Summer Loving with Gumree!

What does summer mean to you?

Braais, swimming, summer dresses, sunglasses, fun times with family and friends, and lots of pictures of course.

Gumtree has you covered in all those areas.

I have previously used Gumtree to get my wonderful baby, isn't she adorable?

As well as a big wooden kennel, which they don't use all that much, might I add :)

I can spend hours browsing, because we all know how much I love a great bargain, hence this page HERE

I found a few items that caught my eye on Gumtree

Fancy Pictures Anyone?

Perfect for outdoor meals in this lovely weather!

This dress is so pretty! Do you have a matric dance or a wedding coming up?

Get your shades on!

There are a few things to remember when using Gumtree:

Never go alone to meet anyone or to see anything. Always take someone with, preferably someone scary looking :)

If something looks too good to be true, it probably is, Louboutins for R200... Fake... 

Trust your instincts, if something feels dodgy, give it a skip

Also, if you are buying anything 'designer', make sure you get some sort of authenticity certificate

Other than that, have fun and get your bargain on! From cars to animals to furniture to everything, Gumtree has your back, check them out HERE

*This is a sponsored post

Final Stila Shop My Stash... And a Giveaway!

Hi Ladies

This is my final Stila Stash, I will then continue with other brands.

I have the Baked Cheek Duo in pink glow. This blush is highly pigmented, and you need to use very little for a flushed look. The blush picks up so well on the brush, and I just need a light swirl for a perfect pink glow. 

Stila Love Blush. This is one of the limited edition products, and I love it. The gold on the lettering goes away after the first use, but there is still a slight shimmer. You can swirl your brush over the entire palette, or select a colour. I like to swirl my brush over the entire palette.

Another limited edition is the Sweet Treat Bronzer, that looks a bit like a slab of chocolate. You can once again use all the colours together, or choose a highlighter or contourer. I have used it all together as a radiant bronzer, and I have also used them seperately. Both work equally well, and this is a great all rounder.

I am not adding any of these to my blogsale, although, I bought the Baked Cheek Duo without realising I already had one, so there is a brand new one on my blogsale for R200 HERE

And now for a giveaway:

As I mentioned before in a previous haul post, while I was out shopping I bought this Nails Inc Trio for myself, and one for my readers. The three shades are, St James, Baker Street and Porchester Square, there most iconic shades in my opinion!

This is a social media giveaway.

All you have to do is follow me on twitter HERE and retweet my giveaway tweet. This will earn you two entries. Remember to #prettifulblog

You can also follow me on Instagram HERE and repost the giveaway image, which will also earn you two entries. Again, #prettifulblog

This giveaway is only open to South African Residents, the giveaway will close on the 12th November, and I will choose a winner by the 14th November.

Good Luck!

Peeping Blue!

Happy Shoesday Ladies!

The weather in JHB has been all kinds of crazy recently, summer, winter, autumn and spring in an hour, never mind a day.

So, I decided to settle on peep-toe ankle boots, for the best of both worlds.

I love the heel of this boot, it is sturdy, and makes the height of the boot not so daunting! It is chunky, but not super chunky. I love the straps on the boot, it gives an edgy look to it.

Have a good week ladies!

Mani Monday with Nicole By OPI

Still sticking with the #thinkpink theme for Breast Cancer Awareness this month, I chose a pink and white combo.

I used Nicole by OPI in "All Kendalled Up"- A bright, easy to apply pink from the Kardashian Collection, and two coats does the job. 

I also used Nicole by OPI in "Step to the Beat of my Heart" - A clear polish with little hearts in it, with a slight glitter finish. This polish is part of the Justin Bieber Collection. It was a bit hard to fish for the hearts, and you cannot just brush the polish on, you have to place the hearts, but I think it looks pretty cute.

Lastly I used my faithful white polish by Sinful, "Snow me White"

New Essence and Catrice Collections Now in Store!

I love finding new Essence and Catrice Limited Collections when I walk into Clicks or Dischem, so I was super excited to find the Essence 'Be Loud' and the Catrice 'Thrilling me Softly' collections at my local Dischem.

Shy, timid, restrained? Quite the opposite! With the new Essence trend edition “Be Loud!”, the name says it all. Calling all beauties to be loud, be free – be you! Today’s generation of girls are independent, strong and assertive, and this power needs to be expressed with a cool look too! Camouflage prints and expressive colours are all the rage. Bright pink, purple, orange and apricot meet upon hip olive, stone, gold and black in these trendy products. To keep all these awesome products close at hand, there’s a practical cosmetics bag with a zipper and a camouflage design. Shout out – Be Loud – with essence!

This collection has a nail art set, makeup bag, five nail polishes, two blushes, two jumbo lip sheer sticks, one jumbo eye pencil, and three eyeshadows.

