Helen's Favourite Stationery Supplies

Leonardo Momento Magico

Pietra Salata, extra fine 14ct gold nib

I got this pen as a consolation treat for myself after getting through a few consecutive hardships. I have used this pen almost daily for the past year and a half and so while the price tag was hard to swallow, I believe I have derived its full value.

PRO: Excellent piston filler. Functional ink window. Beautifully built. Smooth nib with light feedback.

CON: Pricey (but worth it). The extra fine nib writes more like a fine. This isn't an issue with me, but just something to note.

Pilot Vanishing Point

Gun Metal with Rhodium trim, fine nib

The vanishing point is very popular--especially in the planner community! I find that this pen gives me a lot of control over my lines, and of course, the retractable mechanism is convenient. This model caught my eye because I was looking for a chic pen, but I didn't want a basic black. The gunmetal finish is so interesting under different lighting!

PRO: Buttery smooth writing. Convenient retractable mechanism. Chic.

CON: The converter sucks. But, if you don't mind ink cartridges or using a syringe to fill the converter, this con can be overlooked.

TWSBI Eco

Fine or Extra Fine

This is the fountain pen I recommend to all beginners. Even though I have other fancy pens now, I still often write with the TWSBI Eco--it is just so reliable!

PRO: Large ink capacity. Piston filling mechanism. Reliable.

CON: A higher frequency of reports regarding cracked caps, relative to other pens. However, only caps that have cracked gets reported so there is some bias. 

DeAtramentis

Document Black

This is my go-to black ink! It is water resistent. Not too dry, not too wet. No cool/warm undertones. Just solid performance.

Pilot

Iroshizuku

Anything from this line is great! My favourites are Kon-Peki and Tsuki-Yo (I like blues). There isn't anything super interesting going on, but sometimes, being simply reliable is the best.

Energel Clena

0.4mm & 0.5mm

I have consistently used this pen for the past 5+ years! I started with the 0.5mm but nowadays, I prefer the 0.4mm. I love that it is refillable, so past buying the first pen casing, you can use much more affordable refills.

This pen holds the standard Energel ink refills, so it's not necessary to buy the "Clena". The Clena model is just so cute ^_^

Sarasa Grand

0.5mm

This is a metal body pen that has a nice weight to it. It is also refillable and the ink is very smooth. There is a wide range of body colours and each of them look very professional. If you are into a more chic look rather than something cute, I would go with this! I choose the pen I use based on my ✨feelings✨ so I can't really say when I prefer this pen over the aforementioned Energel Clena. 

Other Gel Pens:

• MUJI Gel Pens: These are really affordable and accessible! I love how these write. My only complaint is that my hands tend to cramp when using these.
• Sarasa Vintage Colours: I don't often use coloured gel pens, but when I do, it is likely one of these. I have poor eyesight so I cannot deal with super bright colours.
• Uni Ball One: These chubby little pens write well, but I primarily bought them because they look so cute!

Tombow Dual Brush Pens

I primarily use these markers for quick sketches and hand lettering! I have slowly built-up my collection over the past few years, and I even have repurchased some frequently used colours that I used-up (who knew it was possible to finish a pen...)

While the premade sets are cheaper per unit, I would only recommend getting the sets if you were planning on buying the colours individaully anyways. I much prefer buying the individual stock pens because even if I'm paying a few cents more per pen, I know that the colour I'm getting is one that I will use.

Here are an Instagram video of my top 6 favourite colours.

772, 912, 991, 076, 553, N75

Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens

A reliable pen I have consistently used & repurchased for the past few years!

• Soft Tip: I use this primarily for bold lettering, such as writing the word "TODAY" on my daily entries.
• Hard Tip: I use this for writing subheadings, smaller lettering, and a lot of the doodles in my daily pages.

Mildliner Highlighters

This might be a hot take, but I don't find there to be anything special about these highlighters. I rarely use them for highlighting but rather just as regular markers. I think the colours are great and I espcially enjoy them for colour-coding!

Stabilo Boss Highlighters

These are a recent favourite of mine! I bought some from the NatureCOLORS line and I love how soothing the colours are. I also got the black highlighter (yup, pure black) which I was told is typically used for redacting things on documents. However, I found that this guy is handy for making black headers! Which leads me to...

Sakura Gelly Roll

White gel pen, 0.8mm

I love using this with the aforementioned black highlighters! Many years ago, I was into bullet journaling on black paper (black out paper planning #throwback) and I used the gelly roll pens too! Albeit I recall using the 0.5mm version back then.

