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The Best Pastel Highlighters

The Best Pastel Highlighters

February 15, 2022 - Posted by Kristin to Guides, Pens, Markers and Felt Tip Pens, Highlighters

The Best Pastel Highlighters

Students and office workers alike depend on highlighter pens to flag information for special attention. Most highlighters do this with ink that’s simply too bright to ignore. As effective as this is, such harsh colors can quickly become overwhelming. Pastel highlighters provide a refuge of balanced colors that accent text with distinct, yet muted hues. This gives highlighted materials a calming feel for more pleasant and focused studies.

Keep reading or watch the video below to see our favorite pastel highlighters, detailed test results, and color swatches. If bright tints are more your taste, take a look at our companion guide to The Best Highlighter Pens.

TOP CHOICE
Iconic 2 Way Marker Pens
Iconic 2 Way Marker Pens are great for journaling.
The best pastel highlighters we’ve used aren’t technically highlighters at all. Double-sided Iconic 2 Way Marker Pens are equipped with both bullet tips and highlighter-esque chisel tips to maximize their versatility. Impressively, they did not affect ballpoint, gel, rollerball, pencil, inkjet printing, or even fountain pen ink in our smearing tests. They dry within four seconds on Rhodia paper. Although they do exhibit mild bleeding on copy paper, we think their lack of smudging more than makes up for that.

Different combinations of specific pens, inks, and paper can be more or less likely to smudge. We recommend testing any highlighter with your specific materials before you use them on anything important. You can see which pens and paper we used in our tests in the Test Results section.

Iconic 2 Way Marker Pens come in sets of five. The Retro and Pastel sets contain lovely soft colors like Lime Yellow, Brownie Pink, and Warm Gray. Their interesting hues make them especially good for drawing embellishments and headers, while their fine tips are handy for filling in habit trackers in bullet journals and planners.

Pastel Highlighter Recommendations
Pilot FriXion Light Soft Color Erasable Highlighters
Pilot FriXion Light Natural & Soft Color Highlighters don't bleed through absorbent paper.
If highlighting key concepts helps you get more out of books, try FriXion Highlighters. Their restrained flow stops them from soaking through absorbent book pages. Like other FriXion pens, these highlighters “erase” with heat, or friction. This means that you can easily remove their marks when you’ve finished analyzing a book. We’ve found that rubbing highlighted sections to erase the ink doesn’t lighten the underlying text, but the paper may show slight discoloration and wrinkling.

The Pilot FriXion Light Highlighters come in two pastel versions: Soft Color and Natural. The Soft Color highlighters come in six hues that are even gentler than most other pastel highlighters so they don’t distract from your reading. The Natural ones are somewhat bolder, making them a good option for those who find the Soft Color ones a little too muted.

The Best Pastel Highlighters for Color-Coding: Zebra Mildliner Double-Sided Highlighters
Zebra Mildliner Double-Sided Highlighters
Zebra Mildliners are available in lots of colors.
Color-coding notes and planning entries help you quickly recognize related topics and organize your thoughts. Mildliners are fantastic for this. They come in a wide selection of “mild” hues—twenty-five in all—that encompasses classic colors like Mild Yellow as well as uncommon shades like Mild Smoke Blue and Mild Magenta. This assortment lets you color-code your notes with a tastefully unified palette, a few favorite colors, or a rainbow of all twenty-five shades.

In addition to the standard chisel tip version, Zebra Mildliners are also available as double-sided highlighter brush pens! These delightful brush highlighters are great for lettering with your favorite highlighter colors.

The Best Pastel Highlighters for Handwritten Notes: Marvy PastelLiner Highlighters
Marvy PastelLiner Highlighters
Marvy PastelLiner Highlighters work well with written notes.
If you write your notes out by hand and highlight them, you probably know what it’s like to see your careful work marred by unsightly smudges. Marvy PastelLiner Highlighters help prevent such damage. They did not smear ballpoint, gel, rollerball, or pencil at all in our tests. They did smear fountain pen ink slightly, but not enough to impair legibility. If you take notes with fountain pens and want to avoid all smearing, try Iconic Marker Pens. Ink formulas vary, so it’s a good idea to test any highlighter against your specific pens before you use it on anything important. You can see what materials we used in our Test Results section below.

