessly blended out. It’s time to put down the lip liner. GET THE LOOK: Start by applying concealer around the outer edges of your lips (don’t worry you won’t be looking like a corpse for long). Apply the Burt’s Bees Lip Crayon in Hawaiian Smolder to the centre of your lips and blend out with a lip brush to create YOUR EXCLUSIVE OFFER a gradient colour effect. If you don’t have a lip brush, don’t worry; Burt’s Bees 100% natural Lip Crayons are available in six just use your ﬁngers to gently pat out the colour. creamy shades at £8.99 each. Stock up with the exclusive 3 for 2 on Burt’s Bees lip colour with code BBCOLOUR16 at burtsbees.co.uk. Offer ends 31 July 2016. T&Cs apply*. *BURTSBEES.CO.UK/C/COMPANY/HIVE-TERMS/

This page: Top, £80, Paul & Joe. Trousers, price on request, Emilio Pucci. Earring, £55; collar, £160, both Pebble London. Ring (worn throughout), stylist’s own. Sandals, £35, Teva Opposite: T-shirt, £50, Beach Riot. Shorts, £415, Jonathan Simkhai. Necklace, from £10; bracelet, from £10, both Pebble London. Trainers, £45, Converse

White heat Yes, white can be classic, romantic and beloved by cricketers. But it can also be easy, tomboyish and very, very wearable

FASHION DIRECTOR Amy Bannerman PHOTOGRAPHER Jane McLeish Kelsey

COSMOPOLITAN · 103 This page: Hoodie, £8.50, Fruit of the Loom at Amazon. Bikini top, £90, Made by Dawn. Shorts, £245, Christopher Raeburn. Earrings, £55; necklaces, from £10 each, all Pebble London Opposite: Sweatshirt, £8.50, Fruit of the Loom at Amazon. Towel (worn as skirt), stylist’s own. Earring; trainers, both as before

104 · COSMOPOLITAN

This page: Top, £162, Frame Denim. Earrings, from £16, Huichol at Hotel Cielo Rojo Opposite: Dress, £69, Ghost. Collar, £160, Pebble London. Trainers, as before

COSMOPOLITAN · 107 This page: Jumper, £295, ESK Cashmere. Necklace, £160, Pebble London. Trainers, as before Opposite: T-shirt, £178, Frame Denim. Bikini bottoms, £100, Made by Dawn. Necklace, from £10, Pebble London. Sandals, as before

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This page: Playsuit, £190, DKNY. Earrings, £55; belt, £220, both Pebble London. Handbag, £125, Blaiz. Necklace; sandals, both as before Opposite: Swimsuit, £38, American Apparel. Necklace, from £30; cuff, £90, both Pebble London. All other jewellery; sandals, all as before

Model Hadassa Lima at The Hive. Hair Zoë Irwin, using Ghd. Make-up Jessica Mejia at Stella Creative Artists, using Bobbi Brown. Fashion assistant Natasha Miles. Casting and production Clare Pugh. Shot on location in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico at Hotel Cielo Rojo (hotelcielorojo.com), Casa Velas (hotelcasavelas.com) and in Riviera Nayarit at the Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta (rivieranayarit.com; hrhvallarta.com)

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IT IS A TUESDAY

NIGHT. I am in a heaving pub in central London, nervously looking for an inflatable zebra. I peer over peoples’ pints, I look under tables – people start staring. I can see no zebra. I am here, undercover, at a monthly meet-up of polyamorists. On the forum where the meet is advertised, I’m told to look out for the inflatable animal and there the polyamorists would be – but I can’t see it, or them. And as much as society would like us to think otherwise, polyamorists look just like you and me. There’s no bowl in the middle of the table with car keys in it, there’s no fetishwear or sprawling harems. Without the zebra, I’ll never find them. Over the past year, I have become more interested in the growing openness that surrounds non- monogamy. As a dating columnist, it is something I’ve investigated for work; I’ve written about it, watched documentaries on it and read up on it. But it has also piqued a personal interest – as someone who has always found the prospect of ‘forever’ with one person hugely daunting, I’ve begun to wonder why I impose such a rule on myself. Perhaps loving more than one person at the same time is a viable option for someone with my fears; perhaps I am cutting myself off Sometimes at rates, it seems the message is clear: monogamy from boundless opportunities for the sake of an Naked Book doesn’t work for everyone. outdated and impractical notion of romance. Club people got Polyamory is no longer a niche lifestyle choice really excited I’m interested in the people for whom this about the book nestled in the shadows. Long gone is the 1960s is an enjoyable, practical, satisfying way to live. stereotype of the hippie free lover who renounces And I wonder if meeting them will give me all social norms and responsibilities. It’s now more of an insight into what it would mean a carefully considered, responsible way to conduct to be a polyamorist myself. your relationships, with more and more twenty- Polyamory – being open to having more and thirtysomethings looking to it as a way to than one romantic relationship at find all-encompassing fulfilment. a time – is on the up. Last year, Jo Hemmings, a behavioural psychologist and the dating site OkCupid added ‘Polyamory is dating coach, thinks the incremental openness a polyamory function for users, no longer a that has grown around polyamory is a product allowing couples to search for single of our time. “Undoubtedly, the social structure people to join their relationship, niche lifestyle of the family is shifting – we see an increasing and vice versa. According to the choice… it’s number of blended families, step-families, gay site’s data, 42% of its members families and single-parent families. I think would consider dating someone in a responsible polyamory is part of that bigger picture, and a non-monogamous relationship. way to while in the past some may have longed for When you team this with high divorce conduct your a lifestyle like this, it just wasn’t ‘acceptable’ in

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previous generations,” she tells me. “Part of the Emma*, 28, pretty with curly hair and no make-up, polyamorous lifestyle choice has probably been asks what has brought me here. I tell her my fuelled by the sheer availability of partners via apps, rehearsed story: I’ve always found monogamy so access has become that much easier, of course.” unsatisfying (this bit is partly true). I’ve recently So the reason I’m inflatable-zebra-hunting started dating a man I really like called Craig, who in a pub? A polyamory website for Londoners I haven’t yet slept with, but who told me on date led me here. This is not a dating event. two that he is in an open If it’s a potential partner you’re looking marriage (this bit is definitely for, try ‘poly-cocktails’ instead. I’m at not true). I am here to find out a monthly gathering to meet and chat more about polyamory before to like-minded people. One man ‘Of course I get I decide what to do next. comments that he’s ‘poly-friendly’ jealous. All the “Are you glad he told you and looking to broaden his circle. time. But we before you slept with him?” I’ve decided not to tell them I’m I imagine myself in a journalist, as I don’t want them to talk about it’ the situation. feel I’m judging them, so I give myself “Yes,” I say. “I wouldn’t want a pseudonym and plan to say I work in to be complicit in their the sufficiently woolly field of ‘media’. arrangement without knowing.” It’s crushingly loud, and I can’t see said inflatable. “Absolutely. Have you met her yet?” she asks. I try my luck with a group of people staring at me. “No,” I reply. This wouldn’t have even crossed “Hello,” I say. “Are you here for the…” I raise my mind. “Do you think I should?” my eyebrows suggestively. “It’s up to you,” she says. “Some people find “For the?” a bald man in it comforting, some people don’t.” glasses asks, looking confused. “Have you ever met your partner’s partners?” I ask. HOW TO SPEAK “For the… poly… meet-up?” She laughs and nods, pointing around the table. POLYAMORY I mumble. “Yeah, hi!” he says, and YOUR PARTNER’S PARTNERS COWBOY gestures towards a chair. “Sit So, concentrate for the next bit. Emma is living down. What’s your name?” with Dan* – they’ve been in a polyamorous A monogamous man who has a relationship with “Anne,” I say forcefully, and then, relationship for five years. Dan is moving out, Ben* a polyamorous woman in for no reason: “I work in media.” (the bald guy with glasses) is moving in. Next to which he expects them “Everyone,” he says, getting Emma is Glenda*, an elegant, raven-haired young both to be monogamous. the attention of the table (four mother of two, who married very young, separated girls, four boys). “This is Anne. from her husband, has two boyfriends and also CANDAULISM She works in media.” has a ‘thing’ going on with Dan (they both giggle The feeling of arousal a person “I was looking for the zebra,” when they tell me this). So, yes, they’ve met. gets from watching their partner have sex with another person. I explain. “Do you ever get jealous?” I ask Emma. “Oh yeah, there’s no zebra “Of course I do!” she says. “All the time.” today, sorry.” “How do you handle it?” AMBIGUSWEETIE A person with whom you They are, as I expected, entirely “We talk about it. And once we’ve talked about have an undefined and normal-looking. They are neither it and it’s out in the open, we reassure each other unlabelled relationship. sexpots nor frumps, freaks nor honestly, and realise how silly those worries were. fetishists. They are a smiley, chatty And then you get this amazing feeling.” I ask METAMOUR bunch ranging from mid-twenties her to describe it for me. She takes a sip of her The partner of your partner. to mid-forties, a mixture of drink and thinks. “You know when your best Also called a partner-in-law. ethnicities and nationalities, and friend has just met a guy and she’s falling in they look just like the people love, and you can see how happy she is. She can’t WIBBLE A temporary feeling of you normally hang out with. stop talking about him and you can’t help but insecurity when you see your We make small talk for a while, smile too because you’re so excited for her? partner being romantic or mainly perpetuated by me It’s like that, but you feel it for your boyfriend.” intimate with another partner. waffling on while I sip my large She teaches me a new word that they all glass of wine, as I’m petrified use: “compersion”. This is a particular form of CLUSTER MARRIAGE of seeming like an imposter. compassion – when you feel positive about i A polyamorous relationship in which married couples live together and swap partners. COSMOPOLITAN · 117 THE NEW

