Marvy Le Pen – Oriental Blue

I love a good felt tip pen, they don’t often seem to love me back. The nibs tend to go dry or get sharp or damaged quite quickly – enough for me to notice and find it unenjoyable to use, so the love affair seems to be about a week long event at most. One of the benefits of the felt tip pen is the wide variety of colours that are available and during a “teal” phase of mine (I needed every teal pen and ink I could find) I picked up this Marvy Le Pen in Oriental Blue.

Marvy Le Pen isn’t readily available in Australia, so I picked this one up online. The price (exclusive of shipping and exchange rates) is roughly equivalent to other felt tip pens in this range, such as the Stabilo 88 and Staedler Triplus.

I find that the tip of the Marvy Le Pen appears sturdier and more durable than other felt tip pens I’ve tried. I’ve had this one for a little while now and the nib is still firm and intact – other brands I’ve owned have had softer nibs which seem to get damaged or warped more easily (Sharpie pen I’m looking at you!). Further the ink seems to last longer than other pens I own also, which is a nice surprise.

The Marvy Le Pen range doesn’t seem to have as many colour options available, compared to Stabilo or Staedler, but it covers most of the popular colours. I must admit that I do enjoy the muted/dusky colours available with Staedler, but there are enough for me to find what I need from the Marvey range. The only downside I can see is the diameter of the pen. I have pretty small hands, but I struggle to use this for long periods because the pen is very narrow. More so than its competitors, which are already narrow. I’m not sure why these sorts of felt tip pens are so thin – I’m sure there’s a reason I don’t know about, but it makes using them a little uncomfortable.

I quite enjoy the Marvy Le Pen despite this and I think this colour, Oriental Blue, is quite unique – I can’t find something similar in the other felt tips I’ve tried. If this range is readily available where you live, I’d encourage you to give it a go.