Over the last four years of writing The Well-Appointed Desk, I’ve mentioned my propensity for Mary Le Pens but I realized I’ve never actually published a review. I initially discovered Le Pen in my pre-teens and it may be THE PEN that lead me to where I am today. Before finding LePens, I had only known black, blue or red ballpoints and the occasional rollerballs. Le Pens opened my eyes to good quality “felt tip” pens in a wide array of colors at a price I could afford on a teenager’s allowance. By the time I graduated from college, I found it harder to find Le Pens and I assumed they had faded from the world like so many other things. Then a couple years ago, I stumbled across them in my local art supply store and I bought just about every color that was available.
Ergonomically, they isn’t much to recommend them. Encased in a slim, straight, plastic cylinder with a snap cap and a simple silver clip that can easily be bent out of shape, and a nylon/fiber tip point that wears down over time, they are not in the same league as many pens I’ve reviewed over the years. But with a retail price of $1.15, these 0.3mm, acid-free, smudge-proof markers are some of my favorite pens. There are more than a dozen colors available and my favorites are the deeper, more complex colors like the gray, orchid, olive and teal. A full set of all 18 colors is available on Jet Pens.
Giveaway: To share my love and devotion for LePens, I’d like to give one lucky reader a full set of 18 Le Pens, compliments of Jet Pens. Just leave a note in the comments and tell me which color is (or could be) your favorite Le Pen to be officially entered.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Sunday, September 28, 2014. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner does not respond within 30 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. US readers only this time, thanks!
I’ve been drawing many of my own postcards lately and would love a set of these
I think they’re the only brand to have a periwinkle fineliner, so that would be my pick!
I worked at a CPA firm that used ONLY Le Pens. I thought my then-boss was a bit nuts about them, and I never used one myself because I was afraid to use his “good pens.” He only bought them in red, black & blue, though, I had no idea they came in such a variety of colors! I love the Oriental Blue–it’s such a pretty shade of blue without being too light to read.
This are my very favorite pen. All the colors are good to write with but the black and the cobalt blue are especially crisp on white paper.
I’ve been trending towards browns lately and I would love to sample this version.
Lavender Purple would be my favorite Le Pen choice of color.
Awesome! I haven’t yet tried these pens, but I’ll definitely have to. I’ve been really into green lately, so I think one of the green ones would become my favorite!
I looooove the burgundy and the grey. I love greys and dark reds and blue blacks – but it would be so fun to explore the bright colors too!
I really love the lilac color the most and all of the colors look great!
It’s tough for me to choose one green LePen over another. I’ve never tried these but you’ve sure piqued my interest.
Oh…so hard to choose, but I would pick olive green. Thanks for the giveaway 🙂
Ohh! I love the Oriental Blue for my journal, but I think Olive Green will def’ly be my favorite color (:
Peacock!!
Any pen in green is my favorite pen. 🙂
I think the light blue would be my favorite color! They look great in all colors though.
Grey. I have a thing for grey ink, though I agree that the periwinkle looks good too.
I like periwinkle, teal and every variation of purple!
Brown. My preferred ink color. I bought a brown one on impulse this summer and loved it.
I love the greens, both the brighter one and the more olive one!
I love LePens, having also discovered them in my early teens. My all-time favorite is probably amethyst, but lately I’m liking the teal a lot.
Oriental blue . . . unless it is a dark grey day.
I like brown and burgandy…
This is a beautiful set. I’ve recently been collecting various pens, pencils, and desk accessories in orange, so naturally the orange LePen would be my choice!
I love color! All colors, and these pens would brighten up my office so much. I love the amethyst and oriental blue the best.
The turquoise looks really nice!
I love, love, love the olive green LePen.
I still remember my very first LePen! It was purple. But I do think now my favorite color could be the periwinkle blue. Thank you for the wonderful giveaway!
It’s so hard to pick; I like the lilac, purple & sky blue!
I have been wanting to try out these le pens. The lavender looks beautiful
Those green shades are nice, but I am really feeling orange right now with the fall weather approaching.
Ohhhh I love LePens~! I have an Olive one that lives in my purse to sign receipts with and so forth, and I had an Oriental Blue that I adored…and then I sent it to my girlfriend, in a blue-themed package, as it is her favorite color. She loved it, too! I would adore a full set that could stay at my desk, to brighten up my planner with a veritable rainbow.
Anything in the blue family is my favorite.
I discovered Le Pens when I was in college. Black was my preferred color then, but I’d go for burgundy now.
I would definitely pick purple, all shades!
I like the darker blue, very nice line.
I really like the deeper shades, like the burgundy, brown, and blue. Great for taking notes without affecting the legibility of the writing.
I remember these from elementary school and was delighted to find them a few years ago … Let’s go with light green. Thanks for hosting!
I love these! Teal is my go to color.
Oriental Blue, no question!
Teal…thanks for the very generous give-away!
i own the teal and the blue! absolutely my favorite. i use them on cards where the paper quality might be a bit suspect for fountain pens!
I love the orange!
Teal. And bright blue.
My fave is the olive green.
Such pretty pens! I would love to try the burgundy one.
Orchid. Definitely orchid!
