This week’s post comes after a small week hiatus so I could enjoy some summer fun with my family—hope you are too! 🙂 As many of my readers know, I’m primarily a fountain pen geek but—to be honest—I love ALL pens equally. 😉 For the past few months I’ve been hearing a lot about the Paper♥Mate Inkjoy gel pens so while on vacation, I saw a 2-pack in a local store and I decided to finally give it a try. All I have to say is “Wow!!!”
As an overall ‘pen lover’ I have my favorites in all pen categories—ballpoint, rollerball, gel, marker, fountain pen, etc.—and already had an existing gel pen favorite so I had no immediate desire to try a new one (the last time I did, it was huge disappointment). That said, I was already a fan of the Paper♥Mate Inkjoy 300 1.0mm ballpoint pens so when I saw a 2-pack containing a purple and pink Paper♥Mate Inkjoy gel pen in 0.7mm (my favorite size), I figured I had nothing to lose.
For vacation, I usually travel with a Midori travelers notebook, a black Micron Sakura Pigma pen (for sketching and journaling, great if using watercolors!), and either a Winsor & Newton watercolor palette or Tombow Watercolor markers to journal our family adventures. It was getting a little boring writing with black ink so I thought the Paper♥Mate Inkjoy gel pen 2-pack would be a nice way to add color.
I started with the purple which is my assigned color from my color coding system—read more about it here—and I had barely finished writing my first word when I was struck by the vibrancy of the color and smoothness of the writing tip. I purposely wrote more than I originally intended because I wanted to fill up the page with this beautiful color! Then I picked up the pink pen, or more accurately, the gorgeous bright Fuchsia pen and ‘wow’; it was equally vibrant and stunning. The rest, as they say, is history! When I returned from vacation, I immediately bought the Paper♥Mate Inkjoy Gel Pen 12-pack which contains a larger, beautiful color spectrum and I was NOT disappointed!
The pen itself is aesthetically pleasing. It has a silver click mechanism on top that presses down and pops up firmly with a satisfying ‘click’. The thickness of the body is comparable to most mainstream pens with a smooth ‘step-down’ towards the grip section. It has a top, front-facing plastic ‘window’ with the name embossed in silver (in the middle of the pen) that allows you to see the ink cartridge reservoir. Then the rest of the pen is covered by a rubberized material which starts from the top, back section of the pen and goes all the way down to the grip with a few subtle dot indentations. The rubber section is not so tacky that it would make it difficult to slip into an elastic pen loop, a common problem with pens with a rubberized grip. The grip end twists off to reveal the cartridge so it’s refillable however, as of the time of this writing, I’ve only seen blue and black refills available. The pen is very comfortable to hold and use which is perfect for long writing sessions. Finally, the clip is also plastic but stationary so be careful when lifting it since it only has a slight bend to the plastic and it’s embossed with two little hearts (the Paper♥Mate logo) in a silver oval, adding a nice and understated decorative touch; there are also two little hearts on the back of the pen—opposite the clip—embedded in the rubberized section. And the colors! Oh the colors!!!
Not since trying the Pentel EnerGel gel pens—review coming in a future blogpost!—have I been this impressed by a gel pen. It’s an excellent option for anyone looking for an affordable gel pen with rich, saturated colors.
What about you? What is/are your favorite gel pen(s)? Are there any you’d recommend to a fellow pen lover? Please share in the comments below and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!
Until next time,
♥ LilD ♥