Eves24: Women

2017

The Cool Summer Look

12:04:00

By Rashida Kapadia : An Expert Personal and Corporate Image Consultant and Corporate Trainer.

The summer is here and with all its warmth it also brings with it the long awaited holiday season. It’s also the season to gorge on the delicious mango, watermelon coolers, mint iced teas, peach margaritas, ice-creams and frozen desserts. It’s also the season to go off to your favourite destinations or socialize in your hometown. Get into your whites and pastels, flowery summer dresses, lacy shorts, linen pants, soft cotton skirts and flowy mul kurtas. Since its not practical to get into heavily embroidered or rich fabrics, you can add a touch of class with some real diamond baubles.

Here are some tips on creating a cool summer look:

A Casual Brunch

For a casual brunch with family or friends you can wear a pair of pastel culottes with a white crop top Accessorize with a single bracelet and a pair of smart studs. Tie your hair up in a high pony leaving a few strands loose to add a soft look to your face. Wear a tinted sunscreen, some mascara, a pink lipstick or lip gloss and you are ready to go.

A Sundowner Party

For a sundowner party, the dress code is something between casual and evening wear. Breeze into the party in a flowy printed kaftan style dress paired with gladiator heels. For an elegant edge, wear a sleek diamond necklace, a statement ring, a classy watch and make heads turn.

A Beach Wedding

For a beach wedding, you could wear a long skirt or palazzo pants with an asymmetrical kurta or a short knee length tunic with ruffle sleeves. You could accessorize it with an unconventional bangle and a pair of flower shaped earrings. Minimalistic magic!!

A Boat Party

For a boat party on a cruise liner, a cold shoulder printed gown with a pair of ankle strap stilettos will make you feel young and carefree. Add some colour to your monochrome outfit by wearing a pair of ruby earrings and a ruby ring encircled with diamonds.

Make the most of summer and enjoy each day to the fullest. Here’s to diamonds and soirees and champagne and strawberries. Cheers!!

Rashida Kapadia

Rashida Kapadia is an expert experienced Image Consultant from the Fashion Image Institute, USA. She is also a certified fashion designer and corporate trainer. She is passionate about mentoring people to help them find their own individual style and through this assist them to simplify their lives and give them the confidence to become successful in their professional as well as personal lives.

Website: www.imagemakeover.in Email: imagemakeoversbyorchid@gmail.com
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/imagemakeover.in/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rashida-kapadia-21184b17/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imagemakeovers_by_rashida/

2016

9-5 Makeup Tips

17:40:00

By Neha Suradkar : A Makeup & Nail Artist and Trainer, a Style Coach™, an Etiquette Trainer, a Corporate Coach and a Fashion Educator

Turing out to be well groomed everyday could be daunting for some of us and we often tend to get away from it by saying ‘I don’t have time’ or sometimes we tend to put all the makeup we have thinking the more stuff we have on our face, the better we’ll look. Both extremes are not right and should be avoided.

Read the tricks of makeup to look your professional best any time and every time.

1. Skip the foundation: Go for BB Cream or CC cream or a tinted moisturizer for a light coverage and even skintone.

2. Don’t forget your Concealer- Nothing looks worse than dark circles under the eye, which are even more evident once you become a mother. Pick up a good concealer and/or a corrector if required to conceal them and give you an even tone and brightened eyes.

3. Prefer Creams over powder- When selecting your blush or an eyeshadow for daily wear, go for cream products. These blend well into your skin and give natural finish. Avoid cream products if you have really oily skin.

4. Natural Eye Shadow- For a professional look, go for an eye shadow that is just two shades darker than your skin tone in nude shades.

5. Wear your Mascara- Mascara not only lengthen or add volume to your lashes but they also open up your eyes and make them look bigger. Concealed dark circles with only mascara can sail you through the day if you don’t have time to put on anything else.

6. Ditch the glitter or excess shimmer- Matte textures can make your face look really flat, go for a bit of shimmer which will add dimension to your face. Avoid too much of shimmer and completely avoid glitter in workplace.

7. Lip Balm and Matte Lip colour are your best friends- Matte lip colour is best for daily use. It gives intense colour and neat finish to your look. However, matte lipsticks can make your lips feel dry. To avoid this problem, make sure your lips are well exfoliated and apply lip balm atleast 10 minutes before applying lipstick for it to be absorbed well into the lips.

