Latest news with #Larysa
South Wales Argus
4 days ago
- South Wales Argus
Cardiff walking tours offer unique perspective on city
Led by guides with lived experience of homelessness, the tours are taking place throughout the summer holidays and are the result of a partnership between The Wallich, a homelessness charity, and social enterprise Invisible Cardiff. The scheme trains people who have experienced homelessness to become tour guides and offers visitors a unique perspective on the city. Jamie-Lee Cole, senior communications manager at The Wallich, said: "We all know that, by this point in the summer holidays, it can be hard to keep coming up with affordable ways to keep the kids entertained. "These walking tours a great way to get out in the fresh air, get away from the screens, while learning more about Cardiff from those with a fresh perspective." The City of Imagination tour is led by Larysa, who was displaced by the war in Ukraine. She said: "Today, I have the privilege of sharing Cardiff's story, and my own, with people from all over the world." The City of Layers: Monopoly to Metropolis tour is led by John and explores Cardiff's medieval and industrial heritage. Each 90-minute tour costs £15, is suitable for under-18s, and is wheelchair accessible.
Cosmopolitan
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Rachel Chinouriri interview: The star spills her beauty secrets
Here at The Cosmo Black Beauty Hub, we absolutely do not gatekeep, so when we get a chance to quiz some of our favourite Black women about their go-to beauty products, tips and treatments, we don't hold back – after all, that's how our Little Black Beauty Book Franchise was born. All the tea on our favourite star's life in beauty, served hot. This week, our June/July cover star Rachel Chinouriri spilled all of her beauty secrets and go-tos; from her wash-day routine to her makeup obsession, here's her life in beauty... Black beauty means to me elegance, class, sophistication. I think there is a grandness to Black women. Growing up and seeing Black women, it's like they love to be neat, tidy, well-kept, the finest – all the way to the nails, the hair. I'm a bit more rough around the edges, and I have three older sisters who would see me about to go out and be like, 'No, you're not doing that.' So, I think it's fierce, it's stunning, it's clean, it's chic, and I just love being a Black woman and being in the Black beauty scene. I've had one facial in my life and she put a serum in my skin and blew it with cold air? I glowed for like three days but I was like, 'I don't know if I really needed that.' But she's telling me about all the other facials, and I'm like, 'Give me a skincare routine that will keep me in check until I have to go for the whole microneedling thing. I'll wait it out for a bit.' I don't have recommendations for things like Botox or fillers, because I haven't started that, and I always say that I'm going to try and do my skincare for as long as possible before I hit that point, because I'm not against it. But I do have recommendations for dermatologists – Stratum Clinic in Wimbledon is like *chef's kiss*. They do laser, facials. Larysa is my queen, I love her so much. And then Dr Sharon Belmo, she's my dermatologist and did my PRP for my hair, and she is a queen. The two of them, they fix me up good. Right, so it's quite simple actually, because I got taught that less is more. I also have a keratin treatment in my hair, which helps because it's always getting straightened and stuff. My hairdresser loves Olaplex. I just always detangle with a conditioner, and then shampoo. Which is quite easy with a wider-tooth comb, just make sure you always tease [knots] out very, very gently. And then I use any mask which is highly hydrating, for at least 15 minutes, and then wash it out. And then I'll spray my hair with a leave-in conditioner. Because I have a keratin treatment, in my hair, my blow-dry is super easy, and my hair blow-dries almost completely straight most of the time. So yeah, it's quite easy actually. My hair tends to be pretty much straight as soon as I blow-dry it, and it's very simple, but as long as I detangle with conditioner, I'll be good. Yes, my go-to hairdresser is Selasie, and her Instagram is @phedeliarose. I was pulling out my hair from stress, and she saw me and was like, 'Dear Lord, let me help you.' And we're kind of on this routine together. She taught me a lot about how to actually take care of my hair health because she knows the fast-paced life of things. Can I also shout out Shamara Roper? Selasie is my hairdresser, but I've been working with Shamara since five or six years ago? I think? And the combination of the two – we've always done such experimental pieces and things with my hair, and when my hair fell out, Shamara always took good care of my hair on set and made sure I felt like a princess. So, those are my girlies and I appreciate them very much. Bad haircare experiences… Can I just say myself? Because there was a phase when I was braiding my own hair – I started learning it when I was 13, and by 16 I had a very sparse amount of hair, probably because of my technique. I think in my brain, I'm a very DIY queen, and the first time I got a hairdresser was probably only two years ago. And I'm realising very quickly that I was just doing everything wrong. I was just taking bits and bobs from everyone on YouTube, with all sorts of different hair types. So, yeah. Getting a hairdresser was the best thing, but I was my own worst enemy. Let me get up this list, I actually literally took a picture of it this morning, so let me zoom into this. I can't live without UKLASH – I used to be putting all sorts of things on my lashes and I've tried every lash serum possible, and UKLASH is just my fave. NeoStrata is my favourite skincare brand – the retinol is amazing, I use