Pink & Purple Inks

A rich, deep purple that is vivid without being glaring or showy. Dark enough to not look weird for everyday use, but still distinctive. A lovely color from a very well performing ink.

It was a tough call as to whether to put this in purples of browns. (I love inks that make me struggle with that; they are some of the most interesting in my opinion!) This is a lovely purpleish brown (or brownish-purple?) ink with a rich, and very accurate black pepper scent.

Nice clear purple, not too blue, not too pinky. Some shading, but never gets too ‘solid.’ (Did an odd sort of color shift thing in the scan, but it doesn’t look that way on the paper.)

This is a pretty blue-purple, but not what I’d call Lavender. It’s bluer that any of the other purples I have, but still unquestionably purple. Seems to shade nicely, and wuld likely really shine in a broad or calligraphy nib.

One of Diamine’s Shimmertastics line, a bright royal purple (somewhere between Diamine’s own Imperial purples, but with a bit more red, and Pelikan’s Violet) with a golden shimmer.

A luscious deep reddish purple, that can shade to a sepia tone (though it rarely does so in everyday writing; it needs to be applied pretty heavily to show the sheen). Nevertheless, it’s a lovely purple ink that’s not too pinkish, and is classy enough even for all but the most formal business uses. This one gets a lot of use for me as a grading ink, since I try to avoid using reds. It’s a pricey ink, but worth it.

Levenger’s purple is a bright clear purple that leans blue. It’s more brilliant than the Diamine Lavender, but close in terms of hue. A bold and well behaved ink!

I’m not sure I’d call this violet, but it’s a bright clear purple that leans pink. Might be a bit too light for a finer nib, but it’s a lovely color for a broader nib or calligraphy pen.

A beautiful deep blue-ish purple, that has the advantage of being ‘bulletproof.’ Its permanence comes at the cost of any shading, but it’s a great color, and waterproofs are always nice for letters, signatures, and so on.

Nice violet purple, actually a color I might associate with violets. (Although in reality, I suspect they may run more to the blue, but it matches the violets on my vintage chine to a T!) If it has a flaw, it is a lack of saturation, and a dry-ish flow.

Deep purple with charcoal tones, nearly black. This ink actually reads black in finer nibs, or under any but the brightest light.

A new brand, introduced by Goulet Pens. An absolutely HUGE bottle, of what seems so far to be a very well-made ink. This is a nice deep purple, more visibly purple than PR’s Ebony Purple, but with that nice plum-ish tone, more red than Diamine’s Imperial. I like it!

Less of a Claret, more of a brilliant magenta. Very saturated (but not at all ‘day-glo’), not much shading in this swatch, but very clear and vivid. I think this will be a striking writing ink.

I don’t really do pinks. That said, this is a pretty nice dusty-rose sort of pink. Sort of the range of pinks I can almost tolerate.

A bright pink that leans more purple than salmon, if only by a hair. Very clear true color, but not really one I care for personally..