When I wrote here last time in September, I knew that I wouldn't post as much after, but I thought I'd have at least some time to write rough copies. I managed to keep up with my purchases for some weeks (taking pictures and writing first impressions), but in October I sadly let blogging rot—work and school had taken over. Now that I'm on vacation, I have some time to share here what I got since I last blogged. This post is about the stationery I ordered this summer and received in August, September and October.
To place this haul in context, back in July, I had an epiphany that I needed an agenda to organize my life. I believe I was influenced by the fact that I was starting school in September. After watching countless videos on YouTube about planners and unsuccessfully looking for one in the stores near me, I finally found a planner I liked on AliExpress (and a bunch of other things to decorate it).
This was my second time buying from AliExpress, as I never liked the platform. It started when I found out there are shops on there selling Bobon21 and Candy Rain clothing (and probably other Taobao brands too). I have no idea if these clothes are rip-offs or if the shops are authorized resellers, but the whole platform just seemed fishy to me from that point on.
Now that I've seen AliExpress's stationery offer, my opinion of the platform kinda changed. The fact that it sells good quality stationery (from my personal experience) at a cheaper price (compared to Etsy or Michaels) makes the platform a stationery paradise. There are so many shops which cater to so many different styles. There are obviously some downsides with AliExpress, such as possible mistakes in your order, shipping that takes forever (I live in Canada) and the probability that you may never receive your parcel. All three happened to me.
Anyway, here's the haul 📦
(For the planner fail, it starts at the sentence "So you're probably curious"...)
Note 1: Except if mentioned otherwise, everything is from AliExpress.
Note 2: All of my pen swatches were made in this dollar store notebook (hence on cheap and thin paper inclined to ghosting and bleeding):
Purple A5 Planner With Gold Lozenges (Wenzhou Stone Communication & Stationery Company)
It took me a while to find a planner that ticked all of my boxes. I looked both in my local stores and online. Local stores didn't carry these planners (only agendas), as for online, turns out this kind of planner is quite expensive! I had spotted a lovely lilac one from kikki.K, but it was from a 2015 collection and only one (rather used) was listed on eBay for $100 USD... so that was a no for me, unfortunately.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of said planner on AliExpress and bought it without a second thought.
I wouldn't consider having paid a cheap price, but it was still cheaper (and much prettier) than other planners on Amazon or eBay.
Monthly and Weekly Inserts (Petrichor)
These inserts were the closest looking ones to other inserts that were too expensive for me. I ordered one pack of monthly inserts and three packs of weekly inserts. As you can see, some arrived with the corners turned up.
I don't like these inserts as much as I thought I would. Besides the folded and weird-looking corners, I didn't expect the writing to be this pale.
Despite everything, the inserts stay totally useable. There's some good in the fact that the writing is light; it allows me to decorate the pages more easily with my own colours. Also, I can always cover the actual days of the week and rewrite them in the order I prefer.
Dividers (Globe-Trade001)
Considering the state in which the above inserts arrived, I was worried that the dividers would suffer the same fate, but they did not!
The only thing is that they don't fit in my A5 planner lmao. Didn't expect that.
To fix it, I covered each divider's side with clear adhesive book cover. Then I punched new holes to fit my A5:
Clear Ziploc-like Pockets (Go west Store)
I wasn't as lucky with these little ones; they arrived completely folded in half.
My mom told me that I could lessen the folds by warming the pockets with a blow dryer, which I did. We then put a heavy object over the warmed-up pockets:
Purple Grid Inserts (Sharkbang Stationery Store)
I had never seen coloured grid paper before so of course I wanted to get these inserts. Also I knew they'd look great with my purple planner.
My Melody Sticky Memo Pad (papa-leton Store)
I had ordered two kinds of memo pads from this shop but I only received one. I do remember thinking I should contact the seller, but I didn't have any proof, so I just confirmed the reception of my order and kept silent. Now that I look back, I could've used the shipping label on the package as proof of one memo pad missing (by the package weight or content description).
