Very few things in my stationery life get me more excited than a gel ink pen with a fine line and a unique ink color. The Pilot ILMILY Nuance Gel Ink Pen combines those things perfectly, and packages them into a great barrel.
Review over, right? Not so fast.
As a fan of Pilot’s highly Instagramable ILMILY (I Love Me, I Love You,) product lineup, I somehow had missed the launch of the Nuance. It wasn’t until a friend included one in a care package of awesomeness to me that I tried one out, and I was immediately hooked.
That pen in question, the Nuance Black Yellow, made me giddy. As I alluded to up top, an 0.5 mm gel ink pen, and in a color as weird as Black Yellow, really gets me going. It wrote well, and the barrel was cool and comfortable. Immediately, I asked, “Are there more?”
Yes, Brad, there are more. Many more.
One of the fun ideas I’ve seen pen companies tackle over the past several years is the idea of “Black+” ink formulations. My all-time favorite is Uni-ball’s Signo DX in Lavender Black (0.38 mm please, and thank you.) Uni-ball expanded on that idea with their BLX formulation in other pen lineups, and brands like Pentel and Sakura dabble in a more limited capacity. These colors take the very business-like black ink formulation and add a hint of other colors to the mix.
Pilot took that “hint” of added color directly into the product name of this lineup. The colors are nuanced on the page, often requiring closer inspection to see the alternate shade come through. They are there, to be sure, but set your expectations accordingly.
In my writing samples, I made sure to mix in the Black ink of the Pilot G2 0.5 mm pen as a baseline. The Nuance lineup also has a Black-only ink pen, but I wasn’t compelled to purchase that one. I did purchase the remainder of the colors, minus Black Brown, which was simply an oversight on my part.
The beauty of these inks is that you can get away with using them in settings where Black ink is the expectation. You and I can have our little secret, ok? I think Black Red and Black Yellow have the most noticeable undertones, and therefore are my favorites. Black Green is the least interesting, and Black Blue and Black Violet land in the middle. Other brands do those combinations better.
It’s almost impossible to see through a computer screen, but the writing order is Pilot G2 Black, Nuance Black Blue, Black Violet, Black Red, Black Green, Black Yellow, and then back to the Black G2 down the page.
If you know what to expect going in to the ILMLIY Nuance series, you will be happy with the results. That is, if you want to pay over $4 per pen. That is at the top of the price range for a gel ink pen, but that is where Pilot has placed this premium brand. At that price I can’t recommend the entire set, but if you like them, pick out one or two of the more interesting colors. Or, pro tip, grab the refills for half the price and use them in Pilot G2 compatible pens. Taps forehead.
I’m glad the Pilot ILMILY series exists. Yes, it is premium priced, but it gives them a platform to experiment outside of their normal product lineups. I’m always for that.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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