Let's begin. 💗

THE LAYOUT

The Sarasa series, from Japanese company Zebra Pen, is one of the well-loved collections in the stationery world. The series has a beautiful range of collections under its belt, and for this entry, we are reviewing the Clip gel pens.

The pen is in a clear plastic body, with a colored grip for extra comfort. The ink is pigment- and water-based and is acid-free and fade-resistant. It comes in 20 regular colors and in four different tip sizes (0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.7). 

SAMPLES

Used here was tip size 0.3

Closer look of tip size 0.3

THE PEN-TO-PAPER TEST

We will be testing and comparing tip sizes 0.3 and 0.4, trying them out through lines, curls, words, etc. We'll also see how they fare in terms of ghosting, bleeding, smudging, and smoothness. 

For reference, we will be using a PaperNotes mini (80 GSM) in this test. 😊

Back of sample page

Back of swatch / test page

Findings:

1. During the finger-smudge test, the 0.3 smudged more that the 0.4, smudging only very slightly. This is surprising as typically the thicker the lines the smudgier inks tend to be, so this result that can be a good thing if you prefer the 0.4.

2. For the highlight-smudge test, the result came out as I expected. The 0.4 smudged more with highlight compared to 0.3.

3. It does not bleed at all! 💖 Though it slightly ghosts on 80GSM paper. 

THE YELLOW LEGAL PAD TEST

pros

1. Options! I think it's pretty neat that they offer four tip sizes (0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.7).

2. It's refillable, which I think helps you save money on your next purchase since you don't have to buy a new pen every time. A refill is only around PHP 50, so you save about PHP 19 and up. 😇

3. I find the pen body just the perfect size; it's not too bulky nor too skinny. And I also love the fact that it has a rubber grip for extra comfort! 

4. It's easily accessible. You can find one at the mall or online. 

cons

1. It's not ideal for left-handers. Evidently from our pen-to-paper tests, the ink does not dry quickly, which leads to smudging and smearing.

2. It's not that smooth as I've expected. It has the tendency to be scratchy, especially 0.3. While this is usually the case for thinner tip sizes, there are other pens that are still smooth even at 0.3 and lower, which tells us that this technology can be done—it just wasn't done so on this line. And that's why I listed it as a con. 😇

3. I've noticed that the ink kind of skips for 0.3? This is evident on the two horizontal lines seen on the tip-size comparison photo (though this may be a very subjective issue or I might've just gotten one from a bad batch 😅)

VERDICT

final rating: 4.4

RECOMMENDATIONS

I would recommend the Zebra Sarasa Clip gel pen for journaling and everyday writing for the right-handed. I think that the pen in general is a good staple to have on your arsenal.

I would definitely also recommend trying out the other colors available in the Sarasa Clip collection, especially that they also have the Milk line, which consists of a softer color palette! 🤗