My Fauxdori Review: Chic Sparrow, Moleskine, Pilot G2

Are you there friend, its me Brandon.

So as some of you may already know, I purchased a Midori style travelers notebook from Jennifer at Chic Sparrow. And if you follow me on instagram, you'll know that I have been obsessed with it. So I thought I would break it down for you guys and do a review on the various products that I have been using in my Fauxdori (Or Jendori as some may say).

But first I would like to review the actual notebook:

I cannot begin to say how much I love this item. Not only was the price fabulous at 29.99 but the actual quality blew me out of the water. The leather is sturdy and crisp. The coloring is rich and vibrant. And the overall elastic build is thorough and has held up really well so far. My first impressions of my notebook was that the leather had an amazing fragrance to it. The vegetan leather is very high quality. As you guys know from my last post I did buy the storyteller leather and the stiffness is exactly what I was looking for. This product seriously won my heart and I plan to buy a larger one sometime soon.

Now for the notebooks (which were not included in the order):

Since this notebook is the smaller size, Jen said it fit notebooks roughly the size of the Moleskine Cahier. And since this style of notebook is widely available at pretty much any store that sells notebooks I decided to buy a few to try out in my notebook. I was quite hesitant to purchase any more moleskine notebooks since I had previously had some bad experiences with them. And I am sad to report that my feelings on moleskine paper has not changed. The reason being the paper quality is just so poor. I can only compare the paper to one found in a bible: wafer thin. I have tested out numerous different pens and inks and everything shows through. So essentially you are only able to write on one side of the paper. That being said, I will stick to the Cahier's for now, just because I now have a few laying around and I hate wasting paper.

But here's a tip for you guys: the perfect Cahier size notebook shouldn't cost you more than a dollar each (whereas the moleskine's are around 7 dollars for a three pack). If you want a few cheaper alternatives check out the dollar store, any office supply store, target, and even Dick Blick. I have seen many different notebooks out there that would fit perfectly in my Fauxdori and that have better paper quality. Just so long as the measurements match up, you'll be golden.


Last but not least I wanted to review the unofficial Moleskine pen: the Pilot G2.

Not much to report on this other than I found the pen to write very smooth and not smear on the paper, which is always a plus. They are also well built and don't feel cheap even though they are very inexpensive. Of all the pens I have tried this one works the best on the moleskine paper but still shadows through to the other side.

Well I hope you have found this review helpful and insightful. I wanted to finish off this post with a picture I uploaded to my instagram (@bvcrafts1) of my new Fauxdori and trusty Filofax coexisting and helping me stay organized.

Also a little update on my life here on the internet. I am finally able to commit to upload days. So check out my youtube channel Monday nights for new videos, and here on my blog I will post every Monday and Friday. I hope this is helpful to you guys so you know when to check up on me :D


As always it has been an absolute pleasure, and I will talk to you all soon!

Brandon