Coloring Notebook Review!

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by the co-founder of the Coloring Notebook, and they asked if I'd like to review it. As always with opportunities like these I took a good look at the website, had a nosey at what it was all about and decided that it was something I'd like to have a closer look at!

Something that I liked straight off was that it was a nice simple black notebook, nothing too fancy. This makes it pretty easy to be universal too, it's not aimed at men or women, it's an either or product.

As you will see in the rest of this blogpost, the colouring pages aren't too 'girly' either. There's the odd picture of some cute owls, but there's also a page with what looks like Godzilla attacking a city, so yeh, it's not aimed at any gender in particular, and I'd say that 90% of the pictures to colour are universal.

Above is a photo of the little paper cover that comes on the notebook. It gives you all the specific details about the book, the paper quality, dimensions, pages etc.

Something I thought was pretty good was the fact that you could choose lined, blank or grid & dot paper for the 'notebook' part of the notebook. I got the lined paper one, and I'm happy to say that they aren't wide lines! There's about a 6mm gap between each line which I love, because my writing isn't massive, so I'm always worried incase the lines are super wide. Having the option of blank or grid & dot paper, would mean it could even be a good choice for a bullet journal! 

The branding on the notebook is really subtle, which is nice. It's there, and easy to find, but it's not in your face at all, and if anything is adds to the notebook rather than takes anything away from it. Other than that, on the outside there's just a simple black elastic closure.

Inside the pages aren't even, sometimes there's two lined pages between colouring pages, sometimes there's just one, I like this variety. Having the option to write on a double page rather than a single page is nice. If I were to use this as a creative journal, I would probably save the larger chunk of pages for documenting with photos, and the smaller sections for just writing.

Here are a few snaps of the style of colouring pages inside, if you know me, you know I'm a fussy colour-er (I don't think that's even a word, but for the sake of this blogpost we will pretend it is..). 

I like bolder lines, and colouring larger chunks of space, or if it's smaller designs then the lines need to be even and not loads of different thicknesses.

There's some pictures in here that honestly aren't up my street. But, after looking through every picture, I would say there's still waaaay more pictures I would colour, compared to the ones I wouldn't. Any that I don't fancy colouring I can use as a fun monochrome patterned background for sticking photos down or something! There's always a way to use a page like this, even if you aren't going to use it for the intended use.

Like I said before with the lined pages, there was a mixture of the number of lined pages between colouring pages. With the colouring pages there's also a mixture of single pages to colour, and then double spreads like the above photo shows!

This variety in the pages is definitely something I'm a fan of! If you watch my creative journaling videos, you know I jump around in my pages, I never go from front to back. This is because I like the variety, and find it easier to fill a book if I start from somewhere in the middle.

It definitely goes along the same lines for me in this book, I feel like the book has already been jumbled up for me, it doesn't go A to B to A to B, so it's not going to feel like I have miles of 'blank' pages ahead.

Does that make sense? Hopefully it does haha, I realise I may not have explained that in the best way.

I decided to test out some pens on the pages. When it comes to colouring I definitely choose pens over pencils, so it is important to me that some sort of pen I own will work on the pages and won't bleed through. The pens I tested were..

Turquoise Sharpie

Pink Stabilo Fine Point

Orange Color' Peps

Blue Berol Papermate Fine

As you can see, the only pen that really bled through was the Sharpie, the other pens I would consider bearable shadowing. Whether you are using pen's or pencils to colour, there's going to be some sort of shadowing or denting in the page, so I think it's a given that they aren't going to stay pristine.

The last two features I wanted to point out in this notebook were the bookmark (LOVE the fact that it's yellow!), and the pocket on the back cover of the notebook. Two features that helps to make this notebook a more functional book, compared to 'just' being a colouring book.

You can purchase the Coloring Notebook on..

Amazon (US)

Etsy (UK - Free shipping too!)

(I don't think it's available on the UK Amazon, I wasn't able to find a link.)

Overall I'm pretty impressed with it, a lot of thought has gone into this notebook, and not just with the colouring pages, but the layout of the notebook too. I feel like this can definitely be used for more than just a notebook or just a colouring book.

Happy Friday!

- Daisy X

*Please note, even though these products were sent to me free of charge, this does not sway my views and opinions. I will always share my honest views on the product and company.

Momoka 53, First Impressions Review!

Today I have a beautiful brand to share with you guys, one which I've never heard of before!

I was contacted by Momoka herself asking if I'd like to review some of her notebooks. I get a lot of review requests and always take a look at the websites to see if anything catches my eye.

These notebooks definitely did!
(We will also be teaming up to bring you guys a giveaway over on my Instagram, so make sure you are following me on there so you don't miss out!)

A brief run down on Momoka and her brand, Momoka 53... 

