gin & tonic. massage & facial. run & sauna.

02 Sep 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG, competitions, girl stuff, spa saturdays, 10 Comments

Tea & Macarons?

Hey remember when I went to that new Massage place in Gardens – enmasse? Where I had my first oil-free Thai Massage? Well I’ve got 5 x 2-for-the-price-of-1 enmasse treatments to give away to CTG readers this week. Sounds good right? Grab your BFF & go get yourself each a Thai Massage for the price of one. If you’d like to win, just tell me what 2 things you need to get your relaxation on. Is it a massage & a facial? A cup of tea & some macarons? A double-vodka & Red Bull?

A nun & a gun?

I won’t judge you. Just tell me what takes you to your happy place. Leave a comment or email me editor@capetowngirl.com

credit card for women cont. comes with 50k. maybe.

24 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in competitions, girl stuff, money money money, 0 Comments

Remember last week I wrote about this newfangled Standard Bank Credit Card for women that comes with a million different benefits? Well Standard Bank have very sweetly been in touch and have let me know they’re actually running a competition where you can win R50k for applying for a card, and telling them what you’d do with 50k. In other words, for ’sharing your MyCard Moment’. Hmm… cheese aside, Click here for details. Now you may not need another credit card – and if you don’t please dear god don’t go get one – but if you ARE in the market for one CTG would probably recommend this MyCard vibe.

Jack Daniel’s Tik Tok Twitter Tasting

23 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in BFFs, CTG, cape town, characters, drink, girl stuff, hilarious, lifestyle, south africa, whisky, 1 Comments

So CTG, PD and LA hit up CTG HQ the other night to take part in a Jack Daniel’s Twitter Tasting. If you’re confused, don’t be: basically Jack Daniel’s sent us a bunch of whisky - their Single Barrel, their Gentleman’s Jack and good old Jack Daniel’s No. 7 - and we got to tasting it while tweeting about it.

The thing about twitter tastings is that they don’t take much effort. So we had all this whisky and CTG’s iPod, which is when we remembered that Kei$ha sings about Jack Daniel’s in her song Tik Tok:

“Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy
Grab my glasses, I’m out the door, I’m gonna hit this city
Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack
‘Cause when I leave for the night, I ain’t coming back..”

So we did what any other self-respecting CTGs would do. We decided to dress up like Kei$ha and make a video!!! Uh huh! Please enjoy the ‘tasting notes’ you’ll find spread out amongst the dancing.

Thanks Jack Daniel’s, that was quite fun. Even though we felt NOTHING like P Diddy upon waking up the next morning…

xxCTG, PD & LA

moisturiser of the moment

19 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in cosmetics, girl stuff, 1 Comments

Being of the pale-skinned variety of human am always looking out for a day cream that contains some kind of real SPF (ahem, SPF 15 is NOT any kind of protection against the sun. SPF 15 is 150 minutes of sun protection, and I’m not sure about you but daytime in MY world lasts about 12 hours…) and have discovered Elizabeth Arden’s Prevage which has the highest SPF of all the face creams, bashing out a solid SPF 30. So I’m giving it a go. So far so good – it also smells super delicious – like CK1. CTG recommends. Details on where to get it can be found here.

Credit card for women. Comes with self-destruct function.

19 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG recommends, advertising, girl stuff, money money money, south africa, 0 Comments

Nah just kidding. Although that would be nice. Ladies, some srs girl talk quickly please gather round gather round. Y’all know that women in this country make 85% of ALL shopping decisions? That includes buying houses, holidays, food, cars and clothing? And did you also know that women bring in half or MORE of the household income in MOST SA homes? And that women control the finances of over half the households in SA?

Why am I telling you this? Because I was telling a friend of mine this the other day and she was like, really????? So women are actually economically more… powerful than… men??? YES. Really, this is a woman’s world. If y’all thought men had the upper hand economically in ANY way you were deluded. Especially if you work in HR and you pay your male employees more than your female employees. Best you rectify that ASAP. Tell them CTG said to whop yo ass and get with the program.

We at CTG are VERY well aware of this and have been ‘living the dream’ for quite some time now. One thing I’ve been sure to take full advantage of are products and programs that reward females for being, you guessed it, female. This is a nifty trick. You can basically save a million trillion rand if you’re smart about using certain female-focused financial products.

Sadly, not all ‘xxx for women’ products offer real benefits other than floral design on the card and a nice pantyliner sample in the post now and again. But I HAVE noted that Standard Bank’s new female-focused credit card – MyCard – seems to offer the standard credit card benefits along with basically a mini insurance policy at no extra charge. I’m talking a whole bunch of the usual value-adds you get with your separate insurance policies (including HANDYMAN services – ja) AND every time you swipe your card you get cashback which you can spend later. Be still our beating hearts.

Basically, cancel half of your twenty billion insurance policies (I keep taking out new ones coz I don’t know that I already have 10 and I just think what the hell, more disability cover can’t hurt right?), and move your credit to the Standard Bank MyCard. I just did. Right. Diamond-shopping anyone? Frances?

want to travel? got no one to do it with?

18 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in girl stuff, holiday, south africa, travel, 0 Comments

Thanks to Priscilla for alerting me to GalPal Adventures – a travel club for just women. While that sounds a little weird at first, it could actually be really awesome. Or I think so. Girl Power Travel Club! Sounds fantastic! In their words:

“GalPal Adventures is a recently formed Social Travel, Leisure & Adventure Club that offers group tours for ladies wanting to share their journeys with other lady-friends. Our tours range from high-speed group adventures to relaxing scenic vacation getaways, even to life-changing cultural immersion travel experiences.”

