4/21/2024

Mont Marte Tracing Paper Pad A4 60gsm 40 Sheet

I purchased this pad not for drawing  or tracing, but to use it as part of a wet palette system. I had used thinner tracing paper before this and it was not working. This pad is affordable and the tracing paper is good quality, thick enough to resist moving paint with different kind of brushes on it without tearing apart. It lasts several days on the palette, so it is value for money. 

4/07/2024

MEEDEN Ceramic Rectangle Artist Palette, 9 Wells

This is a great space saver due to its rectangular shape. It's on the small side, so it's easy to position on the table, move around, and carry in my hand, if I need to move between painting areas. Easy to wash under running water with or without dishwashing liquid. I use an old discarded toothbrush to clean the corners and edges. I prefer this palette to the small circular one by the same brand. 

3/25/2024

Wotnot All Natural Baby Wipes, 70 Count

I use these wipes constantly in my art practice. I'm environmentally conscious, so having wipes that are biodegradable, compostable and made of natural ingredients is important to me, and that's why I bought these wipes in the first place. 
 
I use them to clean my hands from paint. Unlike normal household cleaning wipes, these don't irritate my hands or fingers and remove the paint well. I also use them to wipe excess medium or gesso from my silicone brushes and paint from my nylon brushes I directly use them on my artwork (thick watercolour paper previously gessoed), to blend and smudge colours to create depth. They're also great to wipe out painting mistakes, from tiny unwanted blots to whole painted sections. Also excellent for stencilling off colour as they are not as wet as the usual household wipes and work better. The best part is that these wipes can be washed by hand and reused, plus the fibre they're made of doesn't  break or sheds fibers; that's a money saver and so good for the environment.

3/24/2024

Fanta Raspberry Zero Sugar Mini Can Multipack 6 x 250 ml

Great pack and sizing for my lunch box and the occasional snack time at home. This small can fills in 3/4 or 4/5 of a tall glass, depending on the sizing of the glass I use. I love the flavour and it tastes great despite being sugar free.

Eylure Dybrow permanent brow tint kit (dark brown)

This is the first time I use this brand and kit and I will definitely buy it again. I can't but compare it with another brand very similar product (1000Hour) that I have been using for years, and Eylure wins by far. It follows the same procedure for eyebrow tinting: mix 1 cm of colouring cream with 3 drops of developer, mix well, apply with the provided wand, wait 15 minutes and voila. While the 1000Hour kit requires me to have the product 30 minutes on to cover the greys on my eyebrows and it does not cover them well, this one does this perfectly in 15 minutes and greys are gone. Dark brown colour is true to the colour.
 
I had no reaction to the product at all, and it didn't itch or burn when applied. I have used this dye with some greys showing on my temples and small patches on my hair line, and works beautifully as well.
 
Instructions of use come in leaflet written in different languages.
 
The photos on the product page don't reflect the reality of the product I got. The external packaging is identical but not the internal. The developer is a small bottle with a liquid, not a cream tube and the plastic container is also different, as the one I got has not rest for the application wand. 

Ranger Inkssentials Surfaces Industries Craft Tag No. 8, Pack of 20

I usually love anything Ranger's but these tags are a bit of a disappointment if compared to other tags produced by Ranger (Wakley's or Holtz's for example). 
 
They are not good for mixed media; they aren't heavy-weight paper despite the description, so they curl up heavily when gessoed and cannot hold much weight. I cannot add bulk to the tags (fabric, burlap, embellishments) either. On the flip side of things, they're pretty good and very flexible to work just with paint. I haven't tried them with any kind of ink, so I cannot comment on how the paper reacts to them. 
 
This sizing is really nice, not too big or small, and easily stored in albums or any of the Holtz's boxes. The craft colour is perfect for application of metallic gold, bronze and brass colours, as the natural paper colour enhances the metallics.