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

Blog

We give pretty gifts too...

I recently waxed lyrical about Kelly from Sunflowers and Spears’s #bloggersecretsanta, and our fab gift from citygirlsearching’s Roxy. But I do have to blow our own horn a little too! Before I had any idea of the amazingness that was on it’s way to us from Roxy, I was more excited to send our gift than receive one - it was so much fun sourcing all the goodies, and I even knuckled down and did a spot of DIY (you can take my word for the fact that I’m no Martha Stewart, and that as a result you should all be impressed).

I decided to do a yellow and gold themed gift, and scoured the site for small but lovely and useful items to include. After finally narrowing down my gigantic list of potential gifts, I settled on these:

A paper plane brooch by Landi Kuhn
A set of button clips by Bow Peep (not strictly part of the colour scheme, but adorable none the less)
A set of gold reindeer vinyl stickers by Match Set Love
And a voucher for the lucky lady to pick out something from Hello Pretty for herself.

A paper plane brooch by Landi Kuhn
A set of button clips by Bow Peep (not strictly part of the colour scheme, but adorable none the less)
A set of gold reindeer vinyl stickers by Match Set Love
And a voucher for the lucky lady to pick out something from Hello Pretty for herself

Inspired by Lovilee’s “Christmas in a Bottle,” I grabbed a sweet customised Consol jar that I bought at iheartmarket (and made by Sk8shade’s lovely mom), and jazzed it up with a lick of gold spray paint. I quickly became addicted and spray painted everything else, myself and parts of my dog too.

Our recipient is the very gorgeous mom-to-be Samantha, from everythingsamanthahearts, and since soon she will be gifted with a bouncing baby girl, I threw in a cupcake flavoured Yankee Candle for a few moments of indulgent “me-time” every now and then in between the new baby madness. (For all their many many pros, rumour has it newborns don’t sleep much. Mom deserves a candlelit bubble bath every now and then while Dad babysits!)

After a while spent dealing with nail destroying post office anxiety, the glitter and polka dot Christmas box eventually arrived, and I am so happy to report that Samantha loved it. All of us at Hello Pretty wish you the most wonderful Christmas and you have our most heartfelt congrats on the pending new addition to your family. We hope the arrival of baby Olive is the first happening in a long line of other great things that make 2014 your best year yet.

Kisses!

A Very Pretty Blogger Secret Santa

So we like getting presents.  Our whole job is proof of that. (Plus buying online and having your stuff arrive all packaged up is kind of like mini me-to-me prezzies)

So we eagerly jumped on the #bloggersecretsanta bandwagon, organised by Kelly of Sunflowers and Spears, and I am SO glad we did.

When our package arrived, I squealed like a lunatic in the Post Office - which is fine because it was a Christmas rush kind of day, and everyone in there was feeling kind of crazy anyway - and stormed out, fighting the urge to rip it open in my car while I was still in the parking lot.

Over and above the excitement of receiving a Secret Santa gift, there was also the added excitement over that fact that it had come all the way from South Korea. I mean. How cool?

Roxy Hutton of citygirlsearching was our Santa, and boy did she hit the nail on the head.  Aaaalll of the cute pink cat stationery in the world seemed to spill from that envelope.  Every single detail was given thought and a great deal of love, and as a result it took over half an hour to unwrap (I had to take photos of everything to show you all, otherwise there’s no proof it actually happened.  You know, like yesterday’s latte art or this morning’s Eggs Benedict.)

Many thanks Roxy - you are a gift giving genius and I am in love with everything you sent and the considerable effort you put in. *hug*

Ohohohoh!  Also, if you love this stuff, Roxy is now SELLING it!  You can now also be the owner of pastel cat stationery from South Korea! Check it out over here.

A Pretty Christmas

To all of our dearest supporters, we wish you the most amazing Christmas, filled with love and blessings (universal ones - we’re all about diversity here), and that it’s everything you could hope for.

