Fountain pen inks reviews and comparisons

I've often called Noodler's ink very functional and not very beautiful. And even though that is mostly true, some of their colors are definitely challenging that opinion. Black Swan in Australian Roses is a beautiful ink and when I saw Habanero on Reddit, I knew I would have to buy this ink too. A color that is mostly suitable for personal writing, but with the Corona lockdown, you can use anything for work notes while in a video call.  High shading, no feathering, no significant show-through, and decent lubrication. The ink writes really nice. However, it is very wet and has an extremely long drying time. On Tomoe river paper it looks wet for more than half an hour and smears very easily, even after 45-60 minutes. This of course does limit the possible use of the ink, less suitable for a notebook or journaling.  Once dry, a little bit of water will ruin it, but the ink remains legible if you're quick enough with a kitchen towel.  Compared to other orange ...

James Purdey & Sons Single Malt scented ink was released in 2018 by Montblanc as part of a series in collaboration with James A. Purdey, a hunting lifestyle brand. The ink surprised me! Single malt scented ink sounded at first like a (overpriced) gimmick and to some extend it is of course. But the color is a deep, beautiful orange-brown with amazing shading. Definitely a fall color which can be used in both a business environment (note taking) as well as for personal writing and correspondence. Be careful though, when opening the bottle or the pen cap the whisky scent is quite strong. It might be frowned upon at 830am when the meeting starts... The scent fades quickly though, within minutes. After 20-30 minutes the smell of the paper itself always wins. The ink behaves like most Montblanc inks I own. Perfect behavior in a broad, wide nib. A bit dry and with a strong dislike for TWSBI pens. The shading is wonderful, no feathering, and no show-through. Drying time is well bel...

Some inks are just for fun. Unusable in the office, unusable for long notes, letters or stories, but they might work on for example greeting cards. I expected Corail des tropiques to be one of those colors. It's not pink, it's not orange, it's definitely not red. It mostly reminds me of salmon, but I'm sure there's coral out there somewhere in this color too. There is no arguing about taste, but personally I believe "ugly" doesn't even come close. Color aside, how does the ink behave? That was disappointment number two. I have a lot of different Herbin inks and even though they perform slightly better in a dry nib than in a wet nib, it's always good. Not this ink. The ink doesn't write nearly as smooth as other Herbin inks, giving a dry scratchy feeling, even in my (wet) Parker Duofold. At the same time there is some feathering and the ink spreads a bit. This can best be seen with the poster nib (title) and the glass dip pen (writing sa...

Another Herbin, another ink in the vicinity of red. Cornaline d'Egypte from Herbin's 1798 line. Far more orange than red of course. It is supposed to have silver simmer but neither my Parker, nor a TWSBI stub nor a cotton swab could bring it out. I don't see it.  Bright, unusual and beautiful. Not for everyday use and not everyone will like it.  This ink is very well-behaved, quite wet but it never becomes a problem.  No feathering, no show through and well lubricated. Shimmer is invisible. Water resistance is poor, a little drop won't wash away your writing, but it will be ruined. Drying time was long, 60 seconds on crown mill paper.  Depending on nib the color varies from a bright clear red (Parker) to a darker red (Lamy, stub). I find it too bright to use in the office, and not pleasant enough to read when used for note taking. I find it a very nice ink though for short letter, quick personal notes, and greeting cards. Although definitely red, th...

Red Fox is a Montblanc Limited Edition, based on their Le Petit Prince series. The ink is a dark brown orange, not unlike the fur of a fox. I wasn't sure what to expect of this ink to be honest, reviews are mixed, but in the past week I have been writing a lot with it.  It's great for personal use and at the same time, despite being a dark orange, it's a color that you can easily use in an office environment to take down notes. For longer reads the color remains pleasant. The ink and its color surprised me and I must say, I   really  like this ink. At 35 euro for 50 ml the ink is expensive, but well worth it. It's a high quality ink.  As expected, no feathering, no bleed-through on decent paper,  shading is strong and excellent and the ink behaves extremely well in my Parker Duofold (medium nib). Lubrication is a bit better than most Montblanc inks I know but still, some pens have difficulties with it. TWSBI and Montblanc is not a good combination for...