your partner’s other relationship(s). It is the chatting, laughing people, sharing stories and SEXUALITY exact opposite of jealousy. chips. I sit opposite a thirtysomething woman TRIBES This notion of allowing yourself to be jealous, called Lisa*. She tells me she is currently There’s now then discussing it rather than burying it, comes seeing five separate people. Even Rob*, the a whole world up a lot. A friend puts me in touch with polyamorous man next to me, is aghast. between gay and 30-year-old singer Blythe Pepino, who has “My God,” I say. “How on earth do you straight. Listen been in a polyamorous relationship with her organise that?” She gets her phone out. closely… 27-year-old partner Lee* for two and a half “Google Calendar,” she says. She opens up years. She also has a girlfriend in Bristol, Clare*, a page covered in different blocks of colour. THE PRECOPSERS who she has been with for a year and a half, and “Everyone in this community will tell you the A ‘precop’ is a verbal she and Lee have group sex with their friends same thing: Google Calendar is your life-saver. agreement that and another polyamorous couple, Sam* and I colour code each partner, and make dates neither party can get Beth*. She, too, has experienced and let go way in advance. When you have this many emotionally attached of jealousy: “When Lee and I became live-in relationships, the one rule is you never after sex, and that partners, a great fear of mine was that we were cancel if a more exciting invitation comes there’s no guarantee of future coitus. going to stop being passionate. At the same along. You have to respect that.” Otherwise known time, we’d started having these really passionate, Lisa also tells me that one of her more as Daniel Cleaver. regular foursomes with Beth and Sam,” disorganised lovers has an open calendar, so she tells me. “Beth is a dancer; she’s really all his partners can put dates in and he gets beautiful and much younger than me, and an alert to tell him who he’s meant to be with I just thought, ‘Oh no.’ And as much as I hated that day. I tell her I would hate my partner myself for saying it, I had to tell Lee those to control my schedule. She shrugs thoughts. All it takes is Lee saying, and smiles. “It works ‘These are the reasons I find you for him,” she says. attractive’, and the moment he Another practical starts listing them, I go, ‘Oh shut concern monogamous up,’ because I know them. And ‘I colour code people often have on you realise how silly it is.” each partner, behalf of the polyamorous I suggest that all the constant and make dates is the question of family. communication needed in How does a polyamorous polyamory could perhaps get way in advance’ couple go about raising in the way of the relationship children (sometimes named itself. “Once the communication ‘polywogs’)? Zara*, 33, is in a standard has been set, the polyamorous marriage. Both s he anxieties and the amount of time spent and her husband have partners and together talking plateau,” Blythe says. “When I first they have two children. But rather than be an got together with Clare, there were so many obstacle, they’ve found the extra pairs of hannds awkward conversations. She didn’t know useful: “Little kids are a lot of work, and about polyamory before me and she is we’ve found the support of our partners quite an in-the-moment person. But has really helped,” she tells me. “They’ve after six months it became easier.” been there to cook meals, babysit and hang out with us when we need adult TIME MANAGEMENT company. Our daughter loves our Another concern for me, as a woman who is other partners, and they are always historically disorganised in relationships, is the favourites to read stories at bedtime logistics of multiple relationships. Whenever when they come round.” And, I’ve had a boyfriend, I’ve struggled to split my unsurprisingly, as the polyamory focus between him, my friends, family, work model dictates, honesty is the best and a social life. I don’t know how I’d do it policy when it comes to explaining their with another partner added to the mix. relationships to her: “We’ve been honest At my second polyamory meeting, I go to with her, but she doesn’t really think her a different pub in east London and, this time, family is particularly unusual; she knows lots of

*NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED. PHOTOGRAPHS TRUNKARCHIVE.COM, ALLSTAR, MATRIX, CAMERA PRESS, DAVID YEO YEO DAVID CAMERA PRESS, MATRIX, ALLSTAR, TRUNKARCHIVE.COM, PHOTOGRAPHS BEEN CHANGED. *NAMES HAVE the turnout is huge. There’s a long table of other families that don’t ﬁt the nuclear model.”

118 · COSMOPOLITAN READ ‘My wife is Personally, my biggest issue very serious that I felt the same for each of would be that of sexual safety – and academic. them as he did for my mum. presumably the more people you As soon as I said that, he agreed share a bed with, the more risk My girlfriend I should be allowed a plus-two.” there is of catching something. is much more I am interested by this and I speak to 36-year-old university wonder if a hierarchy system professor Carrie Jenkins. She gregarious and ever subconsciously develops met her husband six years ago outgoing, but with partners. Liam, an Irish and they have always had a fortysomething I meet at my non-monogamous relationship. I wouldn’t talk second polyamory meeting, She dated other people fairly about books tells me he never ranks his regularly until she fell in love wife higher than his girlfriend, with her current boyfriend four with her’ or vice versa – they just provide years ago. Carrie explains that each other with different things, polyamory often means a better in the same way different LGBTQQIA awareness of safety: “People who are in openly friendships do. “My wife is very serious and The new LGBT: Lesbian, non-monogamous relationships do much academic,” he tells me. “She’d never be the one Gay/Gender Neutral/ Gender Queer, Bisexual/ better with health and safety than the people I’d drink with or go out dancing with. My Bigender, Transgender/ who think they’re sleeping with one person girlfriend is much more gregarious and Transvestite/Transsexual, but, unbeknown to them, are [being] cheated outgoing, but I wouldn’t necessarily talk about Questioning, Queer, on. They are much more at risk, as that’s when books with her.” He tells me that, although their Intersex, and Allies/ people don’t take precautions.” This is backed closest friends understand their arrangement Androgynous/Asexual. RuPaul is their icon. up by research – a recent study done by and will often invite the three of them to The Journal Of Sexual Medicine showed that events, for more formal occasions, they have supposedly monogamous people were less a different system. “I alternate who I spend likely to wear condoms with sexual partners Christmas with,” he tells me. “That way it is outside their relationship, and 75% of those fair and nobody ends up feeling abandoned.” who had cheated had not told their partner. In all the time I’ve spent with polyamorists, sex is barely mentioned. What often comes up SEX NEGATIVITY are pretty philosophical questions of what love Carrie says the communal sense of is, and deconstructing traditions to make sure responsibility and precaution is motivated you’re loving and being loved in the most by “pragmatic self-concern” but also because effective way. “Partners aren’t just your fulfilment “nobody wants to perpetuate a bad vessels,” Blythe tells me. “Each relationship stereotype that already exists”. is precious in its own right. Polyamory isn’t The unfair stereotype she is talking about the answer to the fear of being lonely.” is that polyamory is just about sex. She believes I conclude that perhaps non-monogamy isn’t the “sex negativity” floating around in society a viable option for me and that, at heart, I really means that we immediately think something am more traditional than I like to think I am. THE DEMISEXUALS is dubious if it’s related to sex; therefore if But after spending my time with polyamorists, Those who can’t or won’t we decide something is just about sex, it’s such a deeply romantic and seemingly fulfilled get it on unless they stigmatised. “If you can make out polyamory bunch – I sort of wish I wasn’t. ◆ have an emotional is all about sex, then you don’t really have connection. Think Marnie to respect it,” she explains. Girls BEHIND THE SCENES in series one of . Graphic designer Morgan Spicer, 28, has been polyamorous for five years. She has been Dolly Alderton THE FLEXISEXUALS in relationships with men, women, trans “I thought I knew all there is to know Individuals who don’t women and gender neutral people in that time. about polyamory, but writing this consider themselves opened my mind even more to all bisexual, they’re just She tells me that both her parents have come to accept the way she lives her life: “My father the ways a person can love. Shortly free spirits who like to after, I got in a volatile debate about non-monogamy dabble. Miley Cyrus accepts it more easily. We had a conversation with a woman who was very judgmental, so thanks is their poster girl. about being invited to a wedding, and what if to this I’m now a passionate polyamory defender.” I wanted to bring a plus-two along. I explained

COSMOPOLITAN · 119 The (inconvenient) truth about

What if the very products designed to protect us from the sun turned out to be the ones doing us the harm? LAURA CAPON investigates an inconceivable truth i

120 · COSMOPOLITAN READ sunscreen

COSMOPOLITAN · 121 t’s the day before a “Sunscreens with two-week holiday and I’m SPF: THE really high SPFs, on a last-minute Boots trip. NUMBERS such as SPF75 or After spending a small SPF100, do not fortune on miniature GAME offer significantly mouthwash, shampoo and greater protection than SPF30, and conditioner that won’t even mislead people into thinking they last a week, I’m left in the have more protection than they do. suncare aisle. There are In fact, SPF30 blocks 97% of UVB eight shelves of it, each rays and SPF50 blocks 98%.” That’s rainbow-hued bottle Dr Charlene DeHaven, i promising something clinical director of IS different. Tan-accelerating, Clinical. Oh boy… The dry-touch-feeling, once first thing I look for when a day… I’m a beauty journalist and buying my sunscreen is ‘Self-tan with even I don’t know where to start. the sun-protection factor SPF seems like Do I want a cream, spray or aerosol? (SPF) and, let’s be honest, An oil is a bit Cristiano Ronaldo it’s the one thing you look a brilliant idea, for me, and a mousse sounds too out for too. But as Dr right? Wrong’ much like dessert. What factor do DeHaven explains, it’s not I want? The higher the better, surely? the only thing you need. I grab a mid-priced SPF50 cream “SPF measures how well and hope for the best. a sunscreen protects skin But with so much choice, so many from UVB rays, which cause sunburn, suncare developments and so much damage skin and contribute to skin information, why are skin-cancer cancer.” But SPF gives no indication rates higher in 2016 than in 1976*? of the level of all-important UVA Some believe the answer could be in protection. For that, you need the the very things we use to protect us. UVA star system, which should be on First, the sciency bit. The sun emits the back of your bottle. Measured out ultraviolet radiation as UVA and of five stars, it shows how much UVA UVB. UVB rays damage the skin’s radiation the sunscreen absorbs. The superficial layers, causing sunburn. British Association of Dermatologists You can thank these when you’re in considers an SPF30 sunscreen with agony trying to put your bra a UVA rating of four or five stars strap on your bright red a good standard of protection. shoulders. They are also key in Not feeling so smug about the spread of skin cancer. UVA that SPF50 now, are you? rays go deeper, causing skin TRY: Soltan Adult Dry Touch ageing and DNA damage, Lotion, £6 (1); Nivea Sun leading to skin cancer. “In the Roll-On, £7.99 (2) past, UVA was considered less harmful than UVB (which causes 1 direct DNA damage), but today UVA is known to contribute to skin cancer via indirect DNA damage. In fact, several studies suggest the absence of UVA filters may cause a higher incidence of melanoma,” explains cosmetic doctor Liesel Holler. 2 Suitably terrified, I set off to uncover the lies my sunscreen bottle has been telling me.

