Monami Pens Haul

As a follow up to our last post, these are the pens I purchased at the Monami store! 

I chose pens from 3 different price points to try. 

The cheapest is the Flip 3 (2,100 krw), followed by the Zenith 7 (4,000krw), the most expensive is the 153 Neo (15,000 krw). 

You might have been thinking the price differences were pretty big but they're all very affordable. 

My favourite is the 153 Neo, the ballpoint pen is heavy and feels nice to hold. The ballpoint ink is 0.7mm and is smooth and pigmented. Great for work documents and general everyday use. 

The Zenith 7 is also a pretty decent ballpoint pen, not as heavy but it looks classic and quite professional. 

The multi pen flip 3 is my least favourite.

It's the cheapest but also the least pleasant to use, I guess the price reflects the quality. 

I've reviewed many multi pens for the blog but this was the scratchiest pen I've ever come across. 

If you need to purchase pens in bulk, this will do but otherwise I wouldn't recommend it. 

Also, if you purchase a premium pen at the store, you can get free engraving! 

I took up the offer and I'm pretty pleased with my pen. 

Once again, if you're in seoul, definitely checkout the Monami store! 

 

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Review: PILOT Juice Up 04 Classic Glossy Color 6 Color Set

Here at TN5C we are a big fan of black ink pens with a tinge of color! Previously we reviewed Sakura Craypas Ballsign iD and PENTEL Black Colors Collection 

Today we will be talking about these~

PILOT Juice Up 04 Classic Glossy Color 6 Color Set

Details: 

Nib: 0.4mm (ultra fine) Also available in 0.5mm nib

Ink type: water-based pigment gel ink

According to the official website, Juice up pens use a newly developed synergy chip and new pigment gel ink to achieve a smooth writing experience despite its thin nib. 

Colors available: 

CGB (Classic Glossy Black)

CGR (Classic Glossy Red)

CGL (Classic Glossy Blue)

CGG (Classic Glossy Green)

CGV (Classic Glossy Violet)

CGBN (Classic Glossy Brown)

Swatches

Recently I have come to like thin nib pens and this 0.4mm nib is perfect for writing in small details and drawing illustrations. However, the ink colors though dark are not as dark as the options from PENTEL or Sakura.

What do you think? 

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Review: Daiso Water based Twin Marker (Modern set)

I'm always picking up random odds and ends at Daiso and the colours of this twin marker set caught my eye. 

 The pens have a thin end and thick end and come in 5 neutral colours.

The thin end is 0.5mm, the thick end is 1.5mm. 

It comes in black, cool gray, khaki grey, deep brown and brown. 

The difference in the pen thicknesses is obvious which is always nice. 

I also appreciate the the colours of the pens are marked clearly, which will make it easy to reach for. 

A test of the pens show that the colours are pigmented and the colours are very pretty. 

The brown and greys are more semi-opaque whilst the darker colours are nice and deep.

All in all, this was a good find from Daiso. 

What do you think of Daiso pens? Do you have a favourite set? 

 

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Review : Zebra Mildliner New Colors 2022

 Here at TN5C, we love our highlighters and especially the Mildliner range by ZEBRA. So when they released new colors in 2022, we simply had to add them to our collection.

There are ten new colors which you can buy in 2 separate packs. Gentleness mild and Natural Mild. 

We picked the NATURAL MILD pack

Here are the new colors 

From top: Mild Dusty Pink, Mild Cream, Mild Beige, Mild Olive and Mild Cool Gray 

Like the original mildliner, they are water based and there is both a thick and thin end

Here are some swatches

As you can see, the colors live up the mildness of Mildliners we know and love.

I picked out some common colors from my collection to see how they compare.

So what do you think of them?

Will you be trying them as well?

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Review: Lihit Lab Hinemo Wide Open Pen Pouch

 

I'm always on the lookout for interesting looking pen cases/pouches.

I have so much stuff in my bag recently that I've been looking at pen pouch to store some loose items. 

This pen pouch from Lihit Lab's Hinemo line looked interesting and I really like the colour. 

This pouch comes in 2 sizes, I bought the smaller version and it claims to be able to fit around 20 pens that are 15cm or shorter (we'll test this below) 

The dimensions are 200 x 95mm and there's a big zip going across the case diagonally. 

It's made of a canvas called 'Fuji Kinbai' which is woven in Japan. 

The diagonally placed zip is it's main feature, it slides easily and without getting stuck. 

The pouch opens nice and wide and it's very spacious inside. 

As a bonus, the yellow canvas matches my yellow Delfonics pouch pretty well. 

I decided to test the 20 pen claim, here are 20 random pens I pulled from my desk. 

Only 17 fit, but as some pens are wider than normal pens, it's totally understandable. 

17 is still very impressive! 

At the moment, I only keep a few pens, correction tape, a paper clip and mini swiss army knife in my pouch. 

To conclude, it doesn't look bulky, the yellow makes it easy to spot and it holds quite a few things. 

In my opinion, this is a good pouch for your EDC. 

What do you think, is this the pouch for you? 

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Review : BIC Intensity Aqueous Dual Tip Marker

 

I'm always interested in trying new brush pens so when DAISO started carrying these, I knew I had to buy them ^^

BIC Intensity Aqueous Dual Tip Marker

There are 12 colors in all [according to the website] and I picked 3 of them up to try!

Reminiscent of the tombow dual tip markets, one end has a brush nib and the other is a 0.7mm felt tip pen.

Swatches for BLACK, BROWN and PEACH

Since the brand promises vivid intense color, I've decided to match it up against some of my go-to brush pens. 

