While I was unpacking yesterday, Caroline came back and took a look at my floor before saying that I really bought a lot of stuff. To which I responded with, this is why I should not go travelling. I always spend more than I meant to. There are more not shown here because I have already given them away or are in the fridge etc.
So on the left hand side, there's 4 bars of soap (1 more not shown here) that I bought in mostly Czech republic. The only one I bought in England is the very prettily packaged soap from Leeds Castle at £8. It's a ridiculous huge bar of soap OTZ. (Caroline saw the soaps and was like, oh no. You have been buying soaps again)
Then there's the whole load of postcards I bought. I usually buy a few whenever I visit a new place etc. Which reminds me, I have no idea where I kept some of the older postcards from my previous trips. OTZ. Which means I need to go and hunt it down soon.
And then there's that celtic bangle I bought from a vendor at Charles Bridge in Prague. Beside it is a new set of watercolour pan set from Winsor And Newton. 18 colours and they are professional grade. I got them at a huge discount and it's so worth it !
Now moving up are the medallions I got from Paris. My mum and I spent quite a bit of money just getting these souvenir coins lol. And then moving up, there's at least 4 pads of new watercolour from Canterbury and Prague. By the Bockingford watercolour pad is my new buy - Dr. Ph Martin's Concentrated Watercolours ! Got them at £3.75 when usually they would cost £5.40. Was so happy to see it in the art shop ! They are not really being sold in UK art supplies stores. I had a hard time finding them and so imagine my surprise and delight when I found them in Canterbury ! Not to mention that they were on discount !
So absolutely delighted ! And these were the 1/2 Oz sizes. A little goes a long way especially with these.
Then moving on to the right, is my hot chocolate thing from Brugges, Belgium, a pack of lemon biscuits from Hampton Court Palace, a pack of pasta from Paris at the Arch of Triomphe because I was under the false impression that I was out of carbs, below it is the bubblegum flavoured Eiffel tower candy, a bar of orange chocs and below it are 3 pens from MUJI and a Sable watercolour brush.
Then moving on, 3 bars of exotic flavoured Lindt chocs from Paris and my underwear from Primark. Yea, I really bought a lot of stuff .....
Like I was saying, I got the Winsor and Newton Professional colours at a huge discount. 80%! They were usually retailing at £101 but with the discount, I got mine for slightly less than £20 at Cass Art's London ! ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL I SWEAR.
I have a Winsor & Newton Cotman (student) 12 colours Pan Set when I was interning in New Zealand for an equivalent of SGD 50 +++ but when I am here, I saw them sold in WHSmith for £8 - 14 depending if they have sales. SO I WAS SO MAD WHEN I FIRST SAW IT ! But yea, now I feel so balanced now since I managed to get this set so cheaply. Sophie agrees. (Although we also agree that I don't need anymore paint)
Winsor & Newton have one of the better colours. Their set is one of my favourites to use. I own a 24 colours Sakura Talens Petit Colour pan set, a 18 colours Alpha (Korean brand) tube set that I have yet to use, a 12 colour W&N Cotman pan set, some gouaches that I think I've gave away, a 36 Kuretake (Jap) full pan set and a Kusakabe watercolour tube set. Might be 18 or 24 colours. Can't remember. But I know I didn't like it at all so I gave it away to my sister who was doing watercolours as well.
The ones that I really want to own is a Schmincke, a Yarka/White Night and Van Gogh watercolour pan set. They are really raved about so I am always a little curious. I want to try Pip Seymour and Daniel Smith's paints as well ! SO MANY PAINTS TO TRY T_T !
And this is how the set looks like. I really like the metallic casing as compared to the plastic cotman one. And there's more space on this to mix colours ! There's also a lot more spaces for when you want to add more colours to your palette !
So other than the water colour set, I also got myself a W&N Sable brush for £8.75. It's a bargain ! Now, the reason why I bought the sable brush (that's the one still in the tube) is because I have never owned a sable brush and sable brushes are reputed to be the best for watercolours due to its brush strokes, ability to come to a point and most importantly, water and paint retaining qualities.
I have got to try it out some day but now ... buying it brought the amount of brushes I have to 27 in total, with 5 being purchased within the 6 months that I've been here.
My favourite brushes have got to the ones I got in Malaysia popular. They go by the brand Artpac and they are synthetic bristles but works really well.
Going on to my other purchases ....
Then there's this Eiffel Tower candy that I got for 4 Euros. It's so expensive but it's bubblegum flavour ... so I gave in. But once I am back in the UK, I don't actually feel like eating all those sugars so I am going to give this away to my friend.
Yesterday, I had to make myself a cup of hot chocolate (from when I was in Belgium) because the aftermath of my travelling was making me want to cry as I sit in my mess. Turns out, it was nice but I used too much water.
Anyway, yes. My room closely resembled a warzone with all my things spewed on my bed, my floor, my table, my shelves etc. I sat in my room from 8am to 1pm. The mess below was taken at some time after 11am which meant that I had been going for 3 hours and my room still looked like this. So you can imagine how horrifying unpacking was .... And well, I did get distracted and ended up writing post cards on the floor because if I don't, I am going to get a heart attack from all the mess.
And this was finally after 12pm and what felt like eternity. Closer to 1pm I think it was. But I was almost done.
The only thing that got me through the dreaded morning was snap chats from Mag (below), my cup of hot chocolate and writing of postcards. After unpacking, I actually did some revision before I was too exhausted and ended up napping from 4pm to 9pm. What was a nap became a full on sleep fest so I gave both pool and my friends a skip. (Nat and Nathan were supposed to come over for chocs and doughnuts)
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