Ugh. I absolutely hate videos like this. My TO BUY list grew exponentially as I watched it! Thanks for such a great review! I’d love to see a comparison of Majestic Blue to Regency Blue. (Will have to search the video vault.). I recently received a sample of Regency in my birthday sampler pack, and it was one of the samples for which I MUST own a bottle…but now I’m wondering if I should go with Majestic first. It’s gorgeous.
J . Herbin's regular line have always been my favorites and remain so even after trying tons of fancy stuff. I like the low saturation and shading. When written with they look drastically different than ball point, and that is bliss.
The standard Herbin line has some absolute gems. I use both Lie de Thé and Poussière de Lune a lot, and I've been tempted pick up Rouille d'Ancre for a while, too. I also really enjoy Vert de Gris and Gris Nuage from the same line. Diamine has so many inks to choose from, but one from the standard line I always come back to is Salamander. That swampy shading!
I love the Sailor Shikiori inks, the colors are gorgeous with some unique hues, and are reasonably priced. I feel they often get overlooked by the Sailor Ink Studio line, since that line has soooo many inks in it, which can be overwhelming with so many shades of similar colors! I also love Noodler’s Black Swan in English Roses - it’s such a great shade of red-maroon without being too intense, but it seems to get overlooked by Diamine reds.
J. Herbin Rouille d'Ancre is one of my favourites!!!! It was an unexpected favourite and it is perfect in my Cross Botanica which is so wet that the shading comes out beautifully.
Poussière De Lune was one of the very first pen inks I fell in love with! And I completely agree about Herbin's 30mL line being great, overall. I've never had any issues with them and the price point is good. Vert Olive and Terre De Feu are a couple other favorites by Herbin. I'm curious tot ry Majestic blue by Diamine. I wasn't familiar with it until now and I LOVE sheening inks and Diamine, in general. This is a great list of under-appreciated inks.
Herbin's Poussiere de Lune is a beautiful purple! I love it, sort of a greyed-out plum. My biggest beef with those inks is the bottle shape. The wide, flat bottles are fine for dip pens, but the shape makes it hard to fill fountain pens once the ink level goes down a bit. I have a couple antique Sheaffer Skrip bottles with built-in inkwells that I like to transfer them to, just to make it easier.
@@evayaaasantewaa448 they're SO nice! I keep an eye out for them at antique stores. You can usually get them for $5 or so, which is pretty reasonable, and I don't feel bad removing the labels to put a new one on with the new ink info
I love Apache Sunset, but I have switched to Noodler's Ink Black Swan in Australian Roses for my daily journaling. It goes well with my Aurora 100th Anniversary Cento Red pen. Noodler's Turquoise is also a good ink with a plain name. And Monteverde California Teal is amazing too.
+1 for Black Swan in Australian Roses - it’s my default when I don’t want to play around with “seasonal colors”. California Teal is a favorite too, and I’m really curious to compare it side by side with the forthcoming Pelikan Edelstein Apatite
I am happy to see that poussière de lune was on your list. Over time, I started to appreciate that ink more and more. Iroshizuku Ajisai didn’t make it on the list but is also a very soft and pleasant blue to use. I use Rouille d’ancre for drawing and bouton d’or (also Herbin) in a pilot parallel pen for highlighting text
I ordered Aijisai by accident. From the pictures I saw from where I bought it, it looked more like a deep blue, like kon-peki. I got it and was shocked to find it was purple! As I started using it more, I am beginning to love it! It goes great with my Medium TWSBI Vac700R in Iris. Beautiful ink to have slosh around in the VAC700R Iris.
IMHO Pelikan 4001 is incredibly underrated. This is sort of basic ink you can get in every stationery store where I live, and I was using it for years before I got more into pens and bought a ton of some rather expensive inks and... 4001 really doesn't seem so basic to me. There's only few colors (on the other hand all of said colors are perfectly useful) but most of them never caused *any* problem to me. (only exception is black that seems to dry out constantly but I may have a faulty bottle). Sure, it doesn't sheen or shimmer but it has good properties and i.e. turquoise is *intense*, haha sure, its not iroshizuku but it costs 10% of it.
I’m so glad this video came out today! I just ordered a medium nib Diplomat Elox (thanks for the restock email!) so Habanero and Cayenne will be perfect inks to try with it. I’m also glad you talked about Herbin ink.The Herbin inks I have used have such a pleasure to write with that I’m often surprised more people aren’t talking about them.
I’ve been using & collecting FP ink for several years, and I find that my interests sorta mirror the way I consume music - I’ll discover a genre or artist, dig through that catalog, determine what I think the pinnacle is for that style/etc., and then start seeking out other catalogs to uncover (while those ‘best examples’ remain in my personal rotation). “Okay then, so _White Light/White Heat_ *IS* the best Velvets record, and a high watermark for proto-punk in general. Got it. Now let’s try and figure out what this whole ‘Paisley Underground’ movement was all about…” I do the same with inks, but in terms of color families, brands, or special properties. For example, a few years ago I was randomly like, “… Taupe?? What the heck is taupe?…” - and it led to one of my all-time, can’t-live-without favorites: Monteverde Moonstone :)
That Rouille D'ancre reminds me of the intriguing colour that used to be in little kids' paint boexes, called, luridly, "Flesh Pink". Also makes me wonder what the French were anchoring their ships in.
I'm a pen and ink artist and I've fallen madly in love with sheening inks for my work. I don't handle them in a way where the smearing is a concern. My favorite at the moment is Colorverse's eXtreme Deep Field. Even with EF nibs the sheen is pronounced and the compliments of the teal ink and the red sheen produce a really striking result.
I looove eXtreme Deep Field!! I use it in my planner and it does smear sometimes, but not enough to be an issue. It really deserves more attention as a high sheener! ✨
I'm also on team Pousserie de Lune. Without checking for what Goulet has in stock, I'd also suggest Robert and Klinger Verdigris, DeAtramentis Pigeon Blue and Colorverse Gravity Wave as a few underrated inks. (Although I'm not sure whether Gravity Wave is actually underrated. Like Robert Oster, Colorverse puts out so many colors that maybe it just isn't "the latest thing.")
my favourite herbin is definitely bleu myosotis, it's a blue that dries to a lavender ink, it's a shade for which I'm trying to find a dupe, but it's incredibly difficult! (ajisai? nioi sumire? RO go go? maybe, but blue myosotis is definitely an ink of its own!)
I came here to recommend this one! Aside from Poussiere de Lune, Bleu Myosotis is probably my favorite Herbin standard ink (though there are many I love and use regularly). Such a wonderfully unique color.
Not QUITE a dupe but Diamine Inkvent this year had a color in it called Night Shade which is definitely in its family. If you like Myosotis, I'd keep an eye out for when they inevitably release that as a stand alone.
@@karidru5272 I have that one (as a matter of fact I have pens inked with both currently 😄). Night Shade is definitely similar to Myosotis, but darker and with less of that lavender overtone, and doesn't have quite as much shading. Still beautiful though! One of my faves from last year's Inkvent.
