Benu Euphoria Cherry Blossom and Spooky Treats
Benu Fountain Pens Euphoria line is described as “A collection of pens inspired by life’s simple, hedonistic pleasures — from favorite music and beautiful scenes to exquisite cocktails and indulgent delicacies.” This line has grown since its introduction and currently has 76 different options including many that are hand painted! Benu sent me two of their more recent models from this collection to review, the Cherry Blossom and Spooky Treats. Since they are from the same line, I am going to do a side-by-side review.
Packaging: The Euphoria line comes in the usual Benu white rectangular box, with “Benu” printed in gold on the lid as well as depictions of their various pen models in greyscale. Inside the box is a white paper pen sleeve again with “Benu” printed in gold. Under the pen sleeve is an instruction manual and warranty/care guide, and a long blue cartridge.
First Thoughts: First up, the Cherry Blossom. The material and color combinations for this pen are perfection! The glitter effect mirrors light filtering through the tree, and the blue material makes the tree and leaves pop like a bright blue sky.
Next, Spooky Treats. Again, Benu captures the essence of the subject perfectly in a pen. The black material, the orange of the leaves and Jack O lanterns and pumpkins, the black bats, grey skulls, and golden spider webs, just phenomenal.
Design: These models use the base Euphoria model then they have the designs hand painted onto them. The pen has a slightly domed cap finial that transitions smoothly into the cap. Roughly a quarter of the way down the cap and a quarter of the way up from the cap opening there is a grooved line the runs around the cap. At the top of the cap, the sword shaped clip is anchored into this groove. At the bottom of the cap and inline with the tip of the clip “Benu” is engraved and filled in either in gold or silver depending on the trim. The bottom finial matches the dome shaped cap finial but is clear, I assume this is from the layers of acrylic to seal in the design. The barrel gradually widens as it progresses towards the slight step for the cap threads (Spooky treats has a small trim ring between the cap threads and the barrel step down as well). The threads are smooth and blend into the body giving the pen a comfortable grip. The grip section has a slight taper before reaching a flared finger stop.
Cherry Blossom: The base materials for this model are a marble sky blue and a swirled pink/silver/white. The cherry blossom tree is painted in blue and outlined in white, with pink/white cherry blossom flower on the branches. In the usual Benu style there is a generous amount of silver glitter sprinkled on the cap and body.
Spooky Treats: The base material for this model is shiny black. The body of the pen has golden cobwebs, orange leaves, bats, Jack O Lanters, skulls, cupcakes, eyeballs and red glitter mixed throughout. What else do you need in a Halloween pen.
Nib Performance: The Spooky Treats came with a gold-plated medium Schmidt nib, which performed beautifully right out of the box. I don’t know if Benu tunes their nibs or not, but they are consistently amazing. The Cherry Blossom came with their flex nib, and I was impressed with it. It took a little bit of pressure, but it laid down a balanced line with subtle variation.
Filling System: The Euphoria model is a Standard International Cartridge/Converter
Value: The Cherry Blossom and the Spooky Treats have an MSRP of $280 USD, but the Cherry Blossom is currently on sale for $196 USD.
Overall: I feel Benu has knocked it out of the park with these models and did an amazing job of capturing the intended subjects. The Cherry Blossom is one of my favorite trees and the materials and the painting are breathtaking. It is like having a Cherry Blossom festival in my hand. I have an October birthday, so I love everything Halloween themed. It is very easy to be cheesy in Halloween designs but the approach that Benu took for this pen is perfect. The various characters and design elements are perfectly balanced around the barrel; the colors all work together without being overwhelming. I love that they went with red glitter to compliment the black material instead of silver or gold, which I think would have washed out the design. The fact that each of these are unique and hand painted make them well worth the additional price over the base Euphoria models.
Specs:
Name: Benu Euphoria (Cherry Blossom and Spooky Treats)
Design: Resin
Length: 149mm (5.86 in)
Posted: 180.6mm (7.11 in)
Diameter: 15.3mm (0.60in)
Weight: 26g (0.917 oz)
Nib: #6 Steel
Filling System: Standard International Cartridge/Converter
Pros: Hand painted, amazing design/artwork, great nibs right out of the box, light and nicely balanced for longer writing sessions.
Cons: If you don’t like sparkle than these are not the pens for you. Not a con, but an observation.
In the same price range:
Platinum #3776
Pilot Falcon
Lamy 2000
