Pretty Pretty Pretty

Pretty Pretty Pretty’s Next Top Model August 9, 2008

I make no secret of the fact that despite being a feminist I enjoy watching soul-crushing, deeply unhealthy television, so naturally last week’s final episode of America’s Next Top Model (Cycle 9 ) was a banner occasion, which the delightful Kowhai came over to share with me. One of the challenges that the girls faced in this episode was shooting a video for Covergirl - specifically for Covergirl’s Wet Slicks Fruit Spritzers, and naturally, some of them really really sucked at reading their lines. Thanks to the magic of editing, their attempts were cut into a reasonable ad, but it made us wonder - exactly how hard can it possibly be to remember a tiny little speil and smile at the camera? Well, as it turns out, after a couple of glasses of wine, it’s actually bloody hard. The humiliating video after the jump.
(more…)

Post-PPP party pics July 21, 2008

It’s already been nine days since the PPP party! It seems like only yesterday we were swapping clothes, eating cupcakes, supping cocktails, and singing our little hearts out on singstar.

Here’s some pics for those of you who missed it…

Cocktails & cupcakes

Pretty nails & candy corn

Pretty nails and a PPP cocktail

Kelly & Maria (I think) steaming it up

Brenda & blogging

Post-PPP party post #1 July 13, 2008

I had the awesomest time at the 3-month anniversary party, mainly thanks to Jo’s fabulous party hosting. I’m bound to post heaps more about the party ’cause I’m still buzzing about it. But for now a couple of quick thanks to our guests.

And check out this fabulous bag Megan gave me (and also one to Jo). I love it!

And we did a dud-swap, where everyone brought along products they didn’t quite like. But a few them found a welcome home in my bathroom. Anti-frizz stuff, shampoo & conditioner, eyeliner, and Revlon make-up (that i was gonna buy anyway because it’s really good for night time).

Three month round-up July 10, 2008

So exciting - Saturday is the three-month anniversary PPP party at Jo’s. Come along!

And I’ve taken a bit of time to reflect on the past three months. I really wanted to start PPP because I’d learned a lot about make-up and stuff through trial-and-costly-error but also from my fantastic womenly friends. And I wanted to share that with all of everyone, and also learn more from you. So I’ve put together a list of the things I’ve learnt from PPP over the past three months.

• Eye primer brings out the colour in eyeshadow
• You can use fish oil or flaxseed oil to harden nails
• Minifies is a great place to get cosmetics
• How to get great curls
• Venus razors are cool - except the Breeze
• Mary Kay hand regime - also cool
• It’s fun to make your own wonderful beauty products
• How to cut your own fringe
• There’s plenty of places to buy cheap clothes
• Give your face a break on Sunday
• Jezebel’s Sephora Spy has great insight
• Body and face brushing is good
• Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream is worth a try
• The Powder Room rocks
• Origin rice face scrub is awesome (thanks Martha!)

Yikes! So many things I’ve learned! The mind wobbles*.

*my favourite quote from Kelly Bundy, Married with Children.

Short bits and wordy considerations July 8, 2008

1. Zebrano, home to designer clothes for the curvy lady is having a sale. Pretty much every garment in-store (well, at least in their Johnson Street branch anyway) is reduced, often up to 50%, and arranged in size order for easy shopping. While I’m at it, how do you feel about the term “curvy lady”? I personally don’t like the word ‘lady’ very much so I’m not entirely sure why I’m using it. I ask partially because when Martha wrote about us, she said she doesn’t like the word ‘girly’. How about ‘girlie’ with an ie? But yes, I favour ‘curvy’ over ‘plus-size’, because it celebrates my lovely lovely breasts while we’re at it.

2. If you’re still not reading Jezebel yet, maybe you could start with this post on Badvertising, which demonstrates all the reasons that I pretty much hate magazine advertising (and most magazine copy, for that reason). As a sample, in response to a
Dove campaign for “It’s time we girls cooled off more and freaked out less”, Jezebel writes:

“You know what else makes me freak out? When someone suggests that “we girls” should freak out less. We make less money than men, are expected to be thin and hairless and we have the crampy bleeds every 26 days. A body wash solves nothing. Fuck off.”

And to continue my wordy-thoughts, I pretty much HATE advertising that pretends that the product is “one of us”. I don’t think that the Dove ad was written by someone who has anything in common with me, so they can take their over-familiarisation and shove it.

