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 ...
You can't really go wrong with a decent blue.... without any real competition blue is the most popular fountain pen ink color and fits both personal and professional use. For me, blue ink has always been a little bit dull. I like many blue shades but they bore quickly. After one or two days of blue I really want to go back to a color for note taking that makes people frown... I know, the available colors go from very light blue to almost black. With sidesteps towards teal, green or violet. But still.
Recently I added Montblanc’s Homer Greek blue to my collection. It is a limited edition ink that comes in the well known stylish square bottle (50ml). A beautiful bright color, it is quite dark when wet, a lot lighter when dried up. I kept it in my pen for four days and wrote dozens of pages with it. I cannot deny it, this is one of my favorite blues now. It perfectly fits the time of year (late Spring).
Its behavior as you would expect from a Montblanc ink. Perfect in a medium nib Parker Duofold, a little bit dry in TWSBI's. Nice beautiful shading, no feathering, no show through on quality paper.
Perfect for business and profession use and the ink is a pleasure to read, even in long letters or notes.
My first impression was that this ink comes very close to Iroshizuku's Kon Peki. It's not. It is much lighter. Montblanc's Miles Davis comes quite close. J. Herbin's blue azur is significantly lighter and wetter as can be seen in the comparisons.
Its behavior as you would expect from a Montblanc ink. Perfect in a medium nib Parker Duofold, a little bit dry in TWSBI's. Nice beautiful shading, no feathering, no show through on quality paper.
Perfect for business and profession use and the ink is a pleasure to read, even in long letters or notes.
My first impression was that this ink comes very close to Iroshizuku's Kon Peki. It's not. It is much lighter. Montblanc's Miles Davis comes quite close. J. Herbin's blue azur is significantly lighter and wetter as can be seen in the comparisons.
N.B. Written on Original Crown Mill Vellum paper