8. Natural Nails- Apart from your face, your hands are the most noticed part of your body. Keep your hands well moisturized with a hand cream. Avoid dark nails at work, go for natural shades of nail paint or for French manicure. Nail art should also be avoided.

So, hope following these tips, you’ll look presentable and professional all the time!!

2016

STYLE SINS THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT

15:38:00

By Neha Suradkar : A Makeup & Nail Artist and Trainer, a Style Coach™, an Etiquette Trainer, a Corporate Coach and a Fashion Educator

Sin 1: Overload of Accessories

Image Credit: http://www.therightfits.com

When you dress up, keep one article of your clothing or accessories as the focal point of your look. Do not try to wear all the statement pieces in one outfit. Draw attention to your choker necklace or chandelier earring or a beautifully embroidered top; don't try to wear all these together. Don't let each piece of your outfit scream for attention, rather let them get the attention they deserve. Gone are the days of coordinated necklaces and earrings with heavily embellished outfits, Minimalistic Chic is the way to go now!

Sin 2: Visible Panty Line

Image Source: http://www.mielsisters.com

Nothing is a more put-off that a VPL from under the skirt or a tight fitting trousers, especially the ones in lighter colours like white or nudes. If you know, that you are going to dress up in fitted/ light coloured pants or skirts, it’s a good time to invest in some seamless panties. These will help to give you a smooth and polished look without revealing what’s there underneath.

Sin 3: Wrong Bra Size

Image Courtesy: im-perfectmagazine.com

Almost 80% of the women are guilty of wearing the wrong size of bra. As it is said, the foundation is most important part of any structure; and for our outfits, the bra forms the foundation. Wrong size of bra could make you look flabby and heavier in the middle. Wearing the correct size becomes as important as wearing one. If you are unsure of your size, get yourself professionally measured and do it every 2-3 years or whenever you go through a milestone like pregnancy, breastfeeding, menopause etc.

Sin 4: Too Much Cleavage

Image Courtesy: http://www.nydailynews.com

Showing off more skin than required does not transform one into a fashionista. The amount of cleavage that is shown in your dress can transform you from sensual to trashy, so make sure there is just a hint of what is there rather than showing off everything that is there.

Sin 5: Following Fashion Blindly

Image Courtesy: www.trendnstylez.com

Wearing something that does not suit you but is the current fashion trend is the worst crime that one can commit. Understanding yourself better, knowing your body shape, your personal style and also your personal colouring can help you make the right decision without becoming the slave of fashion. Always remember- You should look Stylish and not a Style Victim.

Sin 6: Wearing Oversized Clothes to Hide Your Plus Size Body

If you are on the heavier side, there will always be a tendency to wear clothes that are oversized. Wearing clothes that are a size or two bigger will make you feel even big and should be avoided at all costs by chubby women aiming to hide their voluptuous body.

#BreakStereotypes

True Diamond : Saumya Gupta - Turning disappointment into distinction, fashionably

13:04:00

For your consideration, here’s a story...

Image Credit: http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/4500x2727+0+136/resize/660x400!/format/jpg/quality/85/http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/midas/706292c5a6955fcf0f792cdb7b7b7390/202729703/stock-photo-airplane-in-the-sky-at-sunrise-209155915.jpg

A young woman with dreams of touching the sky, loses her way, thanks to the global recession. Having sunk a significant amount of money on her pilot training, she’s quick to be branded a ‘failure’ by all and sundry. She takes up a job in order to contribute to the family’s income.

Image Credit:http://www.cornelsen.de/fm/1271/Indian_CallCentre.png

One night, contemplating her journey, the young woman is disappointed with the place she is currently in. She refuses to make peace with her lot and starts looking for ways and means to better her (and her family’s) lot in life.

Image Link: http://www.pdd.co.uk/media/260574/26032013_-_fashion_retail_space_-_shop_examples.jpg

A unique opportunity presents itself in the form of casually retailing fashion, when she purchases a few items of clothing and sells them for a decent margin to friends and acquaintances. Convinced that this is what she wants to do, she exits her job, struggles hard and eventually ends up as the face of her own clothing brand.

Sounds like the story to an inspirational Bollywood film, doesn’t it?

