My favorite pens, used every day, almost exclusively consist of Pilot G-2’s and these: PaperMate Flairs.
PaperMate Flair pens are felt-tips — almost like markers — that come in a variety of vibrant colors and lay down ink beautifully without smudging or bleeding through the paper. (They might occasionally bleed through very thin paper, like Bible paper, but not standard paper.)
What you see above is actually a mix of colors; they aren’t all originally the colors that came in that particular package. Which brings me to the one thing I dislike about these pens: they aren’t marked with color names. So you have to kind of guess which colors are coming in which packages and how they compare to the colors you already have. I wish they’d come labeled. (I’m pretty sure they have color names, as far as the company is concerned; the names just aren’t marked on the pens.)
PaperMate Flair Point Sizes
The ones I usually use are the medium-point, which is still pretty fine for a marker-ish pen. (They aren’t nearly as thick as a fine-point Sharpie.)
They also come in an ultra-fine, which are the grey-bodied pens you see scattered throughout this post. They’re not as much finer as you might expect, but they are a little easier for writing with in smaller spaces.
How PaperMate Flair Pens Write (Swatches)
Here are some swatches I did with a selection of my pens. Note that the olive green (bottom-left) is running a bit dry (because I use it a lot!), and the “U” in ultrafine is a bit funky because I started to write it in black and discovered that pen is also dried out and had to go over it. Also, this did not adequately capture the vibrance of the colors. But it will give you a bit of an idea.
I love these for color-coding, and use them when categorizing goals, etc. They’re easy to write with, but should also work pretty well for doodling if you’re a doodler.
PaperMate also sells liquid Flairs. I haven’t tried those yet, and am guessing they’re probably good pens, but are probably a completely different product.
Paper Mate Flair Felt Tip Pens, Medium Point (0.7mm), Assorted Colors, 24 Count
Paper Mate Flair Felt Tip Pens, Ultra Fine Point (0.4mm), Assorted Colors, 8 CountPaper Mate 28503 Liquid Flair, Medium Point, Nontoxic, 8/PK, Asst Ink Colors
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