I don't like Apache Sunset, but I love the rest of the inks you mention.

you have great taste😁 I have Apache Sunset, Black Swan in the Roses, and (one of my favorites) Monteverde California Teal, also.

+1 for Black Swan in Australian Roses - it’s my default when I don’t want to play around with “seasonal colors”. California Teal is a favorite too, and I’m really curious to compare it side by side with the forthcoming Pelikan Edelstein Apatite

When I was in Catholic school, we used Sheaffer fountain pens with the Skrip bottles with inkwells! How I wish I had them today.

@@evayaaasantewaa448 they're SO nice! I keep an eye out for them at antique stores. You can usually get them for $5 or so, which is pretty reasonable, and I don't feel bad removing the labels to put a new one on with the new ink info

@@christineg8151 I have to check out antique stores! Good idea! Wow!

My very first bottle of ink was the big bottle of Noodler's Nikita and you know how FULL they are, so when I went to fill my very first converter the overflow rolled down the side and right over Khrushchev's face. Somehow I think Nathan would find it funny though.

I ordered Aijisai by accident. From the pictures I saw from where I bought it, it looked more like a deep blue, like kon-peki. I got it and was shocked to find it was purple! As I started using it more, I am beginning to love it! It goes great with my Medium TWSBI Vac700R in Iris. Beautiful ink to have slosh around in the VAC700R Iris.

I think maybe Iroshizuku is too well known to be on an under-appreciated list.

I looove eXtreme Deep Field!! I use it in my planner and it does smear sometimes, but not enough to be an issue. It really deserves more attention as a high sheener! ✨

Oh boy, just added another ink to my to-buy list.

A few years back there was a bit of hype around Alt-Goldgrün, but I think it got overshadowed by so many new brands entering the market, along with flashier properties (sheen/shimmer/multi-shade/etc.) - but I think the R&K ink remains unique / unparalleled, and def deserving of some love

I came here to recommend this one! Aside from Poussiere de Lune, Bleu Myosotis is probably my favorite Herbin standard ink (though there are many I love and use regularly). Such a wonderfully unique color.

Oh my! I haven't seen that one before! What a glorious periwinkle!

Not QUITE a dupe but Diamine Inkvent this year had a color in it called Night Shade which is definitely in its family. If you like Myosotis, I'd keep an eye out for when they inevitably release that as a stand alone.

@@karidru5272 I have that one (as a matter of fact I have pens inked with both currently 😄). Night Shade is definitely similar to Myosotis, but darker and with less of that lavender overtone, and doesn't have quite as much shading. Still beautiful though! One of my faves from last year's Inkvent.

@@Mythosidhe I've got both as well; I find Night Shade a little easier on the eyes but yeah with less shading. I just thought they'd appeal to the same people- like I said, relatives, not quite dupes.

Good call! - Drew

I have Diamine Autumn Oak and it's wonderful. Such magnificent shading!

@@Feemy I've heard good things! Need a sample!

@@Feemy +1 to your suggestion! I'm not a huge fan of oranges but Autumn Oak and Ancient Copper rev my engine. Diamine nails it! I look forward to using them every Autumn. I also use a lot of Monteverde Lion because it represents appointments for my cat in my planner. Even though I don't care for orange very much, I love ochre colors, including Diamine Ochre, Saddle Brown, and Taccia's Tsuchi/Golden Wheat. You might like those, too!

Yay! - Drew

I had a bit of a ‘sheen phase’ when I first discovered them, but I gradually drifted away from them in favor of lower-maintenance/ easier-to-clean inks…

Yes! I actually got a “surprise me!” Sample of Diamine Majestic Blue in an order, and I haven’t used it because the sheen is distracting when I don’t want it to be. Ha!

Ooh I have another Herbin Scented - the Rouge Encre rose scented. It was my first bottled ink! I bought it for the scent but the shading is lovely and it’s such a gorgeous rose red.

I've always adored the scent of violets (I've worn it as a perfume and even had violet-scented candies and tea), so I was thrilled when I discovered this one early on in my FP journey💜

@@Mythosidhe I love Lavender most but the true scent is rarely ever there. Purple is also my favorite. But the violet in this is spot on imo. I'd much rather have a pleasant violet than an icky lavender anytime! This scent also lingers nicely.

