Monthly Archives: August 2012

The Big Bottle wine festival was BIG

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So after my big chow down at High Tea last Sat, instead of going home for a much needed afternoon nap (you know that saying magies vol ogies toe), I went to go check out the Big Bottle Festival which was taking place at The Cellars-Hohenort Hotel in the picturesque Constantia Valley.  It was a tough one though, not gonna lie, my eyelids were soooo heavy and my stomach was soooo full…  but I’m very glad I sucked it up and pushed through, cause this festival was pretty damn awesome.

This is only the 2nd year that the Big Bottle festival has taken place.  I didn’t attend last year’s, but heard a lof of good things about it.  So when my friend Darryn won some tickets and asked me to tag along, I was a happy chappy.  The session we attended would have cost R400 pp, so that was a pretty sweet saving.  Thanks again Darryn!  Now I can spend that money on my first love… shoes…

Now the Cellars-Hohenort hotel is seriously stunning, let me show you what I mean:

It is also the home of The Greenhouse, Eat Out’s top restaurant in SA and a dining spot I’ve been dying to try out.  I just need to save up a little.  So maybe that R400 I saved should rather go towards my savings for this… hmmmm… nah, that’s just crazy talk. ;)

So the name of the festival should give away the fact that there were BIG bottles of wine on show.  But how big you ask? Well…

This big bitches!!! hehe

The smallest bottle on show was a Magnum which is 1.5 litres (compared to your standard bottle which is 750ml) and the sizes went up to a Nebuchadnezzar which is 15 liters or about 20 bottles of wine!

For more info on bottle sizes – hop on over here, Wikipedia explains it quite well.  Here’s also a really good visual of all the different bottle sizes:

Thanks, I only really need one bottle… now which one will it be… hmmmm.

I also did a cork comparison – this is a standard cork vs a big ass bottle:

I think this bottle was a Jeroboam (a.k.a. Double Magnum – 3 litres)

Anyways, being at a 5 star hotel with the top restaurant in SA obviously meant that everything was top notch daaahlings. :) There were 40 top SA wineries on show who all brought out the “big guns” in not only the big bottles but also some seriously impressive vintages.  I had a few 1999 vintages which blew my hair back.  That was clearly a really great wine year.  Then they served canapés & sample plates from SA foodie legends like Peter Templehoff from The Greenhouse, Luke Dale-Roberts from The Test Kitchen, Rudi Liebenberg from Planet at the Mount Nelson, Roland Gorgosilich from Bosman’s at The Grande Roche Hotel and Reuben Riffel from Reuben’s restaurant.  Now that’s a pretty intimidating list of chefs right there… would love to see these guys on a pro Masterchef showdown…

I’d say definitely keep an eye out for this one next year.  Just FYI – There were 3 sessions you could attend.  The one we attended was called the “Walk Around” and as I mentioned above cost R400 pp.  Then they had two sessions the day before:

  • One was a Champagne Tasting session at R1250pp:
    - Hendrik Snyman, an expert champagne importer & Méthode Cap Classique (MCC) producer took folks through a tasting involving some very rare bubbly.
  • Then there was a fine dining experience at R1850 pp:
    - Executive chef at The Greenhouse, Peter Templehoff, designed a 5 star, 5 course dinner accompanied by perfectly paired fine wines.

That’s quite a lot of money to fork out, I know, but from what I heard it was well worth it.  So maybe a good idea to start putting some monies away for next year if you want to splash out.

Right, have a great weekend everyone!

xxx

High tea at the beautiful Table Bay Hotel

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Last Saturday, right in the middle of a mini Cape Storm, Bjorn and I got to enjoy a relaxing & indulgent afternoon of High Tea at the Table Bay Hotel in the V&A Waterfront.

Now this hotel has always been a favourite of mine.  I’ve been there for a few events and have also been to their Camelot Spa for a little treat for myself, but their restaurant & High tea are two things I had not yet had the pleasure of experiencing.