the vitamin C [NeoStrata Enlighten 15% Vitamin C + PHA Serum, £62.40] from there which is amazing. [I love this] serum, called SkinBetter Alto Defense Serum, £168. I don't really know what that does, but ever since I started using it, I've had glass skin, so kind of excited about that. And then my dermatologist said, 'Always use vitamin C. Always. And a good one.' And I use Revision's vitamin C, which is really good. Then, I have the NeoStrata Skin Active Firming Tri-Therapy Lifting Serum, £88 – that is a game-changer. I don't know if it tightens? But that's a game-changer for me, for my skincare. NeoStrata Skin Active Intense Eye Therapy, £62 I use underneath my eyes. Then, La Roche-Posay – I use them for moisturiser, then I use the NeoStrata suncream. Then, in the evening, I've got a retinol eye cream and the Laneige Bouncy and Firm Sleeping Mask, £32, which is just my fave. I'm quite a simple girly. I don't do skin brushing, but I have a pair of gloves. I can't shower without the exfoliating gloves – if I wash without the exfoliating gloves, I feel like I've not showered, so I love those. And day to day, I love a vocal steam. I think my bodycare is quite limited, but you know – exfoliating gloves, and Lush Happy Hippy, £6 is my favourite body wash. My facial skincare. My facial skincare is catastrophically expensive, and it hurts me to say, but I was like, 'Let me invest.' So, I'll use the tiniest bits so it actually lasts me a long time. But my skin – and especially for the job I'm in – my skin looks pretty good, if you ask me. I'm gonna say UKLASH, but beauty obsession… It could kind of be anything, couldn't it? There is a blush from Sleek and it breaks my heart, I don't know if they still sell it, but I hope they do. Okay, can this be a campaign for them to bring it back? It breaks my heart. It does not matter what skin complexion you are, everyone is using this colour right in the middle, Sleek, please – if you have any in the warehouse, anything, I'm begging you, just I will buy all of it – nothing quite hits the same. And it's just, yeah. This is the perfect time to say this because me and my housemate – who is also my makeup artist – have been going crazy trying to re-find this. It's even broken in half, we're devastated. So yeah, Sleek – that would be my one thing. To be honest, no. I've had mishaps before I really started getting into the industry, then I met Georgia Hope, who is my makeup artist and my housemate. And now we've hit a point where I kind of don't trust anyone else to touch my face, and she's always got me looking prim and proper – exactly how I want. She's always like, 'Ooh, should we try this?' and I'm like, 'No!', and she's like, 'Okay!' – bringing me ideas and I'm always like, 'Nope, I don't want this!' But I think she'd be the only person who could convince me to try anything, because yeah, I'm very stubborn with makeup. She's never had me looking rough, so that's my glam girlies. Mwah! Love you! It's a strong team! My makeup bag would not be the same without a brown lip liner. I can have almost no makeup, and if I have the lip liner, it just makes a difference. So, that's my one thing I have to have. My favourite? I'm going to say MAC Chestnut Lip Pencil. Keeks Reid is the Beauty Director at Cosmopolitan UK. While she loves all things beauty, Keeks is a hair fanatic through and through. She started her career in beauty journalism in 2013 as editorial assistant at Blackhair and Hair magazines working her way to Acting Editor of Blackhair magazine at 23 years old. She spent much of her career working in trade hairdressing media at Hairdressers Journal, Salon International and the British Hairdressing Awards. Which is why she is a regular contributor to Cosmo's Curl Up franchise. Now, alongside her Cosmo work, she presents, creates content on social media and works with a range of beauty companies; from magazines and websites to beauty brands and salons.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Four women's stories of torture in Russian captivity
Ukrainian women who survived Russian captivity have described systematic torture and humiliation by their captors. Source: The Telegraph, citing testimonies from four women who survived Russian captivity Details: The Russians stripped the women naked, forced them to march in the snow, beat them with iron pipes, tortured them with electricity and compelled them to sing the Russian anthem, among other forms of abuse. We were constantly being told we were fascists Larysa, 53, a former servicewoman in Ukraine's National Guard, was captured by the Russians in occupied Mariupol in 2022 along with her husband and 34-year-old son. Their pro-Russian neighbours betrayed them. Larysa spent seven months in captivity, initially held in a penal colony in Olenivka before being transferred to a pre-trial detention centre. In the cells, the women were forced to stand for 12 hours a day. When taken to the shower, they were made to wear bags over their heads, pass in front of male guards completely naked, bend low and wash in ice-cold water. "Afterwards, we were forced to sing the Russian anthem while naked. We returned to the cells in tears, utterly distraught, crying and in a state of hysteria… It was inhumane. To them, we were nothing," Larysa recalls. One day, a guard slammed her against the wall and beat her with a metal pole. An open wound appeared on her leg, but she was denied medical care. "We were constantly being told we were fascists, and that if we weren't shot by our own people during an exchange, someone else would kill us. The threat of death was always there," she recalls. Larysa's husband and son remain in captivity. The thought that they may be enduring the same suffering she experienced keeps her awake at night. "I want to tell them that I love them. I was trapped for seven months, but to think of them