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Day one of your THE holiday and you FAKE-TAN are acutely aware of how pale you COVER-UP are. Especially compared to the Ronsealed couple next to you. So a self-tan with an SPF is a brilliant idea, right? Wrong, explains Abi Cleeve, managing director of suncare brand Ultrasun. “The main ingredient in self-tanning products is dihydroxyacetone (DHA). And it’s DHA that creates a chemical reaction on your skin (turning you that delightful shade of builder’s brew). 3 However, DHA is so strong it attacks other chemicals it’s formulated with. So if you made a broad-spectrum sunscreen and put DHA in there, it would leave the factory and pass all tests. It would contain SPF and block UVAs, but over a few weeks that DHA would destroy the UVA protection.” I’m baffled as to how companies are allowed to sell fake tan with SPF, implying it will protect your skin. “If you’re marketing a product as fake tan but you add an SPF, you don’t 4 have to bother with UVA as you’re not marketing it as sun protection. It’s marketed as fake tan with an added benefit.” As Abi tells me this, I’m tempted to run to Boots with a megaphone and warn everyone. So what to do if you can’t bear those first few days looking like Edward Cullen? Apply fake tan the night before, or a couple of days before your holiday. As long as you don’t use fake tan on the same day, your regular broad-spectrum sunscreen will work just fine. TRY: M&S’ tan-enhancing Sun Smart Moisture Protect Nourishing Dry Oil SPF30, £12 (3); or a tinted sunscreen such as Ultrasun Tinted High Body Sun Protection 30SPF, £26 (4) i

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Now, this Marko Lens telling me my mum was APPLICATION was a hard right. “You swim, shower and towel, APPLICATION one even all of which remove sunscreen.” OK, for me to but what if you just lie very still with APPLICATION get my a Magnum? “You sweat.” head around, but the sun itself can Basically there is no getting away break down the UV screens in your with it. You need to reapply every two sunscreen. This is why you have to hours, or every 30 minutes in hot and keep reapplying it. It’s also why you humid conditions. And, by the way, should always look out for the word even if the label says your sunscreen ‘photostable’ on your sunscreen bottle. is ‘water resistant’, you have 40 So does ‘photostable’ mean I don’t minutes of protection once you’re have to reapply? “No. It won’t break wet. You’ve been warned. down in the sun, but it still needs to TRY: Ladival Advanced Infrared-A be reapplied due to other factors.” Protection System, £19.99. Bakel Suncare Essentially that’s skin-cancer expert Dr High Protection Face & Body, £58 (9) i

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Sand + sun physical sunscreens block some of ALCOHOL cream: not one it.” And what of the new non-chalky (NO, NOT of life’s best 5 technology, Dr Tom? “Physical ) combinations. sunscreens are made up of zinc oxide THAT KIND No wonder that and titanium. We have come up spray sunscreens seem so appealing. with a way of milling the titanium However, aerosol sunscreens contain and zinc down to a fairly exact a lot of alcohol which, says Dr Marko, 6 size, which stops the white ashy “breaks down photostability and look on your skin.” dries out your skin just when you TRY: Clinique Mineral Sunscreen need hydration most”. Avoiding it in Fluid for Body, £25; Medik8 Physical sunscreen is almost impossible. Just Sunscreen SPF30, £32 skip products that list alcohol 7 among the first few ingredients There’s nothing (unless it’s San Miguel) and check PORE like a face full of the labels of aerosols, gels and BLOCKERS pimples to kill anything that claims to be ‘cooling’. 8 your holiday TRY: Zelens Body Defence vibe, which is why the thought of Sunscreen, £55 (6). Piz Buin Protect applying a greasy sunscreen stops & Cool Refeshing Sun Mousse (cools people bothering altogether. with ether, not alcohol), £14.50 “In my experience, the vast majority of sunscreens, especially high factors, Melanin gives our would make someone with a tendency THE skin colour. The for spots break out,” says dermatologist MELANIN darker your skin, 9 Dr Stefanie Williams, confirming that the more melanin it’s not just our imagination. But what THEORY you naturally have. can we look for in a facial sunscreen to ‘Tan optimising’ melanin supplements stop us getting Kevin and Perry-style and sunscreens claim to make you tan acne? “Avoid creams that have a greasy quicker and darker. The problem with Mineral sunscreens texture and don’t sink into your skin these is people believe they don’t THE (aka physical after a couple of minutes. A good need as much sunscreen, or as high a WHITE sunscreens) have a bad starting point is any sunscreen that factor, because melanin offers itsown rep for leaving you states ‘oil free’ on the bottle.” So is protection. “I don’t see the point of GUYS looking as if you’re using the same sunscreen for your increasing melanin production, which about to swim the Channel. We know body and your face a no-no? “I haven’t is actually a sign of skin damage. they offer the best protection in theory, found any body sunscreens that It doesn’t make sense to me.” If it but we’re all too vain to slap them on. I would recommend to patients for doesn’t make sense to Dr Marko, who However, new technologies mean you their face.” Two sunscreens it is, then. has a PhD in skin cancer and 20 years no longer have to look like Caspar. TRY: La Roche-Posay Anthelios Tinted of clinical experience, best avoid. “Unlike chemical filters, which let Dry Touch Gel-Cream SPF50+, £18 (5). Basically, just because you’ve got UV rays into the skin, physical filters Bioderma Photoderm Max SPF50+ a tan, that doesn’t mean reflect UV light away so Aquafluid, £13.50 (7) ◆ you can stop applying it doesn’t enter the cell your sunscreen, people. layer.” That’s Dr Stefanie BEHIND THE TRY: Palmer’s Eventone Williams, a clinical SCENES Suncare Lotion SPF30, ‘Your mum dermatologist. I also spoke £9.99; IS Clinical was right. You to Dr Tom Mammone, Laura Capon Extreme Protect Clinique’s vice-president “Every expert I spoke to SPF30, £60 (8) have to keep of skin physiology and terrified me. I’d never call reapplying’ pharmacology. “We’re myself a sun-worshipper, but I am guilty of comparing tans with discovering that infrared friends when I go on holiday. I’ve now booked is very damaging to the myself in for a mole check… just in case.”

skin and broad-spectrum TRUNK ARCHIVE. *CANCER RESEARCH UK PHOTOGRAPHS

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DOES SHE DESERVE TO BE HATED? Islamophobia, especially towards young Muslim women, is on the rise. Tanya Gold goes undercover to ﬁnd out why… with surprising results ›

128 · COSMOPOLITAN READ

COSMOPOLITAN · 129 Muslim women are frightened – and they are right to be. In the year up to July 2015, attacks on Muslims in parts of London rose by more than 200%, according to statistics from the Metropolitan Police*. The refugee crisis and the rise of ISIS means that – for bigots – Muslim women are a target. Austerity policies have not helped because racism flourishes with economic insecurity. The day before I am due to go out for this feature, a Muslim woman is attacked outside her university in central London. Her veil is ripped from her face. I want to investigate the experiences of women like them – and my own prejudice – because I have always hated the veil and seen it as a tool of oppression. My first call is to Sajda Mughal, a winner at last year’s Cosmopolitan Ultimate Women Awards and director of the JAN Trust, a charity supporting vulnerable ethnic-minority women. “It’s got worse,” she says. “In the last three years alone we have seen a 65% rise in the number of women coming ere I am, to us and telling us of their suffering.” Veiled women, she says, “have been walking spat at, slapped and through London wearing hit. Perpetrators have the veil. I have seen devout tried to pull off their HMuslim women wear it veils on buses, in the and I am fascinated by streets.” The youngest them. I want to try to victim she has worked with was seven; she understand how they feel, was told at school that to walk in their shoes. I have “your father is Osama worn it for three days and bin Laden”. She has on this last day, in the high heard of ambulance street in Dagenham, east workers refusing to transport London, I feel genuinely women in headscarves and social workers telling children afraid. People – women – their native lands are are abusing me as I pass “terrorist countries”. Shhe and laughing into their herself has been hands; if it were night threatened. One telephone message I would fear for my physical Tanya said, “I want to slit safety. Everything I thought witnesses at your Muslim throat.” first hand the I knew about being a Those responsible, Islamophobia woman in this glittering she says, are almost currently rife neon city is wrong. always white men. in the UK

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She says she has never met a veiled I lie and say I’m visiting Saudi Arabia. to. I want to hide in the toilet, invent woman who doesn’t wear it by choice. She says I do not need to explain, and the article, go home. Perhaps it’s comforting for women sends me to Shepherd’s Bush Market Outside, I pass another woman in like me to believe they are coerced into in west London. I buy the veil and a veil. “As-salāmu ‘alaykum,” she says, wearing it by their families. Is that my niqab (the part that covers the face). a common Muslim greeting meaning form of racism? Do I not trust these Leaving the market, I catch sight “peace be upon you”. I am desperately women to make their own choices? of my reﬂection and am shocked. grateful; even so, I feel ashamed. My I order a dress from Amazon: it is I look like nothing; like a backdrop sisterhood with her – which she so “modest”, Saudi-style. When it arrives, or a wall. I jump into Costa Coffee; sweetly acknowledges – is a pretence. my husband says it is more revealing it is familiar, but I think there is less The veil does not always bring peace. than some of my clothes, so I order warmth in the server’s eyes than is Sajda told me of three women she has a second one, but I’ve forgotten to buy usual. She seems brusque, efficient, worked with. One took her daughter, the veil. I stop a Muslim woman in my keen to get it over with. I have no aged two, to a playground. A white street and ask her where to buy one; excuse to stay here, although I want man shouted “terrorist bitch” and i