@@Mythosidhe I've got both as well; I find Night Shade a little easier on the eyes but yeah with less shading. I just thought they'd appeal to the same people- like I said, relatives, not quite dupes.
I had no idea Diamine Majestic Blue and Noodler's Blue were so gorgeous! They are now on my "to-buy" list. Cayenne and Habanero has been on that list, but I haven't gotten a chance to buy them, as I usually go for Apache Sunset.
Noodler's Cayene is great, very warm red. Although I accidentally dumped a bottle of it on my carpet. Looked like there had been a murder. Worst part was that the label got soaked. I hate getting those dirty. I've considered masking off the glass and spraying them with clear acrylic spray, but that might be a bit too obsessive. The replacement bottle has saran wrap around it out of paranoia, but I haven't dumped it yet.
My very first bottle of ink was the big bottle of Noodler's Nikita and you know how FULL they are, so when I went to fill my very first converter the overflow rolled down the side and right over Khrushchev's face. Somehow I think Nathan would find it funny though.
Poussière De Lune is one of my all-time favourites! It's one of the first bottled inks I've bought years and years ago, and I still love the colour! :-)
Oooo that first one, it reminds me of Diamine Pumpkin, I have that in my Kaweco right now and I love the shading. Looking good Brian, glad the site is going well. I love the ordinary Herbain line as an amateur Victorianist it's my favorite line.
@@Feemy +1 to your suggestion! I'm not a huge fan of oranges but Autumn Oak and Ancient Copper rev my engine. Diamine nails it! I look forward to using them every Autumn. I also use a lot of Monteverde Lion because it represents appointments for my cat in my planner. Even though I don't care for orange very much, I love ochre colors, including Diamine Ochre, Saddle Brown, and Taccia's Tsuchi/Golden Wheat. You might like those, too!
Diamine Blue Velvet is my current favorite. It's just such a nice blue. Found a Lamy Safari medium nib pen in my closet that I thought I had left at my old job. Might load that up with oxblood just to see how it looks with a larger nib size. Sometimes I really like getting away from the fine nibs. It's almost like writing with paint with those larger sizes.
Diamine Syrah is perfect for my Visconti HS Ruby Demo Stones. It's an amazing color and coordinates beautifully with the pen. Also very work appropriate if people worry about that.
Great list, particularly the emphasis on the Noodler's basic line inks. Noodler's Navy might be my fountain pen ink ever. (And Drew's right about Cayenne.)
Herbin Encre Violette. Yes, I know it's scented but it is absolutely a great purple color. It's not shading, shimmering or sheening or any other fancy thing but it is a wonderfully solid ink for a purple and holds up nicely on many types of paper. I've used it in a stub nib and a fine and both are very nice and quite legible. I use it mostly in my planner, where the writing can get quite crowded.
Ooh I have another Herbin Scented - the Rouge Encre rose scented. It was my first bottled ink! I bought it for the scent but the shading is lovely and it’s such a gorgeous rose red.
I've always adored the scent of violets (I've worn it as a perfume and even had violet-scented candies and tea), so I was thrilled when I discovered this one early on in my FP journey💜
@@Mythosidhe I love Lavender most but the true scent is rarely ever there. Purple is also my favorite. But the violet in this is spot on imo. I'd much rather have a pleasant violet than an icky lavender anytime! This scent also lingers nicely.
Great content, Brian! I will definitely check some of these out when I make my next order. I am all about inks this year, which is why I mainly buy affordable pens (explorers, metros, swipes, safaris, prefountes). I like to have 10 or so pens inked with a variety of colours and not really get to bothered about cleaning them all the time. You can’t do that with gold nibs (unless you’re really rich). A brand here in Australia is Van Diemen’s, which has some really interesting colours that have Tasmanian themes (ie Bay of Fires, Freycinet, Cradle Mountain). I highly recommend GPC investigate them.
I can't remember if I already commented but just in case, I really would love it if you checked out Van Dieman's Ink from Tasmania, Australia. They're gorgeous inks that need more love! Hand made, hand bottled and labelled, micro batches. Their colours are all inspired by Tasmania. Keep up the awesome vids!
Three of these are favourites of mine: Poussiere de Lune (which means Moon Dust!), Rouille d’Ancre and Syrah. Loved this video, thanks Goulet and crew!
A few years back there was a bit of hype around Alt-Goldgrün, but I think it got overshadowed by so many new brands entering the market, along with flashier properties (sheen/shimmer/multi-shade/etc.) - but I think the R&K ink remains unique / unparalleled, and def deserving of some love
Sheening inks: Initially I LOVED the sheening inks. But when I started using them daily at work I found the reflectiveness of the dry ink on the page made it nearly impossible to read under certain lighting conditions and at certain angles…. Drove me crazy 😝! Anyone else experience this?
I had a bit of a ‘sheen phase’ when I first discovered them, but I gradually drifted away from them in favor of lower-maintenance/ easier-to-clean inks…
Yes! I actually got a “surprise me!” Sample of Diamine Majestic Blue in an order, and I haven’t used it because the sheen is distracting when I don’t want it to be. Ha!
… and I’ve bought more ink now! Thank you! I love all your videos but I am a swatch video addict (like anything swatched from makeup to paint to ink) so I would love more and more of these ink swatch videos! 💙
I am so team J Herbin. My very first ink bottle purchase was J Herbin Rouille d'ancre. I have had it inked in at least one pen since I got into this hobby in April of 2017. I still love it to this day.
Very much agree with you on Majestic Blue, although I've slowly been moving toward Noodler's Cayenne after a long relationship with Apache Sunset. Somewhere I have a bottle of Noodlers Blue. I'll have to dig it out and start using it.
I occasionally use Herbin Poussière de Lune! It's a nice fluid purple/wine, really love it. However I also tried Noodler's Ottoman Azure but hated it, slow to dry, not interesting visually... I'll finish my sample but won't go back to it ^^ Not I the video but speaking of underated inks, Private Reserve Copper Burst, get as a random sample, was a GREAT surprise. Might even get a full bottle. Organic Studio Nitrogen too: stunning sheen, surprisingly good drying.
Herbin Poussière de Lune (moon dust) is really great - can look very dark, though never harsh, in a fine pen. It is the first bottled ink I got and I do not regret the purchase.
Great list. But I have to stand up for Diamine Regency Blue as a low-maintenance work-appropriate dark blue with a hint of purple. And a tiny bit of subtle red sheen. Then there is Herbin Bleu Austral, the Emerald of Chivor without the shimmer. Gorgeous! For a subtle shading ink that is also low maintenance with good flow, Herbin Vert de Gris, a lovely slate blue-green. These are under-the radar inks.
Big fan of Diamine Majestic Blue Have to look at the Noodler's Cayanne & Habanero inks too (I'm an Apache Sunset fan :) but, different shades have their places too) ... Been needing a new ink for a while.. May have to do some shopping ;)
Diamine Majestic Blue is a really nice ink. I don't use fountain pen friendly paper like Rhodia or Clairefontaine, but when I use to cheap paper, I still can see the sheen, but the sheen is lesser than on fountain pen friendly paper. I like the ink. But the ink even after drying, it can still smear when I touched with my fingers when my fingers are a bit sweating.
