Friday 30 May 2014

Save The Blow Dry


The lovely people from Save The Blow Dry sent me a sample of their shower caps a few months ago and I wanted to make sure that I had thoroughly tested it out before posting!

Ingeniously I have managed to leave both the cap and photos I had taken for this post back in my University town so for now you will have to take my word for how amazing this product is!

What the cap does:

KEEPS HAIR DRY
I am sure many a girl has faced the dilema of whether to shower and not wash their hair or just simply omit showering all together so as to not mess up the oh so temperamental wash cycle. With save the blow dry you don't need to worry about this as it managed to keep my hair bone dry all 15 times I have used it so far!

FRIZZ FREE
Not only does it keep hair dry but unlike many shower caps I have tried it actually kept my hair frizz free too! And for someone with naturally curly and out of control hair this is a definite must!

COVERS ALL THE HAIR
Again a definite bonus to this hair cap is that it comfortably managed to encompass all of my medium length hair without any ninja style manoeuvring to get it to do so. And lets face it who has time to bother with that before a 9am lecture!

GREAT FOR TREATMENTS
Having curly hair also means that my hair dries out really easily and this cap can be turned inside out in order to improve the effect of nourishing treatments. WIN.

If you fancy trying out the Save the Blow Dry for yourself then you can purchase it from here for £14.99. They come in lovely colours of pink and turquoise!


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Wednesday 28 May 2014

The Wanderer Has Returned

I feel like I have been forever living out of a suitcase these past few months what with my Field Trip and commuting back and forth for my third semester of second year (seriously where has the time gone?!) but I am now finally home for a nice 4 month long summer, bar a 2 week trip away for some work experience and despite the fact I am returning to my retail job for the summer it is sooooo nice to be settled for a bit and not travelling back and forth to see my boyfriend and family and there is plenty of scope for spontaneous outings.

These past few weeks I have been mostly camping out in the Library doing my best to try and get as many points in my second year exams to give me the chance to hit the ground running when I go back to university in September. Third year is worth 2/3 of my overall degree mark so it really is the biggy and if I am honest it is already freaking me out a little.

Despite being a really bad blogger during exams I have been reasonably good at keeping up to date over on my Instagram and here are my highlights!




We had a  reunion of our Spain trip and I drank more than I usually do but I still managed to be tucked up in bed by 11pm!




Revising on the train journey back to Bangor. I really wasn't feeling enthusiastic about going back... well the thought of looming deadlines and exams is enough to put anyone off but my wonderful mum drove me to Chester station and got me a Costa hot chocolate, with marshmallows and suddenly my journey seemed a lot less daunting. Mums are the best.




I don't know if it is just me but around exam season I find that I do get a little stir crazy from spending all of my time in my room or at 'our' library table so one afternoon I took myself off to Cafe Nero for some serious chocolate cake and a change of work environment. It really is amazing how much my productivity was boosted by simply sitting somewhere else for a few hours.




Finally I decided that I needed a change of Filofax for the summer break and so I moved into my Crimson Malden. Initially I had bought it with the view of selling it on but I really struggled to part with it and as soon as I moved in it was clear why. I think I finally have planner peace! I am waiting for a few bits from etsy and then I will be doing a full set up tour!

Today is my first shift back at my retail job, so please do keep your fingers crossed for me!

I am planning a series of posts to help people prepare themselves for going to University so I would love to hear your input if you have any ideas of what you would like to see?

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Wednesday 14 May 2014

BOOK REVIEW: Dancing in the Dark by Maureen Lee


Maureen Lee has long been one of my favourite authors, ever since I got into reading my Nan had been given me her copies of books from local authors who write about the Liverpool area. I am fascinated with the pressures society used to place on women and what life used to be like in the area I was growing up in. So when I was in need of a new book to read and spotted this in my local supermarket for a mere £1 and I thought it was worth a go. 

I am pleased to say that I wasn't disappointed and I found myself unable to put the book down and I was sneaking in chapters as often as I could. 