COSMOPOLITAN · 131 “fuck off out of my country, ISIS bitch”. (He obviously didn’t know ISIS mostly terrorise other Muslims.) He ordered his dog to attack them. She went to the police. They did nothing. Her child screamed every night for months. The second woman she talks about was on the bus to pick her toddler up from nursery. A young white man called her a “terrorist” and an “ugly bitch” who should “get out of my country” because “you people just breed terrorists”. Instead of helping her, other passengers applauded. The bus driver did nothing. She stopped crying when she got to the nursery; she didn’t want to frighten her child. A third woman was walking in a town centre and heard a man say “terrorist”. He said, “Go back to your country,” and, “You must be ugly, that’s why you’re wearing that thing.” He ripped her veil off and threw it oonn the ground. She still has nightmares – that he is killing her. On my first day in the veil, I catch a bus to Hammersmith Muslim inside, the fabric Marks & Spencer people seem more in west London. women are stretches and cuts careful than usual not to barge into I am uncomfortable. targets of into me and I me. A young, pretty saleswoman in abuse, as I dribble on my veil. look absurd, like Boots gives me a warm, penetrating Tanya finds Normally I’m an owl. I can’t eat look. Two people in the street – white, over-friendly with as I would have in their fifties – glare and step back. strangers. I say hello to raise the cloth, I take another bus: to Kingston, to bus drivers. I accost which I am beginning where the number of Islamophobic women with babies. to feel a strange loyalty attacks doubled in the past year. Today I do not want to because it is, for I walk around the Saturday market, to. I feel immobile now, the identity then go back into Costa Coffee. I feel and isolated; I feel I ha vev chosen, and all a low hum of hostility. People look I can do nothing right. I haveve.. If II amam to wear it, I will wear me up and down, and look aghast or I get off and see, on the timetable, it properly; I will not defame it. angry. One man – young, redheaded a bus to Teddington, where I spent my I can’t make conversation because I am – gives me a stare of pure hatred. He early childhood. Of course I’m seeking afraid of the response. I am silenced. moves closer to me, holding it as long places where I am deeply rooted; I get off at Teddington, and walk up as possible, so I know that he hates me. where I feel safe. I look for the stop, the high street. I am no longer sure I go to central London on the train, and something happens to surprise me. why I came here because whatever I’m and take the Underground home. A man runs over and says, “Can I help looking for – my tiny self, I suppose The train is fine because it is empty, you?” He takes me to the stop. This – it is no longer here. It is just a but the Underground is not. I receive is the other side, then: the concern. suburban street on a sunny day. I feel many angry glances, and some cross The solicitude. Maybe the pity? tired, although it is only lunchtime; murmurs, so I am relieved to return On the bus I can’t read because my the black polyester draws in heat. The to Camden Town. Many women are

glasses slide offthe veil. If I put them veil prickles against my eyelashes. In veiled in my street. I ﬁt in, as always. USING CHANEL. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS RIDLEY, LIZ GREGG. MAKE-UP LUCY PHOTOGRAPHS *SWLONDONER.CO.UK THE GUARDIAN. GETTY IMAGES, NEWSPAPERS, JOHN FROST

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So far my experience how I would feel if is nothing like those of I had my two-year-old the women Sajda told with me, and could me about. But I want to ‘An elderly not tear off my know what it’s like for veil and shout, a woman who, through white woman “I’m not a Muslim”. commitment to her calls me Petriﬁed, probably. culture alone, is obliged Then a man – again to feel fear. “disgusting”’ white and elderly And so, before I hang – shouts into my face, up my veil, I go to “Ratbag!” It is such Dagenham, east London. a silly insult, I almost It is a declining manufacturing town laugh, but what would come next? All with a history of racism. In 2006, the these interactions took place in just BNP won 12 council seats – although ﬁve minutes in sunlight in a crowded they lost them all in 2010 – and 14% street. In 2013 a disabled Iranian of the total vote. As I get off the Tube, refugee called Bijan Ebrahimi was I feel the hostility immediately. It beaten to death in Bristol and his body crackles in the air. I ask a taxi driver: set alight. The police ignored his is this the high street? “Yes,” he says, pleas for help in the days leading up his face full of loathing. I walk up and to his murder, and even arrested him. down the high street. I see women in I understand now how this happened. headscarves, but no one is veiled. I still hate the veil. But after three Soon, an elderly white woman days of wearing it, I no longer think it says to me, almost conversationally, is my response to it that matters. What as if talking about the weather, as matters is the fear women feel, when I pass, “That’s disgusting.” they should not, and the violence Next a man in a van stops and makes lurking in our cities. I thought On the second day I go to central a phone sign with his hand. “Oi!” he I knew about misogyny. I was wrong. ◆ London again. A few women pull shouts, “Can I have your number?” their children away from me in His friends laugh. I could say he is BEHIND THE Hamleys; maybe they think I would treating me as he would any woman, SCENES trip on them? But then a salesman and it is what passes for charm in his in Kate Spade talks to me with such eyes, but I don’t think so. It is a taunt. Tanya Gold bouncing sweetness and enthusiasm Another elderly white woman says, “When I wore the veil I am thrilled. He sees me looking at “You’ve got a nerve.” Next, a group I was abused, ignored a handbag, and picks it up to show of women sitting outside a café and harassed. But I also had moments of silent me. He doesn’t seem to notice laugh loudly as I pass; I hear them warmth and tenderness from strangers. the veil at all; perhaps consumer talk about me, their laughter tinkling It was incredibly touching.’’ capitalism has no prejudices. across the pavement. I do not know

THE BURQA AROUND THE WORLD How different countries police the veil

France In 2011 Australia A huge Saudi Arabia USA Women France became debate rages, One of the only can wear burqas the ﬁrst European with many Aussie Muslim-majority wherever they country to outlaw burqas in politicians calling for an countries that legally enforce want, thanks to the Founding public. Then-president Nicolas all-out burqa ban. However, a dress code in public. Almost Fathers who included clothing Sarkozy called the women according to a recent poll, all Muslim women wear a in the constitutional rights wearing them “prisoners 60% of Australian women headscarf, and showing even to freedom of speech. The behind a screen”. Soon after, support the right of their an elbow has been verboten burkini is especially popular Belgium followed suit. peers to wear burqas. since the country’s founding. on beaches in the summer.

COSMOPOLITAN · 133 O E GRIER V ers. AMY I ale driv Rruitit morere fem D rec

E Ha mission to Tber is on U

F YO READ spent eight hou U rs on the road w R ith one to se e w L hat the n I ight s F hift real E ly look s like i

135 Soho 7.30pm Steve & girlfriend 8pm Paul & briefcase

It’s 7.30pm in the heart of n a cut-throat economic London and it’s been a long climate, where financial Fittzrovia day of shopping for Steve* and certainty is a luxury few can his girlfriend. Now all they afford, the gig economy – of which Uber is a central want is to be whisked to a component – is thriving. The Korean restaurant in Soho, five private-hire taxi app, which minutes down the road. Their started life in San Francisco in shopping bags – Hermès, 2010 and is now in 411 cities Aspinal, Miu Miu – pile up in iacross 65 countries, has created a front of them, obscuring their sense of carefree freedom around flawless twentysomething faces. travel. It’s not only provided a lifeline Regent’s 8.30pm “Are you real?” asks Steve, to millennials on a night out and Park Miguel office workers getting from A to B, & Jen diving through the bags and but also to those struggling to make leaning towards the driver of ends meet. A story appeared recently this Mercedes C-Class UberX. about a man driving Ubers to pay off He’s a tourist, over from Hong a £16,000 wedding. It’s the new bar Kong, where, he says, Uber work, the new temping. The ultimate is more expensive than local way of flexible working; one that taxis. (But, he counters, they women are increasingly interested in. do wear suits.) “Yes, I’m real. A study from Uber suggests the average driver does 27 hours per I’m a real Uber driver,” smiles week. Compare that with the average B ngham the woman at the wheel, in 48-hour week most office workers Palace a sing-song voice. She takes do, and it paints a picture of how the 9pm a sip of strawberry-flavoured app is used to supplement other jobs. Hot father water, looks at me and Actresses and models (like Ilana), & son mouths: “I get that a lot.” mums, self-employed hairdressers “I accepted this journey – even those saving for a blow-out because of your rating,” Steve holiday or wedding: they’re the women making up Uber’s 400-strong 10pm continues. “The restaurant Inebriated female driving squad in London. Daisy & we’re going to has a five-star And the numbers are rising daily. Pete rating on TripAdvisor, too.” It was in the mania of Christmas Earl’s Court He is partly talking to himself, party season that Ilana Hundadze, partly to us. This is something 35, the woman I’m about to spend I’ll get used to over the eight eight hours sat next to, joined Uber. A former model, restaurant manager hours I’m in this car – people 11pm playing on their phones while and Latvian reality-TV star, she’s lived in London for 15 years. “I’ve always ‘Private’ using Ilana, the woman in loved driving. This way I get paid for Luke the driving seat, as a kind of it, plus I can turn it off whenever rhetorical sounding board. I need to focus on my other projects.”

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‘Bing bing bing’ – the synthesized Theatre directors, financial advisors, and an Aussie couple, Daisy and xylophone sounds from Ilana’s HR executives, lawyers, management Pete, not-so-fresh from a bar crawl phone. These alerts, which signal consultants – Ilana adds them all on across London. Ilana proffers advice, customers looking for a ride, will LinkedIn. “This way I get them one-on- when asked, about everything from become the soundtrack to our one. It’s very useful for my other work.” the importance of creating a family evening. Within three minutes, in the She means the castings, photo- legacy, to her favourite tuna carpaccio shadow of the BT Tower, Paul has slid shoots and work she gets as an extra in the city (“try the World’s End onto the back seat with his briefcase. on films (“I was in Shadow Recruit. Market on King’s Road”). It’s nearly 8pm and, judging by the I was the first extra in a scene with As the buzz of Friday night ascends eau de Merlot he’s emitting, he’s Kevin Costner,” she says proudly). into a palpable vibration towards been in a wine bar since the Jobs are often confirmed last minute. midnight, Ilana talks more and more mid-’90s. Home is north-west The night we meet, she’s come from freely. There was a time when she was London, where we’re headed. a screen test for a film, and is in the the woman on the inside of some “What brings you to Soho?” running to become the poster-girl for of London’s most elite restaurants, I offer as an opening gambit. “I’m a new Uber ad campaign, deciding who came past going to give you two possible aimed at recruiting the velvet rope. But a answers, you pick which is true. female drivers. It seems depressive episode a few The first: I was celebrating a word has already spread ‘Older men try years ago left her ridden big property deal. The second: of a female-only car with anxiety. “A friend I was having an illicit liaison service, SafeHer, coming to assert their had a stroke and I just with one of my wife’s friends.” to the UK from America, authority. But started thinking everyone I suggest it’s probably secret which could threaten around me was going to option number three: he’d been to topple the monopoly this is my space’ die. I feared public places, for work drinks, but wanted us to Uber has had since it I couldn’t go to work. know he was up for cheating on his first launched in the UK, I still have bad days, wife. Paul’s barely listening. back in 2012. so I need a job where “I’ve got a 4.9-star rating on Uber… ‘Bing bing bing’. After a few minutes I don’t have to go in if I need to rest.” Hey, what celebrity do you think winding around the streets of north- Much, much later that night, Ilana I look like?” west London, we pick up Miguel and reveals that when she was 18 and just “Giles Coren, the restaurant critic Jen, two late-twentysomethings on out of school she went to Monaco for The Times,” I say. He Googles him. their way to the pub. He’s a firefighter, for a modelling job that ended in “Him?” There’s a silence. “You’re she’s in property. They’re with us for two cases of attempted sexual assault better-looking,” purrs Ilana. less than five minutes, and in that by a man 40 years her senior. She When Paul gets out, I ask Ilana how time he tells me, “I once had to cut managed to escape, but still struggles many of her customers hit on her. a titanium ring off a man’s cock in with older men who try to assert their “I get date requests daily, but A&E. Nurses didn’t have the kit to.” dominance. “I’ve had passengers who I never go. I had lunch with someone Ilana nearly swerves into a bollard. reminded me of that man. But this is I thought might be useful to get Jen rolls her eyes. my space. I call the shots here.” my team-building business off the Between 9 and 11pm we pick up Her mobile rings and she begins ground, but he wasn’t.” She opens a Gap-ad-good-looking father-and- an animated conversation in Russian the compartment between our seats son duo who’ve been out plotting (one of the four languages she speaks). and pulls out a wad of business cards. the fortunes of the family business, It’s one of her private clients, Luke, i