Every time I walk into that reception hall I’m blown away by how beautiful this hotel is.  It’s got that old world charm to it, rich colours, atrium style windows, furniture with a gorgeous antique feel, the kind of space which immediately makes you you think of royalty and how they probably live…

So the challenge for the afternoon:  High Tea consisting of 3 courses, each course carefully paired with fine teas from TWG.  TWG is a Singapore based company (just so you know).  They source the best tea leaves, spices and flavour-packed ingredients from all around the world, making their tea something quite special.  Food wise you’re also in really good hands because the High Tea menu has been specially created by the Table Bay executive chef, Jocelyn Myers.

As we settled into our seats and took in the waterfront views, our waiter came to say hi:

This is Frankie.  He painstakingly brought us our food crumb by crumb… like the little piece he has there next to him…

OK OK, that didn’t actually happen. :)   But that would have been a pretty awesome Disney moment, right?  Our real waiter was Sergio and he was an absolute sweetheart.  He didn’t even blink an eye when I put milk & sugar into one of my teas, which when it comes to top quality tea, that’s like asking for All Gold tomato sauce at a fine dining spot…

For the first course however, I was brave and went for the Royal Darjeeling tea without any milk or sugar.  And I was really surprised.  I didn’t need to add anything because the flavour just popped.  Bjorn had the Lung Ching tea, which is a green tea and according to Sergio his top choice for that particular course.  Now courses one & two are served at your table and then for course three, they let you loose on the cake buffet.

We kicked things of with some fancy finger sandwiches:

Clockwise from left: egg mayo, cucumber & cream cheese, veggie wrap and salmon & cream cheese.

But it doesn’t stop there, they also bring you a selection of mini quiches:

From front to back: mushroom & ham, bacon and salmon.

Normally I don’t really enjoy quiches, especially when they’ve got that soggy eggy texture to them. Blegh.  But these had a nice crispy crust and were totally yum.

Course number 2 is probably one of my favourite things in the world:  scones with fresh cream & preserves.  You just don’t get better than that.

You get a selection of scones: in the front you have a plain one, then in the back there’s a raisin scone and on the right is my favourite out of the bunch, a red pepper scone. This is then paired with a plum preserve, fresh cream, clotted cream & lemon curd.

This was so good, we asked for a 2nd round of scones.  Forgot to mention with course 1, you can even ask for a refill! :)   Paired with our scones we both opted for the French Earl Grey tea.  This is where I crumbled and added the milk & sugar.  Just because I’m used to having my Earl Grey that way.  But I think Bjorn was a bit embarrassed. hehe.

To catch our breath a bit before we tucked into course number 3, Sergio brought us some of the recommended teas for the last course to see & smell:

Beautiful right?  Clockwise from top left: Pink Flamingo green tea, Red Christmas rooibos tea, Bain de Roses black tea (there’s an extra cost for this one though) and the Number 12 black tea (you can see there it has some coffee beans & dried coconut mixed in with the tea leaves)

They all had such an incredible aroma, but I looove pink, so my choice was easy peasy:

The Pink Flamingo! It kinda smelt like Turkish delight, but not quite. I’m still trying to figure out what it reminds me off.

It was at this point Bjorn let me in on his “buffet conspiracy theory”.  He was like: “You see, they fill you up with the sandwiches and scones, delicious as they were, but in the hope that you’ll be too full to overindulge at the cake table.  But they won’t get me.. I’ll show ‘em…”  I had to laugh (a lot).  The look of determination in his eyes was quite impressive.  Obviously some kind of previous buffet trauma was still haunting him. ;)   He was very serious about this, something which was quite evident when you compared our two cake plates.  This was mine:

A good selection I thought…

But this was his:

Right… where to start…

I couldn’t even finish mine, but he worked through his plate like a man on a mission.  I just had to steal this piccie from his Instagram feed to show you:

hehehehehehehe…

Now I was pretty full after this amazing treat.  My stomach had kinda popped out like a little pregnant belly.  But needless to say, a certain someone felt a little more uncomfortable than that… My advice:  Just pace yourself and you’ll be fine.  There’s no need to rush and also no need to panic. ;)

A huge thank you to Sarah Prins, the PR Manager at Sun International for setting this up for us.  This was certainly a very special treat and we loved every single minute of it.

