I first became aware of Poppin when I read a post on The Well Appointed Desk blog back in June. A few weeks ago, I saw that Poppin, in honor of breast cancer awareness month, will donate 25% of the proceeds from all on-line sales of pink and magenta products to the Young Survival Coalition. I decided it was a great time to try out their products and to contribute to a worthy cause.
I ordered 3 different types of pens, a medium softcover notebook in pink, and a small softcover notebook in magenta. I received my order within three days and I’m very happy with my selections. This review will focus on the pens. I will review the notebooks in a subsequent post.
The products came in an orange box featuring pictures of different types of office supplies. When I opened the box, there was an insert with a picture of staple remover and the phrase “nice to meet you!” in a thought bubble. When I lifted the insert, I saw that the packing material consisted of inflated bags with the phrases “hello!” and “nice digs!” in thought bubbles. Under the bags was an orange, reusable envelope with the Poppin logo and the words “important documents”. The envelope contained the invoice for the order.
I am amazed by their attention to detail in the packaging. I definitely had one of those “uhh, ahh, ohh” experiences as I removed each layer from the box.
My order consisted of stick ballpoint pens in blue, black gel ink pens and grey signature ballpoint pens. The words “Poppin”, “Poppin BallPoint” and “Poppin Gel” are subtly printed on the barrels of the corresponding pens. The blue stick pens have almost jewel toned, plastic bodies. The pens’ design reminds me of a Pilot Better Ballpoint pen. The gel and ball point pens have similar barrels and metal clips on the caps. The gel and ball point pens are refillable although I am not sure which type of refill to use. All of the pens are extremely light weight with the stick pens being the lightest. The barrels of the gel and ball point pens are wider than I would like but they are comfortable to use. The inks in all the pens flow freely. I had only a minor skipping issue with the gel pens when I changed the angle of my grip.
The signature pens come in several colors, however, all of the signature pens have black ink. I think it would be great if Poppin could match the ink color to the barrel color. I’d also love it if the ink in the gel pens came in colors other than black blue and red. Finally, I wish there was a way to order the pens as singles or in a sampler. The one pen sampler they do offer comes with 132 pens. While I love pens, 132 of the same style is a bit much for me. The sampler is perfect, however, for an office environment.
The products' prices are very reasonable. I will certainly place another order so I can try some of the other products.
