Review by Laura Cameron
When I dug into the samples for The Desk to review, I was delighted to find a set of Octaevo notebooks. The Travel Notes Gold Pack ($19.00) is a set of three passport sized notebooks.
The covers are linen, and printed with stamps of Mediterranean cities. The blue notebook is the Travel Notes No. 1, Barcelona, filled with blank pages; the yellow is the Travel Notes No. 2, Alexandria, and is filled with ruled pages; and the orange is the Travel Notes No. 3, Athens, and is filled with dot grid pages. All books have 52 white 90gsm pages.
All of the books feature a contact page inside the front cover, which should aid in returning the book to you if ever it should be lost. The inside back cover includes a bit of information about Octaevo, as well as specifications of the notebook and a handy ruler along the edge.
I enjoyed these notebooks. The linen covers have a nice tactile feel and the notebooks feel sturdy. The paper is nice and quite smooth. I tested a variety of fountain pen inks, along with my gel pens and fine liners and even when adding some color or emphasis I saw only a bit of ghosting and no bleed through. I think these would be great notebooks for recording notes on your travels, or just to live with your every day carry for lists or bits and pieces of things you want to record. The set of three notebooks is reasonably priced and would make a nice gift to yourself or others.
That said, we have a giveaway for you! The giveaway includes:
- ONE Marble Notes Blue – a B5 notebook, featuring a Mediterranean marbled cover, and 80 dot grid 100gsm pages,
- ONE Voyage, Cinema Notes No. 3 Notebook – a passport sized notebook, featuring a textured linen cover and 52 dot grid 90 gsm pages,
- ONE Creative Notes Notebook – an A5 notebook, featuring a cotton cover and 52 dot grid 92gsm pages, and
- ONE Brass Bookmark
To enter to win,
TO ENTER: Please visit Milligram (who generously sent us these materials for review) and leave a comment letting us know what Octaveo products catch your eye!
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Tuesday, December 12. 2017. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Wednesday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear – just email you if you win. If winner does not respond within 7 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US residents and APO/FPO only please (The kind folks from Milligram shipped them all the way over from Australia, don’t make us ship them back over there, okay?).
Laura is a tech editor, podcaster, knitter, spinner and recent pen addict. You can learn more about her knitting and tea adventures on her website, The Corner of Knit & Tea and can find her on Instagram as Fluffykira.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Milligram for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
Thanks for the giveaway opportunity! I like the bright colors and fun patterns Octaevo uses. The Bazaar Yellow notebook caught my eye, and I’m using a passport sized planner this year so I’ve been looking at different notebooks, wasn’t aware of these yet!
I’d say the Marble notes is my favorite.
I really like the colors that they use, and I love the brass bookmarks! The lobster and sunglasses are just so cute!
I love their overall color and design aesthetic. My favorite item is the Philosophy notebooks, most especially Diogenes. They would make charming gifts with a nice bottle of wine.
My favorite was the one with the quote about drinking other people’s wine. But I’d qualify it: it’s best when the others’ wine is actually good!
Thank you, Laura!
The colorful Creative Notes notebooks and metal bookmarks are probably my faves, but there are no bad choices among Octaevo’s offerings as far as I can tell.
I am currently looking for different washi tapes and they have a fine collection. 🙂
OCTAEVO – CREATIVE NOTES NOTEBOOK – A5 (13X21CM) – DOT GRID
OCTAEVO – CREATIVE NOTES NOTEBOOK – A5 (13X21CM) – DOT GRID – PALMA BLACK
You will certainly be able to discern this uniquely styled and designed notebook from other brands. Octaevo hit a home run with this notebook!
hmm, that Cinema Notes No. 3 looks pretty fresh.
In the market for a new planner for the upcoming year. This one from Octaevo looks fantastic!
Octaevo – A Year of Sun Undated Agenda Notebook Diary – Weekly Vertical – A5
I love the lobster brass bookmark! It got me giggling! I love the colour spectrum Octaevo uses; coupled with dot graph paper and fountain pen friendly paper, I’m sold! I want to play!
Thank you for the opportunity for this giveaway.
The Creative Notes in Yellow is really cool! I like yellow in general. The marble notebooks are also very pleasing to the eye.
What a great giveaway. Thank you. I moused around Octaevo. Luscious stuff. I do especially like the B5 Marble notebook and the brass lobster bookmark. Fun!
I’ve gotta go with the Octaevo Philosophy notes myself, but as far as catching the eye, the Mediterranean paper flower vases definitely did. Thought all the notebooks were great, though…
Thanks for the giveaway!
