This notebook caught me a bit off guard. While searching Amazon for notebooks (something I do too often), I found this notebook. It seemed to have pretty good reviews but, as I’m sure you know, Amazon reviews are often suspect. The number of times 5-star reviews are something along the lines of, “Arrived on time, 5-stars!” or “All the pages fell out, 5-stars!” are so numerous that I don’t really bother with reading them. A quick google yielded very little information, although apparently they make some sort of bullet journal which means that any review will be heavily skewed in favor and probably on Pinterest1.
On a whim, I bought it. I’m glad I did. This thing is pretty great, though not perfect. Let’s take a look.
While the cover is probably some sort of fake leather it feels nice and seems like it would be quite durable. It has the standard elastic closure in black and a ribbon bookmark in dark brown. I thought that these being a different color would bother me, but it turns out I don’t care. Not even a little bit. The Lemome sports a binding that is almost identical to the Palomino Blackwing Slate. This is what caught my eye originally since it the Slate is one of the greatest notebooks of all time with an incredible binding that easily lays flat without any strain to the binding. It also has a pen/pencil loop on the spine much like my beloved Slate. While I love that it’s there I don’t often use it. I guess, in that respect, it’s kinda like the ice cream shop at the end of my street.
Of course, one of the things that makes the Slate great is that it’s paper is so pencil friendly. How’s the Lemome handle pencil? Awesome!
Normally, I don’t like to include writing samples in notebook reviews. Why? It’s not because I’m embarrassed of my handwriting (although I probably should be). I don’t like putting writing samples in a review because I’ve talked to other reviewers that do this and they tell me they get inundated with requests of this pen or that marker. Ugh.
But, the Lemome has pretty smooth 125gsm paper. I was curious about what it could do and I figured I’d post my findings. Let’s start with pencil since I like pencil. I wrote with the Tombow Mono 100 2B, the Kuru Toga 0.5mm in HB and the Palomino Blackwing (MMX to those in the pencil community thanks to the intrepid Johnny Gamber.) As you can see in the “Smear Test” column, only the Blackwing smeared at all and that took some work. I suspect that it would be fine under normal usage. All the others wouldn’t budge even under excessive agitation (I’m really trying to avoid the term “heavy rubbing,” oops!). The smoothness of the paper seems to be great at locking in just the right amount of graphite but it does seem to have a bit of equalizing effect on different grades of graphite e.g. different grades appear more similar than on other paper but it’s extremely smudge resistant yet erases well. Not unlike Rhodia’s paper or Sigel’s Conceptum notebooks.
I threw a few other pens in there just because I had them close by. The only other thing I want to mention is the fountain pen. Readers will possibly remember that I HATE fountain pens. Mainly because, with a combination of being left handed and having bad handwriting, I’ve got a serious case of sour grapes (but, then again, fountain pens are so fussy I’m OK with their absence). The fountain pen in question has no branding and I received it as a freebie when ordering a Midori Travel Notebook knock-off from China. The notebook was really good but the pen they gave me is the worst fountain pen I’ve ever tried. It spews so much ink that just writing on the sheet left both of my hands stained somehow!
The reason I wanted to include it is to show that this torrent of ink doesn’t show through at all! 125gsm! Believe the hype!
This picture brings up another feature that I never thought I’d see. The thicker stock card before the first page of any notebook is usually glued to the first page as part of the binding. All these years I’ve simply ignored the first page because of that. It’s just annoying having the first page of a notebook be useless but there’s nothing that can be done about it…Or so I thought.
As you can see here, there is a crease right where the first page is glued to the cardstock cover. That crease was not put there by me. It came like that. I know it isn’t a huge deal but it shows an attention to detail that shouldn’t be ignored. Also, I love the minimal branding.
Now on to the binding. Being a soft and different material than the cover, it’s supposed to be able to lay flat, completely and easily. Does it?
Boy Howdy that’s flat!
So, are there any downsides? Well sure. Chief among them is the paper.
“What!? I thought you said it was great!!!!” you say.
“It is.” I reply meekly.
“Then what’s the problem, weirdo!?” you berate.
OK. So, the paper is really great and thick enough for the naughtiest of ink fountains. But that means that the notebook is going to be really thick too, right? Well, it is thicker than any other A5 notebook I own but only has 180 pages. That’s 90 sheets. Is it worth a notebook with fewer sheets if they’re really good sheets? That’s up to you. For me the answer is yes. Especially since they are still around 15$ at the time of writing this review.
Another downside is the pocket in back. While most notebooks that have a pocket in back have the accordion folds reinforced with some sort of fabric the Lemome has only the cardstock. This might be a deal breaker for some people but I use the pockets in my notebooks all the time and I’ve never had a pocket break on me and that includes some cardstock-only pockets.
So long as we’re here, I’d like to point your attention to the opposite page. Yes the crease is there too. I love the attention to detail!
When we look at the back we see that the minimal branding has gone from minimal to understated. Classy. And a far cry from all those bookstore notebooks that look like they’re were designed by Ed Hardy’s tee totaling, daisy gardening grandmother.
All in all, I really like this notebook and can’t wait until I get to it. I might pick another before word gets out and the price goes up. You should too. Or don’t, I’m not your boss.
Hello! Awesome review!
This brand has such glowing reviews, and the 125gsm paper was the main reason I got one (the dream tree version). But having the crease for the first page… is it there to tear out the first page that sticks to the card stock or to bend the page for it lay flat and write on easier? I sort of missed what exactly the attention to detail was in that regard. And I didn’t use that first page in my own anyway.
Hi Liz. Thanks for the kind words! I think I could have been clearer about the crease. It is there to bend and thus lay flat easier. Don’t tear it out, that first page acts as one of the glue points that binds the cover to the notebook. On most notebooks it just sticks up like a stray cowlick in an otherwise coiffed head, having the crease allows it to lay flat more easily. How are you liking the dream tree version? Is it the same build quality?