Filofax Personal Original Pillarbox Red Review and Giveaway!

Second giveaway has now begun! As usual, I'll first review the item before giving the details of this week's giveaway. This week, I'll be giving away the beautiful Filofax Personal Original in Pillarbox Red. I've reviewed The Original series quite a few times already and you'l be able to find the A5 review of the Aqua here and the Yellow Personal here. I'm also expecting the Personal Nude Original soon, so expect another review in the coming week!

Lets look at some pictures first though, shall we:

Personal Original in Pillarbox Red

Famous popper

Back

The Pillarbox Red is actually a shade darker in real life, but it's still stunning either way

Inside:

I love that the inside is black compared to the beige insides of the Yellow Original. Apart from the black matching the red beautifully, black will also mask any dirt easily too. And as usual, the insides contain two pen straps on the front cover and one wider strap in between for (apparently) your phone (though it can only hold an iPhone from what I've seen). There are also two slits in the front to hold any cards. The whole planner is made from one piece of thick leather so the slits are literally.. slits; there is no pocket behind, which means anything that goes into the slits are also going into the full length vertical pocket.

The back has that awkward notepad holder (which I will never use) and another full length vertical pocket. It's absolutely floppy, of course, but still stable enough to write on. It also lays flat right out of the box plastic without any training. And for some reason, the leather feels a lot heavier / thicker than my Yellow Original. Maybe it's just me, but it really does feel that way!

The rings were great this time with no gaps / misalignment:

And just a little colour comparison with its yellow twin:

General Opinions
I love the Originals. I know that many people don't quite like them because of their useless front pockets, but in all honesty, I think Filofax has absolutely made this planner for people like me: I, for one, don't use my Filofax pockets because of the extra weight and bulk sticky notes / paperclips / washi gives to my already heavy and stuffed planner, and for another... I kinda have nothing to put in them...

I love the simplicity of the Originals and the fact that they're leather... and the fact that they come in all sorts of colours. I think Filofax is lacking in the colour aisle and the fact that they've discontinued beautiful lines such as Finchley and the green, orange, pink, and lovely blues of the Finsbury doesn't help. Their leather range only comes in the boring purple, red, dark blue, brown and black, which is fine if you're going for a more formal look, but when you want a little colour in your life, I think the Originals is the only way to go. We need more colours, Filofax. We're colourful people who needs colourful Filofaxes.

But I'm drifting off topic, my verdict for this Original: love. Compared to the Pocket Willow, I'm actually sad to let this one go. But seeing the lovely Patent Nude is on its way to me, I'm willing to let this slide.

And now that we've finished with the review, it's time to get to..

The Giveaway Details:
Because of last week's failed attempt at getting a widget to work for your entries, I am just going to do the same as last week ... just much simpler. To enter, all you have to do is
1- Email me your name and country of residence to lettersinnovember@gmail.com
2- Put the subject as Letters in November's Original Giveaway

That's it! Couldn't be easier than that. Competition closes Saturday, 13th of September at 11:59PM. One winner will be chosen randomly and I will announce it on Sunday, 14th of September. A new (and last) competition will be held on the 15th of September, 2014.

Good luck to all!

NB. I was not paid for this review. The lovely Nike from Filofax sent me this pretty Original as my winnings on the recent Pimp My Filofax challenge, but as you can see from my review, the fact that I got the item for free definitely did not influence my opinions in any way.