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Macchiato Man

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The @madebyendless Cotton Wallet arrived the other day! I’m a sucker for these sorts of practical inserts for notebooks. The cotton fabric suites the simple style of the Explorer. 
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While I love these and always get them whenever I can I never
First test of the Regalia paper in the Endless Explorer than I was sent by @madebyendless. Really impressed by the paper. Very smooth, nice sheen and nice shading! Finger prints or hand oil seem to affect the writing a little but nothing out of the o
New Pen Review: Esterbrook Camden (Premium Edition) - 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚒𝚗 𝙱𝚒𝚘!

I’ve been eager to try the Camden for a while now. I love my flat end pens and the overall shape of this one is subtly unique. While there are some differences between
New friend from @esterbrook_official! Camden Manitoba Blue. 
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Love flat end pens so looking forward to digging into this (so review incoming).
 
Flat or round ends?✑
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#fountainpen #fpgeeks #fountainpenaddict #fpn #fountainpengeeks  #fountainp
New Ink Review: @birminghampens Antique Sepia (link in bio)
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In line with the recent trend of soft pastel dichromatic inks but Birmingham’s version is an interesting dust grey version with low saturation that I find quite interesting don&rsquo
New Ink Day! Haven’t had one of these for a while but I received these from a friend at the last Perth Pen Meet. 
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All sailor and the first tall bottle in a while (bringing the number of those to 86). 
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Didn’t realise it at the time but
New Ink Review: La Couronne du Comte Vert Sapin (link in bio)
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The final of LCdC’s initial set of four exclusive inks from Diamine. A lovely rich sheeny green-teal.
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#fountainpen #fpgeeks #fountainpenaddict #fpn #fountainpengeeks  #fo
I don’t know if I’ve ever shared this before but my city has a set of five dip nibs as an artwork. 

They are called “Memory Markers” by Anne Neil and represent early-ish colonial stories of the gardens where they are.

We als
⚠️Update: Why I have been so radio silent! 📻🤫 A lot of large personal changes, essentially (read on for details)!

There have been three main reasons for why I haven’t been able to do much here or on my blog. 

1) 🎓 I had to finish of my Mas
Ink Ink Comparison: Discontinued Iroshizuku and New Iroshizuku! Thanks to @penclassics for allowing this to happen. See link in bio!
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The old: Tsuyu-kusa, Tsukushi, and Ina-ho.
The New: Sui-gyoku, Hana-ikada, and Hotaru-bi.
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This is a long review b
NPD: @esterbrook_official LE Estie “Candy” in Oversize with a Kirk Speer Needlepoint nib!
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Thanks to Esterbrook for sending this through to me for review. I’ve reviewed a couple of Esties now and two of the custom nibs (which are a
Out with the old in with the new?

I just received the new Pilot Iroshizuku Inks in the little bottle ink pack from @penclassics for review. I plan on doing an overview review of the three new and the three old ones!

I feel like Ina Ho was quite a u
New Pen Review (see link in bio): Platinum Curidas courtesy of @penclassics (check them out!)
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This is certainly a curiously designed pen with it's quirks but it has bee a delight to write with and a great pen to through in a pocket. I've been using
New Ink Review! @wearingeul_global Kyonghui! See link in bio!

Kyonghui is a vibrant earthy orange from Wearingeul's series on Korean Female Modern Writers. It is also a great performing ink!

Wearingeul's global push is fairly new; has anyone tried
It has been a little while since I posted here so I thought I'd give a little update!

Firstly I think I just needed a little break at the end of the year! It has been a busy year for me. I have been taking my photography more seriously and I also ha

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Ink Review: Pennonia Pokoltuz (Pokoltűz)
Aug 1, 2019
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Notebook Review: Pebble Stationery Pocket Tomoe River Notebook
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Ink Review: Krishna Brown Pink
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Ink Comparison: Lamy Dark Lilac

January 05, 2017

Lamy Dark Lilac (LDL) was the Special Edition Lamy fountain Pen's accompanying ink for 2016. It's an ink that became very popular very quickly and for good reason; it's a beautiful deep dark magenta-leaning purple with bright gold sheen and great shading. Unfortunately it was a limited run and it is now very difficult to find the ink new (the pen seems, as of this writing, to be easier to find). I saw the ink going for around US$60 on eBay not too long ago. This is a pretty high price so people have been understandably looking for an alternative to the ink. I've been buying purple inks (in bottle and sample form) for the purpose of finding an ink that close to Lamy Dark Lilac. Unfortunately there is no dupe; I've found no ink that's a straight copy. There are, however, some alternatives that depending on your preference might be good enough.

