Tinc markers and pencils review

Tinc is a colour-centric chain of shops situated nationwide across the UK, selling pens, notebooks, pencil cases and loads of other stationery and accessories. They have 5 core colours (blue, pink, green, black, white) which are used across their entire range, and limited edition purple and orange. The simple idea of using base colours means you can co-ordinate all your stationery to your favourite colour, or mix and match the lovely pastel shades they have on offer.

I was given four different lines of products to review, and having had them for a while now I feel I've got a good idea of how they perform. Read on!

Wonderful Woodies Colouring Pencils
These pencils come in a pack of 12 multicolours, and are made from natural wood with a smooth varnished finish. They feel lovely to hold despite me preferring triangular pencils, and each one is stamped with a cute metallic logo in its colour. The ends of the pencils are dipped with colour, but I must say the colours don't appear as bright on paper as the tips show. The pigment lay down is good, but not the best I've seen. They seem patchy with lots of white showing, even when used with heavy pressure. They might perform better on paper with a rougher surface to catch more colour. As for blending, they are pretty good. The red-to orange blend has a smooth graduation, but when colours get more contrasting it becomes harder to get that invisible transition. They sharpen well and I have only experienced a couple of breakages with use. The pack of 12 costs £5.

Lovely Velvety Scribbly Coloured Pencils
As you can guess, these pencils are covered in a velvety casing, which is not something I'm keen on. Velvet has always been one of those textures that makes me shudder, a bit like biting on a wooly jumper! Compared to the Woodies, they lay down an even lighter stroke, so I wouldn't personally recommend them as I don't feel the pigments are as good as they could be. They are £4.25 for a pack of 12, so it might be worth trying them out to see if they're for you. I've compared both sets of pencils with my Crayola Twistables, so you can see the difference in colour on paper.The Twistable pencil has a much bolder colour, less white bits and smoother lay down.

Fineliners & Fabulous Felt Tips
These twin pens have a fine nib and bullet tip on either end, and are quite thin- the same width as the pencils- so aren't cumbersome to hold. Unfortunately these seem to pick up the tooth of the paper extremely easily, and you only have to go over the same area twice for the surface to become feathered and pithy. Obviously this might have something to do with the paper you use, as I could only test these on printer paper and on basic colouring book pages. The colours are good and are consistent on both ends, I just wish the fineliner nib was less scratchy and flowed smoother than it does.

Double Deluxe Brush Pens
These on the other hand are excellent! I love a good brush tip, and they don't disappoint. Unlike the fineliners and bullet nibs (of which there is an identical one on the other end of the brush), they do not feather and have a lovely flat colour even when you go over it a couple of times. The colours are vivid and feel lovely to colour with. If you already have some good fineliners, I'd choose these pens over the previous set. As I said, the bullet nibs on both pens are the same size so the only thing you wouldn't be getting is the fine tip. If you like to colour images with large spaces, I'd say these brush pens hold their own above and beyond some others on the market. I've compared them with two other brush pen brands I own, and I'd say they definitely come out on top. The only qualm I have is about the peachy colour pen- I was expecting something skin coloured according to the cap, but it comes out orange! I'd say this needs looking at as it's pretty different from the colour the cap advertises.

That concudes the review! You can find out more about Tinc here, and check out where your nearest store is here. Products can also be bought online if there isn't a shop near you. Have fun! Here's a picture I coloured with the bullet nibs and some neon gel pens.

Image from Vegebook by Nick Dolan