Perle Noir is one of the most recommended and well reviewed black inks out there. When I bought this ink a few years ago, I was disappointed. It is not the blackest, not the smoothest, not the fastest drying ink, not an archival ink, not the cheapest. I decided to give it a second chance so I eyedropped a Preppy with it and filled a Lamy All-star. Over the past few days I have written many pages of work notes with the ink. Perle Noir is a well behaving black ink that is sold at a reasonable price, but it doesn't excel in anything. Below some writing samples, followed by drying times and test in water resistance. Drying times are about average to slow, 45 secs with a broad nib on Tomoe River 52g paper. The ink is certainly not water resistant, but it can handle an accidental drop. The full characteristics: Feathering none Shading hardly any Show through negligible ...
My first ink review, it had to be this one. Possibly the most beautiful ink color I have, Oxblood by Diamine. It is a strong, dark red, leaning towards brown. It draws people's attention, but is classy enough for business use, and even better for personal correspondence. I always have a pen filled with this ink. But I use it more fall/winter than in spring/summer.
Most of the time Diamine comes in the practical 30ml plastic containers, for this color I have also bought the beautiful and less easy to obtain 80ml glass bottle.
The ink behaves really well, it's smooth and quite wet with long drying times (30-35 seconds). I only use high quality paper like Crown Mill, Rhodia or Lalo. There is no point in wasting precious quality ink on cheap copy paper. I particularly like the shading in this ink, it's very noticeable but never extreme.
To give an idea, I have included some comparisons with Vermeer's Steenrood (PW Akkerman), Rouge Grenat (Herbin), Crimson (Diamine), and Garnet Red (Graf von Faber Castell). The difference with Steenrood (stone red) is small, especially in a scan, but the color is brighter and significantly more brown. Garnet red, Crimson, and Rouge grenat are far less brown. Garnet is a lot lighter and has some purple in it. Crimson lacks the brown but the difference in writing is less than the swaps suggest.
This ink is not only beautiful, but also excellent value for money, highly recommended!