Important things to note:

  • High Tea takes place daily from 14:30 to 17:30
  • The cost is R185 per person
  • Rather be safe than sorry and call ahead to book a table:  021 406 5988

Let them eat cake!

xxx

Steve Madden opens in Canal Walk – shoe lovers (guys & girls) check this out

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Last night I attended the opening of the first Steve Madden store in Cape Town which has found its home in Canal Walk.

You’ll find it upstairs, close to the food court.  I think there used to be a San Marina shoe store there before.  Anyhoo, Mr Madden is considered one of the most successful shoe designers in the US and has been designing shoes for the Steve Madden label for two decades already.  He gets his inspriation from street style he observes in places like NY and London and his target market is young fashion forward guys and girls who aren’t scared to show off a bit of flair.  I like the sound of that…

We were welcomed by seriously some of the best food & drinks I’ve had at a launch in quite some time.  The canapes were soooo yummy, especially these red wine super soft fillet steak sosaties… Mmmmmm.

Oh and then they had all kinds of candy everywhere!  Pyramids of everything your heart could possibly desire… Chocolate covered marshmallows, donuts with sprinkles, cake pops (that’s a lollipop with soft, fluffy cake inside!), heart shaped candy canes, you name it… they totally stuffed up my summer body plans… I guess that will start next week now: ;)

Ooooh and then cocktail wise they had Turkish delight flavoured cosmopolitans!  Doesn’t that sound amazing???  That’s cause it was.  Even the men were braving to drink some pink drinks because it was just that good…

Now let’s get down to the business of the store and the main attraction, the shoes of course.  You’ll be happy to know that the shoes you’ll find very closely matches that of which you’ll see overseas right now, with the only difference really being the very seasonal stuff.  As the US is going into winter now, they’ll obviously have lots of boots to pick from, but for us summer sandals make more sense right now.  Also the store interior apparently matches their NY store as well.

Now I’m going to kick off with the mens shoes because I know I lose the boys once I start going on about heels, sexy sandals, oversized cluthes and stuff. :)   These are some of the cool mens shoes you’ll find:

Top left – two tone shoe R999; Top right – black snakeskin R999, Middle – boots (these were my favourites) R899; Bottom left – casual loafers R599; Bottom right – brown smart shoe R899

For the ladies: this season think bright neon sandals, sky high wedges and any kind of “bling” detail like studds, glitter, snakeskin, animal print, etc.

Main – studded heels R1499; Clockwise from top right – snakeskin R1199; glitter heels R799; Blue wedges R1199; diamante heels R1299; summer wedges R799 – I’ve just got to own that snakeskin pair!

Top left – sorry, didn’t get price on these, but loved them too much not to show them to you; Top right – boots R1799; Bottom – neon sandals R499

Of course what’s a good pair of heels without a fabulous bag, right? Don’t worry, Steve’s got you covered girls:

Top left – bright clutches R499; Top right – quilted black bag R999; Fringe bag – R699; Middle – animal print clutch R699; Bottom – neon bag R799

There’s quite a few things on my wish list already.  I’m just battling a head cold at the moment, so my brain wasn’t in shopping mode last night.  I think I’ll go back over the weekend and take my time to look through everything again.  I mean shoes are an investment purchase, you can’t just rush into it, especially when you’re not thinking straight. ;)

xxx

Cosmo lingerie 2012: the girls, the wings and the boiled egg

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The Cosmopolitan Lingerie show has certainly become the annual event you don’t want to miss.  For the guys it’s for obvious reasons – you get to see some of SA’s hottest models strut their stuff on stage half naked.  For the girls – it’s the fantasy element I think.  The over-the-top wings, feathered head pieces, S&M inspired accessories and more.  It certainly focuses more on the “show” part of fashion show and it’s 100% hot…

This year’s event took place at the Southern Sun Cape Sun Hotel in Strand St, which at first I thought was a really odd choice because the hotel doesn’t look like much from the outside.  Once inside though, I had that “a ha” moment.  The interior is quite impressive.  From waterfall chandeliers dripping from the celing to a neon lit bar with a water feature backdrop.  It was very cool indeed.

