#studyblr review

PEN + GEAR GEL PENS 

Hi! A few months back I talked about how I had really enjoyed some Uniball Signo Gel Pens, however, lately I think I’ve found some I enjoy even more and they are way cheaper! 

For those of you who don’t know, Pen + Gear is the Walmart brand of office supplies/stationary. I have a lot of washi tape and calendars etc from the brand and I really enjoy the brand overall. 

These pens are absolutely amazing! They are quick drying, they don't smear, and they come in a few colors that are absolutely stunning. I especially like the maroon-ish color. I also like the packaging, and the style of the pen. The white is super nice and usually pens have a black body rather than the white, so I love the white. 

hey everybody! i have not seen many of these stationery review masterposts, so i decided to make one. i know these would have been really helpful to me, and i hope they’ll be useful to you! i know a lot of you already have mildliners - but to those of you who don’t - here’s some advice before buying them. enjoy!

general review

quality: ✩✩✩✩✩

colors: ✩✩✩✩✩

pricing: ✩✩✩✩

smudging: ✩✩✩✩

bleeding/ghosting: ✩✩✩

overall: ✩✩✩✩

features

in case you didn’t know, the zebra mildliners have a twin tip. it has a larger, chiseled tip which is used for highlighting, and it has a smaller tip that can be used to underline or write headers. but even with light usage the small tip can become dull easily

complaints

scratchy tip: the tips are very firm and are sometimes difficult to write in a straight line with compared to other highlighters

smudging: these do not smudge at all if you wait a few minutes for your pens to dry or if you use ballpoint pens. even the yellow mildliner doesn’t smear after the ink is dry. i only gave the smudging four stars though because if you’re using gel pens and you highlight right away, it will smudge

ghosting: it honestly depends. these highlighters do not ghost very much if you use thicker, lined paper. the paper i always use is the cheap, regular target brand and it barely ghosts. however, printer paper and thin paper (five star has v thin paper!) will show darker colors on the backside of the page

my opinion

overall, i think these highlighters are great if you want to add some unique new colors to spice up your notes. but if you’re more of a neon kind of girl, please don’t give into the hype and buy these - there are plenty of other highlighters that have brighter colors (stabilo boss, zebra optex care, muji highlighters, etc.). the pricing is not too bad and the colors are absolutely gorgeous. personally, i don’t think these mildliners help text stand out as much which can be a drawback when studying. you can always use the darker colors for your bullet journal as well! and if you want them, go and buy them! in the end it’s all up to you and what makes you happy

where to buy

I feel like these pens are known as ‘teacher pens’ and as a future educator, I can see why! They don’t bleed, they are bright and visible! I love these pens, they are great for outlining notes, and I actually do grade with them when I’m in the elementary school! 

They are made with an interesting grip, and I personally like it. Some people may not, though. Flair pens are also kind of pricey, but I think they are worth the money! 

The one thing I don’t like about flair pens is that it is really easy to smash the tip in, other than that I do like them! 

Semi-review! If you’re like me and can’t always buy the best pens, you go for the cheap ones. I wanted some cute pens for notes, so I went with these Bic cristal (that’s how it spelled on the package I swear) xtra bold. 

They’re around 1.50-2.50 USD. I think they’re worth the price! But when they’re that cheap, they’re not gonna be ~perfect~. The good thing is they have nice colors and write pretty okay, bad news is they skip just a little and the colors are on the muted side.