I absolutely love yellow inks for using with a paintbrush in my journal. So any yellow that’s considered too light for writing with, I love. I also really like Lamy Turquoise for a blue green AL-Star I bought recently. I just chucked the cartridges in my cart on a whim and I genuinely really like it. Oh and Apache Sunset over Cayenne. The fact that AS has so much yellow is what I prefer about it.
I loved your presentation! I'd buy more Noodler's inks, but the 90ml bottles scare me - i don't write enough. I'd love sets of 15-20ml bottles for Noodler's and R. Oster!
It took me too long to realize this: buying samples is more cost effective than risking buying bottles. I need about 3-4mL to evaluate an ink. I got my start buying Noodler's bottles and I regret most of them. IMO, inks like Apache/Southwest Sunset are novelty inks that are fun to try but serve no useful purpose. It doesn't help that I'm a lefty and many Noodler's inks have long dry times. Similarly, Robert Oster makes a ton of well-behaved, beautiful blue inks, but many are so alike that if you have one you could ignore several others. The Blue Water Ice mentioned in this video is a good one (in fact, I have it in a pen right now!) but if I had to choose just one RO blue, I think others are more useful and have more personality.
Great video! J Herbin bleu de profondeurs is my go to dark blue. My burgundy Sheaffer Touchdown Sentinel TM has this ink dedicated to it. The colours compliment eachother very nice. Additionally the ink is ph neutral, has a very wet flow, and looks gorgeous on the page.
Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses is underrated, I think. It's not exactly an ink that gets ignored, but it does get overshadowed by Black Swan in Australian Roses.
Aahhhh! Apache sunset and syrah (usually compared to oxblood or writer's blood but I believe much saturated, super balanced wine, red and purple, and more unique I believe!) are my favorites among these! never enough!
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I ordered the Herbin inks, poussiere de lune and a turquoise one (I forgot the name) inspired by your videos. Let's see how it goes. Also, I ordered the Ancre one _because_ Brian seems to dislike it and I can't understand why 😅 Thanks so much for the vids! I learn a lot from them!
Any love for Diamine 1864 Blue Black? It’s work appropriate, dries quickly, and is easy to read on both ivory and white paper. Nothing spectacular but it’s my ideal daily driver of an ink in one of my Eco pens and I think blue blacks get overshadowed by medium blues.
Cayenne love here! Bought a bottle from a local store when their Apache Sunset was out of stock. Also I like cayenne pepper in cooking, so the prospect of a spicy coloured ink worked counted in its favour too!
Great review, I use Apache Sunset, Navajo Turquoise, and Prickly Pear Red, sort of my Arizona Trio. I like the Syrah wine color, I may need to start a vintner collection.
Poussiere de Lune is my favorite ink -- one of the few that isn't waterproof that I still liked enough to keep. It's drier than I like, as most of the Herbin regular line inks I've tried have been, but that makes it handle cheap paper better. It's probably my best behaved ink, across the board. And that color and shading make up for any minor complaints. I think the Noodler's regular colors may get overlooked not only because of their names and labels (though that's probably part of it), but also because they lack the cool/unique/helpful properties that a lot of Noodler's inks with more dramatic names and colors have. And on that note, I think Baystate Concord Grape is underrated. First, because some people get nervous about the Baystate inks. Second, because it gets overshadowed by Baystate Blue. Third, because it can need to be cleaned differently/can't interact with other inks. Fourth, because it isn't as waterproof as the blue. But gorgeous, vibrant, well-behaved and mostly waterproof purple inks are hard to find, and this one is all of those, plus cost-effective. Just keep one pen dedicated to it, a cheap one if you're really worried (I'm not). It's probably too new to be able to tell what the customer response is to it, but Private Reserve Infinity Black blew me away. I keep it in my pens that often might need to be uncapped for a while (for note-taking, errand running, and so on). There are others high on my list to try soon from that line -- especially the purple. All three orange Noodler's inks look nice, but *shrug* . Meh. I have no desire for orange or yellow ink, and I already have my main reds sorted. #teampurple Is there any chance you'll start carrying the Colorverse State inks and the Platinum Pigmented Sepia? I'd love to be able to buy them from Goulet.
@@alexsandra9000 Sure! Since you like Poussiere de Lune, I'd suggest De Atramentis Aubergine. It isn't *technically* waterproof, but I find it is functionally enough for my purposes. It's a rich, dark, eggplant purple. When it gets wet, the purple lifts out of it and it gets smudged, but the ink remains clearly legible. The reason I suggest it if you like PdL is because I've noticed that the color of Aubergine when a pen is almost empty is almost the same color as PdL when a pen is super saturated and has a fresh fill. Normally, Aubergine is much darker, though. In general, my favorite waterproof ink line is the De Atramentis Document line. They have a good amount of colors, and supposedly they can be mixed to create even more, though I haven't tried that yet. Almost all of them behave well, though some run really wet or dry, depending. Some of my favorites are Document Red, Document Green (probably the wettest ink I've tried yet, but pretty well-behaved), and Document Dark Green. I thought the read back quality of Document Violet was hard on the eyes, but it was a good ink otherwise, though a little dry. Document Green Grey made an interesting gray color. I'm also extremely fond of Platinum inks, though their permanents are all either pigmented or iron galls. Platinum Carbon Black is my favorite permanent black. It's wet, saturated, and writes with a beautiful flat black color. It does tend to feather on lower quality paper, though. I also really like Platinum Pigmented Sepia. I haven't tried their pigmented blue or red yet, but I expect them to be really good, too. I also like their iron gall line. Platinum Violet Black came through more pink for me, which isn't what I was looking for, but would be great if someone was aiming for that. But I really love Platinum Cassis Black. It dries in colors ranging from red to pink to brown to almost black. It often looks close to the color of dried blood when it dries, and I write horror stories for fun, so I enjoy that ink for them. Callifolio Violet and Parker Quink permanent black are two others that are not officially waterproof, but that still have surprisingly good water resistance (though not nearly as much as Aubergine or Concord Grape). My favorite officially waterproof ink in an unusual color is Sailor Seiboku, which is a medium blue that sometimes borders on gray and teal with a truly impressive amount of shading. All the inks I've mentioned are reasonably well-behaved, and for context, I favor broad nibs.
I recently received a letter written by a customer, and he mentioned that the delicious red-brown ink he was using was Diamine Vampire Red. I tend to be an ink matcher, and my new-to-me red Parker 51 from 1948 will look perfect in it. Sailor Chushu looks very good in my Wicked Witch from Sailor (this one has to be written only in Sailor inks, or Sailor will void the warranty) and my purple and copper Franklin Christoph is looking for the right ink but is currently rocking De Atramentis Black Currant. I could go on in my ink and pen pairings, but one of the missing color families I'm looking for now is a good grey with personality. My frequently used pens usually have 1-2 inks designated for them, and none of them are right for my grey Parker 21.
