Gillio Campagna medium in orange epoca

I have been drooling over the Gillio for quite a while and I missed a chance of using the 25% discount code. At that time I wasn’t ready to acquire such an expensive binder yet. Now that things are much smoother and I’m ready to buy one. I decided to get a Gillio Campagna in 463 – Croco Fuchsia Mat but they’re out of stock until October. I don’t think I can wait that long. I watched videos on youtube over and over to decide which one to get. Of course, epoca is my next option but I like colors. I choose planners by looking at the leather and colors. The color that is missing from my glorious Filofax, Franklin Covey and Louis Vuitton collections is orange. So, I decided to get the epoca orange without even seeing the leather sample. I took a huge leap of fate that it will be pretty and absolutely yummy as other gillio planners are.

After a week of ordering, here came the white Gillio box. I didn’t take any picture of the box though. I just tear it open and unveil the Gillio bag.

Inside the box, there are a black box and a paper wrap.

The box read “Epoca Reddish”, I was surprised!  I ordered the Orange one, didn’t it?

Inside the black box, I have a gillio dust bag to protect my precious planner.

It’s the Gillio Campagna in orange epoca. Just the color I chose it.

The leather is so soft, smooth and very beautiful. I don’t know what or how to explain the leather of this planner

     

It has a snap closure and the strap of the closure is much wider than most of the planners. This makes it more durable to open and close without worrying about wears and tears. I saw some people clipped a pen on the strap. I did too but then I changed my mind. Since, the pen left a permanent dent on the strap so I no longer left the pen there.

Top view. I love my planner to be stuffed and heavy. This one is just perfect.

Flipping it open and review a beautiful innards. There are many pockets which I love love love. I especially love the patch leather as a cover. I don’t know what the specific purpose besides protecting the pages but I just love it sitting there doing absolutely nothing.

The Gillio logo. (The color is bit off). Mine doesn’t say “Campagna” on the front cover but it’s fine. (I’d be nice to have it there too though 🙂

Inside pockets. There are a zip pocket, credit card pocket and a secretarial pocket.

   

The inserts. I usually use the FC day on 2 pages but I found the Gillio inserts to be quite lovely, usable and very nice.

I requested GOLD RINGS!!!! I sent emails to gillio team and didn’t get any responses. I was worried whether I would get my gold rings.

My rings are perfect!!! I don’t have any misalignment!!! whoo hoo. I love gold rings.

I also love the corners that has a perforation! I could tear off whenever the week is over. It can be used as a bookmark as well.

It comes with a frosted ruler/page marker

I don’t know what to do with the rest of the inserts but I left them there since they’re so pretty. I especially love the numbers next to each tab. The inserts have numbers to coordinate with the tabs too. Genius!

There are 5 credit card pockets which are wide enough to slide more than one in a slot.

However it just comes with just one pen loop! I would love to have 2 pen loops since I love to carry many pens. Anyway, on the back of the pen loop has an elastic band so fat pens can be well rested in the loop.

On the back side of the planner, there is another secretarial pocket. I put a sheet of Martha Stewart dew drops in there.

 I got leather samples which is a day or two after I got the planner.
I requested 6-7 samples but they were in high demands so I only got 4, which were croco fuchsia, honey, red and epoca orange.

  

Like I said, I decided to get the planner before I could see the real color. Still, I am not disappointed at all.
The sample leather is a shade or two darker than the real one. In the picture, the planner is slightly brighter than the real thing.

MY VERDICTS

– I hesitated at first to invest in such a pricey planner. Now that I have one in my hand, I can’t say enough how much I love her. I would say like everyone else said “it’s worth every penny”.
– The leather is soft, smooth and it smells fantastic. I love the quality of the leather.
– I love the gold rings. There is something very special about these rings. I just love the gold tone against the leather.
– I love the deep back pocket that runs from left to right. It’s just perfect. I put an A4 sheet that folded in half and leave it permanently there.
– I love the pen loop. even if it’s just one pen loop, I’m still quite happy with it. I sometimes left a pen there and it just got in the way while I’m writing.

WILL I BUY ANOTHER GILLIO PLANNERS?
– Yes and I just did. I purchased another Gillio Campagna in croco fuchsia from Facebook, the previous owner is Karina Lopez. She decided to let go of fuchsia so I asked if I could buy it.
– I’m thinking of getting 2 more. But I would love to see the comparison between Campagna and Amica first.
– I’d like to have a lime green (the A5 one Mella showed us on YT) but I want a medium size, a Croco Honey, and a croco blue.
– I’ll have 3-4 months before I can place the order since they will be out of stock until then.
– I’ll review the Campagna Croco Fuchsia once I have her. I also want to see the review of the croco blue and croco honey since they’re my future purchases.

Franklin Covey lime green leather planner review

I got nominated to be one of most artistic blog on philofaxy.com. There will be 7 more days before closing time!

Please go to philofaxy.com and vote “Aea”. That’d mean so much to me. Thanks

Now let me go to what my topic is about.

I just got another planner couple days ago. I’ve been expecting it for a very long while (about 2 weeks and a half to be exact). Since the lime green is the only color that I didn’t have, I was kind of having pretty high hopes for it.