there, three years later, is unbearable," she said. We were beaten badly and the guards seemed to enjoy it Other Ukrainian women who testified to the torture included 30-year-old combat medic Valentyna Zubko. Captured during the defence of Mariupol, she spent five and a half months in captivity. Her living conditions were horrendous. Fifteen women were cramped into a cell meant for two, and instead of a toilet, there was just a hole in the middle of the floor. The women were fed porridge diluted with water. Valentyna says there was only enough food to keep them from starving to death. In addition, the Russians beat and tortured women with electric shocks during interrogations. "Each guard tried to hit us as we walked. We had our heads down and they would force us down even lower. We were beaten badly and the guards seemed to enjoy it. There was no reason – they would just beat us for fun," Valentyna recalls. We were made to march in freezing cold for hours, singing the Russian national anthem 23-year-old Snizhana Ostapenko, a junior sergeant from the 56th Separate Mechanised Brigade, also survived Russian captivity and was subjected to electric shocks. The Russians would shock her with a stun gun every time she did not answer in the way they wanted. The women were forced to do an incredible amount of physical exercise, and when they fell down exhausted, the guards would beat them. "We would fall to the ground and they would punish us [...] We were made to march on the spot in the freezing cold for hours at a time, singing the Russian national anthem," Snizhana said. The prisoners were also deprived of sleep: at night, the Russian anthem was played loudly in their cells so the women could not sleep for several days. Read more: The story of Kraft, an Azov Brigade soldier who survived the Russian terrorist attack on the prison camp in occupied Olenivka On the night of 28-29 July 2022, Snizhana witnessed a terrorist attack in Olenivka when the Russians caused an explosion, which killed more than 50 Azov soldiers in the barracks that later became known as Barrack 200. More than a hundred soldiers were seriously injured. The woman told how the Russians were preparing for this terrorist attack: "Well before the explosion, the guards suddenly disappeared. They were usually around, but this time, they weren't. We all noticed and found it suspicious." Read more: "Sometimes I think that Oleksii is lying sick in captivity. Hope smoulders in my soul." In memory of the Azov fighters killed in Olenivka They commented, laughed, pinched, they felt everywhere with their hands Human rights activist Liudmyla Huseynova, originally from Novoazovsk, who was captured before the full-scale invasion, told the story of her captivity. The Russians captured the human rights activist in 2019 and held her in torture chambers for over three years. There, she was sexually assaulted by her guards and witnessed the rape of other female prisoners. "The bag on my head started to fall off, so they grabbed it and tightened it so much around my neck that I was being strangled. This was the first feeling of pain and horror. They turned me to face the wall and undressed me. Someone touched me, and then there were a lot of hands. And they commented, they laughed, they pinched, they felt everywhere with their hands," Liudmyla said. For the first 50 days, Liudmyla was held in a tiny cell with 20 other women in completely unsanitary conditions. Like the others, she was forced to stand for more than 12 hours a day. "One time I just couldn't stand it, my back hurt so much… I thought, well, what will happen if I climb up into bed for 10 to 15 minutes," she said. Then the Russians, who had been watching the women through a video camera in the corner, opened the door and started shouting. One of the guards grabbed her leg and threw her off the bunk bed onto the concrete floor. "I fell down, but they kept kicking me. When I took off my clothes, I saw that my body was black," Liudmyla recalls. Then, she saw the young girls being taken to a dormitory where the Russian occupiers lived. "When [the women] returned, they were crying," says the human rights activist. Earlier, two men from the Kherson Oblast told journalists about the sexual violence they experienced in Russian torture chambers. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Film producer and warrior Stanislav Prytula killed in action
Stanislav Prytula, a soldier, film producer and chairman of the Public Council at the Ukrainian State Film Agency, has been killed in action. Source: Prytula's wife Larysa Tytarenko on Facebook Details: Larysa said that there had been no news from Stanislav the day before, and on 25 January, the woman learned that he had died. Quote: "Every day of this war – both in 2014 and the last three endless years – I took my heart out of my chest and squeezed it tightly in my palm: 'Hold on. We will get through this. He will survive. Everything will be fine.' Now, I have ashes in my hand and a terrible emptiness inside. There is no karma, no gods, no justice. There is only the choice of each of us, the simple decisions of ordinary people, that move this world. Stas had the strength to keep making the right, honest choice, which moved that part of the universe where he lived towards the light," Larysa wrote. The Ukrainian State Film Agency called Stanislav Prytula "not only an artist but also a Human with a capital H – sensitive, dedicated and deeply concerned about the happenings in the world". Quote: "We express our sincere gratitude for his many years of fruitful work, dedication and unwavering support for Ukrainian cinema. From the first days of the war, he stood up to defend his country, giving his life for its future," the agency wrote. Background: Dancer and choreographer Volodymyr Rakov was killed in action. Support UP or become our patron!
