Raining Cats and Dogs Collection from Helen Russell Creations

On the blog today are a couple of products from the Raining Cats and Dogs collection, featuring the artwork of Helen Russell. Helen is a very talented artist who runs her own creative business and whose quirky characters (Blob Birds, Little Bean Critters, Puffin Cove Colony, Wonder Mice etc.) are very popular. The characters appear both in print and on ceramic and Helen uses these animals and their characteristic behaviours to create lovely scenes.

Goya Black Rose | A Romantic Fragrance

Usually when one talks about rose based fragrances, one tends to assume it is a scent meant for ladies of a certain age. It couldn't be farther from the truth. A number of perfume houses have fragrances with the exquisite rose scent and these are gaining a lot of popularity with ladies of all ages. Goya's Black Rose is one such excellent rose based fragrance. Black Rose was first launched in 1955 and was very popular in the 50-80s. In 2014, the scent was recreated from the original archived formula and the classic was brought back! I had not used the original version so I could not compare the relaunched version to the older one but let me tell you straight up, the newer version is exquisite - very youthful and stylish - like a beautiful bouquet of fragrant roses.

Judge Table Essentials Range

To keep everything running smoothly in the kitchen you need to have the right kitchen essentials. Judge have an impressive kitchen essentials range with over 100 stylish and classic items. They recently added 21 essential new pieces to their existing range to complement today's tastes. The 21 new pieces include jugs/vases, skillets, teaware, every day bowls and a square platter. I was sent some items from the Judge Essentials range to test and here is what are my thoughts on them.

Judge Table Essentials Jug/Vase

Again with a crisp white, simple design this new addition to Judge's Essentials range is a useful and practical product. The 350ml porcelain jug/vase can be used to serve water or soft drinks or like me you can use it as a vase for flowers. Either ways it is suitable for daily use and can be cleaned easily in the dishwasher. The jug is also oven, microwave and freezer safe.