Maniolas

Clarins yesterday, today and tomorrow: Virginie Courtin-Clarins, Serge Rosinoer, Jacques Courtin-Clarins’ right-hand man; Christian Courtin-Clarins, Prisca Courtin-Clarins, Claire Courtin-Clarins, Olivier Courtin-Clarins, Jenna Courtin-Clarins SHANGHAI —  Clarins turned 60 with a big bang brand celebration last September. The brand is named after a childhood character the founder, Jacques Courtin-Clarins, played in a school stage production. He invented himself by inventing Clarins. On Clarins’s signature colors — red, white and gold  — recognized worldwide, Jacques said: “From my office on rue Tronchet, I could see a ‘No Entry’ sign. Red catches the eye. If I wanted to get noticed, red was my color. Okay, let’s go with red. Then there’s white, simply because everyone associates it with the medical world, with rigor, purity and efficacy…and a touch of gold for luxury.” Sixty years on, Clarins continues to be ever-present and relevant. Whatever Clarins does, it does with a pioneering spirit, armed with its curiosity, its approach to science and its respect for others. That is why Clarins is unique. CLARINS LOVES WOMEN “Women were my inspiration. I created Clarins out of love and respect for women’s beauty,” founder Jacques Courtin-Clarins declared. Lifestyle Feature ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: He would devote his life to them. Now, his two sons, Christian and Olivier, have taken over the realm with the same passion and devotion. “My passion for women’s beauty has marked my life. This passion shared with a whole team is the secret to Clarins’ success,” he said. Last Sept. 18, Read More …

Two weeks ago, I wrote a column about traffic here and in other parts of the world that I had the good fortune (misfortune?) to experience. I wrote that other cities—even those with smaller populations and much less corruption (perceived or otherwise) from government or from its traffic enforcers—had as much or even worse traffic levels as we do. Some, like LA, didn’t have a subway or a mass transport system like our MRT; but they had better and more disciplined drivers and much better law enforcement. Paris had few buses but had a highly efficient underground metro system. Still, those two megacities experienced gridlocked traffic just as heavily and regularly as we Manilans do. But I delve into this topic once again because I have just come from India. It was my first trip to India, and for those who have been there (particularly in New Delhi or Mumbai, the latter of which I have just returned from), you probably know what I will be talking about. Those Indians know traffic. A 20-minute 5-kilometer drive can turn into an hour-long snooze fest if you hit the road at the wrong time. But more than just seething collectively in stationary agony, they put the pedal to the metal practically every chance they get—once the lights turn green. Then it’s cutting from one lane to another (oftentimes without warning), tailgating so closely that one car seems like it’s towing another at high speed, and overtaking like there’s no tomorrow. And lots Read More …

No sunshine? No problem! With the heavy rains, Pinoys can get their healthy dose of the sunshine vitamin with Forti-D, which contains 800 IU of vitamin D3.   MANILA, Philippines – With more typhoons expected to hit the country, Filipinos will have less sun exposure, which is not always a good thing, contrary to what most people think. The lack of sun exposure inhibits the body’s production of vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitamin, which is vital to one’s overall health and well-being. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to a number of serious health conditions common among Pinoys such as bone degradation, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and certain types of cancer. Health experts even declared vitamin D deficiency as a silent epidemic that is now affecting three out of every five Filipinos. What makes vitamin D unique is the fact that it is the only vitamin the body is capable of generating. However, the body cannot produce it without regular exposure to sunlight. Unlike vitamin C, which Filipinos can easily get from a variety of fruits and vegetables, vitamin D can be found only in small amounts in very few foods such as  salmon, tuna, cod liver, and egg yolks. With the pervasiveness of heavy rains that keeps Filipinos from getting enough sunlight, they can turn to Forti-D to help meet their body’s daily sunshine vitamin requirements. A single dose of Forti-D contains 800 IU of colecalciferol or vitamin D3, which is responsible for absorbing calcium and phosphate as Read More …

MANILA, Philippines — What Twitter war? The spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Monday downplayed his “Twitter war” with some netizens over his supposedly insensitive remarks about Marc Sueselbeck, the German fiance of slain transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude. “Sumasagot lang tao hindi mangibabaw ang opinyon na sa palagay amin ay hindi naman tama. Kagaya nang pauwiin na lang si Sueselbeck. Naniniwala kami sa rule of law, batas dapat ipairal sa lahat….Kung nanawagan na parusahan si Pemberton na naniniwala na may kasalanan siya, manawagan din tayo na parusahan si Sueselbeck kasi may kasalanan din siya at kita sa videos at may ginawa ring kabalastugan,” AFP Public Affairs Office chief Lieutenant Harold Cabunoc told reporters on Monday. (I was just answering to prevent the prevalence of public opinion which we think is not correct. Just like what happened when Sueselbeck was about to go home. We believe in the rule of law which should be implemented to everyone. If there are people calling for the punishment of Pemberton because they believe he is guilty, then we should also call for the punishment of Sueselbeck because he was also at fault, and it was captured on the videos that he did something wrong.) On Sunday night, Cabunoc’s Twitter posts sparked angry comments from some netizens. Last week Sueselbeck tried to enter the detention center of Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, the suspected killer of Laude, at Camp Aguinaldo. The German climbed the fence and shoved a soldier manning Read More …

Contract Signing.  From left to right:  Koichi Saito, Director, IMJ Investment Partners (JAPAN); Farouk Meralli, CEO & Founder, mClinica; Dave McClure, Founding Partner, 500 Startups; and Minette Navarrete, President, Kickstart Ventures. Behind them   are (L-R) Christian Besler, Vice-President, Kickstart; Kaspar Zhou, Principal, 500 Startups; and Khailee Ng, Managing Partner, 500 Startups. MANILA, Philippines – Mobile health technology company mClinica announced a recently-closed round of funding from Kickstart Ventures, Inc., and foreign venture capitalists 500 Startups from Silicon Valley and IMJ Investment partners from Japan. The amount of investment remains undisclosed, but founder Farouk Meralli said the capital will be used to fuel mClinica’s SEA expansion, starting with Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. The company currently has a growing network of over 1400 pharmacies nationwide on its platform and access to over 20 million customers.  One in every two independent pharmacies in the Philippines is now part of mClinica, making it the largest pharmacy network in the country. “We have been waiting for a solution like this. With mClinica, we now have new ways to access the pharmacy channel more and gather data in the process. This was non-existent before,” Lito Ardeta, Philippines Country Manager, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International. mClinica creates a digital infrastructure connecting pharmaceutical companies directly to pharmacies to make healthcare better for the patient.  The Philippines was selected as its pilot market in view of the high prices of medicines, a highly-fragmented status of independent pharmacies, and data scarcity. Farouk Meralli, a 28-year old Harvard School of Public Health Read More …