I got myself both blushes, one eyeshadow duo and both jumbo lip sticks.

Next up is the Catrice Collection

Belles Rebelles. A rebellion on a mission to create new paths and more passion in the world of fashion. A reunion with gothic culture is developing into an exciting encounter. Catwalks are covered in leather and lace. Graceful, mysterious and feminine. Black dominates the field in a modern interpretation combined with bright reds as well as soft rosé and nude shades. Highlights are set in a cool gold and purple. The Limited Edition “Thrilling me Softly” by CATRICE translates this trend into the language of beauty. Eyes, lips and nails are accentuated with partially metallic and partially matte effects as well as soft textures. The innovative Lace Patch Eyeliners in an artistic lace design are already considered THE beauty must-have of the coming season. Gothic Chic – by CATRICE.

This collection has two eyeshadow trios, lace patch eyeliners, a cat eyes eyeliner pen, mascara, three glossy lip stains, two blush sticks and five nail polishes.

From this collection I bought both blush sticks and the cat eyeliner. After writing this post, I think I should have gotten at least one of the lip stains and definitely the mascara!

Happy Shopping Ladies

Shop My Stash- Stila

It is Shop My Stash time again Ladies!

Stila Bronze BB Cream- I really like this BB cream for summer, it gives skin a bronze glow, is waterproof and has an spf of 30! I have used it a couple of times, but not enough to justify keeping it, so it will be added to my blogsale HERE for R200.

Stila Set and Illuminate Powder- I am loving this powder! It gives skin an illuminating glow, while also setting your makeup. It has a highlighting but mattifying effect which I love.

Stila Shimmer Liquid in Kitten- I love a dewy look all year round, but especially in summer. This liquid gives a perfect glow, and looks perfect with a cream blush. And it is in the iconic shade Kitten, what is not to love?

Shoesday with Mr Price

It seems as if summer has finally arrived here in JHB, so that means sandal time!

This heel is from Mr Price, I bought it last summer and I love it! It is comfortable, and I love the way it looks with a monochrome outfit.

It is a bright orange/red suede sandal with an ankle strap, I love any and all ankle straps!

Happy Shoesday Ladies!

Shattered Mani Monday with OPI

Happy Mani Monday!

For today's mani I tried a shatter polish by OPI called "Pink Shatter"

This is the first time I am using a shatter polish, and I am not much of a fan. I think it looks like a royal mess, and possibly could work for a Halloween mani.

For the base coat I used "Gold All Night" by Maybelline.

What are your thoughts?

EOS in South Africa... #Awesome!

Have you heard of the cult lip product EOS?

If not, are you living under a rock?

EOS stands for Evolution Of Smooth, and smooth my lips are! 

Hashtag Awesome, an up and coming online store recently sent me an EOS lip balm to review. This sphere shaped lip balm was not available in SA until recently, and luckily you too can get yours at Hashtag Awesome HERE

Besides the lip balms (which are the normal ones and the swirly ones) they also stock the hand lotion. I would love to try the swirly balm in vanilla mint and the hand lotion in berry blossom.

EOS Pocket Size Hand Lotion (Berry Blossom) R99

EOS Lip Balm (Vanilla Mint) R119

EOS Lip Balm (Honeysuckle Honeydew) R99

I was sent the Honeysuckle and Honeydew balm. It smells amazing, I want to just smell my lips all day long. It is super moisturising too, I am addicted to lip balm, and when I use EOS I find I don't need to reapply as often as I usually would.

EOS lip balm is 95% organic, 100% natural, and paraben and petrolatum free. Packed with antioxidant-rich vitamin E, soothing shea butter and jojoba oil, EOS keeps your lips moist, soft and sensationally smooth.

Another thing I love about this balm is the sphere shape. You know us ladies with those huge handbags who can't find anything in it? Well, the size of the EOS balm makes it easy to find, and so less time scrounging around.  

If you are still not convinced, have a look at the long list of celebs who use and love EOS.

Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, Nicole Scherzinger, Jennifer Hudson, Kylie Jenner, Kesha, Stacy Keibler, Kristin Cavallari, Sasha Pieterse, Jennifer Lopez, Demi Lovato, Gwen Stefani...

And the list goes on... For a full list click HERE

Aside from EOS, you can also buy luxury coloured toilet paper by Renova. (For the Kris Jenner in all of us) 

And finally they also stock Urban Decay Naked 3 Palettes, although they are currently out of stock.

Thank you to Hashtag Awesome for bringing some hard to get items to us!

Check out their site HERE

Happy Shopping Ladies!

Shop My Stash- Stila One Steps!