Image Link: https://cdn3.yourstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Saumya-Gupta-HS.jpg

Meet Saumya Gupta, most people today know her as the jetsetting face of the popular fashion brand ‘Ten on Ten’, but in 2008, when the global recession crippled the economy, Saumya had just sunk close to Rs. 50 lakh into a pilot’s training programme in the States, hoping to become a high flying aviator.

When the global airline crunch hit, she was left stranded, without a job. But the restlessness of a beautiful mind is what spurred her on. She first accepted a job in a call centre and began making a lot less than what she was ‘trained’ for. When one day she was reflecting on her life’s journey, she couldn’t help but break down. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the Bombay born and raised youngster, chose to show her mettle and began exploring her options.

In an interview to YourStory, Saumya expounds on her journey, “Luckily, the day I decided to change my field and officially throw a potential Rs. 50 lac career out of the window, my parents said they believed I would still go far and that they wanted to see me happy even if it meant changing my career. Even though they clarified that they may not have the funds to invest in my business, their approval would suffice for now, I thought. So, I started my business with the simple goal of being able to pay bills and rotate the money.”

It began with an exhibition at her home, of export surplus branded garments. Slowly but surely it expanded to more and more such events, and finally to a full fledged e-commerce store which is one of the most successful startup stories, you will ever hear. A true testament of what a restless, untiring desire can achieve! We at Eves24, salute the passion, relentlessness and true grit of Saumya Gupta, a veritable #TrueDiamond, if there ever was one!

#BreakStereotypes

True Diamond : Sita Sahu - A Golden Girl

11:29:00

Sita Sahu: A golden girl, fallen on hard times…

Disability. Let’s take a moment to contemplate that word.

What is disability? Is it the inability to do things that most people can? Or is it our collective failure to recognise the achievements of a truly monumental nature and felicitate them commensurately. We believe that disability is the latter, not the former, as this story shall aptly demonstrate.

Image Link: https://www.centre.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/disability3.jpg

As Indians, we cannot refute the fact that we are a cricket crazy nation. Very often, this means that we will ignore the achievements of athletes from other sports. Sad, but true, this is the case with selfless athletes who often remain faceless and unfeted, for their monumental achievements that should make us all proud to feel Indian.

Image Link: http://static.sportskeeda.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/documents1-1437219333-800.jpg

Meet Sita Sahu. She’s 18, she’s mentally disabled and she sells pani puri for a living. Nothing too remarkable on the surface, is it? But when you hear of her staggering achievements on the grandest stage of them all, the Olympics, you will simply wonder, why this remarkable young lady is struggling to make ends meet! At the 2011 Athens Paralympics (the Olympics for the disabled), Sita Sahu won two bronze medals, in the 200m and 1600m events, making the

country proud.

Image Link: http://static.sportskeeda.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sita2-1543925-1437063252-800.jpg

Circa 2013, a news report in the Times of India cited that this remarkable young woman was reduced to selling pani puri to provide for her family. The story of Sita is a story of India’s disability, our disability as a nation to provide for our Olympic heroes, our apathy and sheer negligence towards a section of our populace that does so much, but remains underappreciated.

On her return from Athens, the young Sita was promised the world, employment, financial assistance and even job assistance, but now nearly 5 years after her great triumph, nothing of what was promised to her, has come her way. If this isn’t a scathing indictment of our collective failure to recognise and make amends for the disrespect to the heroes of our nation, we don’t know what is…

In the interim, Sita remains positive and looks back on her performance at Athens as the crowning glory of her young life. We salute this #TrueDiamond, and wish her nothing but the absolute best for her humility, courage and indomitable spirit. This is what the Olympian spirit is all about.

#BreakStereotypes

True Diamond : Chhavi Rajawat - youngest Sarpanch ever

15:47:00

Leaving the city behind to administer her place of birth.

Image Credit: https://cdn2.yourstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/yourstory-chhavi-rajawat-main.png

Ambition often results in people leaving their hometowns and seek out employment and better prospects in other metropolitan cities of the country. While many political parties have publicised this issue, overlooking the gaping urban-rural divide, there are some among us, who have decided to go against the tide, in order to genuinely do something about the issue.