Uni Alpha Gel Shaker Mechanical Pencil

Rose Pink, Soft Grip, 0.5mm

I have owned this exact pencil since kindergarten! That is why in my videos, you may see that I have since lost the eraser, cap, and some of the text on the metal body has rubbed off. It has a very comfortable grip which I like to squish when I feel anxious. You can click the end or shake the pencil to push the lead.

Rotring 600

0.5mm

My dear sister purchased this pencil for me when I was in highschool and it has served me well! This is a drafting pencil made out of brass, so it is much heavier than a standard pencil. While I am no architect nor engineer, I use this pencil when I make technical drawings for building shelves & other projects.

Hobonichi Cousin

This is the love of my life. I have used this planner for the past, maybe 5 years? It's relatively pricey, but I think of it as an investment in a product that will serve me daily for 365 days (+ many years of memories). I made a video about the setup, and as a brief overview:

• It has yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, and note sections
• Tomoe river paper
• A5 size
• I use the weekly section for my schedule
• I use the daily section for my to-do list, prompts, and daily journaling

Hobonichi Weeks

Japanese

For 2025, I will be using this as my dedicated Health & Fitness journal. I used to track it in my Hobonichi Cousin, but because it was interspersed with my work notes and other life things, I couldn't see my progress throughout the year. I made a video about the setup, and as a brief overview:

• Yearly: steps & workout tracker
• Monthly: medication & bad habits
• Weekly: running & gym progress
• Notes: compilation of quotations & advice
• My 100: goal of doing 100 runs in 2025

Leuchtturm

A6 Pocket, dot grid, hardcover

This is my free-flowing pocket bullet journal. I use this only when I feel like it! Sometimes, I get overwhelmed with too many things going on so I like to "extract" certain things and rewrite it in this bullet journal.

Example: I might "extract" all of my design deadlines and make a design to-do list in this pocket bullet journal. This allows me to see what I need to design each day, without the distraction of seeing other items on my to-do list.

I also do a lot of doodling and other writing that doesn't quite fit in my other journals.

Stalogy

A5 grid, 1/2 year

This is my reading journal, where I take notes from books that I read. I keep it very simple as anything more than that is too much for me to handle haha.

Here is a TikTok video where I explain it more.

Freely Noted

PlannerMonkeyCo, pocket

I was recently-ish diagnosed with ADHD and I really needed a system to help me manage my overwhelm. I came-up with this idea that has really helped me with my day-to-day tasks! This will look like an overkill for many people, but it is hard to explain how much this helps me.

I don't have a dedicated video for it, but I talk about it a lot here.

Other Notebooks

• Rhodia: I used Rhodia pads for a lot of my university lectures.
• Leuchtturm A5: I used the A5 lined notebooks for university notes and problem sets.

Coloured Pencils

• Caran D'ache Pablo: This is what I use in my planners and journals.
• Faber-Castell Polychromos: I like these for personal illustrations where I really want to build-up the colour layers.
• Prismacolor Premier Soft-Core: These are great for hyper-realistic illustrations.
• Prismacolor Scholar: A relatively affordable range of student grade pencils.
• Prismacolor Col-Erase: These are erasable coloured pencils. I use these for doing product skethces. I rarely erase my lines, but having the option is nice!

Watercolours

• Artist: Winsor & Newton Professional, Daniel Smith
• Student: Winsor & Newton Cotman
• Casual: Sakura Koi Palette, Kuretake Gansai

Clear Covers

• Midori A5 Codex Cover: This works with the full year Hobobnichi Cousin
• Midori A5 Notebook Cover: This works with the Hobonchi Cousin Avec

Crafting Supplies

• Kokuyo Dotliner: This is the tape runner I use! It is refillable.
• Plus Whipper Petit: An off-white correction tape that blends in with cream coloured pages. Kokuyo Campus also sells an off-white correction tape.
• Fiskars Bypass Paper Trimmer: A personal-sized guilottine paper trimmer. This makes cutting inserts so much easier! I much prefer guilottine trimmers over the... sliding ones (not sure what the term is).

Stamping Supplies

• Ink: For stamping in planners, I recommend chalk inks which don't bleed through most pages. My favourite is the VersaMagic Dew Drops; the pointy tip gives some precision.
• Acrylic Block: Any will do the trick--even just a clear ruler or clear container works! The one I use is the small BGM acrylic stamp block; it has a white grid on the block so it makes stamping on precise spots easier.