Sanrio Characters Sticky Notes and Stickers (mengtai Official Store)
One thing I dislike about these stickers is their surface; it doesn't feel soft like normal stickers. The texture is similar to the white lustrous paper you frequently find on the front pastedown of a book; running your nails against this paper feels like that awful chalkboard screech. Not AS MUCH, but a little bit. Hm... it's hard to describe it clearly, but it's not a pleasant feeling.
Another thing I dislike is that they're not really adhesive:
Cinammoroll Stickers (acca Store)
I really wanted to restrict myself on the stickers, because I already own a bunch. But oh my, the stickers on AliExpress are insanely cute. A lot of them are hard to resist and I ended up buying these Cinammoroll ones.
Decorative Roller Tape (Patty's stationery shop)
This roller tape is so easy to use and the result looks awesome (see pic below). It works the same (and just as well) as correction tape. I'll definitely buy this product again and will look for other similar styles.
0.38 mm Ink Pens (Small Fish Er stationery Store)
From primary school to high school, my favourite pens to write with were the Staedtler triplus fineliners. I had the pack of 10 and had grown my collection during high school, acquiring one by one the nicest colours from the pack of 20. After high school, I began to doodle less in my agendas and notebooks. When a Staedtler would become out of ink, I'd just throw it and not replace it; which leaves me with none left right now.
All this to say that I knew how important pens were, especially coloured ones if I wanted to have a cute-looking planner. I had thought about buying triplus fineliners again, but I was curious to try other brands. The ones below were cheap, came in different colours, had a Hello Kitty design and a 0.38 mm diameter tip. Exactly my dream pens!
I used the black pen daily to take notes and it lasted around three weeks. The pens also ghost. I'm surprised that their diameter is 0.38 mm, it looks bigger to me.
All in all, I won't buy these again. Despite being affordable, coming in nice colours and showcasing a unique design, I prefer to pay more for better quality pens. Out of all stationery items, I think I'm the pickiest on pens.
Milkliner Double Highlighters (MROOFUL Outlet Store)
Pastel highlighters were a must-buy for me. I was in university when I noticed companies started to produce them, but I never bought a pack. My study notes were far from being aesthetic thus I didn't think it was worth it to spend money on pretty pens and highlighters.
As is the case for pens, there are lots of cheaply priced pastel highlighters to choose from on AliExpress. I decided to go with Milkliner. They seemed the most natural and comfortable to hold when highlighting (like a normal pen).
I love the blue and purple highlighters. The blue one looks like a bright aqua on my camera, but it's definitely a softer blue in reality. The pink one reminds me of a normal pink highlighter (not a pink pastel), but it isn't too "flashy", so I don't dislike it.
I swore I had seen these highlighters before, but I couldn't remember where. A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that they're actually copies of Mildliner highlighters! They look the same design-wise. I looked at Mildliner swatches and there is a grey highlighter. Plus there are lots of different shades other than the usual pastels. I'd like to try the OGs someday.
So here's what I think of the stationery on AliExpress after this first haul: yes, some stuff is a bit damaged, but there's nothing that can't be fixed; you just need to be a little creative to hide the small defects. I'll definitely buy again on there.
So you're probably curious to see how I decorated my inserts with all the cute stuff that I bought...
I'm pretty sure these are among the ugliest planner snippets you've (and you'll) ever seen on the internet. Notably because it's plain and empty, but even a plain and empty agenda/planner wouldn't look as bad. I believe what makes mine truly awful is that I actually tried to make it look cute and failed miserably.
The main reasons for this result are:
- My unbusy life: I don't lead a busy life in general, especially since I've been staying at my parent's house because of the pandemic. I do have work and school, but I write my work-related notes in an ugly spiral notebook (for practicality). As for school, my courses don't require me to take notes every day of the week in my planner. I usually have one or more chapters to read in each course and that's my major work for the whole week, plus some assignments to hand in at certain weeks. So as you can imagine, I don't have enough schoolwork (thankfully) and other activities to fill up space.