Stay safe, be merry, and keep a large stash of heartburn medicine and liver tonics near by!

(And we hope your loved ones were smart enough to gift you with a lil something something from Hello Pretty!)

Pretty Mexican

Ai Chihuahua!

Now Pretties, as you all know we’re into great design here at HP HQ.  And even more into great branding.  And even more into great pink branding.  You get the idea.

So it should come as no surprise that the recent Chihuahua Mexicatessan pop up restaurant in Durban ticked all the right boxes.  Armed with sombreros and greeted by Señor El Jimador himself, we knew that this joint was going to give us the Christmas party we needed (and felt we deserved) - we love our jobs with all of our little hearts, but the internet never sleeps (and if it did we’d be pretty screwed), so we just get a little tired sometimes.  Our solution? Take our dilemma to an awesome venue and dissolve it in tequila until we can walk away feeling re-inspired.

With the faux grass flooring I was awfully tempted to just wing it barefoot, but I managed to reign myself in for the sake of my coworkers. (It was tough guys. I’m just a farm girl from Bloem on the inside.) We were handed a gigantic bowl of nachos and guacamole, and settled in amongst the chock-full restaurant’s other patrons - it was pretty festive all around, and I found myself rubbing shoulders with the likes of Skullboy, Miss Molly and Sol-Sol.  Clearly the place to see and be seen, no? (I had just cut off all of my hair - I totally wanted to be seen.)

So while this post veers somewhat drastically off our usual blog topics, it is relevant, I promise.  The brain child of foodie genius Neil Roake, who has also been responsible for the original Craft Trattoria, Freedom Cafe, The Concierge Hotel and Larneys, Chihuahua Mexicatessan showed off SA talent at its best - both in the design and in the kitchen.  It quickly became a hub of awesomeness for talented Durban creatives, making it the ideal place to get our creative juices kickstarted again.

We had pulled pork, nachos, Coronas and churros until our waiter had to kindly and gently nudge our round bodies out of the door like (the collective noun for) slightly unruly yoga balls many hours later.  All in all it was a great experience that brought out the luchador in us! It left us feeling refreshed, and excited for what 2014 will bring.  We’re an awesome team that’s become like family, and sometimes just to spend some quality, non-work time together is a great reminder of that.

So thanks y’all, we heart you the most.

Hello Pretty is getting Pretty Fit

So Pretties, I spend a lot of time trawling our site each day. A LOT. (Someone has to keep the world informed about our awesome stuff, you know? *winks*) I’ve noticed that we’ve had an influx of really gorgeous bikinis. And when I say gorgeous, I mean really really gorgeous.

Cue the arrival of a whole bunch of cool stuff from Crosse & Blackwell. We’re a team of (mostly) girls who spend a fair amount of time staring at our computer screens, so getting mobilised is something of a challenge. A challenge that Crosse & Blackwell has accepted!

So the deal is this: Lisa Raleigh, who is a fitness expert (that’s right) is going to help all of us that want to shake off a few kilos in 2014. You know. Actually do that thing that’s on all our New Years resolutions lists year after year. There will be free “Trim Outs”, “Trim Meals” and advice on offer. Yep. For Free. In fact, other than a hot new bod (and a hot new bikini, hint hint), you could actually walk away with cash in your pocket in the form of a R50 000 grand prize, as well as a whole heap of other cool spot prizes. (Heck, if 50K isn’t a gigantic carrot at the end of your fitness stick, I don’t know what is!)

You can register over here to take part. The challenge starts on the 1st of February. See you ladies on the beach!

Bikini #1 Navy Vintage by Gabrielle Swimwear
Bikini #2 Bikini Set with Back Detail by Loyde Villarroel Lingerie and Swimwear
Challenge Accepted image from here
Bikini #3 Twist Bandeau in Sunshine by Scarlett Swimwear

Pages

Subscribe to Blog