Check out my All Stars Post on Amanda's blog: Paper Pens Ink.
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Hope you all like! :)
31 Aug 2011
28 Aug 2011
review / / ARWEY notebook part II
Here is part II as promised - a review of the Reich notebook. As said previously, I got this one in blue.
The cover - which is also removable:
The colour in the picture is accurate in the colour of the notebook.
For all you Filofax lovers, there is card slot in the inner cover. But it's only one slot - so maybe if you're going to work and don't want to bring your whole purse, you can just bring one credit or debit card instead.
Reich, unlike the Flavin, has plain pages. This makes it ideal for sketching or just jotting things down randomly. The paper is the same as the Flavin with its 70GSM ivory paper.
Anyway, continuing with the cover. There is a page marker of the very creative kind:
I love that the page marker for this notebook is like this instead of the typical ribbon. And this is the other side of the back page of the notebook.
As you can see, there is a pocket, not dissimilar to the Flavin notebook.
Also included with this notebook is a writing guide with a side that is dotted, two that are ruled (one wide and one narrow) and a side that is squared.
Finally, the paper quality. It's literally the same as the Flavin notebook, but here it is anyway for comparison. I used the narrow ruled writing guide to write with each of the pen types.
Reich comes with the same information and back pages as Flavin too.
In terms of value for money, I honestly think that this notebook is better than a Moleskine and is also cheaper at $13.50 which rougly equates to £8.30.
Honestly speaking, I love Reich more than I love Flavin. The page marker is fantastic and innovative - I've not seen anything like it - and the colour of the notebook is vibrant but not hideously so. The paper quality is good, though I would have preferred it if it were 80GSM instead but it works and that's what matters.
It's also important to note that Arwey do notebook sets too and in brilliantly fashionable colour schemes too. From what I can see, it looks like you can order custom ones made with the colours you would like - and if this is the case, I'm definitely thinking of putting in an order for a notebook set (Rebecca said the 2011 ones are out soon!) in colours that take my fancy. At the moment, however, there don't appear to be any sets with Reich in but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that when the new 2011 sets are released, there will be at least one with Reich in!
If you'd like to know more, Arwey are also on Twitter and Facebook and here is the product video for Reich if you'd like to see more.
Also, with my minimalism and money saving project about to begin, I'm beginning to think of ways to save parts of my weekly budget in order to place an order for a few of these notebooks in about two and a half months' time! But then again, the design of these notebooks are pretty much the definition of 'minimalism' so maybe that's half of my challenge accomplished?
Finally, I just want to say a big thank you to the lovely Rebecca at Arwey for sending me these lovely notebooks to review. I'm thoroughly impressed and definitely think that they are worth their marked prices.
Now, if only Arwey also did dated diaries....
REMEMBER: Enter PAPERLOVESTORY at the checkout to get 15% off your order (no minimum spend) but get in there quick - this code runs out tomorrow night (Monday the 29th of August).
The cover - which is also removable:
The colour in the picture is accurate in the colour of the notebook.
For all you Filofax lovers, there is card slot in the inner cover. But it's only one slot - so maybe if you're going to work and don't want to bring your whole purse, you can just bring one credit or debit card instead.
Reich, unlike the Flavin, has plain pages. This makes it ideal for sketching or just jotting things down randomly. The paper is the same as the Flavin with its 70GSM ivory paper.
Anyway, continuing with the cover. There is a page marker of the very creative kind:
I love that the page marker for this notebook is like this instead of the typical ribbon. And this is the other side of the back page of the notebook.
As you can see, there is a pocket, not dissimilar to the Flavin notebook.
Also included with this notebook is a writing guide with a side that is dotted, two that are ruled (one wide and one narrow) and a side that is squared.
Finally, the paper quality. It's literally the same as the Flavin notebook, but here it is anyway for comparison. I used the narrow ruled writing guide to write with each of the pen types.
In terms of value for money, I honestly think that this notebook is better than a Moleskine and is also cheaper at $13.50 which rougly equates to £8.30.
Honestly speaking, I love Reich more than I love Flavin. The page marker is fantastic and innovative - I've not seen anything like it - and the colour of the notebook is vibrant but not hideously so. The paper quality is good, though I would have preferred it if it were 80GSM instead but it works and that's what matters.
