Edinburgh International Magic Festival Competition

Press Release

MagicFest Announces 7^th Magical Year Programme and Launches a New MagicFair at Summerhall

Seekers of wonder and amazement are invited to ‘lose themselves in magic’ this summer as the Edinburgh International Magic Festival celebrates its 7th magical year as the UK’s biggest festival of innovative and cutting-edge magic, 1^st – 8^th July.

Edinburgh will sparkle with an enchanting programme of world-class magic events, unforgettable performances, and jaw-dropping stunts from some of the greatest illusionists, mindreaders and accomplished magicians from around the world.

·         Three day MagicFair at Summerhall – a brand new multi-space experience with family events and late night sessions

·         Matinee performance added to MagicFest Gala at the Festival Theatre

·         Magic School, Secret Room and Magic à la Carte Dinner

·         Grand Prix World Magic Champion Hector Mancha joins MagicFest line-up

·         The legendary Juan Tamariz (‘El Maestro’) performs live for the first time in Scotland

·         Show premieres from Kevin Quantum, forensic mindreader Colin Cloud, BBC’s R. Paul Wilson, and debut performances at the Festival from Vincent Gambini and David Gerard

·         Korean magic company from the world’s only magic college, featuring the Asian Champion of Magic

• City centre Magic Hunt for children and adults, and FREE magic performances at Krispy Kreme stores in the run up to the Festival

Kevin Quantum, Artistic Director of MagicFest, commented… ‘This year we have arguably one of the greatest living legends in magic, Juan Tamariz, and one of the greatest up-and-coming stars, Hector Mancha, both featuring at the Festival. It’s our biggest line-up to date with the launch of MagicFair, free entry for under 7s, and the addition of a matinee performance at the Gala Show, allowing us to share magic and its top stars with more people than ever before. Watch out for surprises around the city too!’

Competition

To celebrate the launch of MagicFair Lates Edinburgh Bloggers is offering you a chance to win a pair of tickets to the Edinburgh International Magic Festival. The tickets will give you entry to Summerhall where you can see as many shows as you want, or just soak up the atmosphere and enjoy food and drinks and a few spontaneous magic performances in the courtyard.

To enter all you need to do is tweet us (@EdinburghBlogg) what magic power you would like and why using #EBMagic Alternatively you can enter via the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions

1. This competition is run by Edinburgh Bloggers in partnership with Lanyard Media
2. There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this competition
3. The Closing date for entry is Friday 17th June at 12am. After this date no further entries will be accepted
4. Edinburgh Bloggers reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition and these terms and conditions at any time. 
5. No cash alternative to the prizes will be offered. The prizes are non transferable
6. Winners will be chosen at random on Friday 17th June
7. Edinburgh Bloggers will contact winners by email as soon as possible
8. Lanyard Media will contact winners separately to arrange prize collection
9. Competition open to UK entries only
10. Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions

Bamboo Boutiques Competition - Elikes

So last month Edinburgh Bloggers put together our first competition association with Bamboo Boutiques! After following the instructions Emma Philbin from Elikes was chosen by prize draw!

Read Emma Blog post also available: http://elikes.co.uk/getting-my-beauty-on-with-bamboo-boutique/

I was recently lucky enough to win a competition with Edinburgh Bloggers and Bamboo Boutique in Edinburgh for some amazing beauty treatments at their salon. I rarely win anything, or actually go out and get beauty treatments, so when I got the email, you pretty much needed to scrape me off the ceiling! My prize included a shellac manicure, eyelash extensions, a hair cut and style, and a facial. I think the only treatment I'd actually had before was the haircut, so I was so excited to try the rest out!

I arrived at the salon bright and early at 10am, still a bit sleepy despite my coffee stop, and was greeted by the bright and bubbly staff at Bamboo Boutique. The lovely Donna took me down to the room where I'd be getting my facial, and got me to relax (something I don't often get the chance to do!). The whole downstairs area is so relaxing, and the room was so soothing. The thick covers on the beauty bed had me almost nodding off within minutes! I was offered tea and water, with the greatest care taken to ensure my comfort during my time there.