I sadly have to admit that I was a total dumbass and forgot to check whether my camera was charged before heading out that evening.  And as luck would have it, my battery was pretty much DEAD.  Once the show started, I only managed to get 2 shots and then that was it for the rest of my evening…

Luckily though I found some great piccies on the Cosmopolitan website in their gallery section, so at least I can show you what the lovely ladies looked like up close:

Photo credits: Top – Peter Lambert; Bottom left – Jan Dorfling; Bottom right – Ray Cox

Photo credits: Top left – Peter Lambert; Right – Jan Dorfling; Bottom left – Peter Lambert

You can check out the full gallery over here.  And boys – I suggest you certainly do that. ;)

Now in attendance was your regular Cape Town who’s who, fashion folks and event circuit regulars.  It was a tightly guarded guest list and I purely made the cut because my very own Bjorn happens to be last year’s Cosmo Sexiest Man calendar Mr December.  Yup – I’m a lucky girl…  But I think the most “special” person in attendance has to be a certain fur coat wearing individual who mid show decided to whip out a hard boiled egg which he brought along as a snack?! and proceeded to peel and enjoy much to the dismay of the people seated next to him.  I first noticed this guy when I arrived cause I thought that the coat was a bit “flash” and still tweeted that I felt like I had just walked onto the set of the new XXX movie.  But who could have predicted that the coat was actually storing an egg??  I know this story probably sounds hard to believe, but luckily Dylan Savage from Life Is Savage has photographic evidence over here.  Check it out – it’s awesome.  I have no clue who this guy is and what he does for a living, but one thing’s for sure, he’s one of a kind.

So ja, certainly an eventful night out.  We didn’t make it to the after party which was at Club 31 in the ABSA builiding (the old Hemisphere) because 1. Capetonians are lazy and will rarely make the move to a 2nd venue.  And 2. Instead, Bjorn and I decided to go back to mine to watch a So You Think You Can Dance marathon until like 3am in the morning… cause we’re rock stars like that…  I left the show feeling extremely motivated to get my ass back into gym and start eating super healthy so I too could look that hot in my undies & wings (maybe I have some, maybe I don’t).  Sadly by like 11am the next day, that motivation disappeared as I started digging ito snacks provided by a Masterchef style challenge at work.  Gotta love the corporate world – they dig organised stuff like that.  But this week’s the week, I can feel it. Or… maybe next week… :)

xxx

Win with Utique!

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Right, so now that I’ve introduced you to the wonderful world of Utique - I’m upping the game by offering you the chance to win a R250 Utique voucher which you can use to spend on anything your heart desires! (on the Utique site of course)

Yup, that’s right a whole R250, just for you and with none of that “of you have to spend a minimum of blah to use it” bull either (hate those kinds of vouchers)…  simply see it as virtual monies in your online pocket. ;)

So how to do you go about entering?  Easy peasy.  Just follow these 3 steps:

  1. Like Utique on Facebook
  2. Follow them on Twitter:  @UtiqueGifts
  3. Send a tweet copying myself (@CTmylove) and @UtiqueGifts and tell us who your favourite Utique featured designer/seller is.  Make sure you also use the following hashtag: #MLAWCTwinUtique

Terms & Conditions:

  • Only one entry per person. 
  • Winner will be determined by lucky draw – that way everyone gets a fair chance. 
  • Entries will close at 5pm this Fri, 31 Aug
  • The winner will be announced on Sat morning here on My Love Affair with Cape Town, Twitter & the Utique Facebook page.

Good luck everyone!

xxx

Beautiful new proudly South African online gifting store: Utique

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You guys know I absolutely love online shopping, right?  I also love all things pretty, quirky, off-beat and beautifully made.  New online gifting boutique, Utique, speaks to me on all those levels and also makes it easy for me to discover and support proudly South African design.

Utique’s aim is to seek out those hidden gems that might have taken you forever to find, then they bring them together in one beautiful online space.  They carefully select the featured suppliers, making sure you as the buyer is getting the best with regards to creativity & quality.

Some of the creative labels you’ll be introduced to…

The site offers a little something for everybody.  The Home & Garden section covers all kinds of gorgeous things to brighten up your home, from linens, stationery and ceramics to kitchen goodies and tableware.  Then they have womens accessories, clothing, jewellery and pampering stuff.  Some mens fashion and goodies for the little ones.