I think the teal or dark red would be my favorite color. Teal is my husbands favorite color for sure! 🙂
It would be a tough choice between oriental blue, olive green and dark gray, plus I love the many shades of purple! Thanks for a fun giveaway.
I used these liberally in college, perhaps my first “specialty” pen outside of using Pilot Better Ball Points. Teal or Amethyst would make my day!
I had a set of these in high school…I should really get some more of them as I enjoyed them greatly. Love all the colors but I think the orange really speaks to me.
Clearly, Periwinkle is the superiour choice. I think I submitted a complete collection of poetry, in high school, written with a purple Marvy Le Pen.
As a teacher I use felt tip pens daily. I’d love a set of these.
I always LOVE orange.
I think my favorite is probably Lavender Purple. 🙂
I remember these well! I had a purple one that I treasured. But my favorite color is blue, and I’d go with the deepest blue you have up there! 🙂
Gray… loving the gray
Thanks for reminding me of these pens! They are goodies! As for a color, I am in an orange phase.
With Autumn weather coming, I am a little more partial to the orange and red for my letter writing.
My absolute favorite is the leaf green (second from the left). But I’m also a sucker for the darker red, the grey, the brown . . . .
My favorites are the greens – they remind me of spring with all different vibrant leaf colors on every tree and the promise of warm days and cool nights and spring breezes. My favorite time of year.
I’ve always wanted to try a Marvy LePen pen. My favorite color would be the teal. So hard to choose.
Orchid is my fave, more for the name than the color – I love and grow the plants, as well as draw them. Thanks for your always-great blog, and for the giveaway!
It would be a toss =up between that fuschia one and the orchid color!
I love anything in the blue leaning to purple family (it goes with my silver hair!). But I have to say the red and orange look appealing in the photo.
I love the green and orchid pens, and I originally read about these in a Martha Stewart Living. I thought they would be wonderful to use, but at the time, I wasn’t sure where I could ever find them.
I, too, like the orange…and the black.
Gray has always been a favorite of mine!
I’m a fan of the bright blue and the black, but the dark red looks interesting
I think I’d like the teal/oriental blue. That looks nice.
I would try the teal? fourth from the left. My mother used to buy these from a stationery shop (long out of business) in our small town. In fact, a few months ago I ordered a few from JetPens and gave them to her.
I like that eccentric Teal color
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Love the brown!
amethyst looks really nice, but all the colors are gorgeous!
I would love a dark green one!
I prefer the gray; the idea of a marker that looks like pencil entertains me.
My favorite would be the amethyst with teal a close second.
I love these pens. My favorites have always been the teal and gray. I never go anywhere without at least one of these pens. I will admit that I fell in love with the teal and gray pens so quickly that I have never bought any other colors. I would love the chance to explore the other colors of these awesome pens.
The bright pink or orange, so I can use them to write thank you notes to my customers!
A cull I love the Ruby Red.
Wow, I remember picking up lots of these at a campus bookstore years ago, then wishing I’d bought more! Would love to have the whole set – I especially loved the aqua!
That lavender would look beautiful.
My favorite is the brown. All through my 20s I used a brown Le Pen for journaling – I would buy two at a time at the art supply store in my hometown. I have missed them!
Hi, I’m most curious about the olive and the orchid.
I’ve never tried Le Pen, but I hear good things about them.
Oriental blue is my favorite.
It is close between the Olive Green and the Light Green- but I think the Olive wins. I was in high school when I started loving LePens too.
At first glance, the teal caught my eye, but then, I saw the Oriental Blue and knew I was in love forever!
Ooh I’ve already got the teal one, but I love all shades of purple, blue, and green!
I never start any design or illustration concept without my BLACK LePens
I’m particularly partial to the maroon/wine color, but would love the opportunity to try all 18 colors!
I’d say olive green….I love that color!
My go to is always black but I do love my pink. I always use pink ink to leave little “I ♡ you” notes for my bf or nieces. ♥
I like Olive Green or a deep red. 🙂
Like you, I am a big fan of lime green 🙂
What a fun giveaway. Orange has my heart.
I love all of them! My favorite is amethyst.
I really like the periwinkle color!
I discovered Le Pen when I was in high school, too. My first one was lavender and I’ll always have a soft spot for that color, but my favorite today is burgundy!
I have a question. I got a bit confused as I was searching for Le Pens. I thought Le Pen is a brandname so Marvy Uchida Le Pens are the only Le Pens in the world. But then I found Jam Paper Le pens at staples.com. Is Jam Paper a dupe of Marvy Le Pen? Help please~
I think Jam Paper must be importing Le Pens and reselling them to Staples. On the Jam Paper web site, they don’t give any details about the Le Pens they stock but they look exactly like the Marvy Le Pens. Maybe Jam Paper made arrangements to import the Le Pens from Marvy Uchida without any branding? Not to mention that the pricing suggests reselling — $4 per pen from Jam Paper and $7 per pen from Staples? On Jet Pens, a standard Marvy Le Pen is $1.15.
I live the oriental blue. I think having all the colors would be great! I used to get them at a craft store that shut down in Pittsburgh. I finally found them at a craft store in Ligonier,Pa. I told the store manager how excited I was to find them. My 2 friends bought them too after listening me race about them. Hope to win. I would love to get all the other colors.
Thank you