Image Credit: https://cdn2.yourstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/yourstory-chhavi-rajawat.png

Meet Chhavi Rajawat, sarpanch of the Soda village, 60 kms away from the bustling metropolis of Jaipur in Rajasthan. Chhavi was born in Jaipur and completed her education from prestigious institutions including Mayo College and Balaji Institute of Modern Management (Pune). Following a stint working for reputed institutions like The Times of India, Carlson Group of Hotels and Airtel among others, she got into the administration of her village, when she was elected as the village’s youngest sarpanch ever.

Image Credit: http://static.bestmediainfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Chhavi-Rajawat.jpg

Chhavi has brought about a novel style of administration to the traditional structure of the village panchayat, a traditionally non-partisan executive council. In her stint as the elected representative of her village, she has been working tirelessly for the upliftment of its citizens. She has since brought solar power, paved roads, clean water and even a bank to her once backward village.

In a noteworthy feat, a campaign that predates even the much feted Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, Chhavi had worked with the residents of her village to build toilets through community participation. She has also facilitated the construction of close to 40 proper ‘pukka’ roads, bringing a whole new level of connectivity to her constituency. Non-affiliation to a political party has also worked out in her favour, enabling her to make swifter, executive decisions and helping spur the belief of the people in her, in a notoriously patriarchal part of the country.

Chhavi has been recognised for her efforts with a felicitation by late President APJ. Abdul Kalam. Her efforts have also been lauded at the World Economic Forum and she has been called to speak at several national and international forums. In an interview with NDTV, she laid her views about social progress and development, “If India continues to make progress at the same pace as it has for the past 65 years since independence, it just won’t be good enough. We’ll be failing people who dream about having water, electricity, toilets, schools and jobs. I am convinced we can do it differently and do it faster!”

A true story of sacrifice, efficiency and excellence. We salute our #TrueDiamond Chhavi Rajawat.

#BreakStereotypes

True Diamond : Dr. Anandi Gopal Joshi - true medical pioneer

15:36:00

From the pages of history, a salute to a true medical pioneer.

The annals of Indian history are replete with examples of heroism, progressive thought and affirmative action. Indian culture and ethos however are sadly also fraught with examples of gender bias, oppression and stereotypical misogyny to the ‘fairer’ sex. This is why today’s story is a refreshing change which will highlight the triumph of progressive thought over generations of oppression.

Image Credit: http://www.thebetterindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/anandi-joshi2.jpg

Image Credit: http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01991/TH10-MARRIAGE-BRSC_1991452f.jpg

Our story is that of Dr. Anandi Gopalrao Joshi, India’s first western trained doctor, one of the few South Asian medical practitioners and of course the first Indian Hindu woman to have ever set foot in America. Born as ‘Yamuna’ in Kalyan, (modern day Thane district), on 31st March 1865, she was the daughter of a former feudal family that had lost its wealth. Under immense pressure from her family, she married Gopalrao Joshi, a widower 20 years her senior, at the age of 9!

Here’s where young Yamuna’s (later named Anandi, by her husband) life began to change. Her progressive minded husband, helped educate the young girl, first making sure she was fluent in English, and later on, paying for her entire school and college education. Gopalrao, noticed that his young wife was both bright and talented, and did all in his means to encourage her thirst for knowledge.

Image Credit: http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum%20Ships/Old%20Ships%20L/slides/L'%20Avenir-14.jpg

At the age of 18, accompanied by two English female chaperones, Anandi Gopal Joshi made history by becoming the first Indian Hindu woman to have sailed to the Americas. Later that year, in 1883, she was admitted into the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, where she earned her doctorate in obstetrics, by publishing her dissertation entitled, “Obstetrics among Hindoo Aryans.” The most amazing thing however was the fact that she did all this, despite having contracted Tuberculosis, and her health deteriorating rather steadily.

Image Credit: https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/pageturnerserver/ajaxp?theurl=http://localhost:8080/fedora/get/nlm:nlmuid-101436211-img/Preview

Anandibai returned to her homeland to a hero’s welcome in late 1886, and was appointed the physician in chief of the women’s health division, at the Albert Edward Hospital, patronised by the royal family of Kolhapur. Unfortunately however at the tender young age of 21, Anandibai succumbed to tuberculosis. A flame that we feel was extinguished far too quickly!

A true story of the victory of the indomitable human spirit against all odds. We at Eves 24 salute this stellar couple and remembers their contribution to progressive thought and action in India. Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi, a #TrueDiamond, if there ever was one!