10/16/2022

The Wild Unknown Journal Hardcover by Kim Krans (Author)

I was super excited to get this art journal as I love Krans' tarot imagery and artwork. The excitement lasted while I browsed the book, but then, when the reality of the journal quality sank in, I felt equally disappointed.

EXCITED
> The whole journal design, colour scheme and Krans' artwork are very much my liking.
> This a great practice journal to get your creativity started, flourished or regained. You can use the journal to write, paint or collage, or all of them, whatever you want.
> I see this journal as suitable for children and beginner artists.
> The cover image (an eye in the centre of the labyrinth) really resonates with me because the creative process is just an insight into a soulful labyrinthine path that expresses itself through our eyes, psyche, and hands.
> Great hard-cover binding. The journal can be fully opened without you feeling that the pages are going to come off at the turn of the page. Besides, the hard cover makes the journal more elegant and durable.
> Fear of white page no more.
> I can use some of the pages in the book as collage paper into my artwork.

DISAPPOINTED
> The journal is intimidating, in a way, as the author's artwork is already done, and, in my case, I feel like a frog beside a princess.
> The paper is not especially good for anything liquid or inky unless you apply translucent/white gesso primer beforehand. Pencils are OK. Oil pastels need of a fixative as they don't hold well onto this paper surface.
> I don't find that prompts help me create anything meaningful to me. In that regard, to me, the journal is more a level-up colouring book than a journal.
> The hieroglyphs (decipher exercises) in the book, which I find delightful, are wrongly done. If you create a symbol and give it an equivalent letter, as Krans does, you then transcribe any text following this system. However, that's not the case and if you use the same equivalents you won't be able to transcribe some of the texts because the same symbols are given different equivalents in different pages.
> No ribbon bookmark. How could the editor forget that?!

OVERALL
I Love Krans' introduction and artwork, but the bad quality paper and the simplistic prompts do not help me create on this book. However, I owe to this journal the rekindling of my artistic pursuits on proper paper surfaces and with my own intuition as prompt. I will be using some of the pages to transfer images into my artwork or to incorporate them as collage elements into my artwork.

10/14/2022

Orgran Gluten-Free Sugar-Free Cacao Cookies 130g

I bought these cookies because I love the brand and they were on special. I wanted a snack for work that wasn't too sweet and not packed with calories and fat. These cookies are everything free, (gluten, dairy, animal products) even from yumminess. The taste is not too bad, to be fair, as the cocoa flavour is there. I know they're made with many cool healthy ingredients but, overall, they taste like a chocolaty all-bran cereal. Not very popular with my co-workers either, despite the low calories. Not too bad to munch on something when I've been munching on unhealthy stuff, but not a cookie that I will be looking forward to eating. I won't be buying them again.

10/08/2022

John Frieda Detox and Repair Deep Conditioner Masque, 250 ml

I love Frieda's hair masks and this is also the case for this one. It detangles my hair beautifully and my hair looks shiny and healthy afterwards. It has a very pleasant fresh scent, too. However, this is not my fav Frieda's hair mask due to the texture not being as creamy and nourishing as others and to the fact that it takes a bit more of product to detangle my long hair than others. For the rest, very happy with the product. Price is an added bonus.

Crescent N40D Nicholson Soldering Iron

I bought this soldering iron to have it at home in case of need, but, above all, to use it to burn paper that I then use in my artwork. This allows me to make patterns on the paper without creating flames and with minimal ash spread.

The iron takes a few minutes to fully heat up, and the temperature it reaches isn't too high. I know this because, once it does, the tip easily burns rice paper but not as fast average printer 80mgs paper. Yet, I don't put my hand on the tip because I will get burnt.

The stand is too feeble to stand the weight of the iron without the risk of the soldier auto-releasing and hitting me. It's safer when unplugged or when the stand is used horizontally, but when the iron is plugged the weight and tightness of the cable is too much for this paper-thin metallic stand to stand still.

I got what I paid for and it suits my needs and purpose.

MIND
The iron doesn't have an on/off button to switch.

Rimmel London Nail Nurse Base & Top Coat 5 in 1

This is one of those products that I buy when I travel or I'm on a budget. It does the job quite nicely for a fraction of the price I pay for other brands. It is not as good as others I buy, but it's good quality nevertheless. The bottle design is simple and effective as it has the average quantity of product but isn't as bulky as others.

Clairol Root Touch Up, 4 Dark Brown

I use this brand and colour kit on a regular basis between visits to my hairdresser's. It fully covers my very white grey hair and I find it easy and safe to apply. I always let it on more than the time the package recommends, as I've seen that, if I don't let it stay longer, my greys aren't fully covered. I do this as I haven't noticed any allergic reaction when using it for longer. The colour lasts me great about 2.5 weeks, which is OK and what I expect it to do.

I wish the bottle had a bit of more product so that I could cover my back head roots. The quantity in this retouch kit allows me to cover the front and top layers not the back or my hair, which is OK as I have long wavy hair and it would not show much either way.

Unlike the same brand full-regrowth package, this kit comes without conditioner.

The application brush is excellent for the price. I don't put it in the rubbish, but I use it for my artwork, to clean grout or other home purposes.

10/02/2022

Youshares Colored Pencil Case 166 Slots Pen Case Organizer

PROS 
> Beautiful exterior design. 
> Good quality sturdy materials. 
> It accommodates tons of my drawing stuff: different kinds and lengths of markers, pencils, crayons and what's not. See my photos. 
> The elastic bands aren't individual but 2-3 joint together, large ones, which comes handy to put different sizes of pens together still keeping them all secure. 
> Great to carry around. 
 
CONS 
> A bit bulky. 
> Takes lots of space in my drawer and it's not easy to accommodate in small spaces. > Zip area a bit too tight or close to the inner trays.