WIN: 1 Year Blogiversary Giveaway!

WIN: 1 Year Blogiversary Giveaway!

Tuesday, 12 July 2016

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When I started blogging, about 13 months ago, I was living in Strasbourg, France. I was only working 12 hours a week, had more free time than I knew what to do with and needed something to keep my brain whirring whilst I was on a year off from university. I never thought I’d stick it out and I didn’t think that I’d enjoy it so much AND make so many amazing friends and connections through doing it!

I thought that since all you lovely people out there have been so supportive, kind and welcoming to me over the course of the last year that I’d do a little giveaway to say thanks for everything! It is. unfortunately, only a little one as a) I’m a poor student and b) I have bills and rent to pay but I do think there are some lovely little goodies in there so there’s absolutely no harm in trying to win!

So, with all of that in mind, here’s what you can win!

Soap and Glory The Righteous Butter

St Moriz Medium Fake Tan with accompanying Velvet Touch fake tan mitt!

2 Little Ciate Nail Polishes

A Mini Benefit Eyeliner

4 little rolls of Washi Tape (cause who doesn’t love stationery and washi tape?)

2 Korean Moisturising Facemasks

A freeman charcoal face mask

A Nanokeratin Replenish Colour Preserving Mask

Delarom Paris Acquaconfort Cream

Beauty Protector Beauty Cream

Parlor Smoothing Blow Out Spray

Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream

A teensy tiny Bioderma Micellar Water

Plus, the ever lovely Victoria Walters had kindly allowed me to stick a copy of her book, The Second Love of My Life in with my little giveaway. I wouldn’t be a book blogger if I didn’t include a book in there somewhere, would I? You can check out my review of the book here, if you want to have a little looksee at what it’s all about!

To enter, simply fill in the information below on the rafflecopter. There’s an extra opportunity to win here on my twitter page (@holinwanderlust) as well!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck! Entries close on 12^th August 2016. I will check to make sure the winner is following me on the places they claimed, so make sure you’re not following and quickly unfollowing! I will choose ONE winner at random and I cannot be held responsible for any damage done in transit. UK entrants only unfortunately.

Thanks again to everyone for the support over the last year.

Book Review: Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

Book Review: Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

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Before I start this review, I firstly want to thank the team at Penguin UK Michael Joseph team for the auto-approval on NetGalley. I was absolutely over the moon when I got the email through letting me know and I’ve definitely taken full advantage of this amazing privilege. The first book that I chose to download was yet another psychological thriller – Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan and I’m pleased to say that this choice was an absolutely amazing one for me. I was pretty surprised to read that this had got some pretty negative reviews on Goodreads so hopefully, my feedback on it will rectify that situation a little bit! I was very surprised to discover that this is a debut novel from Helen Callaghan as it has all the signs of an established writer.

The audience is introduced to Margot Lewis, the first person protagonist of the novel. Margot is an agony aunt writer for the Cambridge local newspaper. She receives a letter which is out of the ordinary, from a woman claiming to be someone named Bethan Avery- the same Bethan Avery who is presumed dead, having gone missing in 1998, years prior to the novel’s present day. At the same time, a local girl, Katie, has also vanished without a trace and the signs imply that the same perpetrator is responsible for the two crimes. Margot continues to receive letters from Bethan over the course of the novel and works alongside a criminal investigative team to uncover what truly happened to her, in the hope that it will lead them to Katie.

The book has a lot of different twists and turns, all of which contributed to in being a very interesting read. I enjoyed the relationship between Margot and her love interest (who I won’t divulge the name of, for obvious reasons!) although it could be said that it was a little bit cliché (but who doesn’t love a bit of cheese!!) Callaghan’s style of writing is nothing short of fantastic- her metaphors leave nothing to the imagination and she really is a credit to the genre. The book was definitely well researched and everything seemed to come together – I didn’t have any unanswered questions at the end, which for me is a big thing as there’s honestly nothing worse than a massive plot hole as far as I’m concerned. I enjoyed how the novel started off as being mysterious but eventually becomes the dark and intense tale that you expect from a psychological thriller.

It is pretty difficult to go into a lot of detail about this one without spoiling the major twist, but it’s worth it. I kind of had an inkling that it would be somewhere along the lines in which it went, but that isn’t to say that it was a predictable read. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Helen’s going to offer in the coming years and I’ll definitely be passing this one onto friends and family when I can!

4.5/5

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Beauty: Treatwell Summer in the City Promotion #TreatwellSummer

Beauty: Treatwell Summer in the City Promotion #TreatwellSummer

Sunday, 10 July 2016

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A few months back, I did a little collaboration with the Treatwell team and went to a fab event at Voodou on Bold Street, Liverpool. I had an absolute ball and have tried out a fair few of their treatments since then, taking full advantage of the money off and gift vouchers that were included in our amazing goodie bags!

At the start of this week, I received an email off the lovely team at Treatwell inviting me to be a part of promoting one of their latest (and fabulous!) promotions, the Treatwell Summer in the City event! The event starts Tuesday 12^th July and lasts until Wednesday 13^th, so be sure to get in on and the act and benefit from this bargain of an offer! So what’s the deal?

A good one, that’s what I’d say. You can choose from two treatments, a manicure for £10 or else a blow dry for £15. The promotion will go on in quite a few different cities: London, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow in designated salons so if you live nearby, have a little looksee at whether someone near to you is in on the deal. As far as Liverpool is concerned, a fair few salons have confirmed their involvement, including Vogue Hair and Beauty, Prado Hair, Skin and Body, A.R.A Aesthetics Group and Image Hair Salon.

I was lucky enough to be invited along to try out one of the treatments. I got myself booked in for a blow dry as I’m planning on getting a shellac manicure done, so didn’t want to have to take off a lovely coat of polish in a few days! I had my treatment done at Voodou on Bold Street and I have to say now: I absolutely love the vibe of this salon. It’s super stylish, super quirky and the staff are on another level of skilled.

Louise, my stylist, was absolutely phenomenal. I swear, this woman is a working wonder woman. I feel like this post is going to be a bit of a shrine to her by the end of it, but if you’re local to Liverpool and into hair and beauty, go and check her out at the salon. She has her own range of products called The Hippy Club (which includes hair extensions and dry shampoo amongst a number of things!). All of the staff at Voodou are super welcoming and I was offered a variety of different drinks immediately which I thought was amazing customer service. Louise washed my hair with Redken shampoo and conditioner, which not only smells amazing but also left my hair feeling silky smooth, which is amazing considering that my hair is normally ridiculously coarse, tangled and incredibly hard to handle. She also massaged in a conditioning treatment which is there to lock much needed protein into the hair strands and repair any damaged follicles. She sprayed my hair with Frizz Dismiss before blow drying which I’m definitely going to invest in at some point as it seems like it could be an absolute lifesaver! My hair feels like it’s been dipped in silk now, hours later and I’m even strongly considering booking in for my graduation hair-do!

Please do bear in mind that this offer is only available to people who have extension-less, shorter than elbow length hair and bookings MUST be made online to be valid. If you decide to go with a manicure, make sure you take any existing polish off your nails beforehand to allow for an easier application. The offer is quite limited in availability so get on this quickly to avoid disappointment. If you hashtag #TreatwellSummer on twitter or Instagram after you’ve had your treatment then you’re in with the chance of winning a £25 gift card for future treatments. There are 10 of these up for grabs!

Sound appealing? Check out the offer page for more information! I personally absolutely rave about Treatwell and what they do, there’re always amazing offers available to get the best treatments for the best prices and it’s so convenient and easy to use.   

Enjoy your Summer in the City!