Pen Review: Color-It Glitter 48/96 pack (48 pens, 48 refills)

Pen reviews will be in random order (or basically when I feel like re-visiting using a pen and wanting to write an evaluation on it). Today I re-visited Color-it Glitter gel pens, set of 48 pens (purchase also included a set of refills). I believe I tried this set in response to my favorite glitter gel pen discontinuing several colors. With that more limited color variety, I thought I’d better look for something else to fill that void. I primarily use pens for writing, so I don’t need as vast a pallet as those who color. Since I write, I also tend to prefer the bulk of colors being dark enough to read easily. When I buy a rainbow color pack, I try to enlarge the picture and estimate how many of the colors I would prefer to write with, and take this into account before purchasing. At the time I got this, I considered it ok, but not definitively my go-to gel glitter pen. With all the pens I have tried since, I would elevate this set to above average (there are some sad, sucky pens out there). The pens generally write thick (bold lines) and bright when they write. They can gloop a little now and then, but have relatively consistent quality. I guess I write a bit, and had been spoiled by my previous glitter gel pen, so these didn’t last quite as long as I’d hoped, but in retrospect, they do last longer than the average cheap glitter pen. And when purchased, all the pens actually worked. Advantages of this set: they are very organized. Each pen has a color name and number. The refills are numbered, so one can replace with identical ink. I didn’t realize how handy this was until trying other sets. Yes, you can buy refills, but you might be eye-balling it when replacing, and when the pen cap is a different color than the ink, and the ink appears differently in the barrel than on paper . . . You might be guessing, and then constantly grab a color you didn’t want. I imagine this would be even more crucial for coloring. I have not seen any other pen sets that have this organizational system. One can also keep purchasing refills at a lower price, so that’s also a plus. Disadvantages: for some reason, Color-it doesn’t sell all their glitter pens in one set. What the??? I thought I was purchasing the whole set, as I saw other Color-it sets that were labeled containing regular, Neon or Metallic. Why on earth they chose to deprive me of a few glitter and put that pen in a different set is beyond me, and it was not worth it to me to buy the other set. I only discovered this after e-mailing the manufacturer to ask them to consider making a black glitter someday. They responded that they did, and a few more glitter colors that were in this other set. I don’t recall all the other glitters I was missing, and don’t know if all the different sets still exist. But as we mentioned with managing expectations, sometimes your point of view is what you are seeking, or willing to spend money on. Since it was not my desire to snap up every Color-it pen on the market, it irked me a little that a few extra glitters were hidden in this other set that I didn’t really want to buy on the whole. So for my personal preference, this had a few more lights and yellows compared to other sets (I noticed since I don’t use as much) and no black glitter. Yes, you can really see the glitter in black, and I happen to like it. It was one of the ones they discontinued from my previous manufacturer, so I noticed and was mildly disappointed.