They do trips across South Africa as well as organising international destinations. Perfect for when you feel like getting away and maybe you don’t have someone to travel with and you don’t want to travel alone. Click here to check it out. CTG hasn’t tried it yet but we think it’s a great idea so watch this space. Please be sure to note the disclaimer at the bottom of their homepage (below) – hilarious!

pretty eyes!

18 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG recommends, cape town, cosmetics, fashion, girl stuff, lifestyle, 3 Comments

The lovely Estee Lauder ladies sent me these pics from our 3 Steps to Beautiful Eyes makeup session. Ladies this was so much fun and we walked away feeling all pretty. Strutting. Like ponies. Hoofs up. Clop clop clop. Trying to figure out how to make this part of my daily routine somehow.

Eyeshadow being applied - colours being the Vintage Violet and Roseberry Duo, liner is Jet Black Auto and Mascara is Turbo Lash in Black.

Nearly there, looking good so far. Have discovered a new foundation - the Lauder Nutritious in Intensity 2. I am SO over matt foundation - matt is sooo granny! - and Nutritious gives you this lovely, dewy, just-had-a-breathy-makeout-session-with-my-exotic-lover glow.

Finishing touches - Blusher in Nude Nuance, a touch of Bronzer in Soft Shimmer and lips in Strong Coffee.

The result: Pretty Eyes! :)

Thank you so much to Lulu and Toughieeda for having us! And for helping  CTG with colour. Am normally scared of colour when it comes to makeup and tend to stick to browns and blue greys on my eyes. Feel free now! Free to use purple too! :) (Was super inspired by Lulu who was wearing the most amazing shade of BRIGHT purple!)

Lulu and me :) Lulu is so glam! She is super inspiring!

Head over to an Estee Lauder counter if you want Pretty Eyes too – tell them CTG sent you :)

holiday in pictures

16 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in BFFs, CTG, cape town, girl stuff, holiday, hotels, lifestyle, south africa, 0 Comments

Had a good and lovely little mini break! And the weather played summer-summer too! Glorious. Think drinking Vida and swinging with the kiddies on the promenade

Trying on engagement rings with BFF (bridesmaid duties! so much fun!)

Mmmmm pretty sparkly stones

Lots of running, offset by eating LOTS AND LOTS of macarons! These ones are from Cassis. Vanilla and Pistachio are my two favourite flavours by far.

Eating LOTS AND LOTS of sushi. Frances pictured here at Sevruga

Picked up a pair of very unique Roberto Cavalli’s from Sunglass Hut at the Waterfront. Because WHAT is summer without a pair of statement shades? It’s a joke, that’s what.

Listened to David Bowie vinyls… on repeat…

“Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show..”

Went to watch Farryl Purkiss at &Union. Super chilled, super prego rolls.

Got a Flash for my Diana camera and took lots and lots of photos, still to be developed. This pic is taken using my iPhone and the Diana flash - you can literally track the flash as it moves. Quite a mission to take pics like this but still lots of fun, especially with all those pretty colour gels.

We got our makeup done by the lovely ladies at Estee Lauder. Ladies, have you tried the Advanced Repair Eye Cream? This is not a gratuitous product punt. As a girl who loves her eye makeup (like, if I’m going to lounge around in bed in lingerie all day, I’ll get up, put on makeup, and then get back into bed and lounge), I can honestly say that the Lauder eye cream product is amazing. I feel a whole lot less bad plastering on panda paint now that eyes are receiving some form of moisturising redemption.

We also spent a night at the Old Mac Daddy Luxury Trailer Park in Elgin, but that’s a whole other post, soon to follow…

Miss u holiday. You were awesome.

Write for shoes Ladies! A year’s supply of shoes!

06 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG, advertising, bloggers, competitions, fashion, girl stuff, south africa, 8 Comments

Bronx Ladies SA is running an  Blogger Search where you can win a WHOLE YEAR’S SUPPLY OF SHOES. Just take a moment to process that. An ENTIRE YEAR’S SUPPLY OF SHOES. The thought of it sets CTG’s heart aflutter. Just think – you could wear a different pair of shoes EVERY DAY and still be spoilt for choice. It’s actually almost too much to cope with…

Back to the point, Bronx is looking for a gorgeous, sexy girl-about-town who leads a fun, fashion-and-party-filled lifestyle, who would write about everything from what’s hot on the catwalks to what’s hot in their wardrobes right now. Basically, a totally fun, awesome chick blogger who is, dare I say it, a bit like CTG. Except CTG cannot enter because CTG will be judging the competition, along with the super glam Dimi Ingle, editor of StyleScoop.

How to enter:

1. Write a 300-word post on a topic of your choice. It could be a cool outfit you spotted, or your opinion on a new trend, or whatever really. Post it on your blog or send it to write4shoes@gmail.com.

2. Tell us in 200 words or less why you think you should write for Bronx Ladies SA.

3. Answer the simple questions you’ll find on the How To Enter page here.

Closing date for entries is 28 August 2010, so get your entries in quick quick! You might want to read CTG’s ‘What Does It Take To Be A Chick Blogger’ for some inspiration ;P

xxCTG

Champagne and sushi at Sevruga

05 Aug 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in BFFs, cape town, girl stuff, lifestyle, 1 Comments

We love girls nights at Sevruga because they always take special care of us. By ‘take special care’ we mean ‘they make sure our glasses are always topped up with pink champagne’, and we, as CTGs, totally appreciate that. We had a lot of fun last night – you MUST eat their creamy prawn rolls if you have a chance.

PS. Last night Sevruga had no jelly beans. We need the jelly beans! We come for the jelly beans! Please… get the jelly beans!