Lamy AL-Star Aquatic Fountain Pen Review

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

We're well into 2024 now, and Lamy have already dropped some special edition colors for the year. For the AL-Star, one of those colors is Aquatic, and it's gorgeous.

The Lamy AL-Star Aquatic fountain pen is a special edition of the aluminum line that features a couple of subtle differences (aside from the metal color) that stand out from the standard lineup. The first thing I noticed was the bright blue finial on top of the cap. This is normally black, but Lamy went with a cobalt blue to complement the blue cap and body. Additionally, the grip section of this pen is a translucent dark blue that also looks great next to the metal body.

Everything else about this pen is what you'd expect for an AL-Star. The clip and nib are both black, which I think is a good choice to pair with the bright blue body and dark section. Like other AL-Stars, the nib is interchangeable if you decide you want a change later on. Swapping out the nib is an easy process of pulling one nib out and pushing a new one on the feed assembly.

The Aquatic edition is a turquoise color that I find really appealing. The blue is really light, the green is very toned down, and there's a colder, darker gray/silver hue that also comes through to really set it apart from other teal/turquoise editions. When looking at the marketing photos online, it's easy to think that this isn't much different from the Pacific edition from a few years ago, but it's easy to see just how different they are when side by side. Where Pacific is bright, cheery, and brilliant, Aquatic is a bit more subdued and calm.

The pen came with the standard blue Lamy cartridge, and that's what I chose to ink the pen with. Something about the dark blue grip section made the standard blue ink a good choice in my mind. It started writing just a few minutes after inserting the cartridge, and the fine nib is smooth, crisp, and responsive — exactly what I'd expect from a Lamy steel nib.

If you're new to Lamy, then pay attention to the contoured grip section as it favors a more standard tripod grip position (thumb, index, and middle fingers). If you grip the pen differently, then you should consider whether or not an opinionated grip section like this will work well for you. Since Lamy pens are generally accessible and easy to find, you either already know if you like their grip design, or you haven't had a chance to try one out yet. If you're in the latter camp, this gorgeous special edition is a great one to take for a spin.

At $38, the Aquatic AL-Star is a great pen for the money (and same is true for all AL-Stars) — regardless of where you fall in the AL-Star vs Safari rivalry! The special editions are the same price as the normal AL-Star line, which I think is even more reason to go for the special colors over the standard options. The AL-Star is a great writer and ready for years of service with a little care and maintenance. The Aquatic edition is now one of my favorite colors of the AL-Star that I've seen over the past few years. If the color grabs your eye, better nab one before they're gone!

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Lamy Dark Lilac 2024 vs The Original Lamy Dark Lilac 2016

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

Since its release in 2016, Lamy Dark Lilac has been a beloved and highly sought-after ink. Aside from it being a beautiful shade of dark purple, it also had a bit of a slight gold sheen, which was quite uncommon at the time. Since it sold out pretty quickly, inkophiles have been begging, hoping, wishing, and praying for a re-release of the Lamy Dark Lilac ink and were shocked when they found it listed for sale on the German Lamy website. There had been no announcements made about the re-release of this ink, so people speculated that maybe it was a typo or maybe a tease of things to come?!? It also coincided with their annual release of limited edition Safaris, so maybe it was just being confused for Violet Blackberry? Turns out, it was a re-release of Lamy Dark Lilac, so everyone (including me) was excited to find out if it was the same formulation as the original 2016. TLDR/Spoiler Alert: it’s not the same because one of the ink components is no longer allowed .

There’ve been an abundance of posts and articles written about all of this, to the point that it made it to the New York Times (you need to be a NYT subscriber to read the full article.) Talk about mainstream news! If you’re interested in finding out more about this check out Aidan Bernal’s video as well as the series of #lamygate posts from FountainPenMemes starting with this one.

As a hoarder, I mean, owner of several bottles and cartridge packs of the original Lamy Dark Lilac (which I will refer to as OG or 2016), I was really curious to see how the two inks compared, so let’s dive right in!

