Lifestyle - Thursday, April 16, 2026

Every Thursday at 11 a.m. Eastern, recipes editor Becky Krystal answers your cooking questions.

Whether you want to tackle hyperpigmentation or brighten mature skin, these are our expert’s favourite formulas for a glowy complexion • The best LED face masks, tested Vitamin C is having a moment in skincare because of its ability to gently brighten, reduce pigmentation and support collagen production. It also helps to neutralise free radicals – those unstable molecules generated by UV light and pollution that can lead to premature ageing – making it an essential part of your morning skincare routine (alongside an SPF ). But is a vitamin C serum suitable for everyone? And if so, how do you know which one is right for you? “Individuals with sensitive, reactive or rosacea-prone skin should approach L-ascorbic acid – the most commonly used active form of vitamin C in skincare – carefully, as it can trigger inflammation in compromised skin barriers,” says pharmacist and skincare expert Dr Sonal Chavda-Sitaram. Best vitamin C serum overall: CeraVe skin renewing vitamin C serum Best budget vitamin C serum: Elf Skin Brighten + Glow vitamin C + E + ferulic serum Continue reading...

At Brasserie Royale in Sterling, the husband-and-wife team behind Local Provisions serves thoughtful French food in a welcoming neighborhood spot.

The upgrade your daily ritual deserves. The post Most Candles Aren’t as Clean as You Think—Here’s What to Buy Instead appeared first on Camille Styles .

Tonic is much more than a bit player in a G&T. A lot of it’s good enough to drink solo If a tonic is something that “makes you feel stronger and happier”, my tonics come in the form of good wine, bad chocolate and an ageing whippet called Ernie. Recently, though, I’ve found myself craving the OG tonic – tonic water – which started life as a malaria treatment in the age of the British empire. In the 17th century, Jesuit missionaries brought quinine, a bitter compound found in the bark of American cinchona trees, to Europe. They knew that indigenous people had been using it to treat fevers, and by the 1700s it was routinely being used as an antimalarial in tropical colonies. But there was a snag: quinine is unpalatable. To offset its impossible bitterness, it was combined with water and sugar to make a drink that enabled those stationed in the tropics to self-medicate every day. By the Victorian times, that self-medication had taken on a different aspect; not only had tonic water become fizzy, but it was routinely combined with gin for a drink now emblematic of the British Raj. Continue reading...

Letter writer wonders “why aren’t the South Asian parents who demand their daughter marry only another South Asian labeled ‘racist’ too?”

Even healthy trees need a little branch management from time to time

Brightly coloured yam, long enjoyed in east Asia, has been appearing in drinks, desserts – and, of course, TikTok feeds Bright purple coffees and cocktails made with a root vegetable called ube have hit the high street in the UK after the yam’s striking hue caused a sensation on social media. Many are calling ube the “new matcha”, and it has a nutty, creamy, sweet taste, like a mix between coconut and vanilla. Ube coloured and flavoured drinks became popular in the US last year, after an earlier boom in Australia . Farmers in the Philippines, where the root vegetable is often sourced, have been struggling to meet demand . Continue reading...

Fortunately, he doesn’t have the childhood insecurities that led to me picking glasses that I hoped would make me invisible – he’s happy to look like Prue Leith This afternoon, I will take my son to the optician to pick up his first pair of glasses. He is entirely unfazed by this new chapter. I, on the other hand, am a mess. Between the ages of five and 36 (at which point, fed up with sticky toddler fingerprints smeared across my glasses, I had laser treatment), I was wildly shortsighted. So shortsighted that, even with the thinnest available lenses, I still looked like a boy with a pair of jam jars strapped to his face. And while there is obviously nothing wrong with wearing glasses, I am acutely aware of the effect they can have on a young person. Continue reading...

Transporting little ones by bike is fun, practical and good for the planet – here’s how to get started • The best bike panniers and handlebar bags In the least weird way possible, strapping children to bicycles is a longstanding tradition in my family. My grandparents used to haul their three kids around in a rickety wooden trailer hitched to the back of their tandem (see picture below), and some of my earliest memories involve being wedged into a bright red child seat with a gargantuan foam mushroom of a helmet obstructing my upper peripheral vision. Now that my son is old enough, it’s our turn to pick up the baton. Turns out, there are a lot of ways to strap a kid to a bike, and I’ve spent the past six months researching all the options to figure out what’s best. I’ve also spent lots of time using trailers and rear-mounted seats, as they were most appropriate for my son’s age and my bike setup. Continue reading...