To be fair, only the black ink pens will be compared.

As you can see from the swatches above, the BIC intensity marker is indeed one of the darkest black inks. (Surpassed only by the Copic Multiliner Brush Pen)

Not only is the color vivid, it writes just as smoothly as the more costly brush pens. I highly recommend trying these out if you find them!

What do you think? Have you tried them out?

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Review : Pentel Lightwrite Ball point pen

I'm always keen to add something unique to my pen lineup so when I chanced upon this, I thought I buy it to try ^^

ZEBRA: Lightwrite Ball point pen

How it looks out of the packaging

The pen has a 0.7mm nib but I did not think it was as smooth to write as 0.7mm nib pens from other brands like Pentel or Bic.

So what makes this pen so unique? 

Well here is the answer:

Yes it lights up! 

And when you do not turn the light on [by clicking the pen twice], the nib actually glows in the dark as well making it easy to find.

Needless to say, there are many instances whereby one can use a light in the dark when writing. So though the pen is not as smooth to write as many others, it is still a good addition to one's pencil case or travel pouch!

What do you think? Would you buy a pen that lights up?

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Review : PENTEL Black Colors Collection [20th anniversary Limited Edition]

 To celebrate 20 years of ENERGEL pens, Pentel has launched a new limited edition collection.

Black Colors Collection

"The black ink with a hint of colors"

They are sold both separately and individually.

Available in both 0.5mm and 0.7mm.

Refills are also available and sold separately.

A known ENERGEL fanatic, I've picked up both sets to review. 

The pens are retractable and write with the ease that we know of ENERGEL pens. They are also fast drying just like all ENERGEL pens. Simply perfect for lefties like me. 

Here are the swatches

Though new to ENERGEL, the varied black ink colors is not a new concept. I previously reviewed SAKURA Craypas version here

Here's a comparison of the colors between the two. I've tried to pick colors as close as possible but there was no comparable color for the mocha black.

As I previously mentioned, I'm a total ENERGEL fanatic so there was never any possible way I would dislike these pens but in all honesty, the colors are really usable and since its Limited Edition, I'm going to buy a stash of the refills too.

What about you?

Pentel Official Site : https://www.pentel.co.jp/special/12495/

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Review: Midori Color Pens for Paintable Stamp

This is part 2 of the Midori paintable stamp review. 

The pens come in 2 different sets, relaxing feel (left in the below picture) and positive feel. 

Each set has 6 colours/pens, the colours are really nice I feel.

The pens have dual tips, which is common for a lot of brush pens. 

One side is a brush tip for colouring, the other is a fine point pen for writing. 

The colours for the relaxing set are aptly named. 

Cool pastels of blues, greens, greys, they're very pretty. 

The only colour that stood out for me is the magenta, it comes out more neon than pastel, which was unexpected. 

Good for a pop of colour, but I would've preferred a pastel colour. 

The positive set has more warm colours of green, brown and yellow. 

Unfortunately, this set also suffers from the same issue I had with the relaxing set, the mandarin orange is more neon than pastel.

It feels like the pen came from another set, this does affect the overall cohesiveness of the pen set. 

From left: Midori paintable stamp, Versacraft, Versafine, Stazon, Shachihata forcoat.

I used the brush pens on different stamp inks. 

Obviously it worked best on the Midori paintable stamp. 

There was a little bit of smudging with the Versacraft and Versafine, which is to be expected as they are water based inks. 

The pens worked well on the Stazon (solvent based ink) and Shachihata (oil based ink)

In conclusion, if you're looking to pair the paintable stamps with some colour, the color pens are a must have. Use them with other similar oil based inks for the best result. 

It's a pity about the random neon colours but I do like the pastel pens and I can see myself using them a bit. 

What do you think about the colour pens? 

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My top 5 favorite stationery items of 2020

The first blog post of the year and to kick us off, I think it is a good opportunity to share my top five fave stationery items from 2020.

Please note that this ranking is not in any particular order and is my own personal opinion.

1. Pilot+Lihit Lab A4/A5 Folder

See review HERE

2. NICHIBAN Masking Tape Dispenser/Cutter

See review HERE

3. Tombow Air Touch Range

Tombow PiT AIR Glue Tape + Tombow MONO AIR 5 Correction Tape

The most effortless tape dispensers ever. The resistance on the surface you are applying to is so low, it is like running it on air. (See what I did there)

4. Pentel Energel Range

I don't know what else can be said about this amazing range from PENTEL. The smooth flow of ink makes it my absolute favorite to write with and my fairly large double digit collection of them shows it.

5. PLUS WHIPER Cream Correction Tape

When these were released, I scoffed at them. I wondered who would ever need cream colored correction tape just so it would match the cream paper they used. Well, as it turned out, that person was ....me. Now the white correction tape just looks absolutely glaringly out of place and I can't go without my cream correction tape. A case of "you never know what you were missing out on till you tried it."

What are your top 5 stationery items for 2020??

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New Pentel Energel Colours!

We're big fans of Pentel's Energel line of pens here at TN5C and I was so excited when I saw these in the store. 

Energel is one of the smoothest, most pigmented pens out there so the more colours the better! 

 

All these pens come in singles too so if you only like 1 or 2 colours, you can definitely just buy those. 

The new colours come in 0.7mm which is great for general writing as well as lettering and illustration. 

The new colours include a yellow, peach, fuchsia, light purple, forest green, maroon, brown and light grey. All unique colours that are vibrant and fun! 

Still need a Christmas gift for that stationery lover in your life?

These would be great! 

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