Majestic Blue looks like a great alternative to Asa Gao or Bay State Blue. A lot of the other blue suggestions are interesting too. Blue is the most practical colour for me so I’m grateful for the suggestions.
Majestic Blue dries a little dull, IMO, but sometimes that's helpful. If you prefer something brighter, consider Diamine's Asa Blue, which is not as retina-searing as BSB but lighter than Asa-Gao and Majestic Blue. It also produces some vibrant metallic pink sheen.
Herbin's standard colors are some of my favorite inks because they just work. That probably seems like a pretty low bar but the fancier an ink gets, the more of a headache it is. (controversial opinion: bulletproof is not worth it for most applications.) I used Poussiere de Lune exclusively for like a decade after they stopped making Parker Ruby. It's easy on the eyes and your bank won't hate it. What's not to love?
Hi as usual I am tempted to try majestic blue as I am a very blue person. However I was once enticed to purchase Diamine Skull an Roses which was a special edition out of Germany, it is a bright dark blue with somewhat less red sheen than nitrogen, but according to reviews more than majestic blue. It is a beautiful consistent link. I am still much in love with oxford blue. I own the noodle is blue which is also lovely bright. So many beautiful ones blue Velvet is also a good one.TY Brian
Equal opportunity lover of Noodler’s orange range, though it was Drew that led me to buy all three: Apache Sunset, Habanero and Cayenne. Happiest colors in my collection and thank you for giving them some attention! 🌅 🌶
Funny story: I discovered Majestic Blue because I bought a Herbert pen from you guys and that were the cartridges it came with. One question to your customer service later and I knew which bottle to buy on my next order! And for Drew, love Noodler’s Cayenne! I may be slightly obsessed with finding the perfect (reddish) orange - Diamine sunset was it for a while, until I got my hands on a sample of Cayenne. Now I have a bottle, and man, is it ever good.
Half of those don’t seem overlooked to me, but that’s probably because of all the times I’ve heard GPC mention them. 😂 That Apache Sunset tho. I first picked up a sample back in the day thanks to Brian mentioning it in a video. I’ve always thought it was a popular ink, but maybe it’s the *color* that’s so popular. I’ve seen many variations floating around. And now I think I’ll give my small bottle of Lie de The another shot.
I don't have any of the colors that you mentioned, at least not in bottles. I have a lot of sample vials; perhaps some of these colors are in a vial. The bottled inks that I have are all black, except I do have ink that is purple or maybe it's violet. My most recent bottle of ink is Noodler's Liberty's Elysium.
Great feature on some under-rated (and personal faves) ink. I would have to lean on Team Drew for Noodlers Cayenne 🌶 over Apache Sunset (which I decluttered after decanting 10ml as ink reference), but of the 3, Habanero leads by far. J Herbins Poussiere is most definitely work appropriate and is a signature ink on my desk.
I'm on Team Drew also. I have a bottle of Noodler's Cayenne (which I've been using for a while). I recently purchased a sample vial of Noodler's Apache Sunset (to see what all the fuss is about)... it's too light for my taste (even with a very wet-writing 1.1mm stub) - I like to be able to read what I've written! I'm also a big fan of Herbin Lie de The' - I've gone through most of a bottle in the past year (I use this color for my daily note-taking at work - as Brian said, it looks great on ivory paper)!
I love Poussiere de Lune (currently inked, actually) and Majestic Blue I got 10/30ml bottles respectively but I'm running out of both and I really want to get that big Herbin bottle. Great inks, really. I'm with Brian on this one: I prefer Apache Sunset or Habanero, I'm not a big fan of Cayenne (sorry Drew). I don't know how popular Diamine Aurora Borealis is, but it's one I keep coming back to and don't see it mentioned often in videos or social media.
Rohrer & Klingner Permanent Blue .... almost gave it away untried... then I couldn't travel and decided to try it anyway-now, my favorite ink even over Majestic Blue. Also, last week I got Melancholic Blue by the Japanese Brand Guitar-highly pigmented and very well-behaved. Additionally, Modern Red by Guitar is fantastic, close to Red Dragon but just a tad brighter and leaning more to the warm without being orange. Really nice inks. I almost got all the Rohrer & Klingner inks, they never caused any problems in my fountain pens no matter what nib size or brand. I trust the Permanent Blue enough to put it now into my Parker Sonnet metal pearl edition with the 18K gold nib, rhodium covered. Did you already do a video with inks you trust enough to go into your most expensive pens? I heard it is not the pH level that matters due to possible reactions with the individual material.
Ugh. I absolutely hate videos like this. My TO BUY list grew exponentially as I watched it! Thanks for such a great review! I’d love to see a comparison of Majestic Blue to Regency Blue. (Will have to search the video vault.). I recently received a sample of Regency in my birthday sampler pack, and it was one of the samples for which I MUST own a bottle…but now I’m wondering if I should go with Majestic first. It’s gorgeous.
Ink idea: oil on the driveway. A sheening gray or black that changes to rainbow colors. Like oil on a driveway
❤ love this concept!❤
J . Herbin's regular line have always been my favorites and remain so even after trying tons of fancy stuff. I like the low saturation and shading. When written with they look drastically different than ball point, and that is bliss.
The standard Herbin line has some absolute gems. I use both Lie de Thé and Poussière de Lune a lot, and I've been tempted pick up Rouille d'Ancre for a while, too. I also really enjoy Vert de Gris and Gris Nuage from the same line.
Diamine has so many inks to choose from, but one from the standard line I always come back to is Salamander. That swampy shading!
I love the Sailor Shikiori inks, the colors are gorgeous with some unique hues, and are reasonably priced. I feel they often get overlooked by the Sailor Ink Studio line, since that line has soooo many inks in it, which can be overwhelming with so many shades of similar colors! I also love Noodler’s Black Swan in English Roses - it’s such a great shade of red-maroon without being too intense, but it seems to get overlooked by Diamine reds.
J. Herbin Rouille d'Ancre is one of my favourites!!!! It was an unexpected favourite and it is perfect in my Cross Botanica which is so wet that the shading comes out beautifully.
Poussière De Lune was one of the very first pen inks I fell in love with! And I completely agree about Herbin's 30mL line being great, overall. I've never had any issues with them and the price point is good. Vert Olive and Terre De Feu are a couple other favorites by Herbin. I'm curious tot ry Majestic blue by Diamine. I wasn't familiar with it until now and I LOVE sheening inks and Diamine, in general. This is a great list of under-appreciated inks.
I adore Lie de The and Poussierre de Lune, thanks for talking about them more in depth!
Herbin's Poussiere de Lune is a beautiful purple! I love it, sort of a greyed-out plum. My biggest beef with those inks is the bottle shape. The wide, flat bottles are fine for dip pens, but the shape makes it hard to fill fountain pens once the ink level goes down a bit. I have a couple antique Sheaffer Skrip bottles with built-in inkwells that I like to transfer them to, just to make it easier.