Same! I put cayenne on everything! It's WONDERFUL in hot chocolate! - Drew

Regency Blue! Great one! - Drew

Majestic Blue dries a little dull, IMO, but sometimes that's helpful. If you prefer something brighter, consider Diamine's Asa Blue, which is not as retina-searing as BSB but lighter than Asa-Gao and Majestic Blue. It also produces some vibrant metallic pink sheen.

Yay! - Drew

❤ love this concept!❤

It took me too long to realize this: buying samples is more cost effective than risking buying bottles. I need about 3-4mL to evaluate an ink. I got my start buying Noodler's bottles and I regret most of them. IMO, inks like Apache/Southwest Sunset are novelty inks that are fun to try but serve no useful purpose. It doesn't help that I'm a lefty and many Noodler's inks have long dry times. Similarly, Robert Oster makes a ton of well-behaved, beautiful blue inks, but many are so alike that if you have one you could ignore several others. The Blue Water Ice mentioned in this video is a good one (in fact, I have it in a pen right now!) but if I had to choose just one RO blue, I think others are more useful and have more personality.

HAHAAAAA Yeesss! I love it. - Drew

I'm on Team Drew also. I have a bottle of Noodler's Cayenne (which I've been using for a while). I recently purchased a sample vial of Noodler's Apache Sunset (to see what all the fuss is about)... it's too light for my taste (even with a very wet-writing 1.1mm stub) - I like to be able to read what I've written! I'm also a big fan of Herbin Lie de The' - I've gone through most of a bottle in the past year (I use this color for my daily note-taking at work - as Brian said, it looks great on ivory paper)!

I’m with you on Habanero. I had a sample of the 3 Noodlers orange-red inks and Habanero is the clear winner for me. Anyways, I love Noodler’s inks.

TEAM CAYENNE! WHOOOOO! - Drew

Blasphemy! 😉

I’ve been looking for waterproof inks in more interesting colors. Do you have any you’d recommend? (Ditto on the PdL)

@@alexsandra9000 Sure! Since you like Poussiere de Lune, I'd suggest De Atramentis Aubergine. It isn't *technically* waterproof, but I find it is functionally enough for my purposes. It's a rich, dark, eggplant purple. When it gets wet, the purple lifts out of it and it gets smudged, but the ink remains clearly legible. The reason I suggest it if you like PdL is because I've noticed that the color of Aubergine when a pen is almost empty is almost the same color as PdL when a pen is super saturated and has a fresh fill. Normally, Aubergine is much darker, though. In general, my favorite waterproof ink line is the De Atramentis Document line. They have a good amount of colors, and supposedly they can be mixed to create even more, though I haven't tried that yet. Almost all of them behave well, though some run really wet or dry, depending. Some of my favorites are Document Red, Document Green (probably the wettest ink I've tried yet, but pretty well-behaved), and Document Dark Green. I thought the read back quality of Document Violet was hard on the eyes, but it was a good ink otherwise, though a little dry. Document Green Grey made an interesting gray color. I'm also extremely fond of Platinum inks, though their permanents are all either pigmented or iron galls. Platinum Carbon Black is my favorite permanent black. It's wet, saturated, and writes with a beautiful flat black color. It does tend to feather on lower quality paper, though. I also really like Platinum Pigmented Sepia. I haven't tried their pigmented blue or red yet, but I expect them to be really good, too. I also like their iron gall line. Platinum Violet Black came through more pink for me, which isn't what I was looking for, but would be great if someone was aiming for that. But I really love Platinum Cassis Black. It dries in colors ranging from red to pink to brown to almost black. It often looks close to the color of dried blood when it dries, and I write horror stories for fun, so I enjoy that ink for them. Callifolio Violet and Parker Quink permanent black are two others that are not officially waterproof, but that still have surprisingly good water resistance (though not nearly as much as Aubergine or Concord Grape). My favorite officially waterproof ink in an unusual color is Sailor Seiboku, which is a medium blue that sometimes borders on gray and teal with a truly impressive amount of shading. All the inks I've mentioned are reasonably well-behaved, and for context, I favor broad nibs.

Yay! - Drew