I always thought of Thomas Sabo as the higher-end expression of alternative jewellery; the stuff you wear when you grow up a little bit, you know what I mean? Founded in Germany in 1984, Thomas Sabo has in the years since expanded worldwide and brings a rock 'n' roll attitude wherever they go. 

One of my lucky readers has the chance to win some beautiful Thomas Sabo items. This precious jewellery is worth R5000 and it's a little bit boho and a lot chic. It's 100% subtle enough to wear on the daily. I chose a bracelet and necklace from the Riviera Colours Collection which feature round turquoise pendants on sterling silver chains, with the bracelet comprising dazzling zirconias.

If you'd like to be the winner, here's how:

• Tag a friend on any of my Thomas Sabo posts on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter - your choice!
• Each different tag counts as one entry so you can enter multiple times. 

This competition will run for a week and is only open to South African residents. The winner will be notified via DM and announced on my Insta Story.


Good Luck!

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2014 is coming to a close and what better way to kick off the new year than with your very own HTC One (M8)? Yep, that's right, the generous folks over at HTC are giving away a brand new sexy smartphone to one of my lucky readers! As you know, I've been addicted to the HTC One (M8) ever since I laid my hands on it. Crafted from a single block of metal, it's the only smartphone that's never crashed or frozen on me. Besides performing perfectly, its amazing battery life has made my life so much easier.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
The winner of the giveaway will be drawn randomly and announced next Wednesday. Please note that this competition is only open to South African residents. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A few months ago I did a photoshoot with Ruby as a Modern Day Witch and I absolutely love the result! Now Ruby is giving my readers a chance to win some of the jewellery I was wearing. There are 3 x silver dipped Spirit Quartz crystals and 3 pairs of Black Cleopatra earrings up for grabs so 3 lucky ladies will win both of these beautiful pieces.

How to enter: You know the drill, just use the Rafflecopter widget below. As always, multiple actions will give you more entries!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
This competition closes on 3 September. If you'd like to see more images from Ruby's shoot, be sure to keep an eye on Ruby's Facebook page.

I've been going to fashion week for a few years now and it's always a blast checking out the new collections and hanging with the fashion crowd. This year Mercedes Benz is offering one SA Fashion Girl reader the chance to win VIP tickets for you and a partner to the opening night of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Cape Town! 

The prize: Two VIP tickets to the first night of Fashion Week on the 24th of July at the Cape Town International Convention Centre where you'll be seeing collections from Lara Klawikowski, Spilt Milk, Gavin Rajah, Stefania Morland, W35t and Shana. Between shows you'll be hanging out in the VIP lounge where they serve drinks and snacks.

Sound like a great night out? Well, all you have to do to enter is get your selfie on! Snap a pic of yourself using the hashtag #MBFWCTselfie. If you're tweeting the pic, tag @safashiongirl and @MB_FashionSA in your entry. If you're instagramming it, tag @safashiongirl and @MBfashionweekSA. That's it!

Entries close late Sunday evening on the 20th of July and the winner will be notified first thing on Monday morning. As long as you can get to the venue, you can enter. What are you waiting for? Let me see those selfies!

Winter might bring the chill but it doesn't mean that style has to take a backseat. One of my favourite fashion hacks is to put on a big pair of sunnies and a slick of red lipstick - it pulls any look together and hides tired eyes.

I’m taking part in the Sunglass Hut Blogger Style Challenge, along with three other top SA fashion bloggers, to style the most-loved winter look featuring a pair of sunglasses from Sunglass Hut. The best part though, is that if you guys pick which look you love, you could win one of four Sunglass Hut gift cards valued at R1000 each! 

To enter, head to Sunglass Hut’s blog, the Inner Circle and choose the look you dig by commenting on the post. For an extra entry, follow @SunglassHutSA and tweet #ShadesOfWinter with a link to the competition. 

Give a gal and her Prada shades some love will ya? ;)

Rings & Things is a local online fashion and jewellery store created by designer, Erika Fourie. They sell a plethora of precious items with aesthetics ranging from delicate and quirky to edgy and bulky, so you can be sure to find something that matches your personality. 

I'm doing a giveaway with Rings & Things so one lucky reader will win the awesome hamper pictured above, all you have to do is enter on the Rafflecopter widget below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway The more places you follow, the more entries you get for the draw so start clicking!

This giveaway is open to South Africans only and closes on the 20th of June. Keep up to date with Rings & Things by following them on Twitter.

I'm sure you're all familiar with Ruby, the lingerie and accessories brand that believes in feeling good, looking good and doing good. I really dig their campaigns because not only are they aesthetically beautiful and creative but they also have a message. Ruby's latest "Count Fracula" campaign, shot by Gavin Goodman, raises awareness about fracking in the Karoo. To find out more about fracking in South Africa, you can visit treasurethekaroo.co.za 

I'm so happy to be working with such a special brand. Ruby is giving my readers the chance to win some fantastic prizes. They have 3 lingerie hampers to give away to the value of R1000 each so that means that 3 lucky ladies will walk away with their very own package of gorgeous intimates. 

All entrants have to do is:

Like Ruby on Facebook or follow Ruby on Twitter using the Rafflecopter widget below. If you do both, your chances of being picked for the draw are doubled.
a Rafflecopter giveaway Extra entries are earned the more networks you follow so you can double your chances of being picked in the draw by following Ruby on Instagram and favoriting Ruby's Etsy shop. 

This giveaway is worldwide and closes on the 5th of June. Good luck!

It's my birthday month and I want to share the love by giving away my favourite kind of gift, jewellery. First up, I've partnered with the charming Yellow Jewellery who want to give a lucky reader this beautiful crystal bullet necklace. 