Hi Ladies

I love primers, and so when I wanted to try the Stila One Steps, I got them all. I have tried them all and I love them all, but I have decided to let one go... It really is not necessary to have so many primers! (Who am I kidding?)

I found it really hard to decide, since I really liked the results of all of them, but I finally settled on selling the bronze one. I have only used it once, but I will sell it for R200 because for some reason the helix design is a bit smooshed on top. 

So check out my blog sale HERE

Shoesday with Lalla X Legit

Happy Shoesday Ladies!

The stunning Lalla has collaborated with Legit on a collection for summer. I always love Legit's collabs, it adds a fun twist to their items.

These shoes are part of the collection, I bought two from the collection, and I will be sharing the other one soon. I think it was R250, and it is currently in store. 

It is quite high, but I love it! Ankle straps are my thing recently, and I love that this one stems from the sole and criss-crosses up. There is nothing more chic than a white and gold combo. 

Breast Cancer Awareness Mani Monday

Hi Ladies

As you all know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, this mani is in support of all people suffering or recovering from breast cancer.

I used Essie in "Off the shoulder"

Sinful "Snow me white"

Essence white tip painter for the stripes

And the bow is from Essence Jewel Set

Off the shoulder is a stunning pink and only two coats is needed. This is a mini bottle, which was part of their spring/summer collection a while back. (My hand is not extra large)

Snow me white is my favourite white polish, streak free and glossy

The white tip painter from Essence is excellent for making stripes free hand.

And the jewel set from Essence is super cute, and has flowers pearls and bows. (picture below from Essence website)

The best thing about this is the easy to use glue, which is not the squeeze out type, but rather similiar to a perfume sample bottle, which has a sort of stick inside the bottle which you can easily apply to the jewels.

Stila Holiday Collection Preview

Hi Ladies

It is that time of the year again... Christmas Holiday Collections!

Today I have a preview of the Stila Holiday Collection, which will be in store around the 20th October.

I have bought the Best of Kitten Set and Lipglaze Set before, and they are really worth it!

There are eleven sets altogether, but only three will be available in SA, but three of the best in my opinion.

Kitten Set- R795

Best Of Kitten includes: 

• Eye Shadow in Kitten (sparkling nude pink)

• Lip Glaze in Kitten

• All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer in Kitten

• Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in Gilded 

• Pavé & Yellow Gold Pyramid Bracelet by BaubleBar 

• Gold Fringe Clutch 

I already have last years set, so I won't be getting this. But let me tell you, treat yourself and get it! Most of the set is similiar, except for the smudgestick, clutch and bracelet.

Royalty set- R795

Best of Black includes:

• Jewel Eye Shadow in Black Diamond (smoky, shimmery black)

• Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in Stingray (jet black)

• Sparkle eye liner in Sequins (sparkling black), 

• Major Major Mascara (jet black)

• Pavé & White Gold Pyramid Bracelet by BaubleBar

• White Gold Gusset Clutch 

This set is definitely on my wishlist. If you read my review of the Body Palette HERE, you will know that Black Diamond is one of my favourite shades. And a girl can never have enough black liner and mascara, right?

Putting On The Glitz Lip Glaze Set - R475

Putting On The Glitz Lip Glaze Set includes 8 deluxe Lip Glazes: 

• Glamour (sparkling ruby)

• Gleam (sparkling mauve)

• Glint (icy pink)

• Glow (sparkling champagne)

• Glitter (sparkling pink diamond)

• Glimmer (sparkling apricot)

• Glisten (sparkling sugarplum)

• Glory (blackberry)

Plus a Rose Gold Leaf Head Band that will bring sparkle to your holiday. 

I love Stila lip glazes, I think I have between fifteen and twenty glazes. If I didn't have so many I would definitely get this, how stunning is the packaging!

Stila is sold at Stuttafords and Woolworths, as well as online on Rubybox, Kalahari and Spree.

And now for the sets we don't get here...

Sparkling Rose

New Years Eve Glam Set

Radiant Beauty

This is my favourite set!

Flawless Gems Smudgestick Trio

Be Jewelled



Merry and Bright



20th Anniversary Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner Collection



20th Anniversary Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner Collection

Happy Shopping Ladies!

Stila “Eyes are the Window” to the BODY Review

As most of you know Stila launched a stunning 20th anniversary collection, which included a stunning collection of palettes, glosses and a mascara. You can read more about the entire collection HERE

I was sent the "Body" palette, as well as one of the "Magnificent Metal Glosses" in the famous Kitten shade. My review of the gloss will be up soon.

Now let's get to this stunning palette full of amazing highly pigmented colours.

Stila is known for its high quality butter soft eyeshadows, and this palette is no different.

First off the packaging is out of this world, housed in a rose gold compact, with an extremely good mirror. The compact firmly clicks closed, so there is no chance of it opening in a bag and making a mess.