When I was in Catholic school, we used Sheaffer fountain pens with the Skrip bottles with inkwells! How I wish I had them today.
@@evayaaasantewaa448 they're SO nice! I keep an eye out for them at antique stores. You can usually get them for $5 or so, which is pretty reasonable, and I don't feel bad removing the labels to put a new one on with the new ink info
@@christineg8151 I have to check out antique stores! Good idea! Wow!
I love Apache Sunset, but I have switched to Noodler's Ink Black Swan in Australian Roses for my daily journaling. It goes well with my Aurora 100th Anniversary Cento Red pen. Noodler's Turquoise is also a good ink with a plain name. And Monteverde California Teal is amazing too.
I don't like Apache Sunset, but I love the rest of the inks you mention.
you have great taste😁 I have Apache Sunset, Black Swan in the Roses, and (one of my favorites) Monteverde California Teal, also.
+1 for Black Swan in Australian Roses - it’s my default when I don’t want to play around with “seasonal colors”. California Teal is a favorite too, and I’m really curious to compare it side by side with the forthcoming Pelikan Edelstein Apatite
Rouille d'Ancre is fab with a broad nib. Love it. I also love Poussiere de Lune in a 1.1 stub. Nice shading, and a pleasingly odd shade of purple.
Yip love to Brian on Apache sunset...love it! 🌞
Big love from me for Herbin standard range. Poussière de Lune was my very first bottled ink. Also a fan of their Vert de Gris.
Love your videos!! Bullhonky that youtube is bullying you into following silly trends. Keep up the awesome videos!
Sailor Manyo Haha has become my new obsession! All those colors in one ink. It’s lovely
I am happy to see that poussière de lune was on your list. Over time, I started to appreciate that ink more and more. Iroshizuku Ajisai didn’t make it on the list but is also a very soft and pleasant blue to use. I use Rouille d’ancre for drawing and bouton d’or (also Herbin) in a pilot parallel pen for highlighting text
I ordered Aijisai by accident. From the pictures I saw from where I bought it, it looked more like a deep blue, like kon-peki. I got it and was shocked to find it was purple! As I started using it more, I am beginning to love it! It goes great with my Medium TWSBI Vac700R in Iris. Beautiful ink to have slosh around in the VAC700R Iris.
I think maybe Iroshizuku is too well known to be on an under-appreciated list.
IMHO Pelikan 4001 is incredibly underrated. This is sort of basic ink you can get in every stationery store where I live, and I was using it for years before I got more into pens and bought a ton of some rather expensive inks and... 4001 really doesn't seem so basic to me. There's only few colors (on the other hand all of said colors are perfectly useful) but most of them never caused *any* problem to me. (only exception is black that seems to dry out constantly but I may have a faulty bottle). Sure, it doesn't sheen or shimmer but it has good properties and i.e. turquoise is *intense*, haha sure, its not iroshizuku but it costs 10% of it.
I’m so glad this video came out today! I just ordered a medium nib Diplomat Elox (thanks for the restock email!) so Habanero and Cayenne will be perfect inks to try with it. I’m also glad you talked about Herbin ink.The Herbin inks I have used have such a pleasure to write with that I’m often surprised more people aren’t talking about them.
I adore Rouille D'ancre! And I would have said Cacao du Bresil is also underrated--I much prefer it to Lie de The.
I’ve been using & collecting FP ink for several years, and I find that my interests sorta mirror the way I consume music - I’ll discover a genre or artist, dig through that catalog, determine what I think the pinnacle is for that style/etc., and then start seeking out other catalogs to uncover (while those ‘best examples’ remain in my personal rotation).
“Okay then, so _White Light/White Heat_ *IS* the best Velvets record, and a high watermark for proto-punk in general. Got it. Now let’s try and figure out what this whole ‘Paisley Underground’ movement was all about…”
I do the same with inks, but in terms of color families, brands, or special properties. For example, a few years ago I was randomly like, “… Taupe?? What the heck is taupe?…” - and it led to one of my all-time, can’t-live-without favorites: Monteverde Moonstone :)
That Rouille D'ancre reminds me of the intriguing colour that used to be in little kids' paint boexes, called, luridly, "Flesh Pink". Also makes me wonder what the French were anchoring their ships in.
I'm a pen and ink artist and I've fallen madly in love with sheening inks for my work. I don't handle them in a way where the smearing is a concern. My favorite at the moment is Colorverse's eXtreme Deep Field. Even with EF nibs the sheen is pronounced and the compliments of the teal ink and the red sheen produce a really striking result.
I looove eXtreme Deep Field!! I use it in my planner and it does smear sometimes, but not enough to be an issue. It really deserves more attention as a high sheener! ✨
Oh boy, just added another ink to my to-buy list.
I'm also on team Pousserie de Lune. Without checking for what Goulet has in stock, I'd also suggest Robert and Klinger Verdigris, DeAtramentis Pigeon Blue and Colorverse Gravity Wave as a few underrated inks. (Although I'm not sure whether Gravity Wave is actually underrated. Like Robert Oster, Colorverse puts out so many colors that maybe it just isn't "the latest thing.")
my favourite herbin is definitely bleu myosotis, it's a blue that dries to a lavender ink, it's a shade for which I'm trying to find a dupe, but it's incredibly difficult! (ajisai? nioi sumire? RO go go? maybe, but blue myosotis is definitely an ink of its own!)
I came here to recommend this one! Aside from Poussiere de Lune, Bleu Myosotis is probably my favorite Herbin standard ink (though there are many I love and use regularly). Such a wonderfully unique color.
Oh my! I haven't seen that one before! What a glorious periwinkle!
Not QUITE a dupe but Diamine Inkvent this year had a color in it called Night Shade which is definitely in its family. If you like Myosotis, I'd keep an eye out for when they inevitably release that as a stand alone.
@@karidru5272 I have that one (as a matter of fact I have pens inked with both currently 😄). Night Shade is definitely similar to Myosotis, but darker and with less of that lavender overtone, and doesn't have quite as much shading. Still beautiful though! One of my faves from last year's Inkvent.
@@Mythosidhe I've got both as well; I find Night Shade a little easier on the eyes but yeah with less shading. I just thought they'd appeal to the same people- like I said, relatives, not quite dupes.
I had no idea Diamine Majestic Blue and Noodler's Blue were so gorgeous! They are now on my "to-buy" list. Cayenne and Habanero has been on that list, but I haven't gotten a chance to buy them, as I usually go for Apache Sunset.
Noodler's Cayene is great, very warm red. Although I accidentally dumped a bottle of it on my carpet. Looked like there had been a murder. Worst part was that the label got soaked. I hate getting those dirty. I've considered masking off the glass and spraying them with clear acrylic spray, but that might be a bit too obsessive. The replacement bottle has saran wrap around it out of paranoia, but I haven't dumped it yet.