Marvy PastelLiner Highlighters come in six colors and are especially good for long study sessions due to twin rubber grip patches that make them comfortable to hold. Their caps do not post, however, so they may not be best if you're known to lose pen caps. Staedtler Textsurfer Classic Pastel Highlighters and Staedtler Triplus Textsurfers are good alternatives. Epoch Kobaru Sweet Tapir Scented Highlighters performed just as well with written notes as the Marvy and Staedtler highlighters but their caps also do not post.

The Best Pastel Highlighters for the Kid at Heart: Epoch Kobaru Sweet Tapir Scented Highlighters
Epoch Kobaru Sweet Tapir Scented Highlighters
Epoch Kobaru Sweet Tapir Scented Highlighters have deliciously scented inks.
These adorable Epoch Kobaru Sweet Tapir Highlighters make studying a little more fun with deliciously scented inks. The double-sided highlighters have a chisel tip on each end with contrasting colors. The ink is lighter than other pastel highlighters in the same hues, and it won’t smear ballpoint, gel, rollerball, or pencil. The thin, flat bodies are comfortable to hold and won’t roll away if you set them down. There are three scent and color combinations: Melon Soda Green and Vanilla Yellow; Peach Pink and Mint Blue; and Sweet Potato Purple and Cookie Orange.
The Best Pastel Highlighters for Long Study Sessions: Stabilo Boss Original Pastel Highlighters
Stabilo Boss Original Pastel Highlighters
Stabilo Boss Original Pastel Highlighters can be left uncapped for four hours without drying out.
Stabilo Boss Original Pastel Highlighters are classics for a reason. Thanks to STABILO Anti-Dry-Out technology, their thick chisel tips resist drying out even when left uncapped for four hours straight. This means that whether you get absorbed in your work and forget to cap your pens, or you’re just absent minded, your favorite highlighters will always be ready to go whenever you need them. Those who prefer a slimmer pen body can consider the Swing Cool Highlighter, which packs the same ink formulation into a longer, thinner body with a handy clip.
The Best Pastel Highlighters for Minimalists: Kokuyo Mark+ Dual Tone Highlighters
Kokuyo Mark+ Dual Tone Highlighters
Kokuyo Mark+ Dual Tone Highlighters cleverly pack two highlighters under one cap.
Minimalists can keep their stationery collections simple and utilitarian with a few Kokuyo Mark+ Dual Tone Highlighters. They’re cleverly designed to fit two chisel tips under one cap, so you get the benefit of multiple colors in one highlighter. Each highlighter pairs a bright ink with a pale version of the same color. To switch between the two, just rotate the barrel in your hand. You can also hold the tips perpendicular to the page in order to create thin lines with both colors.
The Best Pastel Highlighters for Precision: Staedtler Triplus Textsurfers
Staedtler Triplus Textsurfers
Staedtler Triplus Textsurfers have a flexible bullet tip.
Triplus Textsurfers combine Staedtler’s pastel highlighter ink with the iconic Triplus marker. Instead of a fineliner tip, these highlighters have a bullet tip that flexes with pressure. You can underline key terms with a light touch, or highlight entire sentences by pressing down on the tip. They’re very smear-resistant too: in our tests, they only smeared fountain pen ink slightly. The Textsurfers come in ten colors, including four that aren’t included in the Textsurfer Classic set. You can use the black marker to block out information, or create attention-grabbing headers for your notes.
The Best Pastel Highlighters for Print-Outs: Uni Propus Window Soft Color Double-Sided Highlighters
Uni Propus Window Soft Color Double-Sided Highlighters
Uni Propus Window Soft Color Highlighters don't smear inkjet printing.
Office workers and students often highlight printouts like agendas and essay drafts. That’s no problem with laser-printed handouts, but many highlighters smear inkjet printing. Uni Propus Window Soft Color Double-Sided Highlighters do not. In addition, their chisel tips are equipped with special clear inserts that let you see what you’re highlighting. They also have fine bullet tips for precise underlining and circling. Uni Propus Window Soft Color Highlighters come in five colors.
SWATCH COMPARISON

We produced swatches and showthrough tests for all of the highlighters mentioned in this article. Click below to see the results.