It's also important to note that Arwey do notebook sets too and in brilliantly fashionable colour schemes too. From what I can see, it looks like you can order custom ones made with the colours you would like - and if this is the case, I'm definitely thinking of putting in an order for a notebook set (Rebecca said the 2011 ones are out soon!) in colours that take my fancy. At the moment, however, there don't appear to be any sets with Reich in but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that when the new 2011 sets are released, there will be at least one with Reich in!
If you'd like to know more, Arwey are also on Twitter and Facebook and here is the product video for Reich if you'd like to see more.
Also, with my minimalism and money saving project about to begin, I'm beginning to think of ways to save parts of my weekly budget in order to place an order for a few of these notebooks in about two and a half months' time! But then again, the design of these notebooks are pretty much the definition of 'minimalism' so maybe that's half of my challenge accomplished?
Finally, I just want to say a big thank you to the lovely Rebecca at Arwey for sending me these lovely notebooks to review. I'm thoroughly impressed and definitely think that they are worth their marked prices.
Now, if only Arwey also did dated diaries....
REMEMBER: Enter PAPERLOVESTORY at the checkout to get 15% off your order (no minimum spend) but get in there quick - this code runs out tomorrow night (Monday the 29th of August).
26 Aug 2011
review / / ARWEY notebooks part I
WARNING / / LONG AND IMAGE HEAVY POST
Now, most of you should know this by now - I'm a sucker for fashion but I'm also a sucker for beautiful, high quality notebooks and stationery. So, when the lovely Rebecca brought Arwey to my attention, I was instantly drawn into the notebooks in fashionable colours and their simple design. I'm not sure how many of you have heard of Arwey but they are a notebook brand that has 'a range which blends function with style' and have 'notebooks [that] are designed to be practical and useful as well as good looking'. And boy, I was not disappointed with this description when the notebooks arrived.
Rebecca kindly sent me two notebooks from their range - Reich in blue and Flavin in green.
But before I launch into the review of the first notebook (I'll start with Flavin), I just want to say something about the service. The notebooks were despatched yesterday (from Istanbul in Turkey) and they arrived this morning! Very, very, impressive as I had expected a few days at the very least.
Anyway, onto the Flavin in green. I took the pictures on my windowsill to try and capture the real colour of the notebook and I brightened the pictures up a bit on Photoshop. The picture below is as accurate a representation I can get of the notebook's real colour - it isn't a horrid bright green, nor is it a dull one - it's a fashionable green, even if I do say so myself!
The Flavin is 168mm in height, 125mm in width and 19mm thick at it's widest part (due to its enclosure). It has a pen loop and the pen comes with the notebook.There is also a page marker in the form of a ribbon which is kind of similar to the one found in Moleskines.
In the photo below, you'll see that the pen loop and pen acts as the opening and closure of the book.
Upon opening the notebook, you'll see a few lines where you can write whatever you like - a quote that is motivational every day of the year or write your name and address/contact number if you're worried that you'll lose it.
The Flavin model is ruled and this is how it looks:
More about the paper later on in this post.
Anyway, towards the back, there are a few leaves where the edges are perforated. I tried to take a picture of this but it was hard to take one where the perforations were visible so you'll just have to take my word for it! I remember that about a year ago, people were saying that they wished that Filofax paper was tearable, for example, for giving someone your email address.
Well, in Arwey notebooks, this is a reality! There are 8 sheets which equates to 16 removable bits of paper (two on each sheet). Also at the back, there are pages where you can write down friends' and family members' birthdays, a yearly planner where each month has a space you can write things down on, a telephone numbers and email contacts page, a 'links' page where you can jot down the URLs of your favourite websites, a wish list page (where you can write down places you want to go to, foods to try, books to read, movies to watch, albums to listen and skills to learn), a page which displays world times, quite a few information pages and finally a page for travel planning with columns for the destination/itinery, date and notes plus a foldable world map which is integrated into the notebook.
Finally, at the back of the notebook is a pocket where you could store receipts or other relevant documents you may want to keep on you.
So far, this notebook sounds near enough identical to the Moleskine notebooks. But the price difference is small. On Amazon.co.uk, a Moleskine notebook is £8.29 but the Flavin is $19.00 (which approximately equates to £11.68. One may opt for a Moleskine due to the price difference but let's look at the quality of the paper and notebooks first. Flavin has a cover which keeps the pages at the edges intact whereas the Moleskine only has a bit of elastic. If you are, like me, one who just throws things into their bag on a random basis, then with a Moleskine, the edges of the pages can get damaged easily! However, with the Flavin, the extra bit of cover keeps these edges looking as if the notebook was still new.
