I know I know. Blogging is meant to be an escape from everything annoying and stressful in this world. Blogging is meant to make you feel free and like you can disappear from the horrors of things like… school and …. studying. SO WHY AM I MAKING A POST ABOUT STUDYING?
Well, I actually find studying fun, studying is indeed one of my escapes. This has not always been the case however. I googled and googled how to make revision and studying entertaining, and I was greeted with suggestions such as “reward yourself constantly” and “take your time” and “listen to music”. Though some helped (a little bit) I continued to avoid studying at all costs. UNTIL, I found the world of study grams, and pleasing studying videos on youtube. Essentially they are just photos and videos of study notes and handwriting that’s pleasing to the eye, unlike my fuck ugly notes I was previously producing. (I will include some inspirations at the bottom of the this post). This was the revelation. All I had to do was get some pretty pens, make my revision notes colourful, sort out my handwriting and maybe I would enjoy revision.
AND IT WORKED.
So, here is the cute shit ( and also some boring shit), that I use to revise.
PS: do NOT feel the need to purchase these things specifically to make revision enjoyable for you. Everyone is different. Also, this is in no way a revision tips post, what’s in my pencil case post, how to make my notes look pretty post, or how I utilize my stationary post. This is just what I physically use. But do not worry, all those posts will come in the future, let me know if you want to see them :).
NOTEBOOKS
Ah well, in order to study you need paper, or card, or a whiteboard… whatever floats your boat. I love notebooks personally, however I am very picky about my note books. I like thicker paper but not too thick, I prefer larger rather than smaller books, and I HATE LINED PAPER. I use grid because I feel I have more control over the size of my writing. However grid paper also failed me as the black squares blended in with my black pen making it look messy and hiding certain lines. So let me introduce you to….
As you can see on the little heart diagram thingy on the notebook, the first heart is an example of what my notes looked like… a set of messy black lines all blending together, ew. BUT, with this note book is specifically designed to eliminate the problem I previously mentioned. The whitelines over the grey background makes your work stand out, it also looks flattering and looks nicer then lined or normal grid paper.
Each note book comes to around £6 pound with 2 costing £11.99 on Amazon. This could be a little out of some peoples price range as note books are often cheap, but they work for me and I highly recommend, especially if you’re looking to improve your handwriting. (I am only mentioning the price on this one as it’s a little high.)
AND! There is an app you can download for free which you can use to scan your notes, for whitelines specifically. It has those weird scanny squares in the corners of the pages so it will be higher quality than most scanning apps. Nifty.
They also come in other prints such as liner/dotted and different sizes if large grid notebooks are not your thing.
WRITING PENS
Of course pens are important when studying. However, I am not a user of your average ball point pen. I used to write in ball point all the time with the scruffiest handwriting ever. A friend once gave me a gel pen once and I was shocked with how much nicer my handwriting became. It was smoother with less gaps. Since then I have been all over gel pens. Anyway, enough talking, more revealing.
Here we have (from right to left) a Pentel EnerGel Black 0.7mm, Uni Pin Fine Line Black 03mm, Muji Gel Pen black 0.38mm and a random off brand gel pen from B&M I’m pretty sure? (I am linking where I personally got the items from).
I am constantly switching between doing my writing in the EnerGel and the Muji because I cannot decide which thinkness I prefer and they both write smooth. I used to write in the fine liner as the thickness was perfect however the nib squished and the thickness increased with use so now I use it for titles along with the off brand gel pen.
The off brand has the best grip as it has that comfy squishy thingy, the fine liner and ESPECIALLY the muji hurts my hand after a while. I don’t mind the EnerGel as much.
Here are the nibby nib nibs.
As you can see the Fine Liner is a lil squishy and the Muji is TINY. My handwriting can be a little shaky with the Muji pen, but overall looks neater than the Energel, but THICK PENS WRITE SO FUCKING NICE!
Here are some ugly swatches. I rushed these so pardon the handwriting. The random gel pen dries slow, as you can see because I freaking smudged it, and the uni pin is no longer a 0.3mm lol.
HIGHLIGHTERS
We are getting to some colourful things now.
Highlighters were always that stationary item that teachers would hand out in English and we would all sigh as it was time to analyse some poetry, and not good poetry either. I REALLY did not like using highlighters because they were always in awful neon colours. One day a girl in my English class whipped out a pack of pastel highlighters. I DIED! They looked SO CUTE. I was skint at the time of discovering them so I begged my boyfriend to get them for me. 
