Lamy Vibrant Pink

[lgsoltek]

Here is Lamy's latest LE: Vibrant Pink. In terms of colour, I'm slightly disappointed because it's rather subdued and is by no means vibrant. Saturation is medium. In terms of performance it's a major letdown: it writes rather dry, with little lubrication. It doesn't work with flex nib at all. As you'll see in the writing sample below, it causes lots of railroading.

 

But there's something different about this ink which is probably the reason why it's called "vibrant" (even though I would't agree with this term). There are some very tiny (silvery?) particles/glitters suspended in the ink. They are not the golden or silver kinds of glitters you find in J. Herbin, Diamine or De Atramentis. These seem to be much smaller in size, they don't settle to the bottom as fast as the other brands' particles, and frankly these are really subtle. You can hardly see them in your writing. They could be spotted relatively more easily if you apply a lot of ink on paper and look for them against the light.

 

Splash

(Golden-to-greenish sheen around the edge. It's more noticeable in the splash and much less obvious in writing. The sheen is of a rather matte and subdued kind. It's not bright, and certainly not vibrant at all. Notice also the tiny white spots in the image. Those are the glitters.)

Sample

(copy paper)

(close up)

Sheen...

(The sheen is hard to see in writing. Under sunlight.)

(One thing quite impressive about this ink is that when it's wet and drying, it reflects a golden light which is really pretty. But that disappears as it dries, leaving behind a matte and understated sheen.)

and Glitters

(Look at the white and yellow dots.)

and a Youtube video showing the glitter in sunlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALKt5hzRc2Y

Comparison

(Compared with Montblanc Pink. The Montblanc one is more saturated, slightly redder, and looks somewhat greyish in writing. Tomoe River paper.)

(Frankly the Montblanc one has more visible sheen. L: Lamy. R: Montblanc)

(with some other inks. Look at Solferino. THAT's what I'd call vibrant. Toucan Magenta is NWM - not worth mentioning. Is it Montblanc Miles Davis' sister?)

Miscellaneous

(A full page of Lamy Vibrant Pink on Canson sketch paper, with bleach. Note that the white spots are from the bleach, NOT the glitters - they are not visible here.)

Edited February 22, 2018 by Lgsoltek

[namrehsnoom]

Not my type of colour - the Solferino in your comparison is more to my liking. Thank you for a great and very detailed review.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review. This one is a maybe for me. I'd have to see an exemplar in person, and maybe sample it first, because I suspect it's not going to be an exact color match on my screen. OTOH, it's cheap enough that if I buy a bottle and don't like it, I'm not out a lot of money.

Also OTOH, though, you've piqued my interest on KWZI Raspberry....

Ruth

[FPRebel]

Another thorough and nicely-presented review, Lgsoltek!
Agreed, the sheen and fortunately, the glitter, are so slight as to be almost non-existent after the ink dries. I do like the ink though - love the color! For comparison, I only have one other pink so I may not be as discriminating as someone with multiple pink ink experiences.

Your reviews are eye-candy regardless of the ink. Thank you.

[Chrissy]

Thank you for the review. It's a nice pink, but I have several nice pinks, and I don't use them very often.

 

I've never seen R&K Solferino before. That looks nice.

[fireant]

Thank you for the review. I am on the fence with this one!

[DrDebG]

Thank you for the great review. I am a pink fan, but not this shade.

[TSherbs]

No pinks for me. I wouldn't even put Solferino in the pink family. It looks more purple to me (and less vibrant). Different strokes.

[Intensity]

Excellent and very helpful review. I’m interested in the matching pen, but not in the ink. The ink is not what I hoped it would be, based on the color of Al-Star’s anodized aluminum barrel. That sheen is rather unflattering to that shade of pink too, in my subjective opinion.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

It looks less saturated in this review than in several images I've seen around, that's actually more appealing to me than a full right-in-your-eye pink.

The comparison with Solferino is to show what a fully saturated ink is, I assume.

[lgsoltek]

Careful that this is a stainer. The ink was in the pen for less than two weeks:

[Honeybadgers]

This looks like another flop like charged green. Why not just make another batch of petrol, this ink is too pale to be usable and show off that sheen.

 

Lamy continues to baffle me.

[amberleadavis]

LG, thank you! I love these kinds of colors. I got mine from Dromgooles - I love those guys. Now what ink are you going to use as your chaser ink to remove the stains?

[TSherbs]

... this ink is too pale to be usable and show off that sheen.

 

??

 

Not in the pics above with a nice wet broad nib....

[lgsoltek]

LG, thank you! I love these kinds of colors. I got mine from Dromgooles - I love those guys. Now what ink are you going to use as your chaser ink to remove the stains?

I would have used Doyou but I dont have it with me. So I just ignored the stain. I realised that the stain doesnt bother me much. It now has Diamine Earl Grey in it. Well see whether Earl Grey does anything to the stain.

 

(I found out that FPN on mobile devices will eat up all my apostrophes.)

Edited March 6, 2018 by Lgsoltek

[lgsoltek]

This looks like another flop like charged green. Why not just make another batch of petrol, this ink is too pale to be usable and show off that sheen.

 

Lamy continues to baffle me.

For me I wouldnt say its too pale and unusable but it is indeed not as vibrant as its name suggests.