Nail trends have become so ubiquitous nowadays that I almost have a gut reaction to ignore them at this point; naturally, when I heard about the “dry gloss manicure,” I was already like ‘thank u next.’ However, I was inspired by my coworkers to give it a go. I appreciate giving my nails a break and going au natural, and the dry gloss manicure, which involves using a glass file and oil to buff and polish the nails and cuticles, appealed to my inner minimalist Virgo. As the name suggests, the “dry gloss” concept is rooted in revealing a healthy, natural sheen and clean appearance not with a glossy top coat, but with proper care to the natural nail itself. Intrigued, I took the plunge, and in no time at all, a kit from San Francisco-based nail care brand Bare Hands arrived on my doorstep.

We were especially looking forward to seeing Corsair’s suite at Computex 2023 because during CES

Thirteen people dead in two mass shootings

If Quordle is a little too challenging today, you've come to the right place for

How does one turn $400 million into a cool $50 million in just 3 short

GMA meteorologist Ginger Zee reveals the secret behind her vibrant and ever-changing wardrobe on-camera

Despite facing protests from users, Reddit’s CEO is refusing to back down on charging for

Apple is announcing new iPhones next week. You may not have enough money on hand

Apple is trying to trademark images of apples – the fruit, not the computers. Apple

Cindy Crawford has explained why she posed nude for Playboy magazine in 1988, even after her agents told her not to. The supermodel, 57, reflected on the early days of her career in the new Apple TV+ docuseries, The Super Models, which she appears in alongside fashion icons Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington. During the second episode of the show, Crawford noted that, after becoming the face of Revlon in the 80s, “things started really happening,” as she was “doing the right campaigns”. However, she claimed that when she was asked to appear on the cover of Playboy in 1988, some of her peers and agents advised her against it. “Everyone in my life at the time thought I shouldn’t do Playboy,” she said. “My modelling agency didn’t feel that that fit into the types of jobs I should be doing. I think the brand still had a connotation to it that maybe scared some people off.” Crawford said she knew why her agency was hesitant about on the gig, given how different it was from jobs she’d had before. “I understood the platform of Playboy and what that symbolised,” she explained. “It was definitely outside the normal trajectory for a Vogue model at the time.” She went on to specify that a famous fashion photographer, the late Herb Ritts, was the one who reached out to her about the project. After she recalled that she and Ritts were “really good friends” and that she “worked with” him a lot and previously “stayed at his house,” she shared another reason why she wanted to pose for Playboy. “I don’t know, there was just something about it that intrigued me. So against the advice of my agents, I said ‘yes,’” Crawford said, before describing the conditions she brought up to the maagazine when taking on the job. “But I said: ‘You don’t need to pay me a lot of money. As long as I can have control of the images, and I wanted the right to kill the story if I don’t like it,’” she recalled telling the publication. Crawford noted that when she did the photoshoot for Playboy, she and Ritts “combined it with another trip that [they] were doing for French Vogue to Hawaii”. And, according to the supermodel, the two photoshoots weren’t all that different from each other. “We’d shoot a picture for French Vogue and then we’d shoot a picture for Playboy,” she said. “I mean, you almost couldn’t tell which pictures were for French Vogue and which pictures were for Playboy, it was very organic and I loved them.” The actor concluded by noting that, despite what other people may think, it was ultimately her decision to pose for Playboy, and she did not feel pressured into it. “That’s the whole thing for me is, even if I make choices that other people disagree with or don’t like, if they’re my decisions and I have control of it, that’s empowering to me,” she said. “Even if it’s doing Playboy. I never felt like a victim of that decision.” This isn’t Crawford’s first time opening up about posing for the magazine. During an interview with Net-a-Porter’s PorterEdit in 2019, she acknowledged that she didn’t have any regrets about being photographed nude for the publication twice, as she also appeared in a 1998 Playboy spread. “I look back at some of my old Playboy pictures and I think: ‘Why wasn’t I walking around naked all the time?’” she said. “I’m not getting younger. So I want to celebrate who I am today.” She also opened up about posing nude in her fifties, and shared the candid reason why she did so in photographer Russell James’ book, Angels. “Part of the reason I wanted to do it was that I thought, at what age is being naked not beautiful anymore? Is there a sell-by date on us?” the model said. “I don’t look the same as I did at 20, 30 or even 40. If we take care of ourselves, why not? Am I frolicking on the beach in a string bikini? No.” Crawford continued to explain how, to her, posing nude showcases a type of beauty that isn’t typically shown in her other photoshoots. “But there is a place where I want to feel beautiful naked, in my private life, with my husband. [Russell] was tapping into that real place – not high heels, not a lot of makeup, not coy, just a real woman who doesn’t have clothes on,” she said. Read More Cindy Crawford candidly speaks about her marriage to Richard Gere 30 years later Voguewashing London Fashion Week won’t pay the wages of Britain’s young fashion designers Groping, abuse and racism: 10 of the most shocking revelations from The Super Models TV show

Planning to travel? Better keep some of those details to yourself.

