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Perle Noir, Herbin

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 
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Jack Frost, by Diamine



Terribly out of season maybe, but it doesn't  make the color less beautiful. Recently Diamine released  colors of their 2019 invent calendar as full 50 ml bottles in a new and very beautiful shape. I had barely managed to avoid buying the inkvent calendar, but buying a few of these bottles I couldn't resist.

 Jack Frost is a medium blue color with heavy shading, some subtle silver sheen and heavy purple/red sheen. Any nib medium and up will clearly bring out the sheen. The color itself reminds me of a bright, cold winter day. I wouldn't use it in the office, but it is not wildly inappropriate.

The ink behaves really well. There is no feathering on this paper, high shading, a lot of sheen, and some shimmer as mentioned. The Splatter makes it visible. Jack Frost is not too wet but has average drying times, writes smooth enough and with negligible show-through. The ink probably likes ice more than water, it immediately smears, even days after writing. 
For this review I used ClaireFontaine paper. 

The color itself reminded me of a dark Kyanite du Nepal (Herbin) or Kon Peki (Iroshizuku). Sumor (Sailor Manyo) is a lot lighter. 

 There is one thing about the bottle(s) that should be mentioned. The caps are virtually impossible to screw back on straight. They have the propensity to cross thread. Not just on this bottle but on the other two colors I bought as well. A pity.

 All in all this is a very beautiful color. Highly recommended!

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