Welcome to The Well-Appointed Desk annual Inkmas. Inkmas was born before Inkvent calendars and other inky countdowns so we have decided to continue our tradition as it is — a mix of new inks and old favorites which may or may not have been reviewed here before (we’ve been know to review the same inks and products more than once — they are either that good or that ridiculous, you be the judge!) We hope you enjoy our countdown to the holidays and hopefully you’ll find an ink or two that you hadn’t seen and absolutely must add to your holiday shopping list.
As our annual Inkmas approached, I made a trip down to my office and took a quick glance over my ink collection with one thing in mind: What we’re the inks that had gone unused or that I had overlooked in the last year that deserved some love?
Two inks immediately jumped out to me for an obvious reason. I had purchased full bottles Colorverse Shiny Black and Ornament Yellow at the very end of 2020, and not only had they gone unused for all of 2021- they weren’t even opened!
In my mind, they made ideal candidates for an Inkmas review for a few additional reasons. Between the ink names and bottles (did you see those shiny silver trees though??) they are definitely rocking the holiday vibes. They also happen to be the colors of my alma mater- which rose to the number one basketball team in the land for the first time in history this week (and yes, they lost the very next game but in these times shouldn’t we take every opportunity we have to celebrate?).
And finally, yellow and black are two colors that I tend to overlook when I’m both buying ink and inking up pens. There’s a piece of me that tends to think yellows will be unreadable and blacks will be boring. Time to give these two inks a chance to prove my assumptions wrong.
Colorverse Shiny Black is a true jet black ink with silver shimmer, while Colorverse Ornament Yellow is a golden yellow ink with a pinkish shimmer and a bit of sheen.
In writing, Shiny Black continues to be- well- shiny! The silver shimmer distributes evenly throughout nearly every letter. It’s hard to capture fully in a photo- but wow this ink really sparkles in the light!
The shimmer of Ornament Yellow gives the ink a pink or almost rose gold tint especially in areas where the ink pools. The additional color almost gives the ink the illusion of shading- and makes the yellow very readable. One assumption de-bunked, and one to go.
Did I really say black inks are boring? The amount of character that was evident with all these black inks side-by-side really surprised me, and made me want to ink one up ASAP. Looking at Shiny Black specifically, the silver shimmer makes it a unique addition to my collection.
The yellow hues also have some really unique and complex characteristics. Comparing Ornament Yellow to a few of the other yellows and golds that I own- the yellow color is similar to others, but it is again the unique color of the shimmer that sets it apart. The shimmer is a little more subtle than the shiny black, but i think I’m a big fan of the rose gold color.
Overall, I re-discovered an anything-but-boring -black and a very readable yellow with impressive rose-gold highlights. Im glad I revisited these! What inks have gone under-the-radar for you this year that might be worth looking at again?