Now, onto the paper quality. In the next picture, I wrote on a page of the Arwey 70GSM paper using different pen types.
As you can see, there is no bleeding with any of the ink types except from the fountain pen which is the standard Parker ink. And this is how it looks on the other side:
As you can see, the outline of the writing is visible but not so visible that it will disrupt anything you write on that page (apart from the Parker fountain ink which also had problems with the bleeding as said before).
I just want to compare the paper with my Moleskine diary paper. In the picture below, look carefully at the writing in pink. It is written with a Uniball eye pen.
And this is how it looked on the other side on the Moleskine paper.
Comparing this with the Arwey paper:
Looking at the two, we can see a visible difference. On the Moleskine paper, the pink ink clearly bled and showed through very clearly on the other side to a significant degree.
However, on the Arwey paper, there was no bleed whatsoever; in fact, it actually looked very smooth. On the other side of the paper, as before, it is visible but not to the extent that you can read exactly what it said - unless you studied it for a long period and carefully too.
If you'd like to see more of the Flavin in action, click here for a product video from Arwey.
Also, if you'd like to place an order with Arwey, I have an exclusive deal for you all - but it is for this weekend only! 15% off with no minimum spend. Just enter PAPERLOVESTORY at the checkout. The code expires on Monday the 29th of August so get in there quick!
Stay tuned for part II! Thus far, I'm very impressed with the Flavin notebook but you'll have to check back in a few days to see if the Reich notebook impresses me as much!
Now, most of you should know this by now - I'm a sucker for fashion but I'm also a sucker for beautiful, high quality notebooks and stationery. So, when the lovely Rebecca brought Arwey to my attention, I was instantly drawn into the notebooks in fashionable colours and their simple design. I'm not sure how many of you have heard of Arwey but they are a notebook brand that has 'a range which blends function with style' and have 'notebooks [that] are designed to be practical and useful as well as good looking'. And boy, I was not disappointed with this description when the notebooks arrived.
Rebecca kindly sent me two notebooks from their range - Reich in blue and Flavin in green.
But before I launch into the review of the first notebook (I'll start with Flavin), I just want to say something about the service. The notebooks were despatched yesterday (from Istanbul in Turkey) and they arrived this morning! Very, very, impressive as I had expected a few days at the very least.
Anyway, onto the Flavin in green. I took the pictures on my windowsill to try and capture the real colour of the notebook and I brightened the pictures up a bit on Photoshop. The picture below is as accurate a representation I can get of the notebook's real colour - it isn't a horrid bright green, nor is it a dull one - it's a fashionable green, even if I do say so myself!
The Flavin is 168mm in height, 125mm in width and 19mm thick at it's widest part (due to its enclosure). It has a pen loop and the pen comes with the notebook.There is also a page marker in the form of a ribbon which is kind of similar to the one found in Moleskines.
In the photo below, you'll see that the pen loop and pen acts as the opening and closure of the book.
Upon opening the notebook, you'll see a few lines where you can write whatever you like - a quote that is motivational every day of the year or write your name and address/contact number if you're worried that you'll lose it.
The Flavin model is ruled and this is how it looks:
More about the paper later on in this post.
Anyway, towards the back, there are a few leaves where the edges are perforated. I tried to take a picture of this but it was hard to take one where the perforations were visible so you'll just have to take my word for it! I remember that about a year ago, people were saying that they wished that Filofax paper was tearable, for example, for giving someone your email address.
Well, in Arwey notebooks, this is a reality! There are 8 sheets which equates to 16 removable bits of paper (two on each sheet). Also at the back, there are pages where you can write down friends' and family members' birthdays, a yearly planner where each month has a space you can write things down on, a telephone numbers and email contacts page, a 'links' page where you can jot down the URLs of your favourite websites, a wish list page (where you can write down places you want to go to, foods to try, books to read, movies to watch, albums to listen and skills to learn), a page which displays world times, quite a few information pages and finally a page for travel planning with columns for the destination/itinery, date and notes plus a foldable world map which is integrated into the notebook.
Finally, at the back of the notebook is a pocket where you could store receipts or other relevant documents you may want to keep on you.
So far, this notebook sounds near enough identical to the Moleskine notebooks. But the price difference is small. On Amazon.co.uk, a Moleskine notebook is £8.29 but the Flavin is $19.00 (which approximately equates to £11.68. One may opt for a Moleskine due to the price difference but let's look at the quality of the paper and notebooks first. Flavin has a cover which keeps the pages at the edges intact whereas the Moleskine only has a bit of elastic. If you are, like me, one who just throws things into their bag on a random basis, then with a Moleskine, the edges of the pages can get damaged easily! However, with the Flavin, the extra bit of cover keeps these edges looking as if the notebook was still new.
