Michael's Exclusive Hello Kitty Stationery

There are plenty of licensed (by Sanrio) Hello Kitty products in the US market and most of them have very poor quality (for example, this pair of supposedly collectable figurine that they charge 4 bucks at CVS). It's as if they think that "Well, since most people who like Hello Kitty are under 8 anyway. Let make some disposable cheap stuff that kids would buy and buy again once they break the first ones!" Anyway, when I spotted the display of Hello Kitty stationery at Michael's, I was really surprised because the quality seems really good. 

The first row of the display is mini notepad some for personal, family, travel and friends. The pages are illustrated and have some blanks to fill out (like places you want to visit...) and the paper is smooth and thick. Th bad part is that there are only 30 pages  and much of the space is already taken by the printing and illustration.

Elastic Book Bands - Can't find a use of it (all of my books close just fine) but I guess they could work as hair bend for those athletic people, the blue/red polka dot ones looks sort of fashionable.

Felt tape with flag pattern and a kitty head ( the best selling one of the three)

Marvey LePen Marker Pen - Green, Teal, Blue and Purple

We all know that after-meal walks burn calories, when you live within walking distance from Michael's, you will find out that the trips also work great at burning out your wallet... 

Occupying only a small shelf from the pen section of Micheal's, Marvy Le Pen marker pens first caught my eyes with their rainbow of bright colors and the slim-and-sleek design. As soon as I saw their place of origin (I mean, Japanese pens seldom go wrong for me), I knew they are the perfect items to use my coupons on. After several trips (thanks their one coupon use per day policy) and some online digging (because not all shades were available in store), I ended up with 6 of them that are on the medium-cool end of the spectrum. 

Olive Green - Brownish green that's a little lighter and greener than army green.

Green - Green with a blue lean, like a deeper shade of emerald

Teal - Seem like half-and-half blue green to me. A true teal maybe?

Sky Blue - Bright blue turquoise that looks just like Lamy Turquoise

Oriental Blue - Navy teal that reminds me of cloisonne beads (oriental indeed)

Amethyst Purple- Medium purple that has more of a blue lean. 

All six shades write with medium-high intensity and just-enough (not highlighter) brightness, which means they are not only good as accent colors, they also make good note-taking/journal writer. However, given Le Pen's slim size and lighter weight, it gets tiring after longer period of use. I understand that the built and the somewhat-loose silver clip (echoing with the silver name etched on the barrel) are part of its appeal so I don't hold them against the pen.

Back to the pen parts: These are are porous points with an OK-fine (around 0.5mm, which is just "normal" width of a pen to me) tips and whole plastic body that cannot be taken apart. The pens glide on the paper smoothly (so far) but I reckon someday they will dry out and/or break, due to the nature of the softer tips.

 They plastic are somewhat light weight and quite scratch-prone that not only they don't stay shiny/new-looking for long, there is already some chipping near the tips. I will deal with that part because it just means that the inside and outside of this non-refillable pen will break down around the same time (which is actually a good thing).

 Drawing sample with the Marvy Le Pen. Please note that I didn't come up with the pattern myself...It was circulated on Weibo (Chinese twitter)  but It could be from Japan...

Overall: Great price (it was $1.16 at Michael's after 40% off coupon and $1.15 at Jetpens), so-far-so-good reliable writer (they are dye based so I guess there is some water resistance?), wonderful little things to toss into bag.

Pilot 78G Fountain Pen Medium Nib Teal Body

Yeah...I should have reviewed it along with the black one. This teal body Pilot 78G fountain pen was purchased together with the fine nib one at Hong Kong based seller Stationery Art . The overall construction is the same as the one I have reviewed so I will just point out the two differences. The teal plastic (which looks a little less glossy)appears a little less sleek (they are both light plastic, how sleek can it be anyway?) but it disguises scratches and palm sweat much better.

The medium nib of 78g is also 22k gold plated (which holds up much better than the gold toned nib from Ohto F-Lapa) and it's not too thick (finer than the fine nib from Lamy), smooth and required no break-in whatsoever. I noticed some (unwanted) line variation with the fine nib of 78G but there is littler-to-none in the medium nib, which I actually like.

Even though this is a smoother writer, I find the nib a little too slippery that it would skip every few lines (or at the start of a line) and after 3 cartridge full of writing, it still hasn't improved...

  A writing sample of 78G medium nib, inked with Noodler's black. The line come out of this pen seems a little more diluted and gray-scaled (OK, it's also a little deep-taupe since Noodler's Black appears to have a brown tone to me) , which is another eyesore, given that I hate any shading in a supposedly black ink...

Uni-Ball Style Fit Slim Ink Gel Pen 0.38 mm - Lime Green

Back in summer of 2012, Uni (Mitsubishi) released a collaboration collection with one of the daughter brands of Japanese cosmetic giant Shiseido, Majolica Majorca (frequently abbreviated as MJ). Being a lover for the MJ visual and a cheapskate (MJ isn't too affordable being a drugstore brand), I reckoned it was the perfect opportunity to get a dose of the princess cuteness - In the form of stationery.