12.30pm Two party Mayfair girls Kent

11.30pm Nicky & Mark

COSMOPOLITAN · 137 READ UBER who has her number and connects “£19.26. For 90 hat last week and with her direct through Uber. minutes’ driving.” It’s CONFESSIONALS I think he might As we head towards Earl’s Court, nothing, not really, You’ll never guess what have downgraded she puts a Russian pop video on the not with petrol and goes on in the back seat. my rating.” It’s 4.6. dashboard TV screen. “He loves this car-running costs, and Four Uber drivers tell all “Eeesh,” Ilana song.” I offer to get in the back – the 20% Uber takes. inhales. “Mine’s 4.9.” “I once drove a woman sensing an air of the VIP about this She says she normally around London so she could Later, when James one. Early fifties, with a turquoise and works until she makes stalk her cheating boyfriend. has gone, Ilana silver ring and a Barbour bomber, £100. Sometimes, A classic trip.” – Robert scrolls through the Luke’s a ‘consultant’ who speaks six with surge pricing comments riders languages, and he and Ilana talk (when Uber’s prices “Last week an old lady asked have left for her. me out. I had to politely in both English and Russian. He’s increase because decline.” – Nabil “I look at them off to celeb-WAG-oligarch magnet demand is higher), sometimes. I find Novikov in Mayfair. At first I find she can do that in a “There’s always the lad who it… comforting.” Ilana’s fussing around him slightly couple of hours, but passes out in the back of the When she drops sickly. But hearing them chat about in the eight hours car. Usually that’s when I take me home just after to the speed bumps to wake future journeys (she’s taking him to we’re together she him up.” – Raymond 3am, I’m knackered. the airport next week), I realise there’s makes just £75. That Ilana is too, and was no difference between her playing his groom in Australia “A girl booked an UberPool on her way home, favourite song, and me making my who paid off his to take her home. The second but as she looks at boss a tactical cup of tea. She, like all £16,000 wedding? rider was a guy, also on his the cluster of red way home. They hit it off so He had to work two blinking dots of us, is just managing up. BRAND. ISABELLE STANT

well they ended up going on LEMENT-ANALYSIS/ Mayfair at midnight is bedlam in jobs for a year. In a date that night.” – Ilana shouting ‘pick me’ stilettos. The flashing dot on Ilana’s the first big knock from her phone, she GPS shows our next rider is at Sexy to the gig economy, seems to get a second Fish, another blingy restaurant, but Uber recently settled a historic $100 wind – “I think I’ll stay out for a few they’re actually at the May Fair Hotel. million lawsuit in the US over how more hours,” she says as I unfurl It takes us 10 minutes to get to Mark it classifies its employees**. It could my stiff legs from the car. Uber is and his wife Nicky, and when we do, open the floodgates for others like it. addictive, not just to users but to they are drunk and huffy. But mainly It’s 2am and we’re back in Mayfair. drivers, a computer game where huffy. Ilana looks at the postcode, Our last rider of the night is James, you’re only ever one click away from ‘BR1…’ My heart sinks. It’s at least an a musician who looks like the love the promise of a big windfall fare. hour’s journey. She seamlessly switches child of Pete Doherty and George It’s the cash, sure – who’d turn down the music to Magic FM. On her own Osborne and has spent the night surge pricing? – but it is also the in the small hours of the morning, she playing at a members’ club. He’s promise of something else, of things listens to Russian pop songs as they shitfaced and absent-mindedly that are now increasingly fleeting: remind her of home, and sometimes flicking between Tinder and Uber. connection, validation, freedom. Uber calls her mum, who worries about her “Imagine if I mixed them up and offers all these and yet, paradoxically, driving, just to check in. put my postcode into Tinder, and also acts to make them all the more At least, I think, Ilana is getting a started right-swiping Ubers… What’s fragile. Eight hours ago, Steve asked: nice bit of cash out of this journey. my rating? I nicked an Uber driver’s “Is it real?” Maybe he had a point. ◆

2am Mayfair BEHIND THE Musician SCENES Jsames Amy Grier “The most surprising part of my night? When I got carsick and had to throw up in someone’s garden in Forest Gate. Ilana had tissues and water ready, and avoided 3am speed-humps for the rest of the night.” PHOTOGRAPHS ANTONIO PETRONZIO. MAKE-UP AND HAIR EMILY-JANE WILLIAMS, USING ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS AND EFFIN HAIR. MAKE-UP ASSI BEVERLY WILLIAMS, USING ANASTASIA MAKE-UP AND HAIR EMILY-JANE PETRONZIO. ANTONIO PHOTOGRAPHS HOME! **FORTUNE.COM/2016/04/25/UBER-SETT BEEN CHANGED. NAMES HAVE PASSENGERS’ *ALL LOCKETT. JESSICA ILLUSTRATIONS KOZLIK. ZOE STYLING

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That’s the question Cosmopolitan’s Jennifer Savin asked after research showed they apparently make the best husbands. Welcome to the world’s weirdest dating challenge i

COSMOPOLITAN · 141 opless selfie. Swipes left. Looks shy. Swipes left. Called Trevor. Swipes left. Sound familiar? I’ve been single for over a year and despite signing up to every dating app out there, I’ve yet to meet a man worth spending more than a few hours with. That’s assuming I get to the first DDaniel #9: date; I, like seven million susurprisinglyy his hhat was nooot hiding other Brits dating online, a dodgy hairline usually make up my mind about someone within… ooh… three seconds of viewing their profile (apparently a billion swipes happen on Tinder every single day, yet only 12 million matches are made – that’s a lot of rejection). I now say no to people if there’s so much as a spelling mistake in their bio. Don’t pretend you don’t do it – the amount of choice available has made cut-throat window shoppers of us all.

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The thing is, I do Blu-Tack my phone to a pile of books that found those with a common actually want to meet for our ‘meeting’. Daniel #1 is so chilled surname, such as Smith, are more someone, so after yet he’s practically horizontal, he sits likely to marry another Smith. another ‘meh’ date with clutching a mug of tea and slips in “Humans are egotists, right? We’re a man I thought ticked all self-deprecating jokes throughout our attracted to things that remind us of my usual criteria (tall, three-hour chat. I really like talking ourselves. We tend to become attracted arrogant, edgy-sounding to him (and realise that downing an to facial features that are relatively name like Blade or Silus), entire bottle of Chardonnay on a date similar to ours, so why not names?” I found myself Googling is somehow less cool when you’re sat Which is interesting, given I’ve “men that make good in your bedroom), but the distance is always gravitated towards guys with partners” on the night an obvious problem. Still, one of the unusual names. My last serious bus home. (OK, now better dates I’ve had in a while. boyfriend was called Matz, and my you can judge me.) Daniel #2, however, challenges every last friends-with-benefits situation What I found – along judgmental bone in my body. First was with a guy called Israel. Could with some questionable of all, by taking me bowling (and it be because of my uncommon stuff about how bald men requesting the same shoe size as me), surname? Yes, but it could also be are better in bed (one and secondly by linking his arm because of the characteristics those feature I won’t be trying) through mine on our way from bar to with stand-out names tend to take on. – was a study claiming bowling alley, saying, “Doesn’t this just “Having a memorable name may men named David, feel right?” Hmm – not really. Halfway mean teachers are more likely to call Andrew and Daniel through our second game, he asks, “Are upon that child in class, which in make the best husbands*. you racist, by the way? I’m not racist theory could make a person smarter Further digging found but…” I frown and glance sideways or more used to public speaking, research on Daniels being at a rubbish bin overflowing with boosting confidence.” Previously, it’s the most generous (not hot-dog wrappers and imagine stuffing this showy confidence that would have just financially – with him inside it. Small feet, small mind. attracted me. But it’s also what’s led to time and emotions, too). late-night trips on the night bus, alone. Daniels also, apparently, THE NAME GAME experience more luck After two very polarising dates, I phone ON WITH THE SEARCH (probably karmic payback for all that David Figlio, a professor of economics Daniel #3, it turns out, is friendly, but generosity and good husbanding) at Northwestern University, to talk slightly beige. When he later reveals and then an idea hit me: I will throw science. His research looks into the his surname is Smith, I do find myself out all my usual criteria, the reasons influence names have on academic questioning if that’s why we lack a I usually veto men and the stipulations choices and how teachers unconsciously spark. Daniel #4, however, is anything I thought were crucial in a potential judge children by their monikers. but beige. He’s Danny Goldberg, 27, mate. I will only date men called “There’s a term a friend of a friend, Daniel. Other women say they make called nominative who makes the great mates. The universe endows determinism, which mistake of asking me them with luck. And, hey, who am is basically the theory what I’m working on I to fuck with the universe? that your name is when I bump into your destiny – for him outside my DESPERATELY SEEKING DANIEL example, people office. Days later we So this experiment starts the way hypothesise those head to a swanky every good love story should: with a with the surname French restaurant. fly-poster campaign around my office, Pain are more likely He makes me laugh the Tube and the internet. I also email to become dentists,” from start to finish, Daniel Bedingfield. He ignores me. But he explains. So that especially post- other messages soon start rolling in. explains my old dinner when we My first date is with Daniel Gearie, biology teacher, head to an arcade to 24, and a teacher from Dundee. He Ms Bodily. play shoot-’em-up offers to travel down from Scotland We discuss research games, surrounded (generous? Tick), but I suggest a Skype by psychologist Daniel #6 was a Muse fan and gin by awkward teens. date instead. I don’t own a webcam, so Dr Brett Pelham drinker… spot the connection On my train ride i

