Amy Reads: Thoughtfully Magazine

Thoughtfully magazine is a relatively new publication centered around inspiring thoughtful living.


Price: $7.99
Available at: Whole Foods/natural foods stores, Thoughtfullymag (in digital and print formats)
New issue released every 3 months.

Thoughtfully Magazine Issues 1-3

I'm reviewing Thoughtfully Issue 2, which was for Spring 2015. Their summer issue just came out, but I haven't gotten around to getting it yet.

I heard about the magazine when it launched but I didn't look into it because I didn't find the cover too appealing. I decided to pick up their 2nd issue for two reasons: the cover had a much more conventional glam magazine look, and it seemed like a lot more people were reading it.




According to the table of contents, this issue is split into 3 categories: Culture & Travel, Fashion & Beauty, and Living, Wellness & Food. Basically every few pages is about something different and to me, it feels a little all over the place in a bad way. It's like it's trying to offer too much variety. There are so many travel and food magazines out there that I'm surprised Thoughtfully didn't hone in more on the natural beauty niche. The magazine is a slim 80 pages and felt disjointed with so many different elements. I understand that they're trying to promote thoughtful living in multiple aspects of life, but to me, it didn't offer a very cohesive reading experience.



In the beauty section, you'll find a lot of those typical magazine collages that have themes around certain products or colors. I read enough blogs to not need any more product recommendations, so I gravitated more toward the articles. I found the feature on Josie Maran quite interesting, as well as the other general tips that added more substance beyond displaying a photo of something and its price.

I also liked the fashion bits. I don't follow sustainable fashion very closely, so it was interesting to learn more about it. My favorite part of magazines has always been the editorial photos, so it's cool to see photoshoots which used green beauty/fashion to achieve their looks. The creativity isn't up to par with publications like Vogue, but it's understandable as they are more established.

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