Now, onto the paper quality. In the next picture, I wrote on a page of the Arwey 70GSM paper using different pen types.
As you can see, there is no bleeding with any of the ink types except from the fountain pen which is the standard Parker ink. And this is how it looks on the other side:
As you can see, the outline of the writing is visible but not so visible that it will disrupt anything you write on that page (apart from the Parker fountain ink which also had problems with the bleeding as said before).
I just want to compare the paper with my Moleskine diary paper. In the picture below, look carefully at the writing in pink. It is written with a Uniball eye pen.
And this is how it looked on the other side on the Moleskine paper.
Comparing this with the Arwey paper:
Looking at the two, we can see a visible difference. On the Moleskine paper, the pink ink clearly bled and showed through very clearly on the other side to a significant degree.
However, on the Arwey paper, there was no bleed whatsoever; in fact, it actually looked very smooth. On the other side of the paper, as before, it is visible but not to the extent that you can read exactly what it said - unless you studied it for a long period and carefully too.
If you'd like to see more of the Flavin in action, click here for a product video from Arwey.
Also, if you'd like to place an order with Arwey, I have an exclusive deal for you all - but it is for this weekend only! 15% off with no minimum spend. Just enter PAPERLOVESTORY at the checkout. The code expires on Monday the 29th of August so get in there quick!
Stay tuned for part II! Thus far, I'm very impressed with the Flavin notebook but you'll have to check back in a few days to see if the Reich notebook impresses me as much!
25 Aug 2011
muji notebook review
This post was tagged in
notebook,
review,
stationery
I've been using Muji notebooks for years and I can't believe I never blogged about them properly! You can find some here on their website but be warned that they aren't as cheap as some other notebooks that you may get from, say, Paperchase. However, I usually buy my Muji notebooks from Hong Kong Muji stores so if the exchange rate is favourable, I can normally get them for a fairly good deal compared to the UK prices. Anyway, here is the front cover:
Let's take a look at the paper. Ignore the content of the next page; I was just writing notes on things I had seen which had piqued my interest (thus, prompting me to research about them more on the internet).
The rule is narrow which is fine for me as my handwriting is on the smaller side anyway and the paper is a sort of faint yellowy colour (giving it a slightly vintage feel). The paper also feels smooth. The above picture shows a page where I used a rollerball pen. Next, I will show you how the paper looks with fountain pen.
For ease of writing, I actually preferred using the rollerball as I thought it made me write neater than with a fountain pen! Anyway, next crucial point - bleedthrough.
As you can see, you can see the faint outline of where I have written things, but there isn't any bleedthrough at all to such an extent that you can see the ink. With fountain pen, there was no bleedthrough at all and you couldn't even see the outline of my writing on the other side of the page.
Overall, I'm actually quite impressed with these notebooks. They are slim as the website says there are 30 pages in each - something which I can confirm as I counted mine...! There are 30 pages which equates to 60 sides where writing can go. And also, these notebooks do look quite 'fashionable' if you will. They are simple in design and do the job nicely. They come in a range of different sizes but I have the one that is not A5 but it isn't A4 either; it's somewhere in between the two sizes and I find this is still small enough to carry to lectures if needs be.
NB: Photos updated 31st January 2015
I've been using mine as a work experience diary for this summer as I'm shadowing doctors and seeing surgeries in nearby hospitals. I'm also using it as a notebook to collate all the stuff that would be relevant for my post-grad medicine application (such as sport, responsibilities I have had, etc). Anyway, the front cover is a mid-brownish colour and there is a yellow strip down the left hand side where the spine is. I actually bought a multipack of these and each spine had a different colour - there was red, yellow, grey and a navy too.
And overleaf:
Overall, I'm actually quite impressed with these notebooks. They are slim as the website says there are 30 pages in each - something which I can confirm as I counted mine...! There are 30 pages which equates to 60 sides where writing can go. And also, these notebooks do look quite 'fashionable' if you will. They are simple in design and do the job nicely. They come in a range of different sizes but I have the one that is not A5 but it isn't A4 either; it's somewhere in between the two sizes and I find this is still small enough to carry to lectures if needs be.
NB: Photos updated 31st January 2015
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