COSMOPOLITAN · 143 READ DATE A DAN? home I realise I’ve only drunk one Oh sorry, hang on We measure these I’ve learnt I’m intrigued glass of wine on our date – Danny – Scott?! Brilliant. The celebrity Daniels up by, and is conﬁdent, but made me feel so instantly at ease most successful Daniel to the science not intimidatingly so. that I didn’t need liquid courage. so far isn’t even called Most of all, he can laugh Like all the other Daniels so far, Daniel. I make a mental DANIEL at himself – something he’s clearly comfortable in his own note to research if RADCLIFFE he shares with all his skin. I’m starting to realise the reason Scotts are disingenuous The Harry Potter Daniel brethren. This I always go for in-your-face conﬁdence opportunists, and icon keeps schtum on his trait jumps straight to three-year relationship is that not only is it a challenge, but delete his number. the top of my new with Erin Darke, but secretly I hope it will rub off on me. Soon after, an email has admitted he’s a dating criteria list. Meeting these kind, mellower Daniels comes through from “serial monogamist”. has made me see that with those alpha a real Daniel – Daniel TINDER’S GREATEST types I would shrink into myself, or act Anderson**: A friend said DANNY CIPRIANI On week eight, Tinder like someone else to try to impress you’re seeking Daniels for emails me the details of Not sure any of them. My Daniels (discounting the dates. There’s even a poster the women this the “most-liked Daniel bowling racist) have been generous – my preferred method rugby star is alleged to in London”. His shirtless with both their time and emotions. of attracting a mate have cheated on (Lindsay photos make him look I’m starting to see why they make since watching the ’90s Lohan, Kelly Brook, a like a Ken doll and Cheeky Girl) would say such good partners. smash-hit ‘You’ve Got I would’ve left-swiped, if he makes a good partner… Stepping things up, I take a stash of Mail’. On our date, he left to my own devices. posters out with me on Saturday night. says “interesting!” to Yet, of all the Daniels I rope in my friend Ellie and together everything I say, while DANIEL CRAIG I meet, King of Tinder we ask the entire male population of looking anything but He might have Daniel challenges my ALL OTHER Z CLOTHING;

played the most MORE FOR ARNABY.CO.UK a club what their name is. interested, and I walk to preconceptions the famous shagger in history A Scottish lilt drifts into my ear, the Tube with the sound (Bond), but he’s a model most. I was expecting “Aye, mah nam’s Dunneh.” In my of Queen’s Another One husband to Rachel Weisz. a self-obsessed ‘Do tiny wonky brain, he sounds like Bites The Dust in my head. (Still repping the good you lift?’ bloke with Ewan McGregor. I’m into it. We start I desperately want to quit. Daniels of this world.) Shredded Wheat for chatting, mainly about how great it is The next night it’s brains. What I get is the to be called Daniel. After a few drinks Daniel #6 – Daniel Iturbe, 25, who opposite: a history nerd (like me) with we kiss against the bar. He takes my speaks Spanish, and will therefore be a quick sense of humour. I’m really number and messages the next day: known as Spaniel. We go gin-tasting glad I fought that voice in my head It’s Scott, nice meeting you last night! – I like his vibe straight away, even that said “not your type: NEXT”, though he’s someone I’d usually and actually went on the date. bypass. But after an hour he tells me he Because really, that, for me, has has to go; he’s forgotten he has tickets been the biggest lesson of all. Not to travel back in time to 2011 (sorry, that my destiny necessarily lies with I mean to a Muse gig). We reschedule a man called Daniel, but that the for part two the following day. I love attributes they’re supposedly imbued all his stories about living in different with (kindness, generosity – the countries; I remember how attractive ability to make their own luck) it is when a person can teach you are the things I should and will new things about the world and my be looking for from now on. ◆ previous scepticism disappears. Ten points to the Daniels of the world. BEHIND THE SCENES Unfortunately, by this point all the Daniels have started merging into one Jennifer Savin giant mutant date in my head. I meet Cosmopolitan junior writer Daniel #9 (Daniels #7 and #8 both bail “Another piece of dating last-minute) for dinner and instantly wisdom I learnt: never wear leather trousers Daniel #4 to an underground ping-pong club (where practising his adore his South African accent – out of I met Daniel #10). You will ﬁnd yourself ‘blue steel’ for all the Daniels, he’s the most ‘my type’. in a NEXT-LEVEL sweat situation.” the camera CLOTHING, JENNI’S OWN. *STUDY CONDUCTED BY SITEOPIA. THANKS TO BALANS SOHO SOCIETY (BALANS.CO.UK), JINJUU AND ANTIDOTE; VISIT C JINJUU AND ANTIDOTE; BALANS SOHO SOCIETY (BALANS.CO.UK), TO SITEOPIA. THANKS BY CONDUCTED *STUDY JENNI’S OWN. CLOTHING, BEEN CHANGED **SURNAME HAS GIN, CHECK OUT MR-FOGGS.COM. INTO IF YOU’RE INFORMATION. He’s got an unusual surname, which QUI TOP, RIDLEY USING CHANEL AND BUMBLE BUMBLE. JENNI WEARS STRIPE HAIR & MAKE-UP LUCY GETTY IMAGES. GEMMA DAY, PHOTOGRAPHS

144 · COSMOPOLITAN

SINGLE?G? S?’ SETTLED GOO ?COWDE ’ V E GOT YOU COVERED

SOSPOILTOCO FOR CHOICECE Ourk pick-uphbj habits aren’t just giving us fTindernitis – so many men, so few thumbs – ythey’re also leaving us dissatisfied and, more tofi the point, single. The apparently infinite choicef of potential partners leads to endless comparisonsff and unhelpful holding out for Captainf Perfect, says new research. According to studydy ldleader Dr Kristina Durante, it’s f“absence of choice that makes the heart grow ffonder”. Translation: it’s better to whittle down youryhb options than man-binge on Happn. Tryy new app Once, hhdlwhich deliversj just one possiblebld ydateh to yourhdy phone each day. It’sy time to step away from the man buffet… WORDS JOSIE COPSON. PHOTOGRAPH DENNIS PEDERSEN. DENNIS PEDERSEN. PHOTOGRAPH JOSIE COPSON. WORDS SCHOOL BUSINESS *RUTGERS AMAZON.CO.UK. AT KEN DOLLS AVAILABLE

147 Leoni and Ross met each other aged nine ‘I still go for men like him’ Leoni Cole, 25, is a drama teacher from Birmingham

Ross and I were childhood sweethearts – we met when he joined my primary school. He listened to rock music and on non-uniform days he wore jeans with chains. I was intrigued, so I asked him to be my boyfriend. We were only nine so a ‘relationship’ meant sitting together at lunch and passing notes in class. We broke up when we went to different secondary schools, but reconnected three years on. We talked constantly on MSN and, after a few weeks of chatting, we agreed to meet in person at an under-16s night I went to. Our first kiss was on a park bench, and a month later he asked me out. We had two years of young love – camping trips, evenings after school in his summerhouse, and watching him ride the motorbike he was given for his 16th birthday. But then things plateaued, and I shamelessly left him for his friend. All that time, however, Ross was the one I really wanted. It’s 10 years since we broke up but my nan says I still go for men like Ross – dark-haired rugby TREET (AVENUE-RESTAURANT.CO.UK) AND STAYED AT THE THE AT AND STAYED TREET (AVENUE-RESTAURANT.CO.UK) types who never let anything faze them. I was nervous about seeing him again, but when he told me I looked beautiful, I felt better. His accent has got posher since I saw him last, which threw me, but he looked and acted the same. He’s a really calming influence on me and we never stopped talking – about our jobs, Would you see him again? his son and mutual friends. “I do really like him and we’re The night ended with seeing each other again now, a few stolen kisses, and but we’re not putting a label then he said, “Here’s to on it yet. He never lets on how he feels, so I don’t want our next adventure,” to reveal too much either…” HALLMARK HOTEL LONDON IN CHIGWELL PRINCE REGENT (HALLMARKHOTELS.CO.UK) IN CHIGWELL LONDON HALLMARK HOTEL AS TOLD TO JOSIE COPSON. PHOTOGRAPH ANTONIO PETRONZIO. HAIR AND MAKE-UP VICTORIA BARNES, USING BAREMINERALS. BARNES, USING BAREMINERALS. HAIR AND MAKE-UP VICTORIA PETRONZIO. ANTONIO PHOTOGRAPH JOSIE COPSON. TO TOLD AS S JAMES’S ST ON LONDON’S AVENUE DINED AT LEONI AND ROSS which gave me butterflies.

148 · COSMOPOLITAN Each month, we send two former lovers on a date to see what happens…

‘The date was perfect’ Ross Oakes, 25, is an HGV technician from Birmingham

I was a bit of a wild child, so my parents moved me to a new primary school in year five and I was put in the same class as Leoni. Even then, something about her drew me in. She was ballsy and asked me to be her boyfriend, and I was more than happy to say yes. We broke up when we went to different secondary schools. Aged 13, we got back in touch. She looked like my ideal girl and had a cracking personality, so I asked her to be my girlfriend after a few sneaky kisses. We’d either hang out in my summerhouse or catch the bus into town and go to fancy restaurants. When I look back now, it feels as if we were playing at being grown-ups but, at the time, I really thought we’d end up together. After two years, she broke up with me. She told me that she didn’t feel the same any more, and then ended up getting together with my friend. She broke my heart, but I’m not bitter – everything happens for a reason. I was so excited about seeing her again. It felt as if only a week had passed since we’d last seen each other, though it had been nearly 10 years. The date was perfect and we ended the night with a proper kiss. But I have to think about things. Dating is complicated for me because I have shared custody of my five-year-old son, so I don’t like to rush into anything. He has only met one girlfriend before. I tend to date women who Would you see her again? have children, too, so they “We’ve spoken every day get my lifestyle a little more, since the date, and I want to but we’ll see how it goes. keep seeing her. Right now, Would you like to be I’m not sure how much of a 4 future it has, but I’m definitely reunited with your first love? not ruling anything out.” ◆ Email us at first.love@ cosmopolitan.co.uk.

