Copic atyouSpica Pens - Review

I bought these pens from Cult Pens last year and I kept meaning to review them, but I wasn't sure whether I had enough experience using them to be able to do so.

And then on Friday my trusty lavender pen, fading and no longer quite so glittery as it had been when it first arrived, finally died halfway through helping me plot out a story, and I realised then that perhaps, just maybe, I had been using them quite a lot after all.  So, while I'm waiting for a replacement to arrive (no I can't just use another pen, it'd feel wrong), I thought I should finally review them.

Copic atyouSpica glitter pens come individually, in a pack of twelve of a single colour, or in two sets (A and B) of every colour.  Set A contains more strident colours, such as lavender, red, sky blue--which is darker than you'd expect--as well as black, gold and silver.  Set B contains pastel colours as well as some darker versions of set A, a clear pen, and one of the blackest black pens I've seen.

The pens write very nicely and the ink flows well onto the page.  They survive my too-strong pressure and spiky handwriting admirably and don't dry out too quickly if you leave the lid off, which is particularly handy when your inspiration suddenly dies on you.

Each pen also contains glitter and the effect varies depending on the brightness of the ink: the glitter is very visible in the black pens, while it's nowhere near as noticeable in the pastel colours.  The exception to this appears to be the orange pen--at least, in my case--which is packed with a surprising amount of it.  The glitter doesn't slow down the flow and is evenly distributed in the ink.

The glitter will wear away from the page with time, but the colours remain strong and bright.

The pastel colours are hard to see on white paper, particularly in low light, as are the orange and yellow; the clear is for accent purposes and is near impossible to see.

For pens that are primarily designed for crafting they make beautiful note pens and are great for general handwriting.  I use them for colour-coding my plotting notes, as well as for a little extra sparkle for things like greetings cards.

Finally, you can get a lot of use out of one pen--I'd plotted out a novella and a half with the lavender before it died!  And more to the point, I'm surprised at how quickly I've come to rely on them--they've become my 'go-to' pens in a very short space of time.

My new lavender pen meets the pack