Come Monday, you’ll generally find me slothing it up on the couch, mowing my way through a bag of Woolies’ Cassava chips. (At only around 1200 kJ per bag, I could eat them while riding my exercise bike and it would be like it never happened…) This Monday, however, my date Karisa and I ‘went big’ at The Grand on the beach, living it up with pizza and Pongraz to celebrate the third issue of Shine/Skitter magazine; Media24’s annual ode to all things blingy and bright. (You’ll find it bound together with the December issues of Fairlady, SARIE and True Love magazine).

This year Shine’s highlights include an exclusive interview with Dior spokesgoddess Charlize Theron, a feature on the homegrown creatives who entered the PlatAfrica platinum jewellery design competition as well as competitions that you can enter, the prizes tallying up to a whopping R73k.

Anyhoo… after stressing our asses off to find a tres chic outfit that could work on a sandy beach and then prevent hypothermia after dark, Karisa and I arrived in time to watch the sun go down on Granger bay.

After a welcome speech from Media 24’s ad sales queen Yvonne Schaff, Fairlady ed Suzy Brokensha took the mic. Chica’s always been fab with speeches and, in a nutshell, said that while she realises Shine is a very ‘aspirational’ publication (especially when consider how un-fun our economy is at the mo), it’s important to still celebrate beautiful, fantastical things. In fact, it’s even more important when times are tough because it helps foster a sense of optimism while giving people an indulgent means of escape. (Of course, being a diehard diva, I agree with her completely. Should I have been born in the wartime, I’d totes have been one of those vroumens who helped rev up that lippie index*.)

Next, super-tall models began schmingling through the crowd, showing off their beautiful bling. Remember Candice from MAC’s Tartan Tale launch?

And over here we’ve got Stellies student Wilma Greyling (left) and one of the models (right).  

Wanna get a closer look?

Celeb-wise, peeps on the scene included soccer hottie Ryan Botha who ducked early to get to an acting class and Jo-Ann Strauss who looked gorgeous in metallic blue INGLOT liquid liner:

Cricketer Herschelle Gibbs was also out and about rocking a big-ass plaster on one of his hands ‘cos it had made mad contact with a cricket ball that ‘split the webbing’. Ouch!

Being a nice, kind hearted young lass, I felt obliged to help them drink the pain away…

This is the kind of pic my dad’s gonna make me take down ‘cos its ‘not the kind of thing you want potential employers to see’ as they may suspect I’m  well on my way to developing full blown retrenchment-induced alcoholism the type to call in ‘sick’ when really, I’m recovering from blinding ‘Phuza Monday’  hangovers. ‘Why can’t you add a touch o’ class to your celeb whoring, like Karisa?’, he’ll say…

Anyway, hamming it up with empty champagne bottles** aside, here’s yet another reason why I was glad I peeled myself off the couch:

Now, for my final drop of ‘rubbing in how fab it was-ness’, I give unto thee the Shine/Skitter goodie bag:

Thank you Media 24 – this was a fantastically spoilicious evening.

Love, love

Leigh

*For those of you who don’t know (i.e. my little sis hasn’t read a book in her life; she’s more of a ‘people’s person’), the lipstick index is a theory that when times are tough, people are more likely to splash out on a small luxury, like a lipstick, as opposed to a buy something big like a car. This is ‘cos deep down, we know that making indulgent little morale-boosting purchases are important when it comes to helping us keep our chins up. 

**Dad, I SWEAR TO GOD we weren’t swigging from the bottle. (So kommon, ek weet, et weet…) In fact, that bubbly isn’t even open. We just nicked it off the bar and pretended to chug it down it ‘cos it was an super-expensive brand in a bottle as big as my torso and thought it would make a fun prop. Okay? Okay?! I love you lots and lots! X x x