My very first bottle of ink was the big bottle of Noodler's Nikita and you know how FULL they are, so when I went to fill my very first converter the overflow rolled down the side and right over Khrushchev's face. Somehow I think Nathan would find it funny though.
Love Apache sunset. Thanks for recommending it years ago.
Poussière De Lune is one of my all-time favourites! It's one of the first bottled inks I've bought years and years ago, and I still love the colour! :-)
Noodler's Green is very good, but my favorite is Zhivago. 👍👌
Oooo that first one, it reminds me of Diamine Pumpkin, I have that in my Kaweco right now and I love the shading. Looking good Brian, glad the site is going well. I love the ordinary Herbain line as an amateur Victorianist it's my favorite line.
I have Diamine Autumn Oak and it's wonderful. Such magnificent shading!
@@Feemy I've heard good things! Need a sample!
@@Feemy +1 to your suggestion! I'm not a huge fan of oranges but Autumn Oak and Ancient Copper rev my engine. Diamine nails it! I look forward to using them every Autumn. I also use a lot of Monteverde Lion because it represents appointments for my cat in my planner. Even though I don't care for orange very much, I love ochre colors, including Diamine Ochre, Saddle Brown, and Taccia's Tsuchi/Golden Wheat. You might like those, too!
I love Syrah, a lovely complement to the E95s in burgundy.
J. Herb-IN and Robert Oster are two of my fave companies tied for first tbh
Diamine Blue Velvet is my current favorite. It's just such a nice blue. Found a Lamy Safari medium nib pen in my closet that I thought I had left at my old job. Might load that up with oxblood just to see how it looks with a larger nib size. Sometimes I really like getting away from the fine nibs. It's almost like writing with paint with those larger sizes.
Herbin’s poussière de lune and lie de thé are my two favorite inks of all time
Diamine Syrah is perfect for my Visconti HS Ruby Demo Stones. It's an amazing color and coordinates beautifully with the pen. Also very work appropriate if people worry about that.
Good call! - Drew
Great list, particularly the emphasis on the Noodler's basic line inks. Noodler's Navy might be my fountain pen ink ever. (And Drew's right about Cayenne.)
Herbin Encre Violette. Yes, I know it's scented but it is absolutely a great purple color. It's not shading, shimmering or sheening or any other fancy thing but it is a wonderfully solid ink for a purple and holds up nicely on many types of paper. I've used it in a stub nib and a fine and both are very nice and quite legible. I use it mostly in my planner, where the writing can get quite crowded.
Ooh I have another Herbin Scented - the Rouge Encre rose scented. It was my first bottled ink! I bought it for the scent but the shading is lovely and it’s such a gorgeous rose red.
I've always adored the scent of violets (I've worn it as a perfume and even had violet-scented candies and tea), so I was thrilled when I discovered this one early on in my FP journey💜
@@Mythosidhe I love Lavender most but the true scent is rarely ever there. Purple is also my favorite. But the violet in this is spot on imo. I'd much rather have a pleasant violet than an icky lavender anytime! This scent also lingers nicely.
Just today Syrah is my ink of the day (the ink I choose to write with all day long)
Great content, Brian! I will definitely check some of these out when I make my next order. I am all about inks this year, which is why I mainly buy affordable pens (explorers, metros, swipes, safaris, prefountes). I like to have 10 or so pens inked with a variety of colours and not really get to bothered about cleaning them all the time. You can’t do that with gold nibs (unless you’re really rich). A brand here in Australia is Van Diemen’s, which has some really interesting colours that have Tasmanian themes (ie Bay of Fires, Freycinet, Cradle Mountain). I highly recommend GPC investigate them.
I can't remember if I already commented but just in case, I really would love it if you checked out Van Dieman's Ink from Tasmania, Australia. They're gorgeous inks that need more love! Hand made, hand bottled and labelled, micro batches. Their colours are all inspired by Tasmania. Keep up the awesome vids!
Love these videos, they keep me going between each episode of the "Pencast"
Thanks, Brian. Love you, your team, and every video you folks put out. Most of all it seems I really love pens, ink, and paper.
You are absolutely spot on, thumbs up!
Oh I love the Noodlers blue! GREAT COLOR!
Three of these are favourites of mine: Poussiere de Lune (which means Moon Dust!), Rouille d’Ancre and Syrah. Loved this video, thanks Goulet and crew!
I have no idea if the ink is underrated, but I really like Rohrer & Klingner Alt Goldgrün
A few years back there was a bit of hype around Alt-Goldgrün, but I think it got overshadowed by so many new brands entering the market, along with flashier properties (sheen/shimmer/multi-shade/etc.) - but I think the R&K ink remains unique / unparalleled, and def deserving of some love
I like Parker Quink (blue and green). I use a fountain pen for writing only.
Sheening inks: Initially I LOVED the sheening inks. But when I started using them daily at work I found the reflectiveness of the dry ink on the page made it nearly impossible to read under certain lighting conditions and at certain angles…. Drove me crazy 😝! Anyone else experience this?
I had a bit of a ‘sheen phase’ when I first discovered them, but I gradually drifted away from them in favor of lower-maintenance/ easier-to-clean inks…
Yes! I actually got a “surprise me!” Sample of Diamine Majestic Blue in an order, and I haven’t used it because the sheen is distracting when I don’t want it to be. Ha!
You pronounced Rouille d’ancre perfectly! Well done 👍🏽 (I’m French Canadian)
… and I’ve bought more ink now! Thank you! I love all your videos but I am a swatch video addict (like anything swatched from makeup to paint to ink) so I would love more and more of these ink swatch videos! 💙
I have the noodlers cayene ink. It is gorgeus
I am so team J Herbin. My very first ink bottle purchase was J Herbin Rouille d'ancre. I have had it inked in at least one pen since I got into this hobby in April of 2017. I still love it to this day.
A nice list. Definitely looking into some.
Very much agree with you on Majestic Blue, although I've slowly been moving toward Noodler's Cayenne after a long relationship with Apache Sunset. Somewhere I have a bottle of Noodlers Blue. I'll have to dig it out and start using it.
I liked seeing this point of view!
Aaaah now I have more inks to add to my wish list! 💜💙❤️
Yay! - Drew
I occasionally use Herbin Poussière de Lune! It's a nice fluid purple/wine, really love it.
However I also tried Noodler's Ottoman Azure but hated it, slow to dry, not interesting visually... I'll finish my sample but won't go back to it ^^
Not I the video but speaking of underated inks, Private Reserve Copper Burst, get as a random sample, was a GREAT surprise. Might even get a full bottle.
Organic Studio Nitrogen too: stunning sheen, surprisingly good drying.
Herbin Poussière de Lune (moon dust) is really great - can look very dark, though never harsh, in a fine pen. It is the first bottled ink I got and I do not regret the purchase.
Great list. But I have to stand up for Diamine Regency Blue as a low-maintenance work-appropriate dark blue with a hint of purple. And a tiny bit of subtle red sheen. Then there is Herbin Bleu Austral, the Emerald of Chivor without the shimmer. Gorgeous! For a subtle shading ink that is also low maintenance with good flow, Herbin Vert de Gris, a lovely slate blue-green. These are under-the radar inks.
