What's your favorite pen? - Pen Review & Giveaway

 This post was inspired by seeing this TV commercial from PaperMate about their InkJoy line of pens. If you haven't seen it yet, watch the short video below.

I, for one, am a pen snob. I'm one of those annoying people that uses 8 different colored pens to write notes for a 3 hour college class. In my defense, it helps with organization. I get bored with pens easily, too, and love trying out new styles and writing utensils. I think I could open a K-12 school building and have enough pens to hold all of the teachers over for at least a year.
Okay, so maybe that's a slight exaggeration.  

So when I thought of doing a pen review, of course I got to buy some new pens to try out! 

(These are the only pens I bought for this review, but I am going to throw 2 more in here that I love.)

Let me start by saying I am not being compensated for this in any form (unless you count my husband buying the pens for me for this post) and all thoughts about the different brands of pens are my own genuine opinion. If you think you'd like to try any of these styles of pens, you can find them all at Target... all for under $10 a pack.

Okay, let's get started!

PaperMate - InkJoy ($$)
In my search for the pens that inspired this post, I discovered that there are many different types of InkJoy pens. Target only sells the ones pictured above (at least the Target closest to my house). They do what they're marketed as... writing effortlessly. Very smooth and they don't skip. For all the money going in to marketing these pens, however, I feel like they're just another pen. Nothing amazing that makes me want to buy stock in PaperMate. It's just a pen.

BIC - Ball Point ($)

I admit to *borrowing* one of these pens from the pack before I sat down to write this review. I needed a black pen quick, these were on the table... problem solved. & honestly, it's a really nice pen. It doesn't leave blot marks when you are finishing letters and it writes super smooth. It's probably best comparable to a medium-point tip pen. I like it and for the price, I'm sure it will be a staple pen in my household now.

Infixity - Neon Permanent Pens ($$$)

These took some convincing to buy. The price point seemed really outrageous to me for only 8 pens. But I decided why not (ya know, in the name of research). I probably should have just left them on the shelf, though, because I am a little disappointed in them for the price. They write smooth, but the ink just comes out so thin and lightly-colored. Kind of lifeless. The black comes out a light grey, red is more pink, and the purple is a lavender color. Unfortunately, this isn't a pen I recommend.

Pilot - G2 Fine Point Roller Gel Pens ($$)

My husband uses only this brand of pen, so it was only fair to include this gentlemen of a pen in my reviews. It writes nice and I like the fine lines it creates. It's a gel pen though, so it has a tendency to smear (which can be a pain in the ya know). I prefer the fine point, but you can get it in a variety of sizes. I, also, really like G2 pens because there are so many different colors. It's a professional looking pen for a fraction of the price.

UniBall - Fine Point Gel Pen ($)
I like the thin lines the pen creates. It's a gel pen, similar to the G2... except I would personally rather use a G2 pen. The problem I have with this pen is that when you write for awhile with it, it skips. It's like the ball roller at the tip doesn't catch enough ink in time for me to write. It kind of annoyed me. Not my favorite pen, but a nice pen for when I have nothing else laying around. 

Sharpie Pens ($)

Unlike Sharpie fine point markers, these pens don't bleed through paper (which is pretty awesome!). I have used the Sharpie markers in the past, but moved past them in recent years because they bleed through papers as I'm grading or even just writing down general notage (yep, I just made that up). They come in a big variety of colors now and I am pretty pumped. Thank goodness Target had a huge stock of these! Probably my new favorite pen for business work and school work.

PaperMate Flair Pens ($$$)

When I got my first teaching job 4 years ago, these are the first pens I bought. It was kind of like a reward for myself for landing my first gig and I wanted to have the best pens to start out. I really like these pens, even though they're more like fine point markers. They do bleed through paper if you hold the tip in one spot for a few seconds. They're kind of expensive (unless you are lucky and get them when Staples has them for $5 for the big variety pack), but they are kind of a big deal. Definitely worth the money. Plus side... I've never actually seen any of my students using these pens to write with, so it's nice to have a pen that won't easily be tampered with when grading papers.

Overall, I think my favorite pen of right now has to be the Sharpie pens. When they first came out a few years ago only in black ink, I admit I wasn't too keen on them. But now that you can buy them in pink, purple, blue, red, orange... pretty much any color... I'm all on board. They write amazing in my Erin Condren Lesson Planner, too. So since I love giving back to my fellow teachers, here's a chance to win some Sharpie pens!

All you have to do is comment on this post with your favorite brand of pen. :) Good luck!

 

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