I remember a time in college, I went to Fully Booked Ayala, trying to see if I could ever afford a Moleskine Classic, which I obviously couldn't, only to realize years after that a more affordable local journal that's a perfect alternative was just right under my nose that whole time!
This is where I introduce the brand Papernotes, a local notebook manufacturer; and as the story earlier progressed, this quickly slid up my list of all-time-favorite notebooks, and for good reasons at that.
But as we all know, it would take more to influence smart buyers to purchase something; just because someone else swears by it simply wouldn't make them budge, so without further ado, let's begin the review! 💗
THE LAYOUT
Homegrown stationary brand Papernotes specializes in soft-bound, smyth-sewn journals available in A5 and A6 sizes. For now, we'll review the classic A5 (the A6 on its own post soon) as they are crafted faintly different from each other.
Their journals have four page styles to choose from⏤blank, ruled, dotted, grid; though I always only get the dotted ones because it's the only style that sits well with me. 😅
Here are the other features of the journals:
- semi-soft leatherette covers, slightly textured
- may be personalized, debossed with a maximum of 15 characters, spaces and special characters included
- contains 80 leaves or 160 pages of 100 GSM ivory paper
- smyth sewn binding, can be laid flat when opened
- gusseted back pocket
- 1 ribbon bookmark
- attached garterized pen holder
- elastic enclosure band
- comes in dotted, grid, blank, and ruled
- available in 16 colors—carbon (black), coffee (brown), denim (blue), crimson (red), sky (light blue), leaf (apple green), mint (teal), blush (pink), overcast (gray), nori (dark green), mustard (marigold), eggplant (purple), sunkist (orange), burgundy (dark red), avocado (olive green), caramel (yellow brown)
SAMPLE PAGES
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| Sorry for the messy notes! This is from when I joined a Tinuiti Conference 😅 |
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| An ode to my now-defunct personal blog ♡ |
THE PEN-TO-PAPER TEST
Findings
- There was little to no ghosting at all. The ones I noted on the right photo are those rather obvious from the back side but not at all distracting.
- I made sure to include as varied inks on this test as possible to see how the page performs, and based on the results, it shows that whether you're using a 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, or a fineliner pen, the paper can be good match.
- The Stabilo highlighter produced light ghosting, which was somehow expected since Stabilo highlighters (especially from their Boss Original line) are known to have really thick, heavy ink. If you're a fan of the Stabilo Boss highlighters, then you might not mesh well with this journal.
THE YELLOW LEGAL PAD TEST
pros
- The paper quality is impressive. It's smooth and not flimsy at all, plus I love the off-white shade.
- Wide range of pretty colors! I'm pretty sure there's a color that fits your style.
- Back compartment! Not all journals feature this, so I really appreciate it whenever a journal has this thoughtful detail.
- It's definitely durable! The notebook you see on this post is a notebook I've bought from them October last year, and it still looks very decent for a year-old journal.
- I like how dark/light (depending on how you look at it) the dots are on the pages. I think that it's functional without necessarily being an eyesore.
- The debossed personalization is clean and clear. I can attest to this as I've bought personalized ones; I can't insert a photo though as I left those in Cebu, but here's one from the shop:
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| Photo from Papernotes PH |
cons
- It's only available online. I know there are those who consider this a dealbreaker, preferring to see the item in person before purchasing. (Although with today's setup, is it even an issue?)
- Dark gray dots. This can be distracting to some who prefer light gray dots on their dotted journals. I personally am okay with their gray dots.
- There's only one font for personalization. Since I've seen this option from other shop, I thought I'd consider it on this review as well.
- There's a pit-like portion on the cover for the elastic band enclosure to rest when the journal is closed. It honestly did take me some getting-used-to because I've never encountered any other journal that had that detail before, so I'm including it here just in case it's anybody else's dealbreaker. (For the record, this doesn't bother me anymore. 😇)
THE VERDICT
price point
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durability
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paper quality
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design
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accessibility
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final rating: 4.8 / 5
RECOMMENDATION
Time and time again, the Papernotes Classic has been getting reviews of being a local dupe to Italian brand and journal giant Moleskine. So if you're a Moleskine fan on a budget, give this one a chance.
Aside from getting to support local brands, the quality that Papernotes produces doesn't shy away from the quality of the more expensive and more popular international brands, so you're sure getting a bang for every buck. And in fairness, I haven't been disappointed in the four journals I've already gotten from them. I even managed to have my mom and sister grab their own journals as well!
I've recommended it to family and friends, and I would happily recommend it to you too! 🤗In fact, you can spot this notebook in one of my recommendations in the "Beginner's Guide to Buying the Perfect Journal + Recommendations" post.
QUICK NOTES
Where to buy: Shopee Mall | Lazada
Great review! Just what I've been looking for.I just ordered mine earlier from Lazada.
ReplyDeleteHi! :) Oh I'm so happy to hear that; glad to be of help! Excited for you to enjoy your Papernotes journal! ♡
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