Hello Pretty is Winding Down

After more than ten fulfilling, magical years beginning in the good old days of 2012, Hello Pretty is retiring and heading off to the beach with a drink with a tiny umbrella.

Read our goodbye letter

Launch

Dress up your Signorina

Last week Jen (who handles some of our marketing) and I had the privilege of attending the launch of Salvatore Ferragamo's latest fragrances. It was a magnificent event, organised by VelvetLuxe and hosted at the Steenberg Wine Estate. Thank you Rose and Mbali for having us as guests to your event.

Anyone who appreciates some of the finer things in life will most likely have crossed paths with an Italian-made fragrance or two. The great nation of Italy has produced some of the most beautiful fragrances you can get. Ferragamo has now launched three versions of Signorina, their brand new piece of olfactory art. At the same time he's also launched Uomo for the fellas.

I'm going to tell you a teeny bit about each one, and show you what South African beauties you'll wear it with. Each fragrance was launched with a mini movie and I'll link to those too. They're beautifully done and you should definitely watch them.

Signorina - the original version

I found this to be a light and very unique fragrance. It's really gentle and feminine, and was my personal favourite of the three. The original fragrance's colour palette is a soft pink.

A sassy and chic fragrance celebrating cheeky young ladies with a hint of irony and Italian glamour.

Pictured:

Signorina Eleganza

Are you a seductress? Because then this one's for you. Eleganza is the "gold" fragrance in the range.

A rich and velvety olfactive creation that celebrates feminine grace and seduction.

Pictured:

Watch the movie

Signorina Misteriosa

DRAMA! Misteriosa's colour palette is black, which suits it well. It is the boldest of the three fragrances: this is what you'll want when you want to really make a statement.

A daring fragrance that frees the secrets of a young woman who dictates the rules of her life.

Pictured:

Watch the movie

Visiting the Steenberg Estate was fantastic. It's in Tokai, fairly close to Cape Town, and I couldn't more strongly recommend that you pay them a visit (after you turn off from the M5 do not make the mistake we made by heading up Ou Kaapse Weg - keep on straight). The scenery is lush, manicured and expansive. The dining area is intimate, bright and airy, with double doors opening onto a small outdoor area. You can actually even see the ocean from it. We'll for sure be returning here for a tasting and a meal.

Sometimes we're fancy and get invited to launch events for new online stores.

The launch was hosted in a very beautiful art gallery called Rust-en-Vrede in Durbanville, and Simone from Yellow Papaya did all the catering, as well as putting out the decor and gifts, on her own because her partner Yolandi wasn't well and unfortunately had to miss the event that she'd been working her butt off for, what a shame. Hope you're feeling better, Yolandi.

Cecilia's Farm operates on the same principle as many of designers, summed up on their website:

"Here on the farm we believe that the best tasting fruit and nut products are made from only the best fruit, and then crafted using a blend of traditional skills and modern know-how. We search the world for the best quality ingredients and then bring them back to the farm where we craft each Cecilia’s Farm product by hand to ensure that it is the best quality possible."

If you want some inspiration for what to buy, this is what Scott and I ordered last week: two cranberry almond nougat bars, two bags of roasted & salted mixed nuts, two bags of smoked almonds, a bottle of their Koelfontein 2011 Chardonnay (we had this at the launch - delicious!), and a bottle of their Koelfontein 2010 Shiraz.

Our order hasn't arrived yet but I'm looking forward to when it does so that we can get nut-drunk.

He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice…

The good news is that Hello Pretty doesn’t care whether you’ve been naughty or nice - we’re still coming to town! As you know, we’ve teamed up with the Woodstock Foundry to hold an awesome market on the 17th December. Go ahead and RSVP. We’ll wait. 

And that’s not all, petals - just by RSVPing, you got yourself a spot on our list to win a Secret Santa Box chock-full of goodies from some of our top designers, worth R1100! What’s in it, you ask? Well, we can’t tell you everything or it wouldn’t be a secret, silly. But here are a few hints:

Sounds pretty sweet, right? It gets even better - when you’re at the market (because you’re definitely coming, right? Right???), get your pic snapped in our photo corner, and you’ll get an extra entry to win this awesome little bag o’ swag.

See you next Monday at The Foundry!

P.S. Never forget that there will be FREE CANDYFLOSS at this market! Free. At no cost to you whatsoever. So come and get your sugar on!

Winners of The Dapper Pack & bonus prize: Lize & Darrin

Amid much anticipation and fanfare yesterday, the winners of The Dapper Pack and the bonus prize from Savior Brand Co, were announced!

These incredible prizes were sponsored by the following fantastic Hello Pretty designers:

The Dapper Pack was won by: Lize Hartley / @lizetheunicorn

The bonus prize was won by: Darrin Thomas / @Dazza_J

Congratulations you two! We hope that you enjoy your phenomenally fancy new handmade things.

And the bonus:

Winner of The Launchbox: Ilze!

Well, as promised, yesterday was Hello Pretty’s launch day, and today we drew the winner of The Launchbox. And so sure enough, that’s what we’re doing! A hearty congratulations Ilze! We hope you have a tonne of fun with your wonderful new goodies.

In case you don’t remember: there are R2 400 worth of things from 8 of our top designers that Ilze has won, in our biggest and most important celebration to date:

We’ll be getting in touch with you in a bit Ilze. And in a few hours, we will be announcing the winner of the fantastic promotion for the guys in collaboration with the What My Boyfriend Wore blog.

It's Alive!

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk about Hello Pretty’s official launch! After months of hard work and sleepless nights, our baby is ready to step out of beta and into the big wide world.

We’ve added gift vouchers to the site, implemented better search, a Sale page, an online seller application form, and tons of other fancy things under the hood. Worth celebrating, right?

So, in true Hello Pretty style, we decided to go big or go home. And what could be bigger than our very own Hello Pretty market? That’s right - we’re having a market, and you’re invited!

We just took care of your Christmas shopping. You’re welcome.

There’ll be 40+ of our designers for you to buy from, plus great food and drink, and some other really fun surprises. Here are the deets:

You should come. Obviously. RSVP on Facebook, and invite your friends: this will give you an entry to win the awesome little Secret Santa bag o’ swag that includes treasures from Duke & Dutch, Savior Brand Co, Maiden Name, Handmade By Me, tjou-tjou and a couple of others, worth R1 100. Details of the prize to be announced next week, so start RSVPing to enter!

Guys, we’re super duper excited about this. We can’t wait to see you there! We’ll be the ones running around hopped up on sugar from the free candyfloss.

See you on the 17th!

P.S.  Keep your eye on us tomorrow. This weekend we’re getting all crazy up in here! We’ll be announcing the winner of The Launchbox, as well as the winner of The Dapper Pack from the What My Boyfriend Wore giveaway.

The Launchbox

Sounds pretty damn cool right? Want to know what’s in it that makes it worth 2 400 sweet South African rands? Sure you do:

What’s the occasion, you ask? We’re glad you did, because it’s kind of a big deal to us. On the 1st December, after a lot of late nights and enough coffee to jumpstart a rocketship, Hello Pretty is officially launching! And since we couldn’t have done it without your help, we have put together a Launchbox o’ swag which could be yours!
 

To Enter:

Buy anything from Hello Pretty (gift vouchers also count!), before the 2nd of December. You’ll get one entry per item purchased. Anyone who’s ever bought anything on the site in its entire history will also be entered. We’ll be choosing a winner on the 2nd December.

Tell your friends, tell your family, tell that random guy you always have that awkward moment with in the hallway. And when you’re done, don’t forget to make a stop here.

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