- Not having enough time: Lol this is completely contradictory from the first reason, but it's the truth; I didn't have enough time to make my inserts pretty. I was already "forcing" myself to write in my planner on a daily basis until I stopped completely in October.
- A lack of inspiration: Even if I would've had time to decorate my inserts, I don't think I would've done so much of a better job. I just felt devoid of inspiration when I looked at the inserts. And even though I had bought so many cute stationery, I didn't want to use any of it. Weirdly, I felt I was "wasting" my stuff although I had bought it specifically for this. That's why most of the stickers you see in the inserts pics aren't from this haul—they're old stickers.
To clarify the reason why there's black ink everywhere and no colours at all: because I hadn't yet received my Hello Kitty pens from AliExpress, but really couldn't wait to start using my planner, I just grabbed a black ballpoint pen I already had. I hate using ballpoint pens when I want to make my writing look pretty, but it was my only option since I didn't want to go buy pens at the store when I was already waiting for a pack of 10 to arrive... I thought I could eventually fix the ugliness by adding stickers and stuff, but it didn't happen.
Some reflections following that planner fail...
At first, I thought it was the purple planner thingy that didn't fit my lifestyle (idk how to say it but I mean the 6-ring binder without the inserts). Then I started to watch penpal and bullet journal videos, and through more thorough thinking, I came to realize that the problem was the inserts that didn't suit me.
For example, I feel like the inserts unconsciously "blocked" me from decorating my spreads freely. You can see in the inserts pics that I tried to not "move" away from the original design, always writing the date next to each day of the week and not varying anything. I also tried my best for the content to not go outside the rectangle it "belonged" to. I remember hesitating to add cute sticky notes because it'd cover the line separating the current day from the next day and I'd be annoyed.
Also, because there was an assigned space for every day of the week, I felt like I had to fill each of them all, otherwise, there would be ugly blank spaces. I tried to put something in each rectangle (info or stickers), but as you see in the inserts pics, quantity didn't equal quality. Each rectangle is quite big, making it harder to fill when you have nothing to write about. And what's the relevance of having a planner if I feel compelled to write in it just to fill empty spaces? It doesn't make sense and just becomes a nuisance.
Nonetheless, even though I'm not the busiest person, there are still things I want to put on paper, for example...
- Random short notes: Quotes from movies or books, blog notes, lists of criteria for stuff, ideas for work or personal projects, etc. I have a great deal of these in my phone's notes and pictures, sitting there not doing anything. I try to delete or reduce the amount I have, but the best would be to put them on paper somewhere. I would love to keep only the most practical stuff on my phone. As I'm thinking about it, I also have similar notes on my computer that'd be nice to transfer on paper.
- Fashion inspo pics: I have way too many pictures on my phone, found on Pinterest or Instagram and saved for inspiration. I'm thinking of printing a bunch of them in high quality one day. I'm not sure if I'd put them in a journal or in a photo album yet.
- Random notes: During the month of October, for example, I was looking for a vintage or retro handbag. I visited so many online shops that I eventually had to write them down, along with my reflections. Because I didn't have the "proper" insert to take these kinds of notes, I picked a grid insert and put it right in the middle of my week. It looked weird.
- More stationery!: Below is a glimpse of the stationery I've kept in my room for years. Some are more than ten years old. I don't want to part from it, but I need to have an idea of what to do with it. A lot of it isn't my style anymore, unfortunately, but it can always come in handy at some point.
While thinking about all this, I had another epiphany (very typical of me): A dot grid journal was what I reeaally needed.
Not so long ago, I didn't understand the concept of "blank" journals (bullet journals?) at all. I had only used structured agendas provided by my school in the past, where calendars took a whole page and each day of the week was there. I would use it daily and always carry it with me. For this reason, I couldn't figure out how some people were able to organize and plan their schedule from blank pages.
Now that I've experienced using monthly and weekly inserts, I understand that in my case, I don't need to organize my days as strictly as I used to because my lifestyle is different than during my high school days. A journal allows me more flexibility. Some days I can write in it or not, a little or a lot, while other days I can just decorate it. Because the pages have no dates, I don't feel bound to write everyday a minimal amount.
