On Friday 2nd my friends (Lucy and Millie) and I kicked off the New Year with a trip to my favourite winter city: Edinburgh. We had this planned since July and I was super excited since because I go to Edinburgh nearly every Christmas time, it's fantastic!

We set off on a two hour train journey on Friday morning. When we arrived we hit the shops straight away for a good look around. At this point I was showing the basics to my friends, they grasped the city's layout pretty quickly as we used Princes Street and George Street for our sales search.

We did some more shopping on Saturday, I got a new top from Topshop which is totally me and then a new purse in the Cath Kidston sale. Although I didn't buy much, I love both of my purchase.

On Saturday, a trip to Grass Market via the Castle and the Tartan Mill, had my us in the ultimate vintage shop called W. Armstrong & Son. This shop is much loved by my family and any of the people we ever bring with us on our trips to Edinburgh therefore I thought I'd show my friends. 

W. Armstrong & Son is the quirkiest, most interesting shop full to the top of vintage clobber. From wedding dresses to hip-hop 1960's patterns and everything in-between. It's so fascinating and almost a look on history as you walk from year to year of fashion railings. 

Along from W. Armstrong is a little café. This place is called Mary's Milk Bar and is near the top on Trip Advisor for café's in Edinburgh (Oh yes, I do my research), so I was so happy that it was open. Mary's Milk Bar is super adorable; made up of pastel pink tables, homemade chocolates, delicious ice cream flavours and a fantastic view of the castle, this place is perfection. My friends and I decided to go for a mid-afternoon hot chocolate - myself and Millie got Milk Chocolate, Orange and Cinnamon - which turned out to be one of my favourite ever hot chocolates. So good, I bought a packet (which was £9.50 for a 250g bag of infused chocolate shards, ready to melt and drink at home).

On our last evening, I introduced my friends to another family favourite. The Dome Bar and Restaurant attracts tourists all around the year - especially at Christmas. The place glows like a symphony of fairy lights with the extra added smell of pine and cinnamon... it's Christmas haven! The decorations are so vast that they have to close for a day in order to take them down. 

Lastly, our meals throughout the trip were from La Tasca and Jamie's Italian. I thought I'd book two different cuisines, both of which were de-lic-ious! La Tasca is an all time favourite of mine and I'm (not so secretly) a huge fan of Jamie Oliver. We also visited Tiger Lily which is another bar that's pretty posh. The decorations were lovely, so suave. 

Despite Christmas being over, hanging on to the festivities came easily as Edinburgh glistened the last sparkle of fairy lights. If you're planning on going to Edinburgh then I'd recommend the Chirstmas season.

On Saturday we went Ice Skating at St. Andrews Square which was an oval shaped rink around the monument. I uploaded a picture and a Time-Lapse to Instagram for you to check out. 

What city do you love at Christmas?

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As a Christmas present from my parents I got a curling wand. I asked for a wide wand because I really wanted to achieve big, soft curls. The wand that I got was the BaByliss Boutique one which is a large wand with 4 temperatures, perfect for longer hair. The picture above shows how I prefer to use this curling wand: just curling the ends of my hair for a gentle style.

The box contains the wand, a heat pad with storage pocket and a small heat protection glove. The current offer in Boots is fantastic, with £10.00 off, it is now £30. That price is fantastic because it's an universal item that supposedly has 5 years guarantee.

 I also really love the presentation of the product with the box being a chic pale pink/cream to match the soft, almost-rose-gold colour of the iron; it's quite a difficult colour to describe but all you need to know is that it is pretty. 

One of the features that I love is that the time it takes to heat up is very short which is great for days when I don't really have too much time. I have been mostly using 180ºC.

 I curl my hair around the wand, avoiding twisting in the process, then I'll leave it wrapped around for about 10 seconds. Once I've released it, I hold the curl in my gloved hand (making sure it's the gloved hand because the curl is still hot) for a few seconds to ensure the curl settles in shape. 

Lastly, my only difficulty with this product is that the curls will drop during the day and they definitely will be scarce the next day. I have very fine, long, fair hair so maybe I just don't have an ideal hair type therefore it's an opinion that may only apply to myself. I think I will try and find something that will keep these curls stronger for longer. 

What's your favourite hair styling equipment?

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