Regency Blue! Great one! - Drew
Big fan of Diamine Majestic Blue Have to look at the Noodler's Cayanne & Habanero inks too (I'm an Apache Sunset fan :) but, different shades have their places too) ... Been needing a new ink for a while.. May have to do some shopping ;)
Diamine Majestic Blue is a really nice ink. I don't use fountain pen friendly paper like Rhodia or Clairefontaine, but when I use to cheap paper, I still can see the sheen, but the sheen is lesser than on fountain pen friendly paper. I like the ink.
But the ink even after drying, it can still smear when I touched with my fingers when my fingers are a bit sweating.
I absolutely love yellow inks for using with a paintbrush in my journal. So any yellow that’s considered too light for writing with, I love.
I also really like Lamy Turquoise for a blue green AL-Star I bought recently. I just chucked the cartridges in my cart on a whim and I genuinely really like it.
Oh and Apache Sunset over Cayenne. The fact that AS has so much yellow is what I prefer about it.
I loved your presentation! I'd buy more Noodler's inks, but the 90ml bottles scare me - i don't write enough. I'd love sets of 15-20ml bottles for Noodler's and R. Oster!
It took me too long to realize this: buying samples is more cost effective than risking buying bottles. I need about 3-4mL to evaluate an ink. I got my start buying Noodler's bottles and I regret most of them. IMO, inks like Apache/Southwest Sunset are novelty inks that are fun to try but serve no useful purpose. It doesn't help that I'm a lefty and many Noodler's inks have long dry times.
Similarly, Robert Oster makes a ton of well-behaved, beautiful blue inks, but many are so alike that if you have one you could ignore several others. The Blue Water Ice mentioned in this video is a good one (in fact, I have it in a pen right now!) but if I had to choose just one RO blue, I think others are more useful and have more personality.
Ukiyo-e Ume Murasaki, Fukaki Hanada, A.O. Murasaki. Kind of antique after drying. Inscrutable shades-nearly all.
Great video! J Herbin bleu de profondeurs is my go to dark blue. My burgundy Sheaffer Touchdown Sentinel TM has this ink dedicated to it. The colours compliment eachother very nice. Additionally the ink is ph neutral, has a very wet flow, and looks gorgeous on the page.
Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses is underrated, I think. It's not exactly an ink that gets ignored, but it does get overshadowed by Black Swan in Australian Roses.
Aahhhh! Apache sunset and syrah (usually compared to oxblood or writer's blood but I believe much saturated, super balanced wine, red and purple, and more unique I believe!) are my favorites among these! never enough!
I ordered the Herbin inks, poussiere de lune and a turquoise one (I forgot the name) inspired by your videos. Let's see how it goes. Also, I ordered the Ancre one _because_ Brian seems to dislike it and I can't understand why 😅
Thanks so much for the vids! I learn a lot from them!
Noodler's Blue was one of the first inks I bought and it's a daily driver! It's such an underrated ink.
Oh I need me a few of these.
Any love for Diamine 1864 Blue Black? It’s work appropriate, dries quickly, and is easy to read on both ivory and white paper. Nothing spectacular but it’s my ideal daily driver of an ink in one of my Eco pens and I think blue blacks get overshadowed by medium blues.
Cayenne love here! Bought a bottle from a local store when their Apache Sunset was out of stock. Also I like cayenne pepper in cooking, so the prospect of a spicy coloured ink worked counted in its favour too!
Same! I put cayenne on everything! It's WONDERFUL in hot chocolate! - Drew
Great review, I use Apache Sunset, Navajo Turquoise, and Prickly Pear Red, sort of my Arizona Trio. I like the Syrah wine color, I may need to start a vintner collection.
Yesss I’ve been after the rusty red Herbin for awhile but bills before ink sadly 😭
Blasphemy! 😉
Poussiere de Lune is my favorite ink -- one of the few that isn't waterproof that I still liked enough to keep. It's drier than I like, as most of the Herbin regular line inks I've tried have been, but that makes it handle cheap paper better. It's probably my best behaved ink, across the board. And that color and shading make up for any minor complaints.
I think the Noodler's regular colors may get overlooked not only because of their names and labels (though that's probably part of it), but also because they lack the cool/unique/helpful properties that a lot of Noodler's inks with more dramatic names and colors have. And on that note, I think Baystate Concord Grape is underrated. First, because some people get nervous about the Baystate inks. Second, because it gets overshadowed by Baystate Blue. Third, because it can need to be cleaned differently/can't interact with other inks. Fourth, because it isn't as waterproof as the blue. But gorgeous, vibrant, well-behaved and mostly waterproof purple inks are hard to find, and this one is all of those, plus cost-effective. Just keep one pen dedicated to it, a cheap one if you're really worried (I'm not).
It's probably too new to be able to tell what the customer response is to it, but Private Reserve Infinity Black blew me away. I keep it in my pens that often might need to be uncapped for a while (for note-taking, errand running, and so on). There are others high on my list to try soon from that line -- especially the purple.
All three orange Noodler's inks look nice, but *shrug* . Meh. I have no desire for orange or yellow ink, and I already have my main reds sorted. #teampurple
Is there any chance you'll start carrying the Colorverse State inks and the Platinum Pigmented Sepia? I'd love to be able to buy them from Goulet.
I’ve been looking for waterproof inks in more interesting colors. Do you have any you’d recommend? (Ditto on the PdL)
@@alexsandra9000 Sure! Since you like Poussiere de Lune, I'd suggest De Atramentis Aubergine. It isn't *technically* waterproof, but I find it is functionally enough for my purposes. It's a rich, dark, eggplant purple. When it gets wet, the purple lifts out of it and it gets smudged, but the ink remains clearly legible. The reason I suggest it if you like PdL is because I've noticed that the color of Aubergine when a pen is almost empty is almost the same color as PdL when a pen is super saturated and has a fresh fill. Normally, Aubergine is much darker, though.
In general, my favorite waterproof ink line is the De Atramentis Document line. They have a good amount of colors, and supposedly they can be mixed to create even more, though I haven't tried that yet. Almost all of them behave well, though some run really wet or dry, depending. Some of my favorites are Document Red, Document Green (probably the wettest ink I've tried yet, but pretty well-behaved), and Document Dark Green. I thought the read back quality of Document Violet was hard on the eyes, but it was a good ink otherwise, though a little dry. Document Green Grey made an interesting gray color.
I'm also extremely fond of Platinum inks, though their permanents are all either pigmented or iron galls. Platinum Carbon Black is my favorite permanent black. It's wet, saturated, and writes with a beautiful flat black color. It does tend to feather on lower quality paper, though. I also really like Platinum Pigmented Sepia. I haven't tried their pigmented blue or red yet, but I expect them to be really good, too. I also like their iron gall line. Platinum Violet Black came through more pink for me, which isn't what I was looking for, but would be great if someone was aiming for that. But I really love Platinum Cassis Black. It dries in colors ranging from red to pink to brown to almost black. It often looks close to the color of dried blood when it dries, and I write horror stories for fun, so I enjoy that ink for them.
