Diamine Cocoa Shimmer: Ink Review
Part of Diamine’s Shimmertastic collection, this Cocoa Shimmer brown fountain pen ink features gold shimmer. This ink is the perfect ink for anyone looking for a bright brown ink with depth from the golden shimmer. It's warm and delicious, just like the name makes it sound! Read on to find out more.
Ink Review
Supplies Used:
- LAMY AL-star with medium steel nib
- Rhodia No. 16 dot pad, 80g white paper
- Tomoé River 52 gsm white paper
- Leuchtturm1917 80g notebook
Smear Test (Dry Time):
- 20+ seconds – This dried fairly quickly despite how wet it writes. The ink was dry by 30 seconds and showcased a lot of shimmer.
Drip Test (Water Resistance):
- Low – We found this ink did not hold up to water well, though it would still be perfect for desk top journaling.
Saturation:
- High – The rich dark browns come through as the Swabs from 1 to 3 and the shimmer is quite robust.
Ease of Cleaning:
- Low – As with any shimmer ink the particulate is difficult to rinse away, we recommend our Goulet Feed Brush to help scrub down any stubborn deposits of shimmer.
Shading:
- Medium-Low – The ink its self does not have much shading but paired with the gold shimmer you will see some color variation especially when the light hits just right.
Flow:
- High – This is a pretty wet writing ink and it flows readily without causing an issue on some less fountain pen friendly papers.
Packaging and Aesthetics:
- The Shimmertastic series comes in a tall glass bottle with a cute gold cap and well-designed labels. Diamine has sturdy glass bottles for all their inks, which look great on a desk!
If you're interested in similar colors, check out our Swab Shop where you can compare colors side by side.
Summary:
At first glance, this ink may seem like just a warm brown, but once it's on the page, it shines! The brown paired with the warm gold shimmer creates a dynamic writing experience. Brown is a somewhat overlooked color, especially for ink, but this is a must try.
This color is available in 50ml bottles as well as our ink samples.