I like the bon vivant red lobster bookmark and the Athens passport notebook! They’re very colorful and I like the designs.
I’m a big fan of their Cinema Notes!
Great review! The philosophy notebooks are very cute and would make good gifts for some of my friends.
I’m digging that blue Year of the Sun planner. Great giveaway… Thanks.
It all looks great, but the Philosophy Notes “Epicurus” Notebook caught my eye. Good stuff. Thanks for the contest.
I love the travel notebooks and the creative notes books.
Love the quality.
Would love to win these!
The Philosophy Notes “Aristotle” in Orange is definitely a favorite for me!
The linen covers look luxurious and the passport size makes a good, tuck-in-the-Pocket-and-go notebook. Thank you.
I have to admit the Milligram – Utility Notebooks caught my eye. Looks like a great notebook.
The little kid in me wants to win because of that Octaevo – Brass Bookmark – Bon Vivant Red.
Thank you as always for coordinating these giveaways!
The bright yellow Year of the Sun undated planner immediately caught my eye. Of course, it could be because it’s 15 degrees outside and snow on the ground and the thought of sun and warmth sounds great.
Octaevo notebooks are gorgeous and the paper flower vases look so cool, but I’m absolutely smitten with the lobster book marks!
I love the clean design of Octaevo’s whole line, but their ‘A Year of Sun Undated Agenda Notebook Diary’ takes the cake.
Love the Marble notebooks – beautiful designs and colors.
Fun Giveaway!
I really like the
Octaevo – Creative Notes Notebook – A5 (13x21cm) – Dot Grid – Palma Black
and who doesn’t want a lobster bookmark.
A lot of great stuff on milligram, been eyeing a new a5 size notebook and the delfonics table of contents notebook caught my eye. Although I’d love this creative notes one too.
I’d take the Marble notebooks anyday!
Hello Laura,
The Year of Sun, A5! When I saw the yellow color, I thought (and sighed) ”Aaah ! Suuuun !”
It looks gourgeous.
Thank you for the giveaway 🙂
(by the way, Rhodia Drive sent me here, regarding your post of the Heritage Book Review 🙂 What a nice discovery today – your blog!)
I like the creative notes ,love a dot grid thank you
I really like the Travel Notes that you reviewed. They would be great to take on a trip or just use in daily life.
I like that the Travel Notes Gold Pack is a set of smaller sized notebooks
that can easily fit into pockets or purses and that they are lined, dot grid, or blank.
Should make great stocking stuffers!
Those Octaevo notebooks have some nice design going on, and that lobster bookmark is fabulous!
The Marble Notes Blue B5 notebook looks great! That one’s my favorite.
I really like Liguria Blue from the Creative Notes Notebook series–dot grid plus a lovely pattern!
I absolutely love these notebooks. My favorites would be the Philosophy Notes and the Classic Notes. Really beautiful notebooks all around.
Love these, was looking at them earlier today and am happy to stumble on the giveaway.
I very much the colors of the Year of Sun Agendas, but the colors and quotes on the Philosophy Notes notebooks (particularly the Diogenes) put them over the top.
I’ve always loved notebooks with fabric, so the Voyage is my favorite. I also prefer dot git which it also have. A clean an beautiful notebook.
The lobster bookmark is so clever. Love the colors and design! I found several geometric-design notebooks on the Milligram site that are attractive, too.
I really appreciate that Freud and Nietsche notebooks exist. And I love the night thoughts notebook. I have those!
I must say that the Philosophy Notes “Aristotle” notebook is definitely a fave!
The OCTAEVO – BRASS BOOKMARK – RIVIERA BLUE caught my eye. Super cute sunglasses. Thanks for the chance.
Hello! I’d like to enter the giveaway by suggesting the https://milligram.com/milligram-kaweco-collaboration-skyline-a6-everyday-notebook-gift-set-medium.
The sage green color caught my eye first, and the combo of notebook and fountain pen is irresistible to me, as newbie to fountain pens!
Thank you for the opportunity’i LOVE The Well Appointed Desk!
Passport-sized notebooks tend to draw my attention (Field Notes has gotten a not-insignificant quantity of money out of me). My preference for these little notebooks is for grid- or dot-ruled, so OCTAEVO’s “Epicurus” Philosophy Notes, “Athens” Travel Notes, and “The Voyage” Cinema notes are of more interest to me than most other options. I also found some appeal in the “Euclid” Brass Bookmark as well.
The cinema notes 3 pack really look nice.