Sakura Permapaque Opaque Pigment Marker in Green

 

 Sakura Permapaque Fine Point Marker has a name that really puzzles me. It's not fine (looks like normal marker width to me), opaque or paint-like. The pen has a marker point that's fairly firm and just wet enough, it's shaped like a bell version of the cylinder, which means that when used sideway,  (thanks to the curve) contact area with the paper isn't that much broader than the 1mm tip (being squished).

For a disposable marker pen, the Permapaque is barrel is nice, solid and weighty (for a marker) and the plastic on the cap and grip are both hard and resistant to scratches.  I like the rib on the cap that makes it easier to take off/put on.

The pen itself is kind of like generic marker (haven't used enough of them to see a difference) and the smooth tip leaves a semi-opaque (it looks 75% opaque in the picture but the actual stroke is see-through enough to be used as a highlighter) and consistent line. The color green is more of an emerald green than neutral one.  The pen is alright and there seems to be an interesting selection of colors, I just didn't like how fast the tip wears out: After several pages of doodling, the tip was already losing the stiffness and became less precise.

Overall: It's a bummer that the outside fares much better than the cord. At least I found it at Micheal's clearance bin for 30 cents (normal retail price is $2.39) so it wasn't a waste of money.

Pentel Stylo Sketch Pen

Pentel Stylo Sketch Pen was another clearance finds from Target (reduced to $1.5 from 3), it's a porous point pen with and interesting pencil-like tip that's looks sharpened. The pen's body is light-weight, plain and not too scratch-prone (Hello, Sakura pigma sensei...) the clip is firm/secure and the half-cylindrical half-conical grip is pretty comfortable. In theory, the pen should be a dream sketch combination of pencil and pen but it's not quite my cup of tea.

As a pseudo-pencils, the slightly bouncy tip does offer some swift strokes (that makes you feel somewhat spontaneous) and subtle line variations. I notice that the white triangular base and the tip kind of get in the way when I want to get a finer line. First, the white part blocks my view of what's about to be drawn and unless I am very careful (drawing super slowly and maintain a near 90 degree angle), the slanted side of the black triangular tip always manages to spill ink on the paper. 

It's kind of like drawing with bouncy bristle (such as toothbrush), even though the tip is the only part that's making contact, you always get some spill from the ink droplets that get shaken off from the rest of the bristle. The droplets from this particular pen pen is small (positively smudge-like), uncontrolled and hardly artistic.

As a pen, it was fairly nice and inky (for the first few uses...now it's a bit dry) and the ink is an intense teal-black. There is only partial water-resistance so adding watercolor will mess up the whole drawing (you an add water to shade it though). I suppose there must be people who like this kind of effect but personally, if I want some mild variation (minus the spilling!) with minimal water-resistance, I will just go for fountain pen and a normal black ink.

Overall: It's a cool concept (for a gimmick) that didn't work out.

Pilot Frixion Light Erasable Highlighter in Yellow

Picked up during my Target stationery clearance haul (in a set, along with three gel pen, for around a $1.5) Pilot Frixion Light is the highlighter version of their famed erasable gel pen. For what I have read in blogs, the Frixion ink are designed in a way that they go away when it undergoes high temperature (either with steam or friction) and can go back when the temperature drops.

As with most highlighter, the pen is lightweight yet it feels solid and well-balanced. There is an inner black sleeve in the cap and the pen body is tapered and has some flame pattern going on, the pattern reminds me of that MTV show Pimp My Ride (aka. Renovate My Car so Looks Like it Belongs to a Gangster) and I am not sure how I feel about it.

The tip of the pen is slanted like most highlighter and the flow is nice and not too wet. I can't tell how it performs in the long run simply because I don't use highlighter (See, there are so many things in the text book that I need to understand so I might just end up highlighting the parts I don't need...) but it does what a normal highlighter does with the bonus of being erasable...While the feature is cool in gel pen because my hand can just go on its own, I am not sure why people need an erasable highlighter? Maybe get carried away using that as well?

Writing sample with Diamine Ink - No smearing and a completely clean removal! Overall: It's cool but I don't really see the point (as least that's coming from a person who rarely uses highlighter to start with).

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.