Ooh- I like scissors
I have Gingher duckbills and they are excellent for trimming closely. I've had to have my husband loosen the screw for me as they were just too tight and hurt my hand. They are sharp and they are accurate!
My regular fabric shears are my mom's good ones she's had forever. I think they are Ginghers and they are great, but the steel handles are a little hard on my hand, so I had been wanting something different.
For Christmas 2016 and my birthday in January 2017, I decided that I would ask for shears/scissors.
I wanted a great pair of fabric shears that would be easier on my hand, so I asked for Kai 7205 8" Professional Shears. Now that I have used them, the blades on the 8" shears are a little short, and I should have gotten the 9" or even the 10". They are excellent shears, though.
I needed a pair of scissors built for pattern cutting (because pain in shoulder) and was very pleased when I saw Kai V5230 9" Bent Handle Scissors for stand up pattern cutting. So I asked for these, too. They are sharp, cut accurately, and I haven't experienced any pain.
I also wanted to get a pair of micro-serrated scissors for cutting slippery fabrics. Kai has these in their Professional line, but I got the much less expensive Kai 3210 8" Serrated Patchwork Scissors for myself for my birthday. These blades do not seem short to me like the other 8" pair I got. I haven't had occasion to cut slippery fabric beyond a quick test, but the scissors seemed to perform well.
Everyday scissors:
I like Fiskars. I think the basic shears used for paper are pretty brilliant, and they stay sharp for a long time. The same shears even work well as fabric scissors if kept for that purpose alone. Note to self: buy little sharpener instead of buying new scissors
Utility Scissors:
The favorite I've had are Fiskars Titanium Nitride. They are serrated, and I got them at the home improvement store. They cut easily through tough stuff like plastic clamshell packaging, as well as paper and fabric. I cut thick or many layers of fabric nicely with them. I used to even use them to cut sheer fabrics, but I now have different serrated scissors for that purpose.
Terrible scissors I've had:
Scallop scissors, Pinking shears, and Thread Snips by Fiskars. Okay, terrible is an exaggeration on the first two: they sort of worked when I very first got them. The snips never worked.
My favorite snips and little scissors all come from Daiso and cost $1.50 each. They are sharp, sharp, sharp and easy to use.
I just looked at the Daiso website and it doesn't look like there are any stores in Europe, including UK. So sorry! It's a Japanese 150 yen store, which is kind of like dollar stores in the US (and probably pound shops in the UK). It's similar, but the base price is $1.50 and it has way better stuff than at the regular US dollar store chains, like sharp snips and little scissors.