Momoka is a textile designer & hand weaver. She finished a masters degree in Textile Design at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, and then went on to sell her designs worldwide.

She doesn't just sell notebooks on her website, there's a range of clothes, homewares and various other items. But today I'm here to share with you her very unique notebooks!

These notebooks are hand dyed and foiled by Momoka herself, so every notebook is completely one of a kind.

The packaging and presentation of the notebooks is also something to point out. I was sent a little catalogue and note from Momoka, they were in a little kraft envelope with twine & a wax seal.

Of course this might not be something she does with every order, but I wanted to share it because it was just too pretty not to.

Each notebook comes in a very sturdy grey box, with a gold foiled logo on the front. It's very simple packaging, but it helps to conceal the beautiful product inside. If you are considering getting one of these notebooks as a gift for someone, then these boxes are brilliant.

Seeing as they are such great quality, I'm actually going to be keeping them to store bits and pieces in! They definitely aren't boxes you would just throw away after using haha!

As I said before, the notebooks themselves are one of a kind. Each one has been hand dyed by Momoka, both of these notebooks came with a little card which I'm assuming is sharing the date it was made, and also which number notebook it is from the batch. This is something I've never had with a notebook before, and honestly it does make it feel that little more special. It's not something that's been mass produced. It's something that's had a lot of care and attention gone into making it, and really is, one of a kind.

When it comes to the notebook's details, I mentioned that they were hand dyed and gold foiled. From what I can tell, the material is a type of denim, and the mix of the blue denim and gold foiling is something I've not seen before on stationery, and I honestly really love it! 

As you can see above the gold foiling looks slightly 'worn', this is how it is meant to look. I've had a good scratch at the gold foiling to see how well it's stuck on there, and I can assure you, it's on there good and proper! There was no flakiness what so ever on either of the notebooks, and seem very durable considering it's gold foiling.

The notebooks also have gold metal corners & gold foiling around the edge of the pages. Again I think this sections of gold do compliment the material of the notebook really well.

I don't think the notebooks would have been the same if they didn't have those gold corners, they definitely give the notebook that's 'finished' feel.

The pages are dotted throughout the whole notebook. This may be a negative for some people, but personally I enjoy using dotted pages. I have dotted pages in my current bullet journal and I've found that they are a nice middle ground between gridded and blank pages. If you aren't a dotted page fan though, then this might be a con for you, as there's no option on the website right now for any other choice of paper.

Above is a photo of the whole cover, back & front, so you can see the overall design. This is the A5 notebook, and it has the 'Horizon' gold foiling design (there's four different gold foiling designs to choose from). The white sections where the material has been dyed will be unique to each notebook, so keep in mind that your notebook may look different to mine & the ones featured on the website.

This notebook is the smaller A6 sized one, and it has the 'Sun' gold foiling design. I think at the moment I do prefer this 'Sun' design, to the 'Horizon' design on the A5 sized one. This design also carries on to the back of the notebook, and as you can see the dyed sections on this A6 are different to the A5 notebook. This notebook is laid out exactly the same, the only difference is that it is smaller!

Both notebooks also have a little 'Hand made by Momoka 53' printed on the inside of the notebook. The branding is nice and simple with the product & packaging, there's nothing too overwhelming which I think is really good. It's there, but it's not in your face or ruining the overall look of the product.

When it comes to paper quality and pen tests, I decided to try out a variety of different pens on the paper. I went for a few pens I use very often, and also some pens that are relatively popular.

So from top to bottom there is..

Stabilo Green Point 

Generic Pink Highlighter

Generic Black Gel Ink Pen

Blue Coleto Pen

Nano Liner Permanent Ink

Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner

Turquoise Sharpie Permanent Marker

As you can see the only two that bled through a bit were the two permanent markers! (which is a given really as permanent markers are pretty intense!)

There was slight shadowing on the Stabilo Green Point because it's more of a felt tip type of pen. But the rest were completely fine! The paper isn't overly thick, and is definitely more on the thin side (80g), but it held up well considering, and it is very pleasant to write on.

Overall I'm honestly very impressed with both the notebooks, and also the brand as a whole! You can tell a lot of effort has gone into these beautiful notebooks, and Momoka really does an amazing job!

You can take a look at her website here.

I'll also leave links to the exact products featured below:

Graceful Decay A5 Notebook - Style 'Horizon' (£20)

Graceful Decay A6 Notebook - Style ' Sun' (£15) 

(Standard shipping to the UK is FREE)

Let me know what you think of these notebooks, and also be sure to keep an eye out over on my Instagram for the collaborative giveaway I'm doing with Momoka 53!

Thanks so much for reading - Daisy X

*Please note, even though these products were sent to me free of charge, this does not sway my views and opinions. I will always share my honest views on the product and company.