Diamine Shimmering Seas: Ink Review

From the Diamine Shimmertastic collection, Diamine Shimmering Seas fountain pen ink graces a page with a deep blue hue and lovely gold shimmer. This ink will delight fountain pen enthusiasts with its healthy dose of sparkle and intense blue saturation. Read our impressions below!

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):

• 25-30 seconds – This ink has quite a long dry time, but with so much going on, you may expect as much. Be careful with your hand and finger placement, and don't forget to give the page a second or two to dry before flipping it over to avoid smears.

Drip Test (Water Resistance):

• Low –  With such high saturation, the ink will be left on the page. Don't write your checks with this one!

Saturation:

• High – You'll get a rich and saturated dark blue color from the first swab. Further swabs don't add much to the saturation, so this one is loaded from the start.

Ease of Cleaning:

• Low – Shimmer particles and highly saturated ink mean this one will be a bit harder to clean out of your feed. Make sure to not let it dry in the pen, as it will clog your feed unit. To combat this, you can use the Goulet Pens Feed Brush to clean out the shimmer after disassembly.

Shading:

• Low – There's no genuine ink shading here, but the shimmer deposits in the same fashion as shading inks, so you do get a lovely gradient and extra shine where the ink pools. It provides a lovely look with each stroke of your fountain pen.

Flow:

• High – The flow on Shimmering Seas is quite generous, which helps get the shimmer onto the page. This ink also has a surprisingly even distribution of shimmer.

 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 shades side by side.

Summary:

At first glance, this ink might seem dull in the bottle, but once it's on the page, it's a show stopper. The rich blue paired with the warm gold creates a dynamic writing experience.

This color is available in 50ml bottles as well as our sample size.