COSMOPOLITAN · 149 ADULT NON-FICTION MY BEST SEX EVER WAS… with a Premier League footballer Ball skills. Tackle. Scoring. This guy had it all…

While I’ve been to the a turn-on; I brushed my fingertips effortlessly turned us both over so occasional football match up his leg and looked him straight I was on top. I’d never been with over the years with my dad, in the eye as I felt his trousers a man who was so dominant in I’m clueless when it comes to who tighten. He nodded his head to bed, but it felt exciting to have actually plays it. So when Jordan* leave. I needed no encouragement. someone the same age as me taking approached me on a night out three In the taxi, he pulled me on top control. He guided my hands back years ago, I didn’t have the faintest of him and kissed me hard. Outside down to my clit and we both finally idea who he was. I was 20 years old his flat, Jordan led me by the hand came – together. He kissed my and on a night out with my friends through the plush-carpeted lobby neck, and we fell asleep. at our local Oceana, the kind of (not exactly the student digs I was When I woke up the next evening we usually spent avoiding used to) and into his flat, morning, Jordan was chat-up lines from the boys in our heading straight for the brewing coffee and lectures, not bumping into Premier bedroom. Lying back on cooking bacon. It was League midfielders. I saw him his silk sheets, he kissed only then – lying in looking at me from across the bar, his way up my legs, ‘I smile now his bed, with team surrounded by men swigging posh before pulling my when I see him in photos and framed vodka from the bottle. In hindsight, knickers aside and the newspaper’ newspaper clippings I should have guessed then. pushing his tongue deep on the wall – that it He was the best-looking man in into me. I pulled his finally dawned on me the club – olive skin and green eyes, hair with my hands as who he was. I couldn’t a lean, muscular body and a naughty he moved his tongue – believe it. He laughed as smile – so when he walked over to first slowly, then quicker over my I admitted I hadn’t recognised him, our table and asked if we wanted to clit, again and again, until finally my then dropped me home and kissed join his friends, we didn’t think legs trembled as I came in his mouth. me goodbye. I didn’t expect to hear twice. We were in an Oceana, after He slid back up to kiss my mouth, from him again but he texted me all. Hot men were in short supply. while he unbuttoned my top and that night and we spent a few more After a few minutes the rest of stroked my breasts. Leaning back, nights together over the next couple the group made their way to the he slowly stripped off and rolled on of months. Eventually we lost touch dance floor, leaving the two of us a condom, giving me the perfect view when he was transferred to another alone. Jordan was even better close of his body and hard cock, before team, but I still smile when I see up, and it wasn’t long before we pushing inside me. He knew exactly his face in the newspaper. I know were kissing like teenagers. His what he was doing and, just as I was footballers get a bad rep, but

undivided attention was such about to climax a second time, he Jordan was the ultimate gent. BEEN CHANGED *NAME HAS GETTY IMAGES. PHOTOGRAPH JODIE EDWARDS. TO TOLD AS

150 · COSMOPOLITAN WORST DATES EVER Hey, we’ve all been there…

I went on a date with a guy in a local band. We were in a club and my They were playing that He was “so bored” that he said date got upset because she night and, when we he’d invited his housemate to arrived at the pub, he thought I was dancing with handed me a huge case join us. His housemate turned of equipment to carry other people. She left… but in. Once inside, he up – and started flirting with me. turned to me and said, Then my date got in a mood. was on my doorstep when “Gonna get yourself LEANNE, 32 a drink, then?” I got home! Stalker. TRACEY, 43 ANNA, 25

He took me to watch HE PULLED OUT A HANDKERCHIEF FULL a game. Then, while OF COINS TO PAY FOR OUR FILM TICKETS He told me not to tell we were in the anyone we’d been on stands, he asked if – IT WAS LIKE BEING OUT WITH MY NAN! a “proper date”, as he he could borrow my and his boys “don’t date HOLLY, 22 credit card to pay his women, we just shag electricity bill online. them”. So I checked us into the restaurant on JENNY, 21 Facebook for all to see. JASMINE, 29 HE HIT A DEER WITH After our date, he wrote HIS CAR… AND a cringey poem about me ALL HE HAD TO SAY He suggested going and then posted it on his for a picnic, so I bought FOR HIMSELF WAS, a delicious spread for blog for all my friends to us to share. He turned see. We had only been “WELL, THAT’S up with a Boots meal deal… for one. out for one coffee… DINNER SORTED!” JEM, 31 SARAH-LOUISE, 32 LAUREN, 21 ✱ Got a dating ’mare to share? Email worstdatesever@ cosmopolitan.co.uk FERAL FACACTOROR

SNSNAKE IN THE GRASS CRAZY FROG TOTAL PIG OTTER LOSER PHOTOGRAPHS GETTY IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHS

COSMOPOLITAN · 151

BECAUSE LIFE’S ALL ABBOUO U T T H E 5-99

THINK INSIDE THE BOX Once the preserve of backpackers, hobos and students surﬁng the end of their loans, boxed wine (or wine in a bag in a cardboard box) is having a reinvention. This time, however, it’s gourmands, hipsters and top sommeliers falling for its charms. Hot new London restaurant Frenchie pours wine from bags at the bar while online wine club Weino (see what they did there?) have opened a pop-up bar dedicated to the boxed stuff. As for the grape connoisseurs here at Cosmopolitan, we fully endorse this style of plonk as it lasts longer than bottled (four weeks once open), is more eco-friendly and there’s no risk of eau de cork. Try a bagnum of Du Grappin (£27.50 for 150cl) to see what we’re talking about. WORDS JENNIFER SAVIN. PHOTOGRAPH PETER CROWTHER. DU GRAPPIN AVAILABLE AT LEGRAPPIN.COM AT DU GRAPPIN AVAILABLE PETER CROWTHER. PHOTOGRAPH JENNIFER SAVIN. WORDS

COSMOPOLITAN · 153 Hip

Work stress, new flatmates who never go out, well-meaning parents with thin bedroom walls, places that dodgy knee – well, the course of true love never did run smooth. Here’s where to plan your getaway to get for getting it on him

154into · COSMOPOLITAN bed LEFT: Colonial-style buildings and cute streets La Laguna in La Laguna BELOW: Tenerifife Golden Playa SHOSHANA de las Teresitas GOLDBERG – yes, please Deputy Editor r

What’s sexy about Tenerife? It’s like Clacton in a heatwave, isn’t it? Forget those sprawling south-coast resorts and fly to the north of the island. La Laguna’s old town is the (ridiculously most beautiful in Tenerife and it’s vast and comfy) where Europe meets Latin America bed and champagne chilling on ice. under African skies. This place is romantic with a capital ‘R’ and less But if we do venture out? Just than 10 minutes from the airport – tumble on to the pretty streets so five hours after leaving London, and you can’t go far wrong. This Laurence and I were sipping barraquitos university town prides itself on on cobbled streets lined with pastel having what our favourite waitress colonial buildings in the sunshine. called the island’s most-determined marcha (that’s a cool nightlife). El Worth the tram ride? Absolutely. So it’s not all concrete and crowds? Jinete sin Cabeza near the cathedral Santa Cruz is a 20-minute hop on the Nope. We headed straight to Hotel San only ever has a few specials chalked tram from La Laguna and a cool way Agustin, a refurbished 18th-century up on the board, but it serves the best to see the city. You might not need building that opened as the island’s local wines, and food so delicious live rabbits and parrots from the daily most chic urban hotel last year. The you’d happily come back the next market, Nuestra Señora de Africa, but original tiles, window seats and night to order exactly the same again we stocked up on saffron and smoked Canarian art transport you to another – except it changes every day to paprika to take home and a picnic to time and place – far from arguments something equally great. It’s all less bring to Playa de las Teresitas, Santa about working late, not enough sex than €30 and buzzing with friendly Cruz’s local, mile-long beach. and him borrowing your socks when locals. These people take their food, he already has 7,000 odd ones of his drink and good times seriously. So, did you get some fun in the sun? own and exactly the same number The island isn’t huge, but there’s of feet as you do. We arrived to find How seriously? Book a table at heaps to see, so it’s worth getting fresh fruit, chocolates, real rose petals Kazan, a Michelin-starred Japanese a car – handily, Tenerife is one of arranged in a giant heart on our restaurant in Santa Cruz, the island’s the cheapest places in Europe for capital, and find out. Here’s where car hire. The island has many San Agustin suites smart Tinerfeños come to wine and microclimates so it can be raining have a kitchen and dine each other into bed. The food in La Laguna and balmy on the beach dining room, so is sex on a plate. Well, an awful lot in Santa Cruz. The locals’ trick is to you don’t have to go out at all of different sex on a variety of plates. phone ahead to a bar at the beach or The tasting menu costs €50 (approx in town to check the weather. Or you £39) per person (restaurantekazan. know what, just go back to bed. com). And if your budget doesn’t stretch to Michelin stars, try Maguro. Suites at Hotel San Agustin start It’s the clued-up locals’ favourite, at €150 (approx £117), breakfast owned and run by the same people included; hotels-mc.com. Iberia as Kazan, less flash but no less Express flies direct from London impressive – and half the price. to Tenerife North i

COSMOPOLITAN · 155 LEFT: Insta-friendly architecture in Reykjavik BELOW: Lebowski Bar – by the time you go home, you’ll have sat in all these seats

But it’s so cold… how can anyone feel sexy in all Reykjavik those layers? Try hitting a two-quid hot dog at the famous the steaming outdoor baths. You run Baejarins Beztu Pylsur stand, or nab around in the cold, hopping from hot one of the six tables at Grai Kotturinn Iceland pools ranging from 38°C (pleasant) to (Björk’s favourite cafe) for a Trucker CATRIONA 44°C (scalding). That’s pretty sexy – breakfast – it kept us going all day. INNES especially the naked shower you have Senior Editor to take before entering (bathing suits How about the party scene? are worn in the pools, don’t worry). Alcohol was banned until 1989 and So what’s sexy about it? OK, it It’s purse-friendly, too – admission is the locals are definitely making up didn’t look good. I hate fish. My free with a Reykjavik City Card (£19 for lost time. Drinks cost around boyfriend Ian hates fish. We’re skint. for 24 hours, from the tourist office). eight quid for a beer, but happy hour Reykjavik is one fish-loving, two-for-one runs in most places from expensive city… I thought Let’s talk food Fish! At our 4pm to 7pm. Hit up Lebowski Bar, there’d be lots of “We blowout ‘special’ meal at themed on the 1998 film, or for can’t afford that”, “OK, who Matur og drykkur, the something really sophisticated, “Not more fish…”, had baked manager was so aghast Sakkebarrin serves flavoured sake “Eat canned beans fforor thtat anyone ye wwou ldn’tldn’t in one of the city’s oldest bb uildingsildings. herring in the lunch?” leik seae seaoofoo t dat teh at he rain?”-type idnsisteg d on serving ?Where to (ahem) sleep? arguments. But us c cood fritttteers s. Butut WWewwanted a goodgood bebedd and wwee got Reykjavik wooed we’llg forgive his olneld at Hotel Borg. It’s Iceland’s

us. It’s full of fish-pushinggy ways original luxury hotel, and was S higgledy-piggledy ash thesegy guys are rrecently refurbished to its former colourful houses and geniuses. We had glory. Every detail matches the GETTY IMAGE everyone is so smiley. adl de licious (yes, even 1d930s art-yld eco styldle,g including , t,he fish) six-course menu, tthe door hinges – as my