Sanjay Aggarwal’s now-booming business was based around a family heirloom: a 100-year-old spice mill. He started selling spice blends with his mother in 2012 almost by accident. “It wasn’t meant to be a business,” the 40-year-old admits. “It was only started as a retirement hobby for my mum. What started off as a silly little idea, so to speak, just grew. We started online and moved after a few years to selling in shops.” Spice Kitchen has been wildly successful, and now Aggarwal is adding another string his company’s bow by writing a cookbook. Above all the success, he’s really just appreciated spending time with his 72-year-old mother, Shashi. “She’s incredible – she’s a whirlwind. She was born in Kenya and raised in India, so she’s got a really eclectic mix of culture. And she’s a real spice expert – we’ve got a 100-year-old spice mill in our family that’s travelled the world and I’ve got it here now; we started the business using that.” Aggarwal says it felt “natural” to work with his mother, after helping his parents run their Birmingham shop when growing up. But he’s “learned loads” from her during their new venture. “It’s certainly made me realise how entrepreneurial my mum is, how creative she is… I’ve been really impressed by how similarly we think.” He says: “We’re certainly closer for it. It’s got the ups and downs and challenges that everything has, but we’re still talking!” While there are plenty of flavour-packed Indian dishes in the new cookbook – including coriander and tandoori fishcakes, chickpea curry and tarka dal – the recipes have a decidedly global outlook. Think fish tacos, jerk-inspired pork, crispy duck with pancakes – and Aggarwal credits this to growing up in the diverse city of Birmingham. “I was born and brought up there, so for me, that was all I knew. But for my mum, it was very much a big influence on her,” he explains. When she came to the UK as a young married woman, “her cuisine and culture was all very Indian” – something that soon changed. “My mum has really seen that development of food and culture, and that cosmopolitan nature of Birmingham. It’s had tidal waves of immigration – my mum being one of them from India – and from West Africa and Asia and all different places. She’s witnessed that, when she came to the UK.” Aggarwal recounts how in the early days of living in Birmingham, Shashi would grind her own spices – you couldn’t buy blends at the time – which “reminded her of home and made her less homesick”, but then her palate expanded. “She’s vegetarian, but got to try all these amazing different sorts of vegetarian food from all around the world, be it Middle Eastern, Chinese or Japanese or whatever. Some of those things weren’t accessible when she first came, but were as time went on – and my mum’s very experimental. “She’s a real foodie. She loves trying new things and experimenting – probably more than anyone else I know. I think she’s quite unique, because I think a lot of people from cultures where they’ve got a really strong food culture – certainly like Indian culture – a lot of my aunts and uncles, they don’t really eat or experiment outside of Indian food. They find it quite scary, not very flavoursome, or quite bland. But my mum really gets it – she’s got a really deep palate, and she can really appreciate different cultures.” This love of different cuisines means both mother and son are quite free with the way they cook– and they want other people to be the same. For example, if you’re making a frittata and you don’t have any Italian seasoning, Aggarwal says: “Try it with Mexican [spice blends], try it with jerk and you could still create something amazing. Don’t be afraid to experiment.” One of the more unusual combinations he’s tried? Mexican spices in a shepherd’s pie: “It actually tastes amazing in there. We’re just trying to get people to be a bit more free thinking and adventurous. What’s the worst that can happen?” Aggarwal says he’s often asked how to make an “authentic” dish – a question he struggles to answer. “It’s very difficult to understand what they mean by that – what is the meaning of authenticity? I’m a second-generation British-born person… Food has evolved over time. We wanted to make sure the dishes [in the cookbook] were authentic in terms of linking back to the original recipes and what they’re all about, and especially the blends being as authentic as possible – trying to respect the tradition. “But we’re also trying to say, we can only take our take on things. I can take my take on things and my mum can take her take on things – and things have changed over time.” That’s why Aggarwal advises against getting “too hung up on authenticity, because there is no way of achieving it”. Instead, he recommends taking a dish you like and “play with the flavours a little bit” to “make it your own”. ‘Spice Kitchen’ by Sanjay Aggarwal (Quadrille, £22).