I was lucky enough to attend their launch last Thu eve which took place at the Hope St Market.  Here I got to meet the lady behind Utique, Chantelle Crawford, who I could tell right off the bat is very passionate about showcasing local is lekker design:

Me with Chantelle

As I looked around the room I spotted my favourite bunnies from Sootcookie Ceramics by Tanya Laing – I fell in love with these little guys at the Design Indaba this year and have been obsessed with them ever since.  I’ve seen them at a few little boutiques around town, but it’s nice to see them available online now.

The big boy will cost you R1900 and the little guys are R595 each.

Leigh on the other hand totally fell in love with this papegaai from the Colour Africa display:

And he’s perfect cause he can’t poop on your shoulder!

I also chatted to the ladies of Two birds with Some Stones (I told you guys about them in my City Bowl Market update back in July) – their beautiful jewellery will be uploaded to the site today.  Along with some awesome wallpapers and other cool stuff from Design Kist and Design Mate.

Other things I’m lusting after include these fun skull soaps by Dia De Los Muertos:

R90 per bar with scents like Asian Tree Bark, Activated charcoal and Columbian cacao

Also these bamboo cutting boards from Maiden Name:

R199 – two colour options: white or grey

And then I’m a total sucker for pretty stationery, like these “Birds in flight” notecards by Essie Letter Press:

R135 for 10

You’ll be happy to know that they ship across SA and they have two easy delivery options:

  • To your nearest SA post office (5 working days) = R30
  • Right to your door via courier (1-3 days) = R80

And you will even be able to track your order online via the “My Account” page. 

So hop on over there and have a look, I’m sure there will be something that catches your eye…  and just a few clicks later it can be in your home, think about that! ;)  

xxx

The Non-Violence Project and it’s place in the Mother City

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It’s probably because I usually walk around the V&A Waterfront with my shopping blinkers on, but I didn’t notice this until very recently:

Sends such a powerful msg, doesn’t it?

I did some Google research and found that it’s actually the symbol of a worldwide movement against violence called The Non-Violence Project.

The project aims to educate kids on how to resolve conflict without having to resort to violence.  I can’t help but think that sometimes adults are just past that point where they’ll ever change their perspective on life.  I hear people often say things like “oh well, what’s the point in changing now?” or “at my age, I’m just so stuck in my ways you know” -  so catching them while they’re young seems like a much better option, doesn’t it?

The project was first established in Sweden in 1993 and from there it has opened offices across the US as well as in England, Brazil, Germany and they even found a home here in SA back in 1999.  Then in 2010, during the SA Soccer World Cup, they implemented the Futbol for Peace program and also trained about 150 Safety School Officers in Johannesburg and Cape Town.  At the same time the V&A Waterfront played host to an exhibition showcasing interpretations of the Non-Violence symbol by prominent soccer players like Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and the German captain Michael Ballack, all in aid of creating more awareness.

The knotted gun was actually originally created by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd as a tribute to John Lennon’s vision of peace after the Beatles singer was shot in 1980.  It was initially placed at the Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park, across the street from where John Lennon lived with his wife Yoko Ono.  Then in 1988 a bronze version was also placed outside the UN headquarters in NY.  Since then a further 30+ knotted guns have found their way to strategic spots around the world, including our very own V&A Waterfront.

To show some support to this great initiative, why not give them a Like on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.  OR even better, add your face to their Imagine One Billion Faces for Peace campaign at www.iobffp.com.  Also check out their website for more info on ongoing happenings.

xxx

YOU fashion shoot and me!

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I’ve been absolutely dying to blab about this amazing opportunity I got a few weeks ago to be part of a mini fashion spread for YOU magazine.  Yes, me!

Now in my house it’s actually referred to as Huisgenoot and one thing’s for sure, once you’ve made it into Huisgenoot, you’ve like made it in life. ;)   One step better could possibly be to have your wedding or family skandaal featured in it… hehe.

Me with Chu. Love this man!!! Seriously, he is the sweetest, loveliest person you’ll ever meet. AND he loves fashion. What more could you ask for?