"Yellow is an experiment that fuses things of old function with art, creating from the already made and changing the function. The aim is to create a physical representation of an idea that is wearable. It's an experiment to stimulate curiosity, a concept turned into a fully functional piece of art. The medium is the message and it is called yellow."

Here's how to win:

• Like on Yellow Jewellery on Facebook

• Comment on this post with your name and email address 

• Facebook or Tweet me with your name and email.

I recently listened to Tiny Fey reading Bossypants on audiobook which is really awesome. Anyway, I got to a chapter where she discusses the 'myth of not enough'. She says her career advice to women is, "People are going to try to trick you, to make you feel that you are in competition with one another. Don't be fooled, you're in competition with everyone". Gender-based competition might seem completely logical at first so we've applied it to everything. Who's earning the most money? Who's got the hottest body? Who's going on the best vacations? Who got engaged first? Whose baby is gifted? Just imagine adding men into the mix. The idea of some guy loving his awesome job and genius baby doesn't spur up jealousy within me. I just think, wow that's great Joe, now you can buy us a round of drinks and tell us all about it...maybe leave the baby at home though. Why can't we feel the same way about women? Is it because we think her engagement ring is going to outshine ours? Is her hot body going to make us reconsider a donut? Lol nice try but you'll have to rip these carbs from my cold, dead hands.

Why don't we put men on the same level that we put other women? I mean, the only competition heterosexual males won't partake in is trying to score a great boyfriend so why discount them? You may say that women care about different things but are those things really that important if only half of the population is trying to attain them? Sure there are some industries rife with women, fashion being a prime example, but work is work. Last month I styled a shoot with a straight guy so honestly, it's not like one field is completely barren. There are male millionaires who've made bank from female industries by selling us creams to shrink our pores so we can say, what? Hey bitch, my pores are invisible, eat your heart out cool girl from high school! 

Despite my rant on equal opportunity competing, I actually don't like any of it, or rather what it has become: a passive-aggressive battleground. Regardless of gender, do you want to spend your life trying to prove your worth to people who just want to beat you? I've seen what competition has done to people and I know how it's made me feel so I'm not all that excited about it. I've heard arguments about competition being healthy and motivating but I don't buy it if opponents are prone to bitchfests, jealousy and schadenfreude. Have you ever been too scared to mention an accomplishment for fear that you'll sound like you're bragging? I think it's underpinned by the idea that an accomplishment puts a target on your back and that's because to some people your success erroneously computes as less success for them. Yep, good luck winning and having everyone be genuinely happy and supportive about it. I used to be one of the women who almost had it right, I'd be like a pinball bouncing between being happy for someone and feeling like I needed to catch up. The day that I decided to stop competing, my head wasn't clouded anymore and I got more shit done.

Now I don't agree with the school of thinking that everyone deserves a medal for being a special snowflake but I don't see competition as a healthy motivator for me, not in it's current state. I think motivation should come from within. Even channeling negative talk from others is a healthy motivator but it shouldn't be about proving someone wrong, it needs to be about proving yourself right. If you're focused on external motivators, you might just end up succeeding at something you didn't even care for because everyone else thought it was the bees knees. I used to do what everyone else was doing and when I got to the finish line I thought, shit. I NEVER wanted to do what everyone else was doing, where the hell did I go wrong? 

So I just don't understand it anymore. First of all, we all want different things and second of all, it just reminds me of soccer. Sure, some team wins the Champions League this year and then next year they don't...what the hell is all the fuss about when it's a lifetime of trading places? I feel like, the only people who thrive on competition have this persistent idea that they're usually going to win and when I say thrive, I mean THRIVE like the girl in Super Fun Night who crashes Kim's karaoke party. That kind of attitude strikes me as wanting to take something so someone else can't have it, and that's a toxic and ultimately unfulfilling way to live.

If everyone gets knocked off the throne, we shouldn't have an issue letting people enjoy their moment and we shouldn't be scared to be happy for ourselves. I cannot tell you the amount of awesome things I've never whispered a word about because I thought I'd get some trivializing response that would just make me feel like an idiot. As long as we don't frantically scramble to step over people to win, I suppose competing is just the way of the world. Most times though, I just feel like everyone is so swept up in the game that they forget to see their own prize, just sitting there, waiting patiently for them to come and get it.

• Follow @UrbanSelfie on Twitter

• Go to an Urban store, find an item of clothing you like

• Try it on and tweet a selfie of you wearing it to @UrbanSelfie and hashtag it #UrbanSelfie  

• Make sure it represents the Urban brand -  make it simple, stylish and sensual

• Urban will reply and confirm that your selfie is stylish, simple or sensual. That gets you a R100 discount – show Urban's tweet to the cashier at the till

• If Urban thinks that your selfie very stylish, simple AND sensual, you will be rewarded even more

• Urban will also give away a R5000 to R10 000 wardrobe a day to their favourite selfie that has got the most retweets

• All selfies will be posted to Urban’s Facebook page. The selfie with the most likes at the end of the campaign wins a modeling contract with Urban

• The most popular selfie at the end of the campaign wins a trip to New York or London

Terms & Conditions:

-R100 vouchers can only be redeemed on purchases over R199. R200 voucher can only be redeemed on purchases over R299. R300 vouchers can only be redeemed  on purchase over R399

-Urban’s decision on vouchers and winners is final

-Winners of the main prizes will be announced after the promotion ends on 15 December 

- Daily prizes of R5000 or R10000 will be announced the following day (depending a on how busy they were) for the selfie with the most likes each day. 

- 100 vouchers will be given out per store per day. If a store reaches their daily limit, they will announce on twitter that store is not giving out any more that day

- Each selfie will be assessed as to whether they get a 100/200/300 rand voucher and will be tweeted back to let winners know 

That's it! Go out there and get your selfie on!