After some research, I settled on the Midori A5 dot grid journal, with a plastic cover. Both were purchased online from Nota Bene, a stationery shop in Montreal. I have often passed by the shop while taking walks, but it was my first time as a customer. I was really happy to buy from them! For once, what I wanted was available in my country, and even better, in my province. Plus the shipping fees were super reasonable.
It was advised to put a sticker on the upper part of the spine so as to prevent the little bookmark ribbon from detaching... alas, I had already set the journal in its plastic cover when I was aware of the suggestion. I attempted to remove the journal from its cover, but I felt I was about to tear something.
So I tried my best to place the sticker the best way possible as if it had been there before the plastic cover, and I may have stretched a bit of the cover in the process... not that noticeable... just sad.
I had ordered Slicci pens from Amazon a few weeks before, but I was too impatient to write in my journal, so I went to Renaud-Bray and bought some pens. I had a 25 $ CAD gift card from there that I hadn't yet used. 💖
I actually wanted a black pen with a fine tip, but there weren't any. Suddenly I thought about getting a grey pen, and Staedtler was the only one that had a grey pen with a finer tip. Unfortunately, it's not fine enough for me, but it'll do for now.
I also bought (other) pastel highlighters. I like the ones from Milkliner, but I wanted to have a complete set of highlighters. I was also curious to try a well-known, western brand.
And then I finally received my set of Slicci pens!
After my dissatisfaction with the Hello Kitty pens from AliExpress, I had moved my pen search towards well-established brands among bullet journalers. Pilot was a recurrent one and I considered the G-Tec C, but I wasn't convinced to like them enough personally.
The G-Tec C reminded me of the Hi-Tec C Coleto, a fun and practical pen that can hold multiple colours all in one. I discovered it during my trip to Taiwan and from then on began my liking for very fine tip pens. I also thought about getting this one for my journal. Unfortunately, it's impossible to find it where I live, except online, and I prefer to not depend on the internet for pens.
While tidying my room, I came across my high school agendas and remembered I actually used pens with fine tips when I was younger, bought locally and well-appreciated by me. My high school coop used to carry pens called "Slicci". They were quite expensive (like 4 $ CAD), but they wrote amazingly. I only realize now that I most probably liked them because of their fine tip.
After a quick search, I found out they're produced by Pentel. I ordered a pack of 8 on Amazon, but you can buy them individually at stores like Staples.
Writing with them felt a bit nostalgic! They didn't disappoint.
Finally, I proceeded to transfer the most important info between July and December 2020, from my purple planner to my Midori journal.
I admit it's a bit messy with all sorts of colours. I've always been messier when it comes to writing or doodling things by hand. I'd like a cleaner style, for example following a single theme or limiting myself to a colour palette, but it's not easy. Anywhoo, I don't regret making the calendars in grey, it looks softer and goes better with the pastels. However, I messed it with the ugly handwriting in black (the dates and events next to each calendar). And the months written in pink aren't of a nice pastel shade (remember when I was saying that I wasn't fond of the pink highlighter from Staedtler?)
In a nutshell, I made many small mistakes (didn't mention them all here) and still have a lot to learn from this first spread. Speaking of which, I did spend a good amount of time on it, but I only had fun. It's a similar feeling to when decorating cover pages, but with more possibilities and more than one page to decorate, which makes everything more exciting. I also felt that I was organizing my stuff according to my actual needs.
When I purchased my purple planner, I didn't evaluate my needs carefully. That's probably another reason why I wasn't satisfied with the way it turned out. In some way, having inserts that weren't right for me and recognizing it helped me find something more adequate. This means I won't be using my purple planner nor my inserts anymore, but I'm pretty sure I'll find a use for them one of these days. It's not impossible that I give them another try at some point in the future.
That's it for my haul and my first experience pertaining to planners, journals and stationery.
Thanks for reading or coming by.
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