Winners of Oriflame Giveaway on Instagram

Dear Readers,

We have recently done a beauty giveaway on Instagram with Oriflame.

You can find the details of the giveaway here

We never expected but got an overwhelming response from you all. We got 400 plus comments. The response was so overwhelming that we took additional time to select winners. Thank god we had five winners to select. But even 5 prizes didn’t seem to be enough. We went through the list again and again.

After lot of scanning, we shortlisted top 10 names and out of that we have our final five winners through random selection.

Already announced three on the Instagram page. The reason we kept the final list for blog was the incessant messages we were getting in DM.

Sending us continuous DM doesn’t increase your chances but your performances does. We selected top 10 purely on rules adherence and their active status on the Instagram page [content other than the contest].

Besides we need to skim contest player accounts from genuine Instagram accounts.

Before  I announce the winners I would like to thank all for their superb performances. However  we can have only five winners and that doesn’t mean the others were not as good. so those who could not win this time do not lose heart As I have planned more giveaways and may even extend one more winner for this giveaway but on YouTube. Give away is our way to reward our regular and genuine followers and we keep doing that from time to time

Here are our final 5 winners Instagram handles.

1) Diary of Sushmita
2) Dipannita_p
3) Kanikabpl
4) StreetSmart.girl
5) MyEloquentwardrobe


Winners pl mail your full name with address and phone nos with an ID proof at hautekutir@gmail.com. Pl keep the subject as “your Instagram handle and Oriflame winner”.

Congrats to the winners and all the best for those who couldn’t win. We have more giveaways inpipeline. And e look forbid your continued support.

Five Smart Home Solutions For Day to Day Life

The Magic of Technology

People often crib about the pitfalls of technology. Technology, however, has more boons than banes. And it totally depends on how you envisage and use it.

Over the years, technology has really evolved, from the Radioshack's handheld games to Playstations to motion sensors, it's not just gaming but from communication to medical to management, to entertainment, technology evolution in omnipresent and irreversible.

Since technology has changed the way we used to communicate or work, it had quite invaded our lives and now to our homes. Imagine, when someone told our ancestors that one day they can speak to or see anyone in the world with a device smaller than their palm size, what would their reaction be?

"Must be Magic!" they must have quipped. Well, Technology is magically transforming our innate inspirations into reality. Technology is the Magic!

The Smart Home Evolution

We spoke about magic and if you see the smartphones today, you will feel what I am talking about. There was a time when telecommunication was a rarity. Little did we knew that bulky black telephone box will be metamorphosized into a sleek metallic black smartphone and will 1000 plus things.

Like TV smartphone has become a piece of must-have equipment in all the houses wherein people may have just one TV per house but no of smartphones will be equal to or exceed the number of people in the house.

Having a smartphone is not just an end in itself. There are more interesting "Smart devices" that can turn your home into Smart Homes.

Why Go for Smart Homes?

I will sum up it up in few words. They are-

1) Increased Safety
2) Optimum Utilization Of Resources
3) Technical Investment to save operational cost
4) Ease of Usage/ Targeted convenience
5) Higher Engagement

Let's quickly look at them, how they changed my life and can change your life too.

Smart Products for Your Home in 2019

1) Smart Wearables /Watches

I love products with multi-utility features. And smart wearables esp the watches are one of them. They not just look chic and geeky on you but comes loaded with many lifestyle supporting features. For example- Apple watch. I have two Apple devices- iPhone and Macbook. However, I cannot carry either of them all the time.

If you are an iPhone user, you know how sensitive and expensive its screen is? Taking it for jogging is a strict no-no. Hence, sometimes I prefer using a smartwatch that will not just help me in monitoring my health parameters like steps taken or KMs run or calories burn. But its "cellular" feature also help me navigate, pick urgent calls while working out or traveling among many other features. Oh yes, it looks elite to wear and shows time too!

2) Smart Camera: 

I am not joking but it is a boon for nuclear families, senior citizens living alone, working parents, small home [SOHO] businesses. Some of them may look like a webcam or a spy cam but trust me they are more useful.

I had placed one in my kitchen to monitor my house-help/cook. You can place a few at a strategically placed location in your home to monitor your children esp when both of you are away working.

Having it placed near the door will help you in ascertaining the visitors. And there is a reason why there is an increase in homes opting for such cameras esp for outdoors. It's safety first, right?