One of the ways you can tell if you have the 2016 (left) vs 2024 versions of Lamy Dark Lilac is from the box. Limited Edition inks always have solid colored side (and bottom) panels. The colored circle on top (see below) as well as the bottle on the front are also slightly different shades of purple.

Let’s have some more fun into the guessing game by throwing in one of this year’s LE inks, Violet Blackberry (top), which has yet another shade of purple on top/sides.

I’m surprised that the price tag on the OG is still there! The underside colors match the rest of the boxes, whether it be LDL, silver or Violet Blackberry.

The tops of the bottles have no major distinguishing features, so you can’t tell from the top which are the LE ones. The bottle caps of 2016 and 2024 did appear to be identical so I kept them apart at all times and boxed each one immediately after use because I definitely didn’t want to get those mixed up.

I had originally swatched LDL 2016 around 2017/2018 when I had gotten the ink and decided to swatch it again, just to see if the color had changed (it hadn’t). I also swatched Violet Blackberry to see if it was close to either the old or new LDL. This review won’t include that ink.

Original Lamy Dark Lilac 2016 swatch from ~2017/18 (left), same bottle swatched again (middle) and the new 2024 LDL (right). The gold sheen of 2016 is visible primarily in swatches and is more subtle than 2024’s more dominant green sheen.

Same as above but with Violet Blackberry, which is a darker purple with gold/bronze sheen vs LDL 2024’s green sheen.

All swatches were done on Col-O-Ring cards using a Kakimori steel dip nib and the non-brush end of a paintbrush, while writing samples were done with two TWSBI Go with Medium nibs and different Lamy’s with steel Medium nib. Both TWSBI Go pens are wetter than the Lamy’s, and the Lamy Dark Lilac Safari Medium nib writes drier than the Al-Star Lilac, I suspect that the black plated nib on the Safari is the reason why. Usually I just use the Endless Recorder with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper, but this time I included 52 gsm Tomoe River Paper (old) as well as 75 gsm Cosmo Air Light and 80 gsm Rhodia DotPad. Dry times may be a bit slower on 52gsm TR or with wetter nibs or faster on papers like Rhodia, copy paper, Cosmo Air Light or with drier or finer nibs.

Lamy Dark Lilac 2016 writing sample and dry times on TR 68. I just had to put this ink in the Lamy Safari Dark Lilac LE pen from 2016! I also chose the clear TWSBI Go as usual.

A light pink to purple chromatography with some magenta near the top.

You can really see the difference in the 2016 ink color with the drier Safari nib vs the wetter Go nib. The dry times were pretty fast with the Safari nib. Other than on the larger swatches, I was unable to get much, if any, gold sheen in my writing samples.

The biggest difference with the 2024 LDL is the presence of the green sheen. It dried a touch faster than the OG. I picked the aptly named Lamy AL-Star Violet for 2024 LDL along with the blue TWSBI Go, both with Medium nibs.

Even after smearing with my finger, you can see the sheen left behind. I also smeared the times on the right after all the dry tests were done and nothing smeared, which is awesome.

A brighter pink dominates the 2024’s chromatography.

Side by side, the 2016’s pink is a little pastel, with a tinge of coral, while 2024’s hot pink is hard to ignore. Up top, the shades of purple are similar but not quite the same - 2024 has a touch more blue compared to 2016.

Writing sample on 80gsm Rhodia DotPad: the two Lamy’s (top 2) and two TWSBI Go’s (bottom 2). In both cases, the 2024 LDL is a bit darker than the OG.

Writing samples on 75 gsm Cosmo Air Light (top) and 52 gsm TR. CAL eats a bit of OG’s gold sheen, but you can see it on the 52 gsm TR. 2024’s green sheen is present on both.

Writing samples on 68 gsm TR: Top line swatch is 2016, bottom line is 2024. I alternated lines in the writing sample and it’s fairly obvious which one is which, due to the green sheen of 2024.