I was pretty excited with my new desk that I just bought from Ikea yesterday. I didn’t even think about the new planner until my hubby came into the room and told me that the maid was picking up my package and handed it to my hubby. (Yes, we have a maid! LOL).

I was in awe. Many excitements came hitting me like a pang in my heart. It’s like an unboxing presents after Christmas in July!

I opened the box hurriedly and it revealed such a nice lime green binder. I wouldn’t say the color is exact bright lime green but it closed enough.

My desired lime green binder has to be very bright and light lime green. Anyway, this one serves a purpose of having a binder in light green color.

 

The look of my new lime green Franklin Covey on my new polka dot desk fabric tablecloth.. It looks just like X’Mas, don’t you think?

 

Open it

 

The clasp. Like I told you in previous blog that I’m a sucker when it comes to buckle. This one just grab my heart the minute I found her.
With the adjustable buckle, I can add as many inserts and stuffs as I desire to. Lovely!

 

 

The back side of the closure.

A sneak peak of what look like inside.

The front cover has 3 horizontal card pockets, a full-length zip compartment, and a full length pocket. Very many pockets just the way I love my binder to be.

The leather flap to protect the rings from making marks on the inside leather. Very clever I must say.

I even reminded me of the famous Gillio Campagna that has a leather patch on the front.

The massive rings measured about 30 mm from inside rings.

The back has the Full Grain Leather 32552.116 embossed. This one is made in China.

You may think this binder is just a normal one, nothing special. Now I give you more thing to rethink about.

Look! The whole rings can be taken out apart from the binder. This is the first time I see the binder with such a unique feature. I can change the binder by just sliding out of this one and insert into another binder. How easy is that?

The ring mechanisms are just perfect. I don’t have any problems with misalignment! Thanks goodness for another find that doesn’t break my heart.

You can notice the size of the rings up close.

Now another reason why I told you this one was so different and very special.

It has a deep pocket running from front to back of the binder. It doesn’t have any cardboard or anything inside.
This binder is so flexible in a good way. It also reminds me of my new found love, Mr. Gillio (I’m calling it Mr. G from now on). The campagna in medium size has a full length pocket running around the binder similar to this one.

I don’t know who copied who, all I care is I like this feature.

There are two loops!!! Yay!!! This planner answers everything I ever asked for.

The pen loops are elasticized. One in the front and the other one is in the back.

Filofax Chili Cuban review

I just recently got a new Filofax Cuban in my favorite color. I bought it because it’s on sale 70% off at my local department store, Isetan here in Bangkok. If it weren’t on sale, I didn’t think I could afford it. My dream planner, Gillio will be a little far fetch once again. *sob sob*

Anyway, The Cuban is always on my wishlist but I can never find on ebay or FF websites. Luckily, I found this chili planner just where I live with a huge sale too. yay!

The regular price was 9500 B (about US $300), which is pretty steep and ridiculously expensive for a planner. With a 70% off, the price went down to 2370 B (about $80). It’s still expensive but the good thing is I don’t have to wait for it in the mail nor need to pay extra for custom taxes (30% of its price) .

This is how my Cuban looks… It’s not a brand new model. I think it comes out awhile already.

It has a snap closure. The strap has some creases before I bought it. Maybe a lot of people were interested in this binder, they tried to have a sneak peak inside now and then.I could understand that. It’s no biggie.  This was the last one on display.

Inside the strap. It’s quite long so I don’t have any problems closing the binder when overstuffed it with many inserts, stickers and papers. Unlike the original that has a pretty short strap that I can’t close my binder without stretching the straps or cause a crease in the back leather.

Inside the front cover reveals the Filofax Cuban and pockets. The pockets are too small to fit any of my credit cards. I can’t put any of my cards in there!. Please hear me out Filofax! please enlarge your pockets and pen loops (if you even hear/read)

The Cuban was embossed nicely inside the front pocket. I love to just look at for no reasons.

The back pocket has a full zip compartment with a mesh (semi-see through). I don’t know what to use this deep full pocket for.

Maybe some other time later, I will find out.

The back side of the binder

The inside rings I don’t have any problems with misalignment for this one.

I use the fabric sheet to protect the rings rubbing against the inside leather and keep the rings from leaving their marks on the innards

 

There is just one pen loop. It’s super small even for my slim Frixion pen is too tight for this pen loop.

I always use Franklin Covey in all my planners. This one does fit well. The strap doesn’t crush with the monthly tabs that stick pretty far out in most Filofax planners.

With a good load of inserts, this Cuban can still hold my bits and bobs. I can’t love her enough.

I don’t have a name for her yet. I may just call her “Chili” for now. Off I go play with my Chilli. Ciao!

I’m pretty happy with my purchase.

VERDICTS

– The only gripe is that it has a thick cardboard and a foam patch inside the cover which makes it bulky and thick to carry in my purse.
– The quality of the binder is pretty well made.
– I love the contrast stitching.
– This binder is well made overall.
– I hope it has a bigger side pen loop. Two pen loops would even better

Filofax The Original and my new tote

I just got a new tote yesterday. I chose the cotton blue to go with my beautiful yellow FF Original.

I decided to trim the sizes of the Franklin Covey inserts so I use my Filofax anytime i want to.

Also, i think they really look very good together!