Tag Archives: green

Review – Expo Ultra Fine Red, Green, and Blue

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Last week I looked at the Ultra-Fine Expo markers as a whole, and the black color specifically. This week I’ll look at the more common colors in most dry-erase ranges in this size and brand, and see how they work.

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Red- The color red is a problem with many pens, and dry-erase markers are no exception. The red goes on smoothly enough, and is one of the thinner “sticking” inks. The lines it makes are solid, but the shading and their thin-ness is more pronounced. The color is also quite washed out and pink, which I’m not really a fan of, but seems to be a theme in reds.

Green- The green is one of the thicker and smoother colors. The lines are bold and solid. But the color, while pleasant, is also washed out. While it is definitely in the green spectrum, it’s more of a sea-green or something similar.

Blue- And finally the blue. In writing characteristics, it’s more of a mixture between the other two. The lines aren’t as bold or thick, and it’s not quite as smooth as green, but more so than red. The color is the most true and least shading of the bunch. It goes well with the black, and is easy to read even from far away, though it isn’t too dark.

The first set of colors is standard, and while lackluster, they get the job done. I can’t really complain as they weren’t created with art in mind, but rather for ease of use and low odor, which they have. Next week I’ll take a look at some of the less-standard colors available in the lineup.

Review – PaperMate Flair Colors – Olive, Lilac, Navy, Plum, and Turquoise

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And now for part 3 of my look at the 20 colors of Papermate Flair pens. This time I’ll be looking at five of the cooler colors in the lineup. I’ll just get started.

Papermate flair colors part 3

Olive – Olive is a nice green, forest-y color that looks quite natural and is very pleasant. It is quite conservative and laid back. One might be able to get away with using it at an office, but it’s unlikely. In poor lighting it almost blends in with dark blues and blacks, though. On the smearing side it’s one of the worst, easily smearing and becoming unreadable with contact with water.

Lilac – It’s a light purplish color that is smooth and quite easy to look at. It wouldn’t be appropriate in most offices, but in many a field of flowers there are similar colors. The color looks almost washed out before water is applied, but it smears and feathers probably the least out of the entire set.

Navy – Navy is a very dark, office-appropriate blue that goes well in most places. Artistically, it would be most at home in the dark, but there may be other applications. It does smear, but very little, and  it is often readable afterwards. The main problem when water is applied is that there is so much pigment that it covers a wide area with a bluish tinge.

Plum – A bit off from most of the fruit I’ve seen, this plum is a dark, red-ish, purple color. It could pass for a plum still, just not one from a supermarket. It could also make its home in an office for a bit of fun, but not for everything. It bleeds, feathers, and smears pretty badly, but does stay mostly readable.

Turquoise – Turquoise is a nice color at points, but it shades quite a bit, and the color variation can at times be unpleasant. It’s a good sky, but doesn’t look like the stone, and going over it multiple times will turn it into more of an aquamarine. If your work doesn’t have a problem with blue, it should still work. With a wipe from water nothing changes, but if left for a few moments the color dissolves completely and is unreadable.

And that’s it for part 3. These colors are some of my favorites in the set, and much more usable than their warm counterparts. Next time I’ll be taking a look at the remaining 4 pens, which aren’t officially named anywhere I can find.

 

Review – PaperMate Flair Colors – Black, Blue, Red, Green, Purple, and Yellow

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The Papermate Flair is a good porous-point pen; I’ve looked at both the black and red versions in the past. But they do come in a host of colors. I got the largest pack I could find, which seems to be exclusive to Sam’s Club, with 20 colors. And it’s so exclusive that I can’t find official color names for 4 of them. Those 4 will be in the last part of this series, the first 3 being Standard, Warm, then Cool. And now onto the colors.

Papermate flair colors part 1

Black – The black is a fairly standard black (most are): it’s deep and cool. It’s office-appropriate and moderately smear-resistant. While it does smear, it is readable after most spills.

Blue – A dark, office-type blue that is not a very natural color, but a pleasant one. It is legible and unintrusive. It lightens considerably and smudges when wet, but doesn’t erase.

Red – A dull (but still punchy) red, nice to look at, but a bit pinkish. It’s less glaring and hard on the eyes for grading and warnings than comparable pen reds, but similar to most marker reds. Is fairly smear resistant, but does lighten.

