Worth checking out
Victoria’s Journals Bullet Journals
A colorful lineup of dotted notebooks with built-in bullet-journal features, lightweight papers, bright covers, and several styles for everyday notes or casual planning.
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This Victoria’s Journals review is a tour through several of the brand’s bullet-journal-style notebooks: the Copal Gold Edition, the Smyth Fashion Flexy dotted journal, the Muse textile cover journal, and the Muse Taylor Neon set. The original video is a full flip-through rather than a single-notebook durability test, so the useful question is simple: which of these notebooks actually looks practical for daily journaling, planning, and pen use?
The brand has a clear personality. These are not plain black office notebooks trying to disappear on a desk. Victoria’s Journals leans into color, fabric textures, elastic closures, bookmarks, pockets, and pre-built bullet journal pages. That makes the range appealing if you want a notebook that feels a bit more designed before you even start writing in it.
Quick verdict
Victoria’s Journals is strongest for people who want a bright, feature-rich bullet journal without building every planning page from scratch. The Copal Gold Edition is the most structured option, with an index, calendar-style pages, travel planning pages, task pages, numbered dot-grid pages, and perforated ink-test sheets. The Smyth Flexy and Muse options feel simpler and lighter. The main tradeoff is paper: the 55 gsm notebooks pack in lots of pages but are not ideal for fountain pens, while the 80 gsm options are more forgiving for everyday gel pens and fine nibs.
| Brand reviewed | Victoria’s Journals |
|---|---|
| Main formats shown | Copal Gold Edition, Smyth Fashion Flexy, Muse textile cover, and Muse Taylor Neon notebook set. |
| Best for | Bullet journaling, everyday notes, lists, light planning, travel notes, and colorful journaling setups. |
| Paper notes | Some models use very thin 55 gsm paper; others use 80 gsm paper that handles normal pens better. |
| Biggest strength | Lots of design variety and useful built-in features, especially in the Copal Gold notebook. |
| Main caution | Fountain pen users should be careful; ghosting and bleed-through show up on the thinner papers. |
Copal Gold Edition: the most structured bullet journal
The first notebook in the video is the Copal Gold Edition. It is roughly A5 sized, with a flexible hardcover feel, a strong elastic strap, a bookmark, and a surprisingly full interior setup. This is the one that feels closest to a ready-made bullet journal rather than a blank dotted notebook.
Inside, you get personal information pages, a year overview, a proper index, pen and ink sample pages, calendar-style overview pages, travel planning spreads, task organization pages, and then the main numbered dot-grid section. That is a lot of structure for someone who wants the bullet journal feeling but does not want to draw every planning framework by hand.
Paper and pen performance
The biggest limitation is the paper. The Copal Gold notebook uses very thin 55 gsm paper, which explains why it can include so many pages while staying relatively slim. That is great for portability and page count, but it is not magic paper. The review shows that normal ballpoints, pencils, gel pens, and finer everyday pens are the safer choices.
With fountain pens, the front of the page may look acceptable, but the back tells the real story. There is heavy ghosting and some bleed-through with wetter ink. If you love using both sides of every page with fountain pens, this is not the notebook I would pick first. If you mostly write with ballpoint, gel, or fine liners, the thin paper is easier to accept because the tradeoff is a lighter notebook with more pages.
Smyth Fashion Flexy dotted journal
The Smyth Fashion Flexy journal is simpler and more elegant. The color reads like a dusty rose or lavender-brown rather than a plain brown, and it has a soft flexible cover, dot-grid pages, a bookmark with a small charm, and stitched binding. It does not have the heavy built-in planning structure of the Copal Gold, so it is better if you want a prettier blank dot-grid notebook.
The paper is around 80 gsm, so it is a step up from the 55 gsm sheets. It still shows ghosting with heavier pens, and a wet fountain pen is not going to turn it into premium writing paper, but it is more usable for normal journaling. For fine nibs, gel pens, and everyday note-taking, this is probably the safer all-rounder.
Muse textile cover and neon notebook set
The Muse textile cover journal adds a different feel again. It has a cloth-like cover, elastic closure, pocket, dot-grid pages, and dyed edges, but the paper is thin in the same practical way as the Copal Gold. The textile cover makes it look more designed and giftable, while the lightweight page block keeps the notebook slim.
The Muse Taylor Neon set is more playful. The bright colors make sense for travel notebooks, project inserts, quick to-do books, or separate notebooks for different subjects. The paper appears to behave better than the thinnest notebook in the fountain pen test, especially with fine nibs, and the stitched binding plus flexible cover make the set feel casual and useful rather than precious.
Best uses
I would choose these notebooks for colorful bullet journaling, lists, study notes, reading notes, habit ideas, project planning, or casual daily pages. The Copal Gold is useful if you want index pages and planning prompts already printed. The Smyth Flexy is better if you want a straightforward dotted journal with a nicer cover. The Muse notebooks make more sense for people who like variety and want different notebooks for different uses.
I would be more cautious if your main priority is paper performance. Fountain pen users, watercolor users, and anyone who dislikes ghosting should probably look at heavier-paper notebooks. But if you use everyday pens and want a notebook with personality, the Victoria’s Journals range is genuinely fun to browse.
Pros and cons
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FAQ
Are Victoria’s Journals good for bullet journaling?
Yes, especially if you like dot-grid pages and built-in planning features. The Copal Gold Edition is the most bullet-journal-ready option shown because it includes an index, overview pages, planning sections, and numbered pages.
Is the paper fountain pen friendly?
Only partly. The thinner 55 gsm paper ghosts heavily and can bleed with wetter fountain pens. The 80 gsm options are better, but fine or extra-fine nibs are still the safer choice.
Which Victoria’s Journals notebook looked best overall?
The Copal Gold is the most feature-rich, while the Smyth Fashion Flexy looks like the best simpler everyday dot-grid notebook. The best choice depends on whether you want structure or a cleaner blank notebook.
Are these better for planning or journaling?
They can do both, but they lean especially well toward bullet journaling, list-making, casual planning, and colorful everyday note-taking rather than formal archival journaling.
Final Thoughts
Victoria’s Journals makes notebooks with personality. The range is colorful, practical, and more varied than a standard plain dot-grid notebook lineup. I especially like that the Copal Gold Edition gives beginners a lot of bullet-journal scaffolding without forcing them to design every support page from zero.
The only real warning is paper choice. If you are picky about fountain pens or hate ghosting, pay close attention to the gsm and expect tradeoffs. But for everyday gel pens, lists, planning pages, and bright notebook setups, this is a solid brand to consider.
Worth checking out
Victoria’s Journals Bullet Journals
If you like colorful dotted notebooks with built-in bullet journal features, Victoria’s Journals is worth browsing — just match the paper weight to the pens you actually use.
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