I tend to avoid using yellow pens as the ink tends to be so bright you can’t even see what I’ve written. I typically reach for my Papermate Inkjoy Gel when I want a yellow pen for a rainbow spread. But instead of using that same pen all the time I decided to test all of the yellow pens I’ve acquired over the years from various rainbow pen packs.
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Yellow Pen Swatches
I did this testing in one of my Plum Paper notebooks (see my haul in this post).
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These are the yellow pens I tested (a variety of ballpoint, gel pens, fine tip and marker pens)
- Staedtler Color 1mm
- Stabilo Point 88 fine
- Uni Pi’s dual tip (only the fat end had ghosting)
- MUJI Hexa Pen
- Pilot twin marker Fine & extra fine
- Ooly color connect gel
- Pilot Frixion erasable
- Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3mm
- Daiso fine tip
- Papermate Flair UF
- Sharpie Art Pen Fine
- Inklab Fineliner
- Pilot pop’lol pastel
- Kikki K write in rainbow 0.4mm
- Paperchase sign pen
- Faber Castell Grip fine pen 0.4mm
- Caliart Fineliner 0.38mm
- Kikki K make it precise felt pen
- Zebra Sarasa Clip 0.5mm
- Kaco Pure Green Gel 0.5mm
- Kingart Inkline Pen
- Papermate Inkjoy Gel 0.7
- BLOT Gel Pen
- DONG-A Twinliner Soft
- Smiggle tri grip ballpoint
- Staedtler Triplus Broadliner 0.8mm
- Staedtler Twin tip 0.5/0.8mm and 3mm
Ghosting and bleed through
As yellow is such a light color, there was no bleed through. There was some ghosting for only 2 of the marker pens (Uni Pi’s and Pilot Twin Marker)
Related: How I use different types of pens when planning
I recommend
- Staedtler Triplus Broadliner 0.8mm
- Staedtler Twin tip 0.5/0.8mm and 3mm
- Staedtler Color 1mm
- Stabilo Point 88 fine
- Uni Pi’s dual tip (only the fat end had ghosting)
- MUJI Hexa Pen
- Pilot twin marker Fine & extra fine
- Ooly color connect gel (ok, but not as good as the rest of the pens listed above)
If you don’t mind more of a golden yellow than a real yellow, then I recommend:
- Papermate Inkjoy Gel 0.7
- BLOT Gel Pen
- DONG-A Twinliner Soft (note that this is actual a dual tip highlighter)
- Smiggle tri grip ballpoint (the only ballpoint pen on this list)
I do not recommend
- Pilot Frixion erasable (my favorite pens let me down – the yellow sucks!)
- Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3mm
- Daiso fine tip (this pen looks like a knock off Papermate Flair – it dried out about a month after I purchased it)
- Papermate Flair UF – note that I have the candy colors set so not a true rainbow collection. The Candy color with the gold lid actually looks like a mustard color
- Sharpie Art Pen Fine
- Inklab Fineliner (the rest of the colors these pens come in are great just not the yellow)
- Pilot pop’lol pastel (too neon it’s hard to read)
- Kikki K write in rainbow 0.4mm (the needle tip tends to skip)
- Paperchase sign pen
- Faber Castell Grip fine pen 0.4mm (the pens with yellow lids either look mustard or orange when you write with them)
- Caliart Fineliner 0.38mm
- Kikki K make it precise felt pen (love the other colors in the pack and how these pens write, but the yellow is too light)
- Zebra Sarasa Clip 0.5mm (the ink comes out more orange than yellow or gold)
- Kaco Pure Green Gel 0.5mm
- Kingart Inkline Pen (the rest of the colors in this pack are fine, it’s just this yellow one that randomly dried out)
More pen reviews
- After trying more than 20 pen brands, these are my top 5
- Brush pens versus highlighters: which is better for planning?
- 5 Pen brands that are similar but cheaper than the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3mm
- How I use different types of pens when planning
Planning tips
- Answers to 50 Frequently Asked Planner Questions
- Why I plan my day using planner stickers (and why you should too!)
- My all time favorite weekly planner layout (plus my favorite planners in this layout)
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Nati says
I’m glad I’m not the only one who has been on the hunt for the “PERFECT” yellow pen! LOL. Recently I purchased a yellow Erin Condern dual tip yellow pen….and I must say it is my FAVORITE by far with no bleed through and both tips are just right for me – with the broader tip being perfect. Great Post and Cheers to finding the perfect yellow pen! 🙂
Karen says
I also have hunted for the perfect colored pens and my favorite ones are Pilot precise V5 .5 tip pens (LOVE them!). I have actually been stocked up on these with every trip to the store as it seems that ever time I find a pen that I reall love, it eventually ends up being taken off the market. I believe my current “stash” as my family calls it, is up to close to 200 new, saved ones!!