Helen's Favourites 01: Pens & Pencils

Greetings! I often get questions asking what pens I use in my videos, so here is a masterlist of all of my favourite pens. Like many stationery fanatics, I do go through phases of experimenting and trying new things, but these are the pens I always go back to.

(1) Pentel Energel Clena: This is the gel pen I most consistently use in my planner, for school work, and any work really. It is refillable so you really only need to get one pen and the refills, but with all of the pretty colours, it's pretty darn hard to resist getting a few of these pens hehe. There is a variety of different line widths you can choose from, but my favourite is 0.4mm. The 0.5mm is excellent as well!

(2) Tombow Fudenosuke Hard Tip: Favourite brush pen for handlettering in smaller spaces, or if I don't need a super bold line. I typically use this to write my subheadings.

(3) Tombow Fudenosuke Soft Tip: Favourite brush pen for larger handwriting and when I want to make a statement! This is what I use to write "TODAY" in my daily journal basically every single day haha.

(4) Tombow Dual Brush Pens: These are water-based markers that I use for a lot of my doodles & sketches! There is a wide colour selection to choose from which can get a bit overwhelming. My tip would be to purchase the pens individually rather than getting their sets. Yes, individual stock tends to be more expensive per pen, but would you be saving $ if you get a set with a colour you don't use? This is how I approached it! I will link below two videos of mine that might help you with choosing colours!

(5) Zebra Sarasa Vintage: I am personally not a big fan of using colourful pens in my planner*, however I want to give a shoutout to this line of pens because they are a staple of mine when taking notes for school. Just different enough from black that you can tell it's not black, but also not so bright and jarring that it's difficult to read. So many pretty colours to choose from too!

*Exception: That one time I had a planner crisis and did an entire week using pastel gel pens. We won't discuss that further.

(6) TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen: I always recommend this fountain pen for beginners and non-beginners! A trusty fountain pen that gets the job done at a reasonable price point. I use both the fine and extra-fine nibs!

(7) Pilot Vanishing Point Fine Nib: Another trusty fountain pen for extra smooth writing. This is one of the few retractable fountain pens on the market which is great for jotting down quick notes! My one gripe I have with this pen is the dang converter... if you know, you know...

(7.5) Favourite Inks: Editing to add by request, my favourite fountain pen inks! This is unfortunately like choosing my favourite child, so I cannot give you a straight answer. So here are my most frequently used:

• Aurora Black: solid black, not waterproof, a bit pricey
• Waterman Intense: solid black, not waterproof, budget-friendly
• De Atramentus Document Black: solid black, waterproof
• Diamine Earl Grey: love it for when I don't want to use black, but I don't want to use a crazy colour either
• Diamine Oxblood: makes me feel like an ancient author, do not spill or else it will look like a murder scene
• Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki: all time favourite blue, typically use when I do maths

(8) Prismacolor Col-Erase: These are the coloured pencils I use for sketching my design ideas! It's not a 100% clean erase (meaning there typically is some residue) which I actually like: not so permanent so there isn't much pressure, but still leaving some bits behind so I can build off mistakes.

(9) Uni Alpha Gel 0.5mm: I use this to draw the divider lines in my daily pages! This mechanical pencil has a loooong history. I have owned this pencil since I was in kindergarten, back in Japan. Hence why the eraser and top is missing haha. I have since purchased a replacement actually, but I haven't even opened the parcel because I refuse to get rid of this one. Super squishy grip for comfortable writing!

And that's about it! Again, I use many other pens but the above are consistently in my pen case--never lets me down. I hope you have a beautiful day! I would love to know what your favourite pens are :)