3) Smart Light 
They are not just mood lifting accessories but some of them also double up as power saver. Why would you say no to fixing some smart lights at your home that can help you save on electricity bills while adding a new feel to your house?

I generally used to rue returning home late in the evenings wherein I have to switch all the lights. It gets scary for few of us, considering how far is the light switch from the door entrance, how well you can see in the dark etc. Smart lights also works on voice command and is a boon esp for older people or children.

They are portable, LED enabled and comes with a "Home Away Control".

Besides, they add to your decor too.


4) Smart Home Devices- 
You must be really living under a rock if you have not heard about Alexa or Google home. These may not have yet become "must-have products but are quite "good to have products". You wonder why?

For eg- My mother is not very internet savvy but she like watching content online. Imagine she don't need to bother typing her favorite sitcom or get up to switch off the light while watching something on Netflix.

Her favorite is- Music on demand while she is working in the kitchen with doughs, floors, oils, gravy and dishes, all to engage her better. Do you think that is possible with a regular music player?

5) Smartphone

At the heart of "Smart Home technology," if there is a piece of equipment that's a common factor and could sync with all, it would be your smartphone. A lot of you may quip that why I am stressing on a smartphone? Well, the fact is that if you can sync all these smart products with one common product for the wholesome utility- it is your smartphone. However, less than 50%-60% of mobile consumers in India are on a smartphone. A lot of them still uses the old push to talk phones. I would not be surprised if some of them are not even 3G or 4G compatible.

So, it is imperative to invest in a good smartphone with LTE/VOLTE compatibility. Good news is you have many options that range from mere Rs 5000 to Rs 50,000 and above.


Technology evolution has many gems that turn your limitations into your control.

It is the technology that enables you to see through your door and speak to the visitor outside the door or the traveler 2000 miles away, all at the same time.

It is high time, you bring technology to your home too, making them "Smart Homes".

Say yes to Smart Revolution. It is time to #GetFitWithFlipkart and starts a #SmartHomeRevolution!

Love and XOXO
Ekta Khetan
Haute Kutir
_______________

Pic Source: Ikea, Flipkart & shutterstock

Happy New Year 2019 And My Social Media

I blinked and 2018 turned into 2019.


This New year, I caught my creative streak back and got back into personalized greetings. Network efficiency aside, I quickly crafted my personalized cards and started circulating on Whatsapp.

There were two sets of greetings made-

1) One for Social Media and blog
2) For Relatives

I keyed in my memory and sent these to all contacts I could recall. In case, if I missed some of you, please take this as my personal greeting.

Happy New Year- 2019 to All of Us!

I have also uploaded a new banner on both of my facebook pages. Can't believe I had the previous one for a year. Eeehooo!

Go check, Haute Kutir on Facebook and do let me know how you liked it or not. You can leave a comment there.

My First Post of 2019 on Instagram

Some history does repeat itself. You only wish them to be good history, so when it is repeated, it doesn't hurt.

Like I started my 2018 with a fitness post, this year my first post on Instagram too was one.

Follow me on Instagram, if you missed following!

Let's talk about Twitter and YouTube!

My YouTube Channel

I started NY 2018 with a bang on my YouTube. Somewhere down the line, due to massive travels, my video uploading schedule got a bit irregular. However, I managed some good stuff. 

The most important is- my Oriflame Simple Party Makeup looks Video Crossed 100kPlus views. That's a huge celebration for me!!!! Whoa! I just wonder what shall I do to replicate that success in other videos as well. 

Do check out my video on my Youtube Channel and please show your love by subscribing to my channel!

Twitter was good as well. Bigg Boss Season 12 got me some good interactions and Thankfully no controversies. 

A lot of you mistook me with some other handle. My Twitter handle is @numerounity and you can follow me here.

My new year promise to my twitter account is to be more regular. I would love to curate and share content there. Let me know if there is any particular kind of content you want to see there. I am unapologetically #NoFilter and that reflects on my social media.

Well, that's all for today! Hope you like reading this post. Here's how you can be part of my social media-

1) Share your requests/ suggestions on kind of videos and other content you would like to see on my YouTube and other Other Social Media posts

2) Any product review you are looking forward to?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Haute Smiling,

Ekta

Haute Kutir

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For collabs, email at hautekutir@gmail.com

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