What else can I say other then OH MY GOSH, SO CUTE. Look how freaking cute. I now use these in all of my school work and revision. I actually get compliments when I get them out in class. Now basically every girl in my English class has them, no one can resist. I am sure my teachers love my multicoloured work, you’re welcome Mrs Smith.
I highlight, underline and write in these, simultaneously trying to use every single colour. They’re a lil battered and used, but they’re surviving. I really do not know how much longer they will live.
With the typical Stabilo shape which many highlighters have adopted, they are comfortable. They’re just a little chubby and do take up a lot of room in my pencil case, but a little chub is okay.
These were my first highlighters, but as I delved into the studygram/ studyblr community I discovered some more highlighters that are SO INCREDIBLY popular, everyone had them. So I bought them.
I actually bought the 3 packs of 5 that I knew were available at the time, all with different types of colours in them. Only to find there is actually another pack out there, which I need in my life soon! I really need to go stationary shopping. I only photographed the ones next to my bed as I use them the most, and the rest are in a pot which I couldn’t be bothered getting out.
There is a highlighty end and a felt tip end.
I have seen a lot of study bloggers using these, they highlight with the highlighty end and write titles and key words with the other end. I tried this and found that the felt tip end is a little thick for me, as my handwriting is typically small. I do still use both ends, however I mainly colour in diagrams and small pictures with the felt tip end. They are great for colouring but you need to know that because they are not designed for this, the paper may struggle if it is thin. Just be careful and use thicker paper and there should be no problem.
They are called mildliners I am pretty sure because some of the colours are unsuitable for highlighting, like the red in the photo and also a brown that came in one of the packs, which I never really use. However I find myself underlining rather then highlighting as much, so there’s no problem.
Most highlighters will smudge when highlighting over thick pens, including both brands I own, so be careful of that. I just wait quite a while so the pen is fully dry and gently glide the highlighter over the pen.
I will admit the stabilo feels smoother than the mildliners, but obviously the mildliner is more useful and I prefer the size and colour range. They both have pros and cons, so I bought both.
The Stabilo do have more bleed(?) (I think it’s called bleed) at the end of the line. Honestly I don’t mind so much, but with thin paper this will be visible on the other side of the paper.
OTHERS
Lets just cut to the chase.
Here we have some ugly stuff. I have those sticky book mark things, as I like to divide my note books into topics/ subjects, I also have an eraser for the mechanical pencil. I use the mechanical pencil for sketches and drawing out diagrams/ graphs before going over them in pen. This method personally works for me as I am a perfectionist (most of the time) and I like things to be planned.
I of course have my beloved ruler which I have used for YEARS. I once switched to one of these rulers that fold in half but it broke easily so I came back to this one. It may be small but I only measure small things from work sheets in math so there’s no need for me to have a bigger one. I use it mainly for underlining and to draw boxes/ diagrams. Thank you to my small and cracked ruler for being there for me. Please last through my next school year.
I highly recommend using a pencil in your revision notes and when studying as just by using a pencil and ruler you can plan the lay out before hand, and your diagrams won’t go wrong.
(all items here were given to me by my sister or I stole them from my mum so I really do not know where they are from, sorry)
Everyone needs a handy dandy laptop. I used to use my phone up until maybe a few weeks ago when my boyfriend gave me his spare laptop in preparation for year 11.
I love the feel and vibe of real text books rather then digital textbooks because the colours are nice to look at and I just love flicking through books. I have a NO ELECTRICAL DEVICE rule in my school so having the physical books mean I can revise in school. I do upload them to my laptop as my laptop is mostly with me so it is useful, plus all laptops come with the lovely google, a very helpful revision tool indeed. I do most of my revision on paper though, again, it feels more real that way.
IN-CONCLUSION
Most of my studying items that I purchase have to be cute, otherwise I will just look at it and think “that’s ugly, not a fucking chance”, and then the endless procrastination cycle commences.
Writing this post has given me ideas for so many more stationary blog posts, so as I said at the beginning, tell me if there is anything in particular that you would like to see. Also, this took quite a while to write and compose with all the photos and links so please give a like, comment and maybe follow. It’ll make my day.
My boyfriend is staring at me wanting me to pay some attention to him, so I think it’s time to go.
I hope you enjoyed this post, if you read any of it that is. I also hope this may have given some of you inspiration or helped you in some way.
Toodles.
-Belle.
STUDY INSPO:
belleslife.home.blog 