Lovely Janine from Being Brazen hooked myself, Leigh from Lipgloss Is My Life, Clouds from And Lollipops, Kumari from StyleSociety and Carlinn from SuperficialGirls up with a chance to work witih a man who oozes style & all things fashionable, Chu Suwannapha.  Chu actually used to work for Fairlady magazine, but he’s recently decided to join the YOU family and I’m sure he’s going to shake things up in a very good way.  His first fashion feature was to take a humble grey T shirt & show you how to rock it in 5 different ways.  He decided to use us blogger ladies to play model for the day.  Yup, pro make-up, great fashion, lights, camera & action – that was all going to be for us.  Very very cool indeed.

Now 5 great looks don’t just come from nothing people, you gotta have lots and lots of options, paired with a mountain of accessories and shoes (glorious shoes!)… and that we certainly had:

But here is the true star of the show, the grey T from Trenery (R347) – I actually really liked that it had a cool white back, made it more than just your average T shirt:

The rest of my look consisted of a very cute & girly pink belted skirt from Rt at Mr Price (R89.99), a poloneck by Kelso at Edgars (R169.95) and a nude slingbag also from Mr Price (R69.99):

Oh and then let’s not forget the shoes, probably my favourite part of the look:

Boom! These beauties are from Rage and will cost you R309.

But before we got suited up (so to speak), we had to be made be-a-uti-full.  Make up artist (and I mean artist – this lady works wonders) Algria was there to put our faces on and I loved the final result:

Very fresh & natural, but with a little extra oomph.

Chu was up next to work his magic…

And then we were ready to roll.  In-house photographer Megan Miller made me feel totally at ease.  I’m really not that comfortable in front of the camera, but she made sure I had a lot of fun.

And now for the final result… drum roll please… oh by the way, this hit the shelves yesterday, so you can buy it already, just sayin’… it’s the 30 Aug edition…

Ta da! You have to flip to page 38. Not sure if it would be on the same page in Huisgenoot as well… must still check that.

So ja, that’s my little moment of fame.  A huge thanks to Chu, Algria & Megan for making me look fabulous daaahlings.  And also to YOU magazine for a fantastic experience.  Oh and then this one’s for my mom:  Kyk ma, ek is in Huisgenoot!!!  :)

xxx

I gave the new Mr Price Online store a bit of a test drive

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So after my traumatising Forever21 experience which I told you guys about yesterday… I needed something to fill that gaping hole in my heart. ;)   Luckily for me, the people at Mr P launched a rocking new Mr Price online store!

I was immediately impressed with the site look, feel, layout & navigation.  You can see these folks did their homework pretty damn well.  The site is easy to use, everything is organised really well and in my opinion it’s pretty much the SA equivalent of the Forever21 site.  Thus I automatically loved it…

Now I’ve had very hit or miss moments with Mr P in the past.  They have some really cute shoes and undies at times, but I haven’t been too lucky with their clothing.  BUT, I’m forever running into people at parties and such wearing something amazing and then when I ask where they got it they’d say (to my surprise and annoyance) – Mr Price!  I just thought “aaarrgggh, why can’t I ever find these gems???”  I guess it just boils down to the fact that I’m not a very patient shopper.  I hate having to work my way through rails and rails of things until I find that one item I love… I want to go in, make the kill and move on to the next store.  :)   Oh and then I also hate rediculously long queues, something you unfortunately get at Mr P stores all the time. 

This new online store opened up a whole new Mr P world to me.  I can now browse things from my comfy couch and quickly elimitate things I don’t like.  Also delivery to your doorstep only costs you R35 and if you’re not happy with anything you can just take it back to your nearest store or pop it back in the post (however then you have to pay the cost of postage).

For my first order, I will admit, I went a bit outside of my comfort zone fashion wise.  I wanted to try a few different things, take some risks, etc.  This is what I got:

My package arrived only 2 days later (very impressive – they say it normally takes 1 – 3 working days):

Ta da! Love it… just like Xmas morning…

Cut & sizing wise, the blazer, pants & shoes didn’t quite work.  But I did love the cute leopard undies & chunky statement necklace.  So ja, not a great hit rate on my first order.  But I wasn’t too fussed.  This was still a nice trial run and I can only improve from here, right?

