Diamine Shimmertastic Magical Forest
Pen: Pilot Metropolitan (M)
Paper: Rhodia 80gsm
Shading: moderate
Saturation: low to moderate
Flow: medium wet
Dry Time: short; 13-15 seconds with a Pilot medium

The sheening and shimmering inks craze has been in full force since J. Herbin debuted their 1670 line of inks with gold flecks in them. Since that time, Diamine took shimmering inks to a whole different level and released their "Shimmertastic" line. The Shimmertastic line currently consists of 10 different colors, most of which were new colors that haven't seen a simmering version before from other brands. Magical Forest was my first test of these new inks, and I have to say I am very impressed with its balance of subtlety and uniqueness.

One of my favorite things about this ink that is different than some of the J. Herbin inks, is that is has a silver sheen, or flecks, whereas the J. Herbins had a gold sheen. I feel like silver goes well with almost any color, and pairing it with this green was a great choice. As far as the ink properties themselves, the ink writes moderately wet, but not too wet. I got no feathering or bleeding on my Rhodia pad or any other typical fountain pen papers. The dry time was good at around 14 to 15 seconds with a medium Pilot nib. The sheen itself shows up pretty well in good lighting, but it also doesn't overwhelm the color of the ink. This might be good and bad depending on the person - myself, I like the balance a lot.

Chromatography of the ink reminds me a lot of the tie dye t-shirts we wore in middle school - very bright blue and yellow. The ink compares closely with Diamine Woodland Green or Noodlers Gruene Cactus (it sits right in the middle).

I really enjoyed my time with this ink. If you're a fan of a heavy sheen or fleck in your ink, this one may not be heavy enough for you, but I feel it has a very nice balance. Its a mid-range green, so you could easily use it in your day to day without a lot of distraction from the work you're doing. It behaves wonderfully on most papers, and had a quick to moderate dry time. One downside is the price - it runs $20 for a 50mL bottle at most ink vendors, whereas other Diamine inks are around $15 for 80mL. It is a couple bucks cheaper than the J. Herbin 1670 inks, though, and you get a much bigger variety of colors that sheen.

Thanks for reading! Drop a comment and let me know what other inks you'd like to see a review of!
Lori