I don’t tend to use any leather items that are not brown. My handbags are about 95% brown, as are my planners. Every now and then an orange and a purple sneak in but generally only my scarves and jewellery provide colour to my life.
So my Gillio Aqua Skorpion was a total anomaly. I saw it and it was love at first sight. When I got it I was done for. It was a gorgeous shade of aqua with sand and pearly pink accents. The grain and pattern were absolute perfection. It had a strange rubbery like feel that was rather addictive
I really absolutely and utterly adored this planner. Have never owned anything remotely like it. This binder walked away with almost every award on my blog in 2013
When I got it, the rings were defective, so Gillio sent me a replacement set in gold (oh how nice to be able to replace dodgy rings). This meant that I was unable to use it for about three weeks while waiting for the rings over the Christmas season. I put it on a shelf where I could look at it which was a really good thing because….
Sadly, once I started using it, the color began to flake and fade on the corners, the edges and the clasp. This was found to be a problem with several colours in this series. I stopped using it but decided to keep it anyway as it was so beautiful. There were only four ever made so there was no possibility to get a replacement. About a month later I tried using it for another week and the corners disintegrated. Then the back started showing white spots where the colour was disappearing.
So it was with great sadness that I boxed my beloved up and sent it back to Gillio. Within two days they had received it and I was given a refund. I have no photos of the deterioration as it was heartbreaking to see and I couldn’t bear to document it.
Some good has come out of this however because I was, with the refund money, able to buy a personal-sized Mia Cara in Epoca gold, thus completing the set of Pocket, Medium and A5. I had wanted one of these last year but they were sold out for the rest of 2013.
I have chosen gold rings for my medium Mia Cara and have chosen a pink pen to go with it.
Bye Bye Aqua Skorpion it was wonderful knowing you and I will never forget you!
What a pity; that’s a stunningly beautiful binder. Kudos to Gillio for their fantastic customer service, though.
Sorry about your aqua, but so pleased that you are completing your Mia Cara family. I can´t quite bring myself to give up on my aqua yet, and have just moved back into it today – I have a horrible feeling that it´s going to develop the same issue as the corners and edges have faded, but I´ll enjoy it while I still can 🙂
I can say that the return was quick and easy so the end was thankfully, swift.
My corners lost colour first and then the edges and then the strap. The corners then formed holes. After that the back started flaking and when the front started getting little white spots I knew it was time to send it back.
You will know when it is time. Enjoy it while you can!
Yep – the strap has a couple of little white spots so far too 🙂 Will make the most of it, you never know, I may be lucky and I may get a few more weeks out of it 🙂