I popped into a Mr P store that weekend to return the items I didn’t love and it was easy peasy, no questions asked.  I will be giving the online store another bash for sure.  I’m determined to become on of those people who in response to a compliment can say “I know right.  I got it from Mr P and it cost me practically nothing!” :)

xxx

Our Forever21 customs nightmare

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Since January this year, my friend Leigh and I have been totally obsessed with buying from US based fashion store Forever21.  I told you guys about my first purchase back on 20 Jan over here and then did another follow up post after our first order arrived over here.  We were so thrilled with the fact that we were getting on-trend items at crazy good prices and without having to sacrifice too much on quality…  this was just too good for words…

Since then we’ve had a string of successful purchases and every time we were lucky enough that it just arrived, about a week later, to our doorsteps, without any questions asked.  There was once we had to pay a very small customs charge, but it was still super cheap.  We thought we had struck gold and that we would never have to set foot in an actual store again! (OK, that’s a total lie – shopaholics need regular fixes, but at least we’d need to shop in-store a little less)

But our most recent order sadly crushed all that happiness, kinda like that moment when your triple scoop ice cream topples over and falls to the ground. :(

I first picked up that something was different when I got an email from courier company Globeflight informing me that our parcel should be arriving soon.  Firstly we had already been waiting much longer than usual and then all our other orders had been coming through via DHL, so I wasn’t sure how Globeflight had now gotten involved with this specific shipment.

A week later they emailed me again, informing me that our parcel needed to go through customs clearance.  I figured, oh well, we always mentally prepared ourselves that this was a risk associated to buying from overseas sites, so this was a bummer, but just one of those things really.  I just wanted to pay it and get it over and done with.  BUT unfortunately it wasn’t going to be that simple.  First Globeflight said that the invoice Forever21 attached to the shipment was incorrect.  I sent them my invoice infomation along with our PayPal payment confirmation, but they said that this wasn’t good enough.  They needed to source it from Forever21 directly, an excercise which ended up taking quite some time.  Then they said that customs now wanted to check our stuff to make sure it’s not counterfeit goods.  Why would it be counterfeit all of a sudden?  It’s from a reputable store and you’ve been able to source the correct invoice info & proof of payment?  Anyways, I just had to go with the flow it seemed.  Yet more time passed…

Eventually after weeks of waiting and following up daily (otherwise I wouldn’t hear anything), Globeflight said they could send me the invoice of what we needed to pay for the customs and then as soon as they’d received confirmation of payment, we could get our stuff.  Yay finally! (or so I thought)

Now before I show you the invoice – I want to note a few things:

  • The rand value of the clothing was about R2280.
  • We had also already paid $78 on Forever21 for international priority shipping
  • Customs on clothing & accessories is supposed to range from 30 – 45%, then they also charge you another 10% as an import fee + VAT.  This is the part I was expecting…

This is what I received:

The R1390.96 amount I was OK with.  One thing to note though is that they take the value of the item, then add the 30 – 45% plus the 10% and then they charge VAT on that new total amt (not on the original amt).  So it works out a little more than you expect.

BUT – it was the other charges adding up to R1372.06 (incl VAT) that had me totally confused.  I mean, what the hell was all that about!?!  R450 for as a documentation fee!?!  The worst part was when I queried it I was told that if I didn’t pay asap, they would start charging me for storage.  So wait, it took you over 3 weeks to get to this point and now you also want to start charging me for storage!?!  Aaarrgggghhh.  Our stuff was being held hostage.

We considered telling them to destroy the clothes, we didn’t know whether we actually even wanted it anymore… but in the end we decided to just pay up to finally bring an end this horrible experience.

I now feel like even though I thought I had wrapped my head around the whole customs thing and I was well prepared, I still got totally blindsided with regards to all the other stuff.  For me personally, I don’t think I’ll be buying abroad again anytime soon.  But hey, we had a good run at least.

I wanted to share this with you guys just as something to keep in mind if you’re currently considering making any purchases yourselves.  You might get lucky like we did at first, but then again you might also hit this level of poo which will leave you hating your purchase forever and ever. ;)   So just be mindful really.  Prepare yourselves for the worst, and then some more… and maybe a little bit more than that… then I think you’ll be OK.

xxx