8/12/2023

Long Life Self-Shine Floor Polish 1 Litre

I always make sure I have this floorboard polish at home when a house inspection is due. I've used this product since I moved into my this house and I love it because I can clearly see the "before & after" effect. I tend to use the same brand of cleaning product to maximize the effect, but I've also used other brands and it doesn't really matter. After cleaning the floor and, when it's totally dry, I sprinkle the product directly on to the floor. Then I mop it rapidly so the droplets don't dry and don't leave a mark. Ideally, it should be mopped following the layout of the floorboards, but that's not always possible, so I mop always in one direction in the room. I let it dry on its own for at least an hour. Needless to say, it dries quicker in Summer. I don't usually buff it, but the floor still looks amazing. If I buff it with a towel the shine effect is more noticeable. Due to this being a wood polish, the quantity of product in the bottle and the price, I consider this very good value for money. 

Jigong Mini Heat Gun Electric 300W 220V 50HZ Portable Hot Air

This is my first heat gun and I purchased it to replace my bulky hair drier, which I was using to speed up the drying time of the paint in some of my artwork. However, it can be used for embossing as well. 

THE GOOD STUFF
> Very light and small. It is a pleasure to hold. Way smaller and lighter than my small hair drier. See my photos against an A4 wallet and beside my small hair drier.
> It can be stored anywhere. See my photo inside a cable organizer box.
> Easy to use. You don't really need a manual. Click the power button and voila. The container box, though, has some tricks to use this gun in "shrinking'.
> Heating level is great for small pieces of art as it isn't too high or low. It dries things fast.   
> Low noise level if compared with my hair drier. 
> As the 'mouth' is small, it directs the air where I want to so it doesn't blow pieces of paper I have around.
> Great value for money.

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS 
> The cord is ridiculously short. That being the case, unless you have a plug on top of your table, you would have to plug it to an extension cord, something that I hate because it creates unnecessary bulk and storage issues. If you don't have one, you'd have to purchase one.
> Just one speed.
> No storage pouch. 

If needed, I will update this review in the future.

8/10/2023

Generic 30-cm Power Extension Lead Cord Australian AU/ 3-Pin Plug Black

This is one of the shortest extension cords I could find in the market. It is made of sturdy plastic and the lead it's 23 cm long but it's 30 cm in total. I've had it for a week or so, so no complaints so far. It's perfect for what I wanted it, which is to adjust a bulky laptop adapter flat into a cable organisation box without having excess cord bulking up the box insides. It serves the purpose beautifully.  On the other hand, I would have loved the cord being 30 cm plus the plugs length as this would have made it ideal for the purpose mentioned above and for any other future uses. l. For the rest, it's a bit pricey for what it is, but it is a rare type of cable and I can use it for many purposes, so there you have it.

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.