There’s the Blue Lagoon and which starts from £44 per bboyfriendf pointed out IO-ID.COM

glaciers, right? Yes… a coachh p erson, with each dish eenthusiastically. Whatever /FOL ride away. We explored the cityty aw twistdl on traditional tturnsh you on, honey… instead, which is easy on foott I-celandic grub. The gross- and incredibly pretty. As for the sdoun ding-yet-dl delicious Rfooms£ start from £155 Northern Lights, we went ouu t ckocl ktails are a must-try: a night; hotelborg.is. Wow of season, but I did spot a gre en tf hey even infuse lamb AAir ffliesf from Gatwick to flash in the sky. OK, it could h ave into whisky. Save money Rfeykjavik daily, from

been a traffic light, but shhh. ahnotd her dhay with ££39.99 each way KRIKIS THANASSIS / S PHOTOGRAPHS

156 · COSMOPOLITAN lover’s dream. We spent Glasgow the entire weekend hopping from restaurant to restaurant for long Scotland lunches, delicious dinners LOTTIE and a snackette or two LUMSDEN in-between. And not Entertainment a deep-fried Mars bar director in sight! We had traditional haggis, neeps and tatties It’s cold. It’s wet. Scotland has to washed down with not be the least sexy place on earth… so traditional espresso What better excuse to do bugger all martinis at Café Gandolfi. for a few days, then? For 18 months And the sharing plates at Ox my boyfriend Harry and I have been and Finch (sea trout, wild living with my mum while we save up garlic; braised pork cheeks, to buy a house. And while my mum parmesan polenta; grilled is great and the prospect of getting asparagus, truffled egg yolk, Oh hi Glasgow, our first place is exciting, it’s meant you get the idea) for a quick you’re looking holidays, fun and hanging around the pre-flight-home lunch were good today house in our pants have all been on truly memorable. But by hold for a long time. So a weekend far our favourite was the What about this bed you were trying away on our own where we could eat, Champagne Sunday at The Gannet to get him into… Oh, the bed. The drink and not get asked what our (three courses and a glass of bubbly glorious four-poster bed. Given that dinner plans were for the next for £30 – bargain!). Their our current sleeping arrangements week sounded perfect. Scotch beef ‘diamond are a standard double in a room next fillet’ served with to my mum’s, the king in our suite So what is there dripping potatoes at the Hotel du Vin was a real treat – to do? As snobby got our thumbs not to mention the standalone bath. Londoners, we up, too. We both Perfectly placed with a window to its were pleasantly needed gastric right and a widescreen TV to its left surprised to bands fitting by (would be rude not to do a film discover that the end of the marathon), we found a bubble bath Glasgow is a food weekend, but boy, using the complimentary Miller was it worth it. Harris toiletries was the perfect way to relax after all that eating. And if I get bored of

ABOVE: Beef fillet pigging out? Scotland is Rooms start from £145 a night; at The Gannet the land of my fathers – my dad is hotelduvin.com. Fly direct to BELOW: Hotel du from Edinburgh. So I knew before Glasgow International from Vin – nice trees, even better beds we went that it has a tendency to London with British Airways, be a wee bit wet and windy. Not to EasyJet and Ryanair ◆ worry, Glasgow has plenty of fantastic indoor activities on offer. We went on Hotel du Vin: a craft beer tour at Drygate Brewery ruining all other beds for you (£10 each) before heading to a local forever pub to try some whiskies, and also visited the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which is worth a look for its architecture alone. And hey, if you get a warm, sunny day, it’s a beautiful city to simply mooch about in.

COSMOPOLITAN · 157

DESIGN Dream catchers! Brass elephants! Cheetah cushions! So wrong… DOUBLES yet so right BLOWOUT BUDGET

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COSMOPOLITAN · 159

£10 DINNER

PARTY LEMON 30P What do the world’s top chefs cook at home? We ﬁnd out and dish up a recipe PARSLEY 80P that’ll give you change from the cost of an Uber ME OF GOING TO PRESS ME OF GOING TO

Florence Knight’s TOMATO AND PARSLEY SEA BASS Tapas is so old hat – TOTAL SEA BASS £7.50 nowadays CHERRY TOMATOES 79P you’re no-one £9.39 if you’re not feasting on Venetian-style small plates, a trend that’s largely thanks to the influence SERVES 4 METHOD of Florence Knight, former 3. Season the skin of the INGREDIENTS 1. Preheat your oven to fillets and rub with oil, head chef of London’s Polpetto ✱ 1 punnet cherry 200°C (392°F, gas 6). before placing skin side restaurant. Happily, cooking tomatoes Place the tomatoes on a down on a hot griddle pan. up a continental storm doesn’t ✱ ½ tsp red wine vinegar baking tray and cook in the Cook for 7 mins, turning always call for a princely budget, ✱ 1 small bunch parsley, oven until they blister (this halfway through. as this dish proves. Serve it with roughly chopped will take around 5 mins). 4. Serve the fish ✱ 2 unwaxed lemons 2. Remove from the oven immediately, with the whatever carb is currently ✱ 2 tbsp olive oil and place in a bowl. Add roasted tomato and loitering in your store cupboard ✱ Pinch salt and pepper the red wine vinegar, parsley mixture, and – couscous, bulgur wheat ✱ 4 sea bass fillets parsley, the zest of one wedges of the remaining or rice all work well. Time lemon and a good glug of lemon on the side. And to get your griddle on. olive oil. Mix and set aside. that’s it! You’re done. WORDS VICTORIA JOY. PHOTOGRAPH DAVID COTSWORTH. *PRICES ARE BASED ON INGREDIENTS PURCHASED AT SAINSBURY’S AND ARE CORRECT AT TI AT AND ARE CORRECT SAINSBURY’S AT PURCHASED ON INGREDIENTS *PRICES ARE BASED COTSWORTH. DAVID PHOTOGRAPH JOY. VICTORIA WORDS

COSMOPOLITAN · 161 COSMOPOLITANSubscribe to DIGITAL EDITION FOR JUST £12 FOR ONE YEAR! JUST £1 AN ISSUE

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THE LAST WORD

THE COSMOPOLITAN CONTRACT iii

This is an agreement between two friends, hereafter referred to as

______the Bridesmaid and ______the Bride

NPOPPING THE QUESTION THE HEN 1 Upon acceptinggh thde Bride’s invitation to act as 5 la)h yOn arrival at the Country House gBridesmaid, both parties agree to react as follows: Week end d, it willhlld dtranspire that Ocado does ysqueal,, embrace, cry, flap hands. Should the Bridesmaid, n ot dldelliver lllocayll hy.d dT he llBrid desmaid will drive ging fact, be thinking, “Please, not again,” she will 2l0h midbl eslk tob tyh e nearest Londis to bulk-buy dun der no circumstancesvlh reveal htdh.is to the Bride. overpriceddd d wine, d ips and penis straws, whi le bgrainstorming Mr & Mrs questions. STHE OTHER DRESS bh) dTbhgeh Bri d e, on becoming aware that 2 ThThed dBri desmaihhd accepts gbthat having beend reassured nho bstripper hlydas beend employed, despite tthe Bride “wants her to be comfortable”, ,her outfit will, insistin ghdg she ddid ntot want, ll bone, will become iin fact, not be up for discussion. The shade will in no enrag ged and lock herself in one of the yw ay flatter the Bridesmaid, and the shape will make be dgrooms,h muttering that “it’s an omen” . gher look like an American pageant queen from 1987. As a resull,ht, thde dBri dllesmaidk d will undertake A blow is almost lycertainl d. ly involved. a frantic a t c internette et seasearchc oaocafor a local Eroticot c Ma lhe Dancer,lll who will alylmost certainly TTHE SLIM-DOWN resem bl e Hulkg Ho. gan. 3 hBot h partiesll wi ll mutuallyglldyk agree to undertake a strict h ighl-protein,b hydd hlow-car gdb ohydddrate diet, having decided to THE BIG DAY hpurcd hase dresses inll a smaller size as “motivation”h. Wit hin 6 Agccepting that the elimination of complex a for tn ig ht, the Br idesma id, hav ing succum be d to a p iece carboh yd rat es f rom h er di et w ill ren der her fa tigue d of red velvet birthday cake during an office celebration, and irritable, the Bride will suffer a stress-induced will deem her efforts futile and re-establish her meltdown on the morning of the wedding. This will customary eating habits without informing the Bride. involve hysterical tears regarding the Mother-In-Law, party favours and a Cupcake Tower. The Bridesmaid PLANNING THE HEN will be on hand to coach her through this, principally 4 The amalgamation of at least three friendship by reading out motivational quotes from Instagram. cliques into the bridal party will lead said cliques to disagree on whether the Bride would prefer a Country THE BEST MAN House Weekend, European Minibreak or Cocktail 7 Having sought full reimbursement for her Tutorial and Night Out. In addition, the Bride’s Cousin aforementioned Londis overspending from the free will insist that the Bridesmaid book a stripper, despite bar, the Bridesmaid will find herself grinding the the Bride having asserted she does not want one. After Best Man on the dance floor, despite having previously seven weeks of discussion, one hen will vehemently been repulsed by his metallic waistcoat. No one will object that she can no longer afford to participate, ever speak of this again. Except the Bride, who will causing mass Whatsapp outrage among all other hens. mention it at every subsequent get-together.

Signed: (The Bridesmaid)Signed: (The Bride) WORDS FRANCESCA HORNAK. PHOTOGRAPHS GETTY IMAGES FRANCESCA HORNAK. PHOTOGRAPHS WORDS

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