Amazon has a rather brief description of the book which is 

"Millie Cameron is not at all pleased when she finds herself obliged to sort through the belongings of her aunt Flo, who recently died. She hardly knew her aunt and besides, she has her own career to think about. But when she arrives at Flo's basement flat, Millie's interest is awakened.
As she sorts through her aunt's collection of photographs, letters and newspaper cuttings she finds herself embarking on a journey - a journey to a past which includes a lost lover and a secret child.
Picking through the tangled web of Flo's life, Millie makes the startling discovery that all the threads lead to herself . . . "

For me, the book was about Millie discovering herself by finding out about the life of her Aunt Flo who until her death she had only encountered once at a funeral. Millie is of a similar age to me and so some of the things that she is trying to figure out about herself were quite similar to what I have found myself going through in my early twenties and it was quite comforting to know that I was not alone in some of the doubts I had been having. I can't really say too much more without revealing a big twist that happens in the book but I highly recommend that you pick up a copy if you come across one.

In fact any Maureen Lee book comes highly recomended by me, I have yet to read one of her books that I did not enjoy!

What have you been reading lately? I have a 4 month summer soon so plan on doing plenty of reading!

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Wednesday 7 May 2014

Places I have been... Barcelona (The Summer Edition)

Apologies for being a really bad blogger lately, long days in the library have resulted in me coming home and curling up in a ball with hot chocolate and netflix, and that isn't exactly blog worthy! 

I'm still working on the 3rd installation of my Andalucian Adventures but I thought that I would share with you some of the other places that I have travelled to!

I took a gap year before coming to university and although looking back I didn't do as much travelling as I could have done I still managed to squeeze in some pretty awesome places! First stop Barcelona in July! 


This isn't the main Plaza de Catalunya of Barcelona, however it was the main square in the gothic quarter where me and my best friend stayed for the duration of our trip... If anyone visits Barcelona and doesn't take a trip to the gothic quarter then they are seriously missing out, it is such a stunning area and it is filled with more authentic shops and restaurants than you find on the main tourist tracks. As my Spanish teacher used to say... Eat where the locals do. 


Which is exactly what we did when we stumbled into this cute little restaurant above (although I'm not sure quite how authentic the hotdog is!) 


I think it may be impossible for me to visit a new city and not check out their Zoo! Barcelona's offerings were surpassed my expectations (and that's coming from a girl who lives up the road from the infamous Chester Zoo). It was really cool to be able to see a Tiger properly like this, but don't worry he did have plenty of places to hide in his enclosure, he was just choosing to sunbathe in quite a prominent position!


Perhaps not the most traditional picture of Park Guell but it was one of my favourites, I loved the detailing on the Lizard's hand! Despite managing to get immensely lost on the way, Park Guell was perhaps one of my favourite places I visited whilst in Barcelona- there is something to be said for sitting in the shade, reading your book whilst people watching with your best friend. 


I don't know about you but I think that this Starbucks in the Maremagnum shopping centre quite possibly has THE best view of all Starbucks?! (well at least the ones I have been to) and Maremagnum itself is pretty awesome, for those of you who have never been to Barcelona- it is basically a shopping centre which is built on the sea.... ON THE SEA. Plus it has all of my favourite Spanish shops in it, ALL of which were currently having a sale when I visited #winning. 


We took the funicular (you have no idea how long it took me to learn to say that word!) and a cable car up to Sala Montjuic for an open air film festival and this was the view from the cable car :) 


A jazz band played before the film started (10pm!!!) and lots of the local's had come prepared with picnics and warm clothing. Me and my friend managed to neglect the fact that it might be a tad cold up in the mountains at 10pm at night and so spent a lot of the film huddled up under our picnic blanket but nonetheless it was one of the best experiences that I have ever had. You can hire deck chairs for a small fee and should you find yourself there I definitely recommend doing so!


I mentioned in my 8 nerdy facts that I had been to the Mammoth Museum in Barcelona and being the Zoology geek I am it was definitely a good way to kill a few hours whilst the rest of Barcelona was on Siesta! For anyone who is heading to Barcelona soon the website of the museum can be found here

Has anyone else been to Barcelona? Didn't you just love it?