The palette contains neutral and bright colours. I have swatched all the colours below. The shadows can be used wet or dry, although I personally wouldn't want to use a damp brush on these shadows.

There are a few matte shadows which I felt weren't as pigmented as the rest, but the shimmer shades are highly pigmented as you can see below. The Midnight Quartz and Tanzanite shades were the most disappointing, as they hardly showed up (second from the right and fourth from the left). My absolute favourites are black diamond and emerald (first and third from the right), as well as all the neutral shades which make a great base shadow. Black diamond and Emerald are musts for a smokey eye, which is my go to eye look. Aquamarine which is the baby blue shade is a bit intimidating to me, but I will try it in the near future.

I love the look book that comes with Stila palettes, which has interesting looks you can do with the palette. I don't think mine will ever look as good as the look book, but a girl can dream, right?

All in all I love this palette. The shadows are soft and apply well, without much fallout. I don't usually where bright colours, but this palette has pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I am quite enjoying it, especially for summer.

The palettes and lipglosses are currently in store, and the mascara should be in store sometime this month. You can find Stila at Stuttafords and Woolworths. Online stores such as Rubybox, Spree and Kalahari also sell Stila, although I am not sure if they are stocking this collection.

MAC Brooke Shields Collection

Hi Ladies

The Brooke Shields collection is now available online HERE

MAC has this to say:

The world has never seen a beauty quite like Brooke Shields. With effortless grace and an inner radiance, Brooke is as iconic as her career-defining roles – from ethereal dream girl to castaway goddess, glamorous model-next-door to accomplished actress.

The collection features, eyeshadow, brow products, mascara, lipstick, lipglass, blush, bronzer, nail polish, eyeliner and two brushes.

On my wishlist from the collection is 

Creme Colour Base (R420)

A blush that manages to make a simple blush state-of-the-art. Creamy, easy to blend, medium coverage formula imparts a natural finish that's smooth, dewy-fresh, long-lasting. Limited-edition packaging in light grey with brilliant orange accents and Brooke’s signature.

Bronzing Powder (R300)

A lightly frosted, tinted powder that gives skin sheer, natural colour effects and highlights. Ideal for enhancing a skin tone or to accent or strengthen a tan. Skin-conditioning - and formulated to provide a smooth, even application on all skin types.

Images are not my own

Shop My Stash- Stila Eyes

Today I have my last Stila Eye Stash!

In the Garden Palette: I love the nude colours of this palette, but I have only used three colours, once each, and I cannot justify keeping this, since I am unlikely to use it very often. So, it will be added to my blogsale, for R200. 

Smudge Stick in Starfish. This comes with the palette above, and is a sparkly olive green colour. I am quite impressed with this, and rather surprised that I like the colour. I will be keeping the smudge stick, so I will be selling the palette without it.

Eyeshadow Trio in Gold Glow, I love multi-taskers. I love using these shades seperately and together on my eyes and face. I love the lightest shade, it is a slightly warmer "Kitten" and looks amazing as a highlighter.

Thank you for shopping my stash!

Next week we will move on to Stila- Face!

Essence and Catrice Sneak Peek!

I love Essence and Catrice, especially their limited trend collections. I have picked a few favourites from upcoming collections.

Essence- Come to Town- A Christmas collection which will be in stores in SA in November!

How amazing do these cream blushes look? Definitely on my list!

Christmas cheeks. Deep red and intensive pink brighten up your winter 

complexion with a fresh touch of color. The soft, creamy texture 

practically melts with your skin and blends really easily. Available in 01 is 

that you, santa? and 02 wrapped in pink. 

This shimmering body powder looks really cute!

Pretty gift! The shimmering body powder in a cute gift packaging gives 

your skin a soft glow and is easy to apply with the decorative powder puff. 

With a subtle vanilla scent – simply irresistible! Available in 01 make a 

wish. 

Next up, is Essence- Good Girl Bad Girl Collection.

I always love some shimmer powder, and how cool does the imprint look?

Good or bad? The powder with fine shimmer pigments ensures beautiful 

highlights as well as a flawless complexion. And thanks to the embossed 

“good girl bad girl” lettering, the powder a distinctive look, too. Available 

in 01 hello sweetheart.

And lastly, Catrice- Lala Berlin

This pigment looks stunning, I have tried Essence and NYX pigments before, and they really are great to have in your collection. Would love this as a highlighter.

Front Glow. This loose powder with golden, light-reflecting pigments gives your skin 

a warm and flattering shimmer effect. The transparent powder texture is suitable for 

all skin types and sets beautiful accents on your face and neckline. Available in C01 

Soft Shimmer.

Are you excited ladies?