Benu Pixie Fountain Pen Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram [@allthehobbies][0] because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

When I heard that Benu Pens was coming out with a pocket pen, I was 100% sign me up, unless it’s too blingy/colorful, you know, “too much”, and even if it is, I probably still want it. When I saw pictures of the pens, I was surprised at how many of the colorful ones I was tempted by! It was so difficult to pick that I had to ask Instagram which one I should get at the Baltimore Pen Show (too many people said “all of them”, lol).

The Benu Pixie, as you can guess from the name, is a very small pen. It comes with a cartridge but it cannot fit a standard international converter.

After much deliberation, I ended up picking the Aurora Gold Pixie with a Medium nib and inked it up with Vinta Heritage Brown Pamana (one of my fave brown inks cuz of the subtle green sheen). It wrote with no issues and is a smooth writer. It’s my first Medium nib Benu (I have Euphoria’s in Fine and Broad) and it gave me a medium line, as I expected. Benu’s have a reputation for working well with shimmer but I haven’t yet tried it with such a small nib/feed (maybe next inking!), so your mileage may vary.

Benu Pixie, Aurora Gold, Medium, inked with Vinta Heritage Brown Pamana.

It’s really hard to tell how small the Pixie is, so I decided to compare it with one of the more popular pocket pens, the Kaweco Sport - I happened to have an AL Sport inked up, which is pretty much the same size as the plastic Sport. I am also using a Col-O-Ring card for scale.

Uncapped, you can see that the Pixie is quite a bit shorter than the Kaweco.

I unscrewed the barrel so you can see that a regular standard international cartridge fits in the Pixie. The AL Sport has the Kaweco foldable converter (which is pretty flippin’ awesome, btw). The foldable converter fits just fine in the Pixie. No pics because it’s not that interesting. 🙂

I wanted to check if the regular Kaweco mini piston converter would fit in the Pixie and you can see that this is how far down the piston would be, once you screwed the barrel back on. Needless to say, that’s not a lot of ink.

I suppose one could eyedropper it if you silicone-greased the nib threads and barrel threads, but I didn’t try that.

Unposted, the Pixie is barely usable for me, whereas I routinely use my Sports (and almost all other pens) unposted.

The Pixie can be posted (friction fit) and it is more comfortable to write with. The posted Kaweco feels too long by comparison, lol.

Capped pocket pens: Kaweco AL Sport, Benu Pixie, Schon Pocket 6, TWSBI Mini AL.

Uncapped - the Pixie and Schon are very similar in size, buth the former has a very small nib, while the Schon has a Jowo 6 nib.

Adding a couple “regular sized” pens to the mix - Platinum 3776 far left and Benu Euphoria (far right.)

Once you post the Pixie (as well as the other pocket pens), you can see that it is much more comparable in size to “regular” pens like the unposted 3776.

You can also refer to the Pocket Pen Roundup article to see how the Pixie might compare to other pocket pens not shown above.

The Pixie comes in EF-Broad nibs and is available in the following colorways: Aqua Glow, Aurora Gold, Emerald Sea, Honey Bronze, Icy Violet, Plum Cream, Stardust Pink, Twilight Lagoon, Coffee Brown, Royal Blue, and Smoky Black (the last 3 are the most “solid” colors available). MSRP ranges from $59-$72 (the sparkly, colorful ones cost more). As of this writing, Benu has come out with 3-pen Pixie sets, in different colors than the ones above, for $186. They are offered in 3 different sets and are only available on the Benu website.

A couple other Pixies (Royal Blue and Stardust Pink) headed to the Bossman for a giveaway! The Aurora Gold is MINE!

(Disclaimer: Thank you to Luxury Brands of America for providing the Benu Pixie in Royal Blue and Stardust Pink for giveaway. I got the Aurora Gold at the BWI pen show.)

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The Pen Addict Podcast: Episode 662 - Pen Daddies in the House

PodBoyz at the St. Jude afterparty. Blame Stephen for that name. (L to R: Jason Snell, Stephen Hackett, Me, Casey Liss.)

Myke is back, plus one!

After wrapping up his paternity leave, he is back into the fray of the pen world. We caught up for the first half of the show, and then I drug him along for my stationery shenanigans, as one does.

Show Notes & Download Links

This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:

Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code PENADDICT.

Pen Chalet: Check out this week's special offer, and to get your code for 10% off.

Lamy Al-Star Aubergine Ballpoint Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

It's that time of year again: annual edition color schemes for Lamy's Safari and Al-Star pen lines. For 2025, we have several lovely options to choose from, and I decided to give the Aubergine Al-Star a whirl since the yellow-green section was calling out to me. While some people lean more toward either the Safari or Al-Star, I just tend to follow the colors that I like. They're both great pen designs in my book!

The Aubergine edition of the Al-Star is a dusty gray-purple body paired with a yellow-green translucent section and black hardware. When looking at the images online, I couldn't decide if I really liked the body color, but the section is what really got me. I'm a sucker for bright translucent anything.

I was hoping that the body would be a more striking color in person, but I was a bit disappointed by it. It's a unique color for sure, but it doesn't match up with my idea of aubergine. Here's a color swatch and then a photo of various aubergine fruits from around the world. I'm not crazy, right? Aubergine wasn't a great name for this color.

Naming issues aside, it's still a bit of a dull color in my eyes. There's a small hint of purple, but this is mostly a dark gray body. Despite the underwhelming body color, the section easily saves the pen for me. It's a bright, fluorescent color that just begs to be picked up and used or turned around in your hand to let the light do fun things to the material.

The cone is a matte black metal, the nock plunger is a soft black material, and the clip is Lamy's standard glossy black material. Nothing crazy, and I think they could have had a little bit more fun with either the clip color or the nose color (or both??). Oh well! The other Al-Star option for this year, Denim, also seems to have missed an opportunity to really capitalize on the fun colors, but it's also quite a looker.

Writing with the Al-Star ballpoint is a mediocre experience. The Lamy M16 refill is decent, but my main gripe with every one I try is that they take a little too long to start working after they've been idle for more than a few minutes. It's normal for ballpoint to take a second to wake up, but the M16 takes longer than most. It wouldn't be so bad if there were other options available to swap out the M16, but that's not the case. Lamy's proprietary refill is just about the only player in the market, outside of Monteverde's options, which aren't much better.

Personal gripes aside, the M16 refill is totally capable and works fine 99% of the time. I'm just spoiled by some of the other ballpoint options out there. I'll be (un)patiently waiting for Lamy to release M16 refills that use the Jetstream's ink formula.

If you've ever used a Lamy Safari or Al-Start before, then you'll know how this pen feels in the hand. The grip section has a unique shape that favors the standard tripod grip — index, thumb, and middle — to hold the pen steady when writing. This doesn't work for everyone, and means that it's not a great option for people that use different grips that are incompatible with this type of grip design. For me, I can use a standard tripod grip after a little adjustment period, and the Al-Star/Safari is comfortable for me after that. I just have to keep myself from subconsciously rotating the pen a bit when I reset my grip after a few words or sentences.

One of the things I love about the ballpoint versions of these pens has always been the covered nock mechanism. I love the squishy accordion-like design and the unique feel it produces when extending or retracting the tip.

Overall, the Aubergine is a fun color for the Al-Star. Yes, I wish they would have made better choices regarding the body color, but it's still a winner for me due to the grip section. If it speaks to you, then grab one! As always, they're available as ballpoints, fountain pens, mechanical pencils, and rollerballs.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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