A lipstick that gives your lips a dazzling shimmer and makes you feel like a golden goddess is great reason for celebration. Global beauty company Avon offers an all-new lipstick collection that promises to dress up lips with dazzling shimmer for special occasions or everyday glam. Avon introduces Ultra Moisture Rich 24K Lipstick, the only lipstick infused with real 24K gold to give you luxurious, glistening lips.
Avon marks Ultra Moisture Rich 24K Gold Lipstick launch by giving recognition to three Filipino women whose golden shine is not only on their lips but also in the way they live their lives as advocates, entrepreneurs, champions, mentors, and role models.
Cancer survivor Crisann Celdran: Each day is a golden gift
Ten years ago at 26, Crisann Celdran was diagnosed with cancer. Compelled to connect with a cancer survivor to help her on her own journey, she met Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala. They and two other survivor friends, despite limited resources, ended up forming the I CanServe Foundation. Said Celdran, “We knew very little and had different experiences but shared one dream: that cancer survivors should not go through this path alone.”
The ICanServe Foundation (www.icanserve.net) today is a patient advocacy group run by survivors who empower women with information through high-impact campaigns so that they can have a voice in their own health care.
“Trusting that I could conquer life’s obstacles, no matter how my story would end, helped me rise above the disappointments.” Celdran said that keeping the faith, learning to find strength in others, and believing in the strength of her own spirit all helped.
“The support I got from family, friends and fellow survivors carried me through my fair share of letdowns and tears,” she said. “I vowed I would do the same for another. It was frightening at first—and sometimes it still is—to have to face the possibility of your own death. But it is also enlightening to be able to see each day as a gift.”
That was a defining moment for Celdran. Instead of “battling” the cancer, she chose to embrace it. “There was a bigger purpose: my experience sends out the message that there is hope, that no one is alone,” she said. “As difficult as it is to perceive now, a lot of good comes out of all this.”
Celdran presents herself as proof of life after cancer—“and a better one at that.” She is a mother to three-year old twin boys. She just ran a 10-kilometer race too. “I am living testament that miracles happen to anyone who trusts enough.”
The color gold for Celdran is wealth but not the material kind. “Wealth has long since taken on a whole new meaning,” she said. “The people and things that really matter hold their weight in gold.”
Entrepreneur Amina Aranaz-Alunan: Creativity equals golden opportunity
Before Amina Aranaz-Alunan was owner of Aranaz bags and cofounder of (SoFA) School of Fashion and the Arts, she was a child who looked up to Mom who owns a manufacturing company that exports bags. That was her playground, she said, and the interaction with sewers and clients was the part of the business that she loved most.
Her self-discipline and tenacity as a ballet dancer for 12 years up until college is mirrored in the nine years—from the time she was a student up until she was a magazine fashion-assistant—that she had been designing and selling bags in bazaars at hotels and sports clubs. The 2004 bazaar at Citigolf Plaza in particular opened doors for her and she was invited by one of the country’s major retailers to be one of its in-house brands. A bazaar in Rockwell also led to the opportunity to opening a store at the main mall. Today, Aranaz has stores in two of Manila’s high-end shopping meccas.
This mother of two is a natural mentor. While in Milan as a fashion student, she and her flatmate/classmate then, recognizing the lack of a fashion school in Manila, eventually co-founded SoFA. She counts holding the very first student orientation back in 2007 as a personal milestone. SoFA today offers associate degrees, certificate programs and diploma courses to over a hundred students. The sight of them sharing their ideas makes her proud. She even brings her students to HK Fashion Week as an extension of her own traveling for seminars and ideas. “Inspiration is everywhere: Divisoria, movies, museums, my mom’s factory archives,” Alunan said.
Focused at present in learning the fashion industry’s retail side, she always tells her students that creativity and business go hand in hand. “With focus, self-discipline, skills development and prayer, you can turn your passion into your career,” she said. “Being an entrepreneur is a 24-hour job; it is intertwined with everyday living.”
Alunan has a personal fondness for the color gold. For her, gold is glitz and glamour and reminds her of the cheery constancy of the sun. No wonder the sparkly yellow-gold studs adorn Aranaz bags!
Champion race car driver Pia Boren: Golden girl of motorsports
Pia Boren became the Philippines’ first female drifter in 2007 when she competed in the last leg of the Lateral Drift Championship in Manila. “It was an exhilarating experience being able to control the uncontrollable and to master the machine in that way,” Boren said.
She’s always loved speed. As a kid, she loved rollerblading. As a teen, she got involved in Go Kart. Then her dad taught her to drive. Her first championship was the Arthur Tuason Memorial Cup in 2002 where she bested 25 guys. Early this year, as the only female drifter who competed, she placed fourth—the country’s highest finishing female. But just as special is her dad and mentor, after a ride from their Cavite house, simply telling her “I had fun. You’re a really good driver.”
Experiencing failure, Boren said, is part of being an athlete: “konting palpak leads to being even better.” She recounted how a mechanical breakdown during her last competition disappointed her especially in behalf of the mechanics who worked tirelessly and for free on her car. In times like these, she consoles herself with the thought that “there is always the next race.”
To prepare, she practices. She constantly meets with her team. She surfs the net for the latest motoring and sports news. She watches racing videos. And she draws inspiration from women who would be racecar drivers if they could. She encourages women to be brave and to just “do what others think is impossible.”
She has already shown that it is possible. She shared how: “Learn from the professionals. Join proper competitions. Contact drifting schools.” She herself owns her own drifting school, Audio Drive. No limits.
The color gold for Boren is a champion trophy. Perfect hue for a young woman with the passion to win.
The Ultra Moisture Rich 24K Gold lipstick comes in 10 radiant shades of Ruby in Gold, Golden Rose, Natural Gold, Golden Wine, Golden Raisin, Amethyst Gold, Golden Nectar, Golden Peach, Nude Gold and 24K Pink. All selling for a standard price of Php 420. Available through Avon Representatives nationwide. Don’t have an Avon Lady yet? Call Avon Customer Hotline at 8642899 or log on to www.avon.com.ph to find out how you can get in touch with an Avon Representative.
