In focus is a fortnightly, online update on things that the focus team has loved. New places we have discovered, food we’ve enjoyed and events that have made us happy – here’s a glimpse into our lives from the past two weeks.
Cocoa & Indulging body lotion, NIVEA
We tried out Nivea’s Cocoa & Indulging body lotion and bam! just like that we have a new favourite body lotion! Supplied in a 400ml pump bottle and enriched with cocoa butter and Vitamin E, the product promises intense 48-hour moisturising care for dry skin and, so far, we are super-impressed. We love that the lightly scented cream is quickly absorbed into the skin and leaves no greasy residue. Our perfect go-to hydrating product for the cold days ahead.
The Bold Type
Now in its third season, this TV series is something we simply can’t stop watching! Based on the life of American Cosmopolitan and its legendary former editor-in-chief, Joanna Colls, it tells the story of three besties who work at Scarlet, a powerful women’s magazine. They party, fall in love and have fun, but most importantly, they cover complicated social issues in their articles and tweets like sexual assaults, corporate malfeasance, young motherhood, freedom of choice in relationships and religious beliefs. Though Jacqueline (Scarlet‘s editor-in-chief) isn’t one of the main trio, she is always somewhere nearby, cheering and inspiring the young women in true ‘Cosmo-girl’ style. She is the one who gives them the courage to speak up and find the right words. She fights for them when needed and gives them life lessons when they are lost. And need we even mention how incredibly stylish every single person in these episodes looks? Pure inspiration!
Eva Stories on Instagram
More and more people realise that social media isn’t just a place to store your selfies but also a powerful tool to make important messages heard. There are so many inspiring, outstanding and truly creative projects out there these days and Eva Stories is one of those incredibly important ideas that would’ve been impossible without Instagram.
@eva.stories is a series of Stories-style short movies. The videos are based on the real diary of a 13-year old Jewish girl from Hungary, murdered in a concentration camp during the II World War. ‘What if a girl in the Holocaust had Instagram?’ – asks the trailer.
On Stories, viewers see young Eva Heyman and her school friends, her beloved family and the beautiful garden she loved tending with her mother. Eva shares her dreams of becoming a famous news photographer with her audience. Her current life and future look bright and positive. But the tone of her videos becomes darker as the Nazis confiscate the family’s business, make them wear yellow stars, and send them to ghetto and then to Auschwitz concentration camp. Eva stopped writing her diary on the train to Auschwitz – and that’s where we say goodbye to this beautiful soul and one of 6 million innocent people murdered in the Holocaust.
The project was created and financed by Israeli hi-tech billionaire Mati Kochavi and his daughter Maya. Mati comes from a family of Holocaust victims and survivors and this is his way of refreshing the fading memories of the most terrible genocide of the 20th Century. According to a recent survey in the USA, two-thirds of millennials could not identify Auschwitz and more than a fifth of respondents said they had not heard of the Holocaust. ‘If we want to bring the memory of the Holocaust to the younger generation, we have to bring it to where they are,’ said Mati Kochavi. ‘And they’re on Instagram.’ Kochavi invested several million dollars into this project that included over 400 actors and elaborate sets with authentic tanks and train carriages.
In just two weeks @eva.stories has received millions of views and almost 2 million subscribers, showing that Mati and Maya’s progressive approach to raising awareness and keeping memories alive, has worked exactly the way they hoped it would.