Review: Le Typographe Fine Paper Writing Bloc - A5 Beetle Chamois @NoteMakerTweets

ABOUT

Size: A5
Color: Chamois
Ruling: Blank
Sheet Count: 200
Paper Weight: 120 gsm
Price: $49.95USD
Where to buy: NoteMaker

APPEARANCE

This gorgeous MegaPad is huge. It's heavy, pretty, and is basically a massive stack of heavy paper. It comes in a cardboard box that houses the pad safely. It has a flap that secures it in place with a Beetle sticker in chamois color - the same color as the paper. The pad has 200 pages of 120 gsm paper in a matte chamois color. It has sharp corners, but if you keep it in the cardboard box, the edges will be safe.

I took mine out of the box after awhile and keep it in a drawer, and so far, it's been pretty safe. The paper seems to be thick enough to handle some movement without the box. The unlined pages have a gold beetle letter pressed into the top middle of each page. The beetle is adorable! The pad is glue-bound at the top with contrasting gold glue, complementing the pad really nice.

PERFORMANCE & FEEL

The paper is nice and smooth, but not shiny, glossy, or coated.  At first, I found fountain pens a pleasure to use on this paper. The paper has the slightest amount of feedback, which offers a nice writing experience that isn't scratchy, but it's a nice feeling. It doesn't catch nibs either, even find ones. There was no show through, bleed through, or feathering. Inks would shade well and there was a little bit of sheen visible, although some ink colors were masked by/subdued by the color of the paper. It's possible to use both sides of the paper, which is great, once the sheet is removed from the pad.

What's interesting is, as I continued to use the paper, I found fountain pens would start to skip a lot as I reached further down the page. This paper makes skipping/hard starts more pronounced, but it also sucks up oils from hands while writing, so it's a good idea to use something to protect the page from oils (such as a Brown Protector).

I was really disappointed by the sketchy performance as I moved further into the pad. I don't know if it was that I was just smearing oils everywhere, or if it was the paper. I tried many different pens (and sent really ugly letters to people as a result of it).

I like the size of the paper. It's a lovely alternative to fully customized stationery. It's attractive and unique, and nice paper.

PROS

• Huge stack of paper.
• Glue-bound, easy to tear off.
• Nice alternative to customized stationery.
• Fountain pen friendly.

CONS  

• Sucks up oil very easily - use something to protect the paper from oils!
• Color of paper subdues ink shading and sheens, as well as some ink colors.
• It seems the paper was hit or miss in terms of optimized fountain pen ink flow. Very confusing and since I've only used one pad, I can't really comment on the whole range, just on this one pad. 

OVERALL 

This is a cool MEGAPAD. And it's definitely a mega pad. It does well with fountain pens, once precautions are taken to protect the paper from oils. It doesn't have to be for corresponding only - it's encouraging to use because it's so nice. With other utensils (non fountain pens), there are no issues and it was less frustrating to write on.

Disclosure: I received this item free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion.