8/07/2023

Drano Kitchen Max Gel Drain Cleaner 770mL

I've used this product in several occasions as my kitchen sink has old pipes and a slow drain and, when I run the water continuously, the sink cannot cope and the water pools and bubbles up. I've  tried other products in the past and I barely got any result. I've used this and the slow drainage stops. Half of the bottle is what I need and what the package recommends to use. However, unlike the instructions on the package, I leave the product in for at least an hour, not the 15-30 minutes recommended as I did this in the past and didn't work as well. I got the bottle today, I used upon arrival, and my sink drains normally. 

Jungford Wood-cover Cable Management Box

I had a cable mess in my home-office area (see photo). I wanted to tidy it up so that cleaning the area would be easier and the room wood look nicer before a home inspection. This box helped me to get there, but not without a sweat.

The box is made of sturdy ivory plastic and the top is of uncoated wood. It looks great and goes well with the rest of my home-office Scandy style. The lid sits well on the box and it is easy to lift and reposition. I've put small electrical items on it, like my headphones or another plug, and it didn't collapse. Beyond the style, I love that the box has many cable slots, so the cables come  in/out out naturally. Besides, it comes with a set of cable management organisers, so it's great value for money.

The main issue with the box is it's capacity. The box is standard sizing and height for most cable organising boxes out there, and it fits a 4-plug power board, although a bit tightly. However, I didn't fit my laptop cable plug, which is attached to the adapter and cannot be separated from it. Unfortunately, this is the only adapter that my laptop can use, so it didn't fit at all (see my photo). What I did to tidy up things was, I swapped the power board with a 3-plugh one, then I plugged a short extension cable to the laptop plug, and left the adapter on top of the box. Not ideal, but things were looking great. In the end, I ended putting the round adapter plus computer plug (which fits the box perfectly on their own) in another cable box to hide it, and voila, my cable area is unrecognisable, as per my photo.  

Since I  had to try different plugs and cables I have at home, I can honestly say that the box would fit most cables and big plugs, except for those that are like my computer's, which isn't standard.  I wish they made a taller version, because, for the rest, I really like the box style and design.

OPI Rapidry Spray, 55ml

I love O.P.I products so I had great expectations rethis product as I paint my nails myself at home, sometimes in a hurry before an outing or going to work.

The instructions of use on the bottle back are in a minuscule font size. It says to mist over the nails 45 seconds after applying the last coat. But last coat of what, of enamel or the top coat? Or is this product to replace the top coat? No indication of how much this speeds up the process or how long it takes to dry after application. Ain't sure if it works just with O.P.I nail polishes because the one I had on my nails was good quality polish but not this brand.

The bottle has a good spray system and the mist comes out easily.
 
I've tried the product twice. The first time, I didn't mind the watch, but it was perhaps a minute over the last coat application. I didn't see any speeding up in the drying time after application.  I didn't apply the mist on my other hand, but used my hair drier on a cold setting. The results were indistinguishable. Besides, one of my nails with the applied O.P.I.spray smudged; to me, that's not working.  
 
The second time I tried it, I also did a double testing. I sprayed some of the nails without top coat and they responded well, as they dried a little bit quicker than usual. I also sprayed other nails that had a top coat on, and these ones  took longer to dry, and there was barely any difference with those nails where I had applied top coat but not this product on top.  In short, it worked way better when I applied it directly on the enamel not on the top coat. Perhaps the product is to be used as top coat, but that's not clear anywhere.
 
In all honesty, I won't be buying this product again as the speeding up of the drying is so little that it's not worth my money.  Besides, the bottle came 3/4 full. I thought that it might be an used bottle, but I've noticed that everyone had the same issue with their bottles, so that's the company's fault and a rip-off because the product isn't cheap by any means, even when discounted.  

HPM Household Duty Piggy Back Extension Lead White 1m

Nothing fancy or out there about this cable, just a sturdy 1-metre extension cord. It has a piggyback on the plug itself, which I won't use, but it comes handy if I needed to. This one-metre lead is perfect for my needs and replaces a longer cable that had become a hassle on my floor. So far so good. If I had any issues, I would update my review.   
 
Update 5/9/23
I didn't think I'd use the piggyback, but I have, and it is so convenient, when I want to plug something that is just for a little while while the main cable of my computer, for example, is always plugged. More utilities that I thought I would give it. Very pleased with it. 

7/29/2023

Amazon Basics Eyelet Hole Punch Plier with 100-piece Eyelets

This is a good-value-for-money sturdy basic eyelet punch plier with 100 golden-like small eyelets. It is easy to use and I've had no issues with the included eyelets and with others I had at home. Actually, the end result was more polished with the ones I had at home, I think because they're less taller. But the golden eyelets included in the package are lovely, as per my photo. I find that using the plier with thick paper requires some strength on my part, so ain't sure if I would be able to use it with leather or stronger materials.  
 
On the other hand, the plier is quite heavy to me and my hands (despite it being labelled as 'lightweight in the product page). Besides, it only allows me to place eyelets at 2 cms or less from the paper/material border. This is more than enough for most purposes, but it's frustrating to me as I wanted to place eyelets in my artwork in places that aren't that width, and that's not possible.

Timex Women's Weekender 31mm Watch

This is my third Timex Weekender. I bought this brand and line because I've had years of awesome experience with these watches and I know what to expect; also because I wanted to replace my first weekender, which, after years, isn't working that well.  
 
As per my photo, this Weekender is targeted to women and it's slightly smaller than my previous Weekender. It looks perfect on my small wrist, not too big, not too small, and I can read the time without squinting. For the rest the watch some features I love:
 
The blue band is made of threaded nylon. I love the blue tone as it gives it an elegant look, even though this is a sport every-day watch. The best thing about this band is that is fully washable with water and hand soap, dries quickly and the color doesn't ran out.
 
The button battery lasts for a long time and is a standard battery so I can buy it  anywhere.
 
The afterglow feature is wonderful when I wake up in the middle of the night as it allows me to check and see the time perfectly.  
 
I can wash my dishes or deal with water without worrying about a water splash damaging my watch. I would not be swimming with it, but if I forgot to remove it, it is 30m water resistant. 

The instructions leaflet comes in different languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch, Japanese, Mandarin and Russian,
 
Good value for money overall and I love it.
 
DOWNSIDES
> You'll notice that the battery is running out because the time starts to get imprecise. Said differently, the battery doesn't have a capacitor that holds the power consistently, so when the battery is low, it affects the time reading.
> The same can be said of the after-dark glow. You'll notice that the battery is low because the glow barely lights up. 
>  Packaging is poor and the methacrylate holder is not the best; the quality of the plastic is good but not the design. The cardboard box is bad quality and arrived in a bad condition.
> The multi-lingual booklet of instructions is wrapped up tightly around the watch holder and it is written in tiny-winy font size, so I need to use a magnifying lens to read it.  

 

7/26/2023

English Tea Shop Gift Pack Your Wellness Collection Light Blue 36 Sachets, 54 g

I'll be honest, I bought this tea pack because I love the tin box and I wanted to add it to my collection of ETS tins at home. The illustrations and overall quality of the tin are just beautiful and I use this one to store craft materials. It's not just that I wanted to have the tin, I knew beforehand that I would get good-quality organic herbal-blend tisane teas. The varieties in this pack didn't disappoint me. They are beautiful light enjoyable clean teas with no caffeine, so I drink them in the evening without a worry; now that's Winter I drink these teas instead of water as they are hot, healthy and taste good. The labeling information on the tin and the way it's displayed are excellent, something I don't take for granted.