3. I know we’ve mentioned it before, but Amy and I worked on the giftboxes for our party (which starts at 4pm this Saturday in Newtown, tell your friends!) last night, and man, they are pretty damn awesome if I do say so myself. We’ve also got some foot spas for soaking your tootsies in, the signature cocktail has been designed, and there are piles and piles of clothes for the swap, and all kinds of tasty goodness and decorations have been purchased. We think that you will enjoy yourselves. For those of you who can’t make it because you’re not in Wellington, there will be some giftboxes to be won at a later date. We have many many cunning plans taking shape.

Tonight, you’re cleaning out your closet July 4, 2008

Don’t forget that your homework for this weekend is to clear out your wardrobes of any clothes, accessories, beauty products and magazines that you no longer want, so that you can bring them to our Pretty Pretty Pretty Party next Saturday to trade for fun new-to-you things! And also, please RSVP on our Facebook page - we’re making goodie bags (oooh exciting!) and we need to know how many to make…

Pretty Pretty Pretty Three Month Party June 24, 2008

Amy and Jo are stoked to announce that in July, our beloved PrettyPrettyPretty.com will be three months old, and to celebrate, we’re throwing the most girlie of all parties to celebrate. Ladies, book in 4pm on Saturday July 12 to come to Newtown and participate in all the funness.

There’ll be signature cocktails, cupcakes and giveaways, new products to try, a great clothes and accessories swap, eating and drinking, makeovers, home spas, good times and maybe even a little Singstar to get the night going.

Want to come along? You should! So sign up to attend to stay up to date with the plans, clean out your wardrobe and cabinets so you can bring along any unwanted clothes, accessories and beauty products to trade. Please feel free to bring along any other lady friends you might have, and be aware that the menfolk are planning a Chap’s Night Out you can ship yours off to if he’s the type to get lonely.

On the day, we recommend you come in your PJs or similar comfortable attire, and bring along some products and makeup to share, a towel in case you need one, some extra booze, and a change of clothes in case you feel like heading in to town afterwards.

We are so looking forward to this!

Email amy(at)prettyprettypretty(dot)com for address or other details, and add yourself to the event on Facebook here.

“

Oh make me over June 23, 2008

A while ago at Make Up/Over Monday, we decided that we’d set ourselves the challenge of looking different. What this translated to was that Rachel who normally doesn’t wear much makeup at all got the full on loads of bright eyeshadow ala me, and since I normally do my makeup very loose and smudgey, Amy applied mine neat and straight out of Making Faces by Kevyn Aucoin, in the style of “Temptress”, modeled on Barbara Streisand. It was a learning experience for everyone involved!

The results and revelations after the jump.
(more…)

Your homework for this weekend June 13, 2008

1. Get yourself a copy of the latest Bust magazine featuring my role model Amy Sedaris on the cover jumping out of a cake, or some other very good form of reading material.
2. Put clean sheets on your bed, preferably 100% cotton, 400 thread count or so.
3. Run yourself a nice hot bath and make sure you put some luxurious products in it (or even just some milk powder, almond oil and a drop of your favourite smelly). Before you get in, apply a nice face mask. Have a jolly good long soak.
4. Scrub your feet with a brush, some pumice, some foot scrub or a combination of all of the above.
5. When you’ve dried off, and removed the mask, slather yourself all over in some glorious thick body butter. I cannot say enough good things about Skinfood’s body butter - they’re a New Zealand company, most of their ingredients aren’t all chemically, it’s rich and lovely, it’s cheap and easy at around $14 a tub in most supermarkets, and if you want further proof of its awesomeness, every time I apply it, my cat licks my hands for ages. So that has to be a good thing, right?
6. Get into your nice clean sheets. Feel blissed out. Perfection!

Pre-date notification: PPP prettifying personality plus prenzels party June 2, 2008

We may have only been running for a month and a half so far, but if you know anything about us, you’ll know that we have big plans in place for the next month and a half, leading up to our Three Month Anniversary Party. More details will follow, but we just wanted to let you start preparing yourself for PPPPPP, which will feature food, drinks, beautification, feel-goodisation and all sorts of other treats. You’re all invited (seriously, we’d love to meet all our readers) so save the date.

What: PPP Third Anniversary
Where: Newtown
What: Beauty treatments, makeovers, girly talk, fun and possibly Prenzel tastings and more.
When: Saturday July 12, afternoon until evening, with a possible trip to town to show off our handiwork afterwards.