Comparison on Rhodia. The darker half of the swatch is a second layer of the ink.

First off it's worth noting that Diamine Imperial Purple and Akkerman #13 Simplisties Violet are, in my opinion, the exact same ink. They perform exactly the same, the sheen the same, they look the same, they shade the same and even the chromatography is the same! The main difference between Diamine Imperial Purple and LDL is that the shading is that LDL shades darker than Diamine Imperial Purple (and thus Akkerman #13) and is generally darker than overall than Imperial Purple. Both Imperial Purple and LDL shade a similar amount but LDL is probably lightly more. Imperial Purple also has the same nice gold sheen that LDL has but the sheen isn't a prevalent. The colour is fairly similar but is a little leaning more blue than LDL.

When Cross Violet first came out many were hoping that it was be a good dupe of LDL and while it is an amazing ink, a dupe it isn't. Cross Violet Shades much less than LDL and is also universally lighter. It also sheen green rather than gold.

Diamine Pansy is the closest ink to LDL. It's a little bluer than LDL but unlike other potential alternatives it shades nice and dark like LDL does but doesn't shade as much and is generally as dark as LDL. It also has the gold sheen of LDL but not as extreme and not quite as yellow. Looking at the chromatography, the pink in Pansy separates from the blue a little much like LDL but unlike Diamine Imperial Purple/Akkerman #13.

Bungubox L'Amant is considerably pinker and lacks a lot of blue compared to LDL. The Sheen is much greener compared to LDL. This is an amazing ink, but I don't believe it's should be considered an alternative.

I've heard suggestions from people that Montblanc Lavender Purple as well as some De Atramentis Purples might work well as a LDL alternative. This should hopefully put to rest those suggestions. While they are all good inks, they are not similar to LDL and should not be considered an alternative. De Atramentis Violets and Diamine Majestic Purple are considerably lacking in shading and red compared to LDL. De Atramentis Aubergine is too red and lacking in vibrancy. Noodler's Purple is too blue and Montblanc Lavender Purple is too red.

View fullsize Lamy Dark Lilac
Lamy Dark Lilac
View fullsize Diamine Pansy
Diamine Pansy
View fullsize Cross Violet
Cross Violet
View fullsize Akkerman #13 Simplisties Violet
Akkerman #13 Simplisties Violet
View fullsize Diamine Imperial Purple
Diamine Imperial Purple
View fullsize Lamy Dark Lilac & Diamine Pansy
Lamy Dark Lilac & Diamine Pansy
View fullsize Cross Violet
Cross Violet
View fullsize Akkerman #13 & Diamine Imperial Purple
Akkerman #13 & Diamine Imperial Purple

I've included and extended sheet of comparisons below. This sheet doesn't have writing in the inks and jut the swatches. Additional inks are Baytate Concord Grape, Pelikan Edelstein Amethyst, and De Atramentis Magenta Violet (which is the the non scented version of De Atramentis Violets above).

Ultimately it depends on which compromise you can accept. In my opinion, Diamine Imperial Purple/Akkerman Simplisties Violet #13 and Diamine Pansy are the closest alternatives to Lamy Dark Lilac. If you don't mind the ink to be lighter then Diamine Imperial Purple might be the better alternative but if you don't mind the colour to be slightly off then maybe Diamine Pansy would be the better alternative. For me I think Diamine Pansy is closer to Lamy Dark Lilac for the elements of Lamy Dark Lilac that I prefer. To me the darkness of LDL is an important characteristic so I value that more than the colour. Which do you think is the better alternative and why?

I've listed all my inks and all my pens in their respective pages. Please let me know which inks you'd like to review next via the comments, Twitter, Instagram, or contact me directly.

You can follow @macchiato_man on t=Twitter for blog updates.

I was not compensated for this review and everything here is my own honest opinion. There are no affiliate links.

View fullsize Extended Comparison
Extended Comparison
View fullsize On Yellow Rhodia
On Yellow Rhodia
View fullsize On Tomoe River
On Tomoe River
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