Review by Laura Cameron
A few months ago we were approached by kind folks over at Saint Belford asking if we’d like to take a look at their Curation 2019 Diary ($59.95 AUD). Saint Belford is an Australian company :
We are Tom and Alex and our mission is to provide you with the tools that empower you to keep self-care at the top of your to-do list, so that you can design, build and live a life that genuinely fulfills you, without compromising your wellbeing in the process.
The Curation 2019 Diary is more than just a planner, but is meant to be a book to help you:
…take charge of your life, live mindfully and become the best, most vibrant version of yourself.
The Curation 2019 Diary measures 6.25″ x 8.5″ (16cm x 21.5cm) and weighs approximately 1lb, 4oz. (520g) It comes in three colorways: Cherry Blossom, Midnight Blue and Signature Black. I chose Cherry Blossom for my review. The hard covered volume has a slightly textured faux leather cover and is embossed with gold foil, giving it a minimalist and elegant look.
The inside front cover pages are plain white and there are two ribbons, one pink and one grey, which coordinate nicely with the diary. (I assume that in other editions the ribbons coordinate as well.)
The first real page is a nice introduction to the volume, written by Alex, the curator of the diary.
Following the introduction, there are a series of inspirational pages about various aspects of your life. First is the “Self-Care Menu” encouraging you to write down activities, rituals and resources to nourish your mind, body and soul.
Next is a Bucket List – adventures and experiences you’d like to undertake in 2019.
Other sections include Mission pages (defining your mission, setting specific actionable steps to achieve your mission and milestones along the way), a Habit Curator (allowing you to work on habits you’d like to build or curtail), and a Savings Curator (allowing you to track income and expenses and set savings goals for the year). Peppered throughout the pages are motivational quotes to inspire you.
Following these pages, we get to the calendar portion of the diary. Each month has a 2-page spread with major holidays (Australia, New Zealand, and US) marked.
Following the monthly spreads are the weekly 2-page spreads. Each week has a section for notes and reminders, as well as a habit tracker, and a series of check boxes so you can monitor your self care as well as any potential appointments or deadlines you may have. The spaces aren’t lengthy, so this won’t work for journaling, but for tracking daily occurrences or even jotting down a moment of gratitude they are helpful!
Each week also has a 2-page spread that includes a drawing board page (a blank area for doodles) as well as places to track your missions in progress and a weekly menu planning section.
Now let’s get to the nitty gritty: how’s the paper? I’m please to report that the paper is excellent. Saint Belford represents that the paper is premium 100gsm wood-free paper. The paper is bright white, and a bit toothy. I tested a variety of fountain pens, gel ink and fine liners and the paper held up beautifully. In full light there is a scant trace of ghosting, but nothing else.
(yes there are other helpful pages too, but this is the back of the notes page so you can see my ink tests!)
Final Impressions
As someone with anxiety who loves to write everything down and make lists, this book is right up my alley. It is beautifully thought out and executed, giving you enough structure to start down the right path, but enough flexibility to allow you to make the book all about you. With the addition of high quality paper that handles fountain pens beautifully, and the elegant minimalist look, this book is a winner for me!
GIVEAWAY: Saint Belford would like to share a Curation 2019 Diary with one lucky reader!
Great news for our international readers! Saint Belford ships within Australia and internationally to New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, France & Germany.
TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me which section of the diary you think will be most useful to you! One entry per person please. If you leave multiple entries, you will be disqualified.
If you have never entered a giveaway or commented on the site before, your comment must be manually approved by our highly-trained staff of monkeys before it will appear on the site. Our monkeys are underpaid and under-caffeinated so don’t stress if your comment does not appear right away. Give the moneys time.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Saturday. Winners 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 (where it say “email address”) so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner does not respond within 7 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Saint Belford for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
It’s almost the most wonderful day of the year! What day would that be? That would be 