There are quite a few options (including some multi-pens)and I just went with the Style Fit Slim Ink Gel Pen in lime green, with a 0.38mm point. Well, it's green (the color that never goes wrong for me) and it matches something that I already have and love...

 It's not hard to tell that the apple green is designed to match MJ Puff de Cheek in Cherry Macaron (released in the same collection but not as limited edition, but an addition to their permanent line up), with the same color theme and the green/white stripes.

At the end of the slim pen barrel, there is that golden emblem of MJ. Overall the print stays on rather well (not easily scratched away) but there have been wear around the seam of the pen, as I have been tossing it in my messy bag for the past few months.

The Style Fit Slim has a streamed line grip section that shows the width of the point, it's can be twisted and removed while you replace the refill . The overall construction of the pen is solid but given it's slim built and light weight, it's rather uncomfortable to hold after just a short period of writing.

As for the pen/refill itself, I have nothing to complain: It writes smoothly, evenly/consistently and the ink is neither too dry or wet. The lime green ink  is bright, happy and totally legible (although the color is a little too generic among different Japanese pen brands) and the fine width is perfect for adding footnote, making cram-it-all note cards and filling small planner.   

Overall: Not that great of a daily writer (I use fountain pen anyway) but I do like it.

FYI: The pen was purchased from Jetpens and the blush was purchased from Adambeauty (I had happy shopping experiences from both places). 

Moleskine Green Lego Pocket Plain Notebook

Notebook is one of the items (along with shampoo, toothpaste and body wash) that I don't like to spend too much (or at all?) on. For note-taking, I usually just take those misprinted paper from libraries recycle bins (which are 99% blank anyway), organize the loose notes with staples and folder then toss them all at the end of semester. Ever since I started to visit the blog of Mattias Adolfsson(who draws on a Moleskine with fountain pens), I developed a desire for a Moleskine sketch book despite the fact that I am not a fan of the hipster brand image.

Two weeks ago, I ended up ordering a 2011 limited edition Moleskine pocket notebook with a green lego brick affixed to the cover. Evidently, the combo of limited edition and the color green never fails (to get) me. The 11-dollar price was a rip-off (somehow my cheap self was expecting it to be full sketchbook-sized) but I guess that's the price every wannabe pays, when she/he initializes the hipster transformation.

As soon as I have placed my order at Amazon, I started to come by all those horrifying reviews (saying how bad it bleeds and feathers) on Moleskines paper , done by fountain pen users in FPN, blogs and Youtube. By that point, all I could do was preparing for the worst, welcoming my first pack of bounded-toilet-paper with open arms.

To start off the easy way, I went with Noodler's Bulletproof black, an ink that's deemed Moleskine-friendly by many (not to mention it was used with EF nib of Pilot Penmanship pen). Beside some smudges caused by the slow dry time of the ink, there is no feathering or bleeding. However, there is a significant amount of show through as the paper is not very opaque (In fact, if it weren't the small size, it would work as tracing paper). Not only it's impossible to draw on both sides of each sheet, there is also quite a bit of over-lapping once I flip the page.

On a side note, I do like how the warm ivory paper is smooth and non-absorbent, which takes water color like a dream: all I do is place the brush on the paper and it would just let the water and pigment just glide on the paper. I barely get any wrinkle once the water dries and the water rarely rush outside the drawn boundary.

Since my plan of using it as a drawing book somewhat failed (I guess I will just keep the drawing a few pages apart, separate by writing, to avoid any destructive interference...Wait, is it constructive? I totally forgot everything about waves), I went ahead and tried more inks with the note book. Beside there were some feather with Lamy Safari Extra Fine + J.Herbin Poussiere de Lune, everything else worked fine including this juicy broad nib of Pilot Custom Heritage 91 (inked with Lamy Turquoise). Frankly, I can't really blame the feathering on the paper, consider that my Safari EF is sharp and (still...after months of using) very scratchy.

The two gray dots are dust on the sensor...I don't know how to clean DSLR.

At the back cover of the notebook, there is a small pocket (with green fabric trims) housing two sheets of Lego stickers. I like stickers (or just useless and cute things of the sort) but those are too simple and juvenile, it's like they didn't even try...

Overall: Beside the thing with show through, I do like the paper (not enough for the price though) and I haven't experienced anything I had read about in those horror story. I suppose this is one of the better stock? Anyway, I guess I need to hunt for a new fountain pen-friendly sketchbook with thicker paper...

Pilot Petit1 Fountain Pen in Apple Green

Being a big fan of Pilot, the color green and cute appearance, it was a love-at-first-sight when I saw Pilot Petit1 Fountain Pen (at Jetpens ...where else). Since I already have a few other items in my to-buy list, I went ahead and ordered it immediately. After all, it's a 3.8-dollar fountain pen and it's green, what can possibly go wrong? It sort of did...and I am not even certain that if I call it a fountain pen.