Callifolio Violet and Parker Quink permanent black are two others that are not officially waterproof, but that still have surprisingly good water resistance (though not nearly as much as Aubergine or Concord Grape).
My favorite officially waterproof ink in an unusual color is Sailor Seiboku, which is a medium blue that sometimes borders on gray and teal with a truly impressive amount of shading.
All the inks I've mentioned are reasonably well-behaved, and for context, I favor broad nibs.
I recently received a letter written by a customer, and he mentioned that the delicious red-brown ink he was using was Diamine Vampire Red. I tend to be an ink matcher, and my new-to-me red Parker 51 from 1948 will look perfect in it. Sailor Chushu looks very good in my Wicked Witch from Sailor (this one has to be written only in Sailor inks, or Sailor will void the warranty) and my purple and copper Franklin Christoph is looking for the right ink but is currently rocking De Atramentis Black Currant. I could go on in my ink and pen pairings, but one of the missing color families I'm looking for now is a good grey with personality. My frequently used pens usually have 1-2 inks designated for them, and none of them are right for my grey Parker 21.
Diamine Majestic Blue was my second ink and I love it!
Love noodles inks!!!
Hello from India!
Welcome back to office. Missed seeing you on your usual seat.
RO blue water ice is my favorite ink. diamine's sargasso sea is an ink that is ridiculously underrated, i think.
I’m new to the world of fountain pens. But I’m in love with KWZ Brown pink and Robert Oster chocolate pudding.
My list of things to buy grows!
Brian, can you do a video about color options in waterproof inks?
Evreytime he mentions brown I expect Drew's face to pop up behind something. :>
HAHAAAAA Yeesss! I love it. - Drew
Majestic Blue looks like a great alternative to Asa Gao or Bay State Blue. A lot of the other blue suggestions are interesting too. Blue is the most practical colour for me so I’m grateful for the suggestions.
Majestic Blue dries a little dull, IMO, but sometimes that's helpful. If you prefer something brighter, consider Diamine's Asa Blue, which is not as retina-searing as BSB but lighter than Asa-Gao and Majestic Blue. It also produces some vibrant metallic pink sheen.
Herbin's standard colors are some of my favorite inks because they just work. That probably seems like a pretty low bar but the fancier an ink gets, the more of a headache it is. (controversial opinion: bulletproof is not worth it for most applications.) I used Poussiere de Lune exclusively for like a decade after they stopped making Parker Ruby. It's easy on the eyes and your bank won't hate it. What's not to love?
Hi as usual I am tempted to try majestic blue as I am a very blue person. However I was once enticed to purchase Diamine Skull an Roses which was a special edition out of Germany, it is a bright dark blue with somewhat less red sheen than nitrogen, but according to reviews more than majestic blue. It is a beautiful consistent link. I am still much in love with oxford blue. I own the noodle is blue which is also lovely bright. So many beautiful ones blue Velvet is also a good one.TY Brian
Diamine amazing amethyst is mine, it's my fav ink and noone talks about it
I love Diamine inks.
Equal opportunity lover of Noodler’s orange range, though it was Drew that led me to buy all three: Apache Sunset, Habanero and Cayenne. Happiest colors in my collection and thank you for giving them some attention! 🌅 🌶
Yay! - Drew
Funny story: I discovered Majestic Blue because I bought a Herbert pen from you guys and that were the cartridges it came with. One question to your customer service later and I knew which bottle to buy on my next order!
And for Drew, love Noodler’s Cayenne! I may be slightly obsessed with finding the perfect (reddish) orange - Diamine sunset was it for a while, until I got my hands on a sample of Cayenne. Now I have a bottle, and man, is it ever good.
Half of those don’t seem overlooked to me, but that’s probably because of all the times I’ve heard GPC mention them. 😂 That Apache Sunset tho. I first picked up a sample back in the day thanks to Brian mentioning it in a video. I’ve always thought it was a popular ink, but maybe it’s the *color* that’s so popular. I’ve seen many variations floating around.
And now I think I’ll give my small bottle of Lie de The another shot.
I love Herbin pens
majestic blue is my absolute favorite ink.
I’m a fan of J Herbin inks! Hands down my go to!
I don't have any of the colors that you mentioned, at least not in bottles. I have a lot of sample vials; perhaps some of these colors are in a vial. The bottled inks that I have are all black, except I do have ink that is purple or maybe it's violet. My most recent bottle of ink is Noodler's Liberty's Elysium.
Great feature on some under-rated (and personal faves) ink. I would have to lean on Team Drew for Noodlers Cayenne 🌶 over Apache Sunset (which I decluttered after decanting 10ml as ink reference), but of the 3, Habanero leads by far. J Herbins Poussiere is most definitely work appropriate and is a signature ink on my desk.
I'm on Team Drew also. I have a bottle of Noodler's Cayenne (which I've been using for a while). I recently purchased a sample vial of Noodler's Apache Sunset (to see what all the fuss is about)... it's too light for my taste (even with a very wet-writing 1.1mm stub) - I like to be able to read what I've written! I'm also a big fan of Herbin Lie de The' - I've gone through most of a bottle in the past year (I use this color for my daily note-taking at work - as Brian said, it looks great on ivory paper)!
I’m with you on Habanero. I had a sample of the 3 Noodlers orange-red inks and Habanero is the clear winner for me. Anyways, I love Noodler’s inks.
TEAM CAYENNE! WHOOOOO! - Drew
I love Poussiere de Lune (currently inked, actually) and Majestic Blue I got 10/30ml bottles respectively but I'm running out of both and I really want to get that big Herbin bottle. Great inks, really. I'm with Brian on this one: I prefer Apache Sunset or Habanero, I'm not a big fan of Cayenne (sorry Drew). I don't know how popular Diamine Aurora Borealis is, but it's one I keep coming back to and don't see it mentioned often in videos or social media.
Great list. I would also add Waterman absolute brown, Leonardo blue, kwz blue black, pilot iroshizuku ina-ho, and a lot of Lamy inks to that list
Rohrer & Klingner Permanent Blue .... almost gave it away untried... then I couldn't travel and decided to try it anyway-now, my favorite ink even over Majestic Blue. Also, last week I got Melancholic Blue by the Japanese Brand Guitar-highly pigmented and very well-behaved. Additionally, Modern Red by Guitar is fantastic, close to Red Dragon but just a tad brighter and leaning more to the warm without being orange. Really nice inks. I almost got all the Rohrer & Klingner inks, they never caused any problems in my fountain pens no matter what nib size or brand. I trust the Permanent Blue enough to put it now into my Parker Sonnet metal pearl edition with the 18K gold nib, rhodium covered.
Did you already do a video with inks you trust enough to go into your most expensive pens? I heard it is not the pH level that matters due to possible reactions with the individual material.