Edward Tools Paint Stainless Steel 12" Trim Blade

This is a great tool to get straight lines in my paintings. The sizing is perfect to work on paper medium size pieces, 12x12" for example, as it is not too large or too short. The sizing also allows me to store it easily or to keep it in the same holder as my large brushes. 

 

The blade is really sharp, so much so that I cut one of my fingers with it. I love that is made of stainless steel as this makes it durable. I clean it with a wipe or rage and looks as new every time.

 

Nothing fancy about the grip area, but it's strong enough, and it's getting nicer now that it has different splashes of paint on it. 

 

Good value for money.

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Strathmore 400 Series, 12"x12" Cold Press Watercolor Pad, 12 Sheets

Strathmore watercolour paper has always impressed me because of the quality of their products and the good quality/prize ratio. This is also the case here.

 This pad has a great size for beginners, not too big or too small. The tone and texture of the paper are excellent. I use it mostly for mixed media, mostly working with acrylics, and I do nasty things to the paintings (rubbing, scratching, wiping). Yet, the paper resists almost everything and it is very forgiving. I always gesso the paper before working on it.

Perhaps not as good as other brands, but this is one of my watercolour paper pads staples.

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Jacquard Lumiere Halo Blue Gold Acrylic Paint 70Ml

Jacquard Lumiere is an awesome line of metallic paints and this colour is beautiful and interesting to work with. I love the fact that, unlike other metallic acrylic paints, this line offers a good coverage and the quality of the pigment is amazing. This colour is beautiful, but the colour you see from the bottle and what you get when you paint with the product are slightly different. I purchased this colour for the blueish golden green nature of it, which is what the bottle looks like from outside in real life. However, the paint is a multi-chrome with all the pros and cons you get from those colours. On the up side, it can be layered on many colours and looks different depending on the light angle, so it's versatile and interesting. However, this is more a green than a blue, and the yellow gold sometimes overwhelms the other pigments. For me, it's great when I want to jazz up some painting area, but not that good if I want a set colour to use. Good quality product overall.

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Stargazer Small Eye Shadow brush no. 5

I bought this eye makeup brush heavily discounted in one of those rare crazy sales. I thought it was too long to be used comfortably to apply eye-shadow so I stored it. After sitting unused in my drawers for several months, I decided to use it as painting brush and it's perfect for that. 

 

The brush is great for acrylic painting and water soluble media, and I have used it with mate gel without problem. It recovers its shape easily if washed with gentle beauty bar soap and conditioning bar when really dirty; if used with gesso or mate medium, wash immediately after use. This brush was never designed to be in water jars for hours or be used with paints. However, the ferrule and the handle haven't deteriorated or come apart; the bristles are still in pretty good condition despite the mistreat as well. 

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