11/03/2024

Magic Ants Airplane 3D Pop-Up Card

This is a large (or larger than average) pop-up card made of good quality cardboard and printed in really beautiful bright colours. It looks as good as in the photo. It has a stand-alone note to write the greeting message if you don't want to ruin the card. I used the white spaces to write my message, but you might not want to do the same. I consider this perfect for male and female as long as they've shown interest in aviation, rockets, flying etc.

10/30/2024

Dilmah Infusions Green Rooibos with Coconut and Mango, 40 Grams

This is a healthy tisane made of green rooibos (not the usual red variety) and not suitable for milk tea. The ingredients are mostly tea, 5% mango and 5% coconut nothing else. This tea smells delicious and has a sweet-ish taste but not sugar in it. The flavour is equally yummy and satisfying. I cannot distinguish the coconut flavour at all. The aroma and flavour are more peach than mango to me. Nevertheless, a delicious flavoursome tisane with no caffeine.  Teabag material is really great quality.

WHJY Blue & White ceramic Bowl Gift Set (Sakura, 10 oz)

I use this set of bowls all the time mostly as side dishes, to store small quantities of leftovers, and also to serve fruit, ice-cream and deserts. Beautiful porcelain and motifs perfect for everyday use but still fun and beautiful. The set comes beautifully packed, so it's perfect for gifting.These ceramic bowls are microwave and dishwasher safe.
 
My only complaint is that the blue colour in the photos and the colour of my set is completely different. The one in the photos is a light Mediterranean kinda blue. The one I got is more like an Indigo blue; still beautiful but not as much as the one in the photos. 

10/29/2024

Canson Montval 300gsm/140lb Cold-Pressed Watercolour-Paper Wired Pad (20 sheets, 5.5x8.5in)

I love Canson watercolour paper pads as they're always very decent quality, affordable and perfect to use as sketchbooks. I've been using this pad often, and the paper quality is good  for mixed media, which is what I bought it for. I haven't used it with watercolours yet; mostly with acrylics paint, acrylic inks, crayons, pens, Posca ad Pitt Pen markers and it stands most things beautifully even without previous gesso priming. I love the pages micro-perforation as it allows me to use them as stand-alone sheets, or keep them  as a pad.
 
On the flip side, this Montval series is more like a student pad, so worse paper quality than other Canson pads I own and also re the quality of the front and back covers, which is quite bad. Besides, the paper doesn't handle rubbing well, and sometimes the paper sands off if not primed. That being the case, now I gesso the pages that I intend to rub or scratch. I would not use this pad paper for professional purposes.

For the rest a good affordable study or student watercolour pad with decent quality paper.

Maydahui Canvas Pencil Roll Wrap (Vintage Plate Number,48Slots)

I bought the medium-size pencil wrap just to store some stand-alone pencils and markers. The canvas quality is stupendous, sturdy, and better than another one I own. The printed design is cool and vibrant and very good quality printing; I would say that the motif is genderless. The wrap rolls well despite the canvas thickness and it can be stored vertically. I love this sort of wraps as they really protect the pencils tips, can be stored vertically, something I usually do to maximize storage space, and it it's perfect for travelling as the wrap adds minimum weight to the pencils. Good value for money.

10/26/2024

Double D Sugar-Free Choco Drops 70 g

These lollies are really nice, and taste similar to what a sugar lolly would taste. However, the taste is not really chocolaty or does not remind me of chocolate either except for the colour. It reminds me more of the sugar-free version of Werthers Original flavour. The sweetener use in this candy is laxative, so there is a limit to the number of these I consume in a day. For the rest nice lollies.

Uni- Ball Signo 1mm Gel Pen -- Silver (UM153.26)

This is my preferred silver marker among the ones I own. I don't lime most of my acrylic silver markers. However, this one won me over for many reasons. The metallic silver colour is really noticeable and the colour it should be, not too dark not too clear, just a beautiful silver tone. Also, the ink flows effortlessly and cleanly. The marker draws crisp neat lines,  which makes it perfect for highlights or accents on any acrylic paint if the pieces are dry; Otherwise, it would smudge and the nib would get ruined. The marker is made of good quality material and the to cap fastens well.Well priced, too.

Ain't sure about the pigment lightfastness  but the information I've  found online seems to indicate that is more so than other types of markers. It is not a waterproof marker I would say but it gets fixed using a fixative once it has completely dried.