Some inks that are similar to LDL include: DeAtramentis Alexander Hamilton (aka Aubergine, Puccini, etc.), Diamine Purple Dream (which has gold shimmer), Diamine Pansy, Sailor Ink Studio 935 (Pansy and 935 are the most frequently mentioned as OG LDL stand-ins), and Kiwi Ink A Witch’s Potion is similar to LDL 2024 but turns up the green sheen to 11.

After all is said and done, is Lamy Dark Lilac 2024 better, worse, the same or as good as 2016? They aren’t the same but they are pretty close. I do like the pop of green sheen in 2024 which is a lot more visible than 2016’s gold sheen, but it’s almost (but not quite) too much sheen. Sheen aside, the base color (if you can get to it) is similar enough that I don’t think one needs to chase the OG version (unless you want to). Both inks behaved similarly with average flow and nice rich purple color so you can’t go wrong. The 2024 version did take a couple extra flushes with the syringe to get the Kakimori nib clean, so it might be a stainer, or at least take a little more time to clean out. Lamy’s inks are a bargain at $12 for a 50ml bottle and this new Dark Lilac is no exception. Like others, I think that Lamy should have renamed this to something else, or at least called it Dark Lilac 2.0, to avoid confusion. They seemed to have taken this all in stride, including poking fun at themselves in this recent IG post.

(Disclaimer: The original bottle of LDL from 2016, as well as the Lamy Safari, Dark Lilac, were purchased by me back in 2017. The 2024 LDL, the Violet Blackberry and the Lamy Al-Star Violet were all purchased from Vanness Pens; the pen was purchased at a discount at the Atlanta 2022 pen show.)

LAMY Safari Rollerball Review

With my love for all things Safari, you would think I would have reviewed the LAMY Safari Rollerball by now. I checked, and I haven’t, although Jeff did share his opinion a few years back. It’s time for me to get on the board as well.

The LAMY Safari Fountain Pen has been a long time favorite of mine - this 2008 review is hilarious - and the Safari Ballpoint is a more recent fascination. (Side note: we don’t mention the Safari Mechanical Pencil around these parts.) While those two pens see regular use in my writing kit, it’s only with the 2024 Violet Blackberry Rollerball Special Edition did I commit to using one. So far, I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

Let’s get the obvious LAMY Safari issue out of the way first. This is not a pen for everyone due to the molded grip section that “places” your fingers into a set writing position. That’s all well and good if you have a traditional writing grip like I do, but it is a non-starter for many people for a valid reason.

I’m fortunate that it does work for me, because aesthetically I love everything about the Safari design. All of the bright colors they have released through the years - either in standard or special editions - are right up my alley, and they can design a pretty good dark-themed pen, too. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the famous LAMY Safari pen clip, which I also enjoy. It’s ostentatious, but somehow works.

With design talk out of the way, it is time to focus on what can make or break a rollerball pen: the refill. LAMY uses their proprietary M63 Rollerball refill and, luckily, it is a good one. I say luckily, because the downside of a proprietary refill is that it is difficult to hack in another refill if you love the pen but hate the refill. There is a Pilot G2 hack out there if you want to cut an extender for that particular refill, but otherwise, the M63 is your lone choice.

As best as I can tell without markings, the M63 Rollerball tip is approximately 1.0 mm. This is in the normal range for water-based rollerball refills, and while my preference lies in 0.7 mm tip sizes (there are a few rare 0.5 mm and finer rollerballs out there, but that’s an article for another day,) the M63 is manageable for my writing. Importantly, given the wide line size, it hasn’t exhibited bleeding and feathering on the papers I’ve tested it on, but I’m sure there are some non-compatible fibers out there. My expectations when I pick up this pen are a dark, controllable line, and the M63 delivers.

Fountain pen, top, Ballpoint, bottom.

Should you buy a LAMY Rollerball pen? As much as I enjoy them, there is a solid list of pros (good refill, style,) and cons (grip, broad line,) to consider. At $20, the price is fair if you are interested, so add one to the list if it checks the right boxes for you.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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