I was getting an Agera acid peel. Not going to lie, that put the absolute fear in me. I had visions of myself walking out with a bright red face like Samantha did on Sex and the City. It was nothing like that thank goodness! A layer of vitamin C solution is applied to the skin, and Donna used my reaction to this to guage how many layers of the acid peel I should have. I was told to guage the discomfort on a scale of 1 to 5. It was around a 2, so we proceeded with the acid peel. It was a mixture of 3 types of acid, which stung a bit more, but it wasn't too bad. I like to think that means it's working! The peel penetrates deep into the skin to draw out impurities, and is good for sun damage and acne scarring. After just 1 layer, my skin was the best it has ever been! I don't think I've ever had skin so smooth in all my life! Donna even put some Bare Minerals make up on me so I didn't have to go out with a naked face.

Once Donna had worked her magic, Callie came in to do my eyelash extensions. She let me choose the length and curl I wanted, opting for a medium length D curl with a few long lashes at the ends. Now I don't know how she did it since my eyes were closed, but I know that the end result was amazing! She put cooling gel pads under my eyes, and took great care and precision in applying the lashes. I've got a terrible habit of forgetting to put mascara on, and with these beauties, I could forget as much as I wanted because my lashes looked amazing! I'd never had my lashes done before, but Callie explained everything thoroughly and kept me relaxed. I got full aftercare information too, which was a big help!

Next it was back upstairs for the lovely Sharon to sprinkle a little glitter on me! Well, my nails anyway! Shellac is another thing I've never had, and I was intrigued by it. SURELY I can't got more than 2 days without taking chunks of nail polish off?! Well with Shellac that's exactly what happened! A good few weeks of high shine, chip free gorgeousness! After spending what is probably too long trying to pick the colour I'm going to commit to for a few weeks, I settle on a nice coppery colour. Then change my mind just as she takes the brush out of the bottle and go for a dark purple! I'm given a glass of prosecco and a ferrero rochet, and I feel as though I should be on Made in Chelsea or something! I felt utterly pampered by this point, and as Sharon put the final touches of glitter on my nails, Bonnie was ready to get stuck into my mop!

I think this may have been the first time that a hair stylist has taken time to actually talk about my hair with me rather than saying "what am I doing to it? Okay, let's do it" She sat with me and asked what I liked about my hair, what I didn't like, how I usually styled it, how confident I was about styling it myself, which products I used and what I'd like my hair to be like. She asked me if I wanted to be relaxed or refreshed. I went for refreshed after feeling quite snoozy from my facial! She got me to smell 3 different oils and choose which I liked best, which turned out to be peppermint. She dropped some on my scalp and massaged it into my head and neck. The smell of the peppermint woke me up, and it was such a great way to start off a haircut! She washed my hair using Aveda products, and talked me through everything she was doing and everything she used. She used serum in my hair, then taught me how to do a salon blow dry, a lesson I really needed! She cut a few extra layers into my hair and generally tidied it up, then gave me the perfect curls that I love!

Here is the final result:

I felt amazing once the girls had finished with me. I'd gone from a bit dull to absolutely glowing in just a few hours! I've never felt so welcome in a salon, and Bamboo Boutique have set the bar extremely high for all future beauty treatments. Donna, Callie, Sharon and Bonnie are passionate about what they do, and that is clear to see. They are extremely talented, knowledgeable and professional, while still keeping an amazingly friendly atmosphere.

I honestly can't recommend Bamboo Boutique enough, and I will definitely be back!

Huge thanks to all at Bamboo Boutique, and to Edinburgh Bloggers for running the competition!

You can find them at Bambooboutique.co.uk, Facebook and Twitter or

19 Henderson Row Edinburgh EH3 5DH t: 0131 558 3116 e: contact@bambooboutique.co.uk

COMPETITION! £60 Food voucher and bottle of Wine at Veritas!

Edinburgh Bloggers have teamed up with foodie site Zomato to give away a date night!  You get to win a £60 food voucher plus a bottle of wine at the gorgeous Italian restaurant Veritas, a beautiful, authentic ristorante in Stockbridge. NOM NOM NOM!

All you need to do for a chance to win a romantic date night for two is tweet us your worst or best date experience and tag @EdinburghBlogg and @ZomatoUK in your tweet.

Terms and Conditions:

• The winner will receive a £60 voucher for food plus a bottle of wine at Veritas, 24 Deanhaugh Street, Edinburgh
• Entrants must tweet in accordance with instructions in the paragraph above
• Entries received after 12:00 on Sunday 21st December 2014 will not be accepted
• Winner will be chosen at random and announced after 17:00 on Sunday 21st December 2014

We can't wait to read what you come up with!!