We did not produce separate swatches for related product lines with identical colors.

TEST RESULTS

We performed our tests with yellow highlighters for consistency.

Drying Time & Show Through

We tested drying time in increments of 5, 10, 20, and 30 seconds on both Rhodia and copy paper. If a highlighter dried in under five seconds, we narrowed the drying time down to the second.

Text Smearing

Different pens and inks can have widely divergent formulas and react differently to the same highlighter. In addition, the paper you write on can make ink more or less likely to smear. We used Rhodia paper and tested our highlighters against some of the most popular options in each category of writing instrument. Other pens, inks, and papers may react differently.

COMPARE THESE HIGHLIGHTERS

Do you want to see all our recommended pastel highlighters at once? Use our comparison tool to see their specifications side by side.

HOW WE APPROACH RESEARCH & TESTING

Our writers draw on their personal expertise, consult our in-house subject matter experts, and do extensive research to make our guides as accurate and comprehensive as possible. We then test every finding that makes it through the research stage. Only the techniques and tools whose performance we personally confirm make it into our guides as recommendations.

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Are you still not sure which pastel highlighters you’d like best? Our Pastel Highlighter Sampler lets you try seven delightfully soft-colored highlighters in person so that you can pick your favorite.

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CONCLUSION

Pastel highlighters call attention to important information without dazzling your eyes with bright colors. Check out our general Highlighter Guide to learn more about highlighters and visit our guides on The Best Planner Stickers, Pens, Stamps, and More and The Best Note-Taking Strategies for Students for ideas on how to use them.

Name Tip Types Pastel Colors Shop This Post
Epoch Kobaru Sweet Tapir Scented Highlighters Chisel 6 Add Items to Cart
Faber-Castell Textliner Highlighters Chisel 8 Add Items to Cart
Iconic 2 Way Marker Pens Chisel/Fineliner 10 Add Items to Cart
Kokuyo Beetle Tip Dual Color Highlighters Chisel (Dual) 3 Add Items to Cart
Kokuyo Mark+ Dual Tone Highlighters Chisel (Dual) 10 Add Items to Cart
Marvy PastelLiner Highlighters Chisel 6 Add to Cart
Monami Essenti Soft Highlighters Chisel 12 Add Items to Cart
Monami Essenti Twin Highlighters Chisel (Medium)/Chisel (Fine) 12 Add Items to Cart
Morris Justclick Pastel Retractable Highlighters Chisel 6 Add Items to Cart
Pentel Fitline Double-Sided Highlighters Chisel (Flexible)/Bullet 8 Add Items to Cart
Pilot FriXion Light Natural & Soft Color Erasable Highlighters Chisel 12 Add Items to Cart
Stabilo Boss Original Highlighters Chisel 14 Add Items to Cart
Stabilo Swing Cool Highlighters Chisel 8 Add Items to Cart
Staedtler Textsurfer Classic Highlighters Chisel 8 Add Items to Cart
Staedtler Triplus Textsurfers Bullet (Flexible) 10 Add Items to Cart
Uni Propus Window Soft Color Double-Sided Highlighters Chisel/Fineliner 5 Add Items to Cart
Zebra Mildliner Double-Sided Highlighters Chisel/Bullet 25 Add Items to Cart
Zebra Mildliner Double-Sided Brush Highlighters Brush/Bullet 25 Add Items to Cart