Green – A dark green, slightly darker than, say, a crayon green. It’s a deep, grassy, natural color. Noticeably different from the other, more common colors, but nothing that’ll jump out from across the room. It could be used in a liberal office. It smears and lightens quite a bit, though.

Purple – One of the more usual, pops-off-the-page purples. It is noticeable as a purple and isn’t the most natural-looking color. It stands out from dark blues, but could get lost in a page of dark inks. Almost no smudging on this one, though it does feather a lot when wet. It could be used in a similar office to the green one.

Yellow – A super-bright, stereotypical yellow. It’s almost illegible on white paper. It’s the most water-resistant after red and purple, but it all but disappears anyway. It hurts they eyes to look at for a long time (I’m not sure if it’s the brightness or the fact it’s hard to read) and isn’t a very natural-looking color. I wouldn’t recommend this one unless you’re coloring in books.

And that’s part 1 of my look at the 20 Papermate Flair colors. A good general assortment here, but nothing groundbreaking. Next week I’ll take a look at 5 of the more Warm colors in the set.

Review – Pilot Precise Colors, Green and Purple

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I’ve taken a look at the Pilot Precise V5 pens before, and they’re pretty good pens in the standard compliment of black, red, and blue colors. But they also have a few other colors available, and in this little review I’ll take a look at the purple and green offerings.

Pilot precise green and purple

First the purple, which is much darker and a much truer purple than most, which are more a fuchsia. The color is deep, but not deep enough to be washed out. It could still conceivably be used in an office setting, but might be pushing it. And while there are rarely truer purples, it doesn’t have a very natural look to it. Perhaps it exists in some deeps shades of flowers, but otherwise it is far too dark. Startup with this color is easy, and while it does fade with water, it is still readable.

And second, the green, which again is much darker and much truer than other greens. It is unmistakably green, but darker than what one would usually think of green as being. It doesn’t get close to a forest or hunter, but certainly is far from a light or lime. I couldn’t think of any office uses, unless you’re a teacher who doesn’t want to use red. It is just light enough to stand out and not look professional. In art, though, it is a wonderfully natural color, and it shades a little bit for interesting effects. It has a bit of a startup problem (or a drying out problem) and is the less water-resistant of the two, but it is still adequate.

Is it worth moving over to Pilot Precise pens just to get these colors? Unlikely, but they are great colors that add to an already nice lineup. I enjoy them, and very similar colors are hard to find in disposable rollerballs or gel pens. They might be worth a look.

Review – Bic Stic Colors Pink, Purple, Lime, and Light Blue

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The Bic Round Stic is an iconic pen. Not so much as the Bic Cristal, but still quite well known. It is a fairly robust pen, but usually one of few colors. The pen usually comes in the four standard colors: black and RGB. With some hunting, though, one can find more exotic colors, like the ones I will be talking about today: the pink, lime, purple, and sky blue colors.

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First up is the pink, which is a nice color. It certainly isn’t hot pink, which I despise. It covers well and writes smoothly. It’s fairly dark but still quite pink, though not a very natural pink. It’s the kind that could really only be seen from an ink like this and not anywhere else.

Next is the light (sky) blue, which writes smoothly, but has many little imperfections in the line. It just doesn’t cover well. The color is fantastic, though. It can be a bit hard to see at times but it’s quite pleasant to look at and not particularly eye straining. It is most like the colors at the edges of a clear body of water or the sky closer to the sun, so rare, but not unheard of in nature.

On to the lime, which is by far the hardest to read of the group. And it has some startup and writing problems, though when you get it working it does write smoothly. On the paper, the green is so light as to be unreadable in many cases and can cause eye strain. Though I call it lime, it really is much lighter and closer to… well, nothing that I can think of.

A bit altered in editing, but still a good representation

A bit altered in editing, but still a good representation

And finally, the purple, which is the best in terms of pen quality. It has no startup issues, writes smoothly, and covers well. It is darker than the blue but not by much, and still would require a second glance to read from far away. That being said, it is a very pleasant color to look at and is great for use when a more standard office color is not necessary. The color would be a rare one to find in the wild, though.

Overall, for writing these pens are hit and miss, and for art they are also hit and miss. The purple and blue are the best. I wouldn’t even try to use the lime. If you’re looking for some way to make your writing more unique, there are other Bic sets out there for that (like an entire box of the purple) and the same goes for any type of art that you might be making, unless it requires some very specific colors