Bungubox L'Amant Fountain Pen Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

It's been quite a long time since I've tried a new Bungubox ink, so this is long overdue. L'Amant is a lovely purple ink with plenty of vibrant character and a few surprises. Since Bungubox can be a little difficult to find in the US, I don't have a large collection. But, I expect quite a bit from based on my past experience with it. Luckily, L'Amant doesn't disappoint.

On the surface, L'Amant is a cheery purple ink with a good deal of shading between dark tones. It's dark enough to blend in with a professional setting, but bright enough to stick out. What surprised me is the gold/green sheen that appears in some spots. The edges of ink pools is where I see the most of this sheening behavior, and I can't get enough of it. It totally surprised me.

L'Amant is a dye-based ink, and it dries extremely fast. In my testing in a medium cursive-italic nib, most of my writing was dry to the touch in 10 to 12 seconds. Wetter areas were dry by 15 seconds. Again, pretty impressive.

Performance is definitely on par with what I've seen with other Bungubox inks. There's zero feathering and bleed on good paper, it flows extremely well, and finds the perfect balance of lubrication and wetness.

The ability for this ink to deliver a consistently vibrant and calm purple on the page is stellar. The surprise green/gold sheen around larger pools of ink is simply delightful. Unfortunately, this sheen doesn't come out much in smaller nibs. You need to use a large nib to see this in action.

The marketing for this ink makes a big deal out of the bottle shape and the box it comes in. The heel shape of the bottle is unique and easy to use, and I really appreciate the big ink swatch on top of the cap to show you what's inside. The box is designed in a way so that the top third flips open to act as a kick stand for the ink bottle. The idea is that you use the box to prop the ink bottle at a good angle for getting at the last few milliliters of ink in the bottom. This is nifty and certainly a well-thought-out design consideration, but I'd probably just use a syringe to get out the last bit of ink. Using this setup requires you keep the box around — which is fine in my case — but not everyone wants to keep the ink packaging around. Pro tip to those that toss out the ink boxes: ink is much easier to store and move when you keep them in their box. Boxes are easy to stack, whereas oddly shaped ink bottles are not!

At $44.50 for 30 ml, this ink definitely comes at a premium price. Bungubox has an excellent reputation and I can whole-heartedly recommend paying the premium price for any of their inks that tickle your fancy. If you haven't had the opportunity of trying out any Bungubox inks, definitely add them to your list.

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

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Posted on April 13, 2022 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Bungubox, Ink Reviews.

Kuretake ZIG Clean Color Dot Double-Sided Marker Giveaway

Similar to the SMAND! giveaway last week, I can’t help but give away my favorite sneaky awesome stationery goods. The Kuretake ZIG Clean Color Dot Double-Sided Markers are one of my favorite new products, and I have the 6-Color Mild Set to give away this week for all of your marking and highlighting fun. Read the rules below and enter away!

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Giveaways.

Monarca Rey Jaguar Ink Review

“One shimmer ink at a time Brad!”

That’s the issue I’m having right now, because there are so many interesting shimmer inks on the market, and I want to use them all. Recently, it was Jacques Herbin Shogun, and currently, it is Monarca Rey Jaguar.

So, how do I choose which shimmer ink to ink up when it is time? If these last two choices are any indication, the level of pen and ink matching plays a big role. The darker Shogun was a perfect match to my black, gold, and silver Aurora Optima, and the golden shimmer of Rey Jaguar looks fantastic in my Ferrari-themed Spoke Icon. Give me the opportunity to match, or tell a story with a pen and ink combination, and I will jump at the chance.

Monarca Stationery launched their brand with stories in mind, with two collections of four inks each. Caribbean features shades reminiscent of the Mexican seaside, and Semi Desert brings you inland. The ninth ink, Rey Jaguar, stands alone as a limited edition based on the colors of the largest feline in the Americas, with proceeds of sales going to support Jaguar conservation campaigns.

This ink is as beautiful as its namesake. There is a richness to the golden brown base ink color, with a healthy dose of gold shimmer leaping off the page as if a Jaguar were released from inside your notebook. Ok, that’s a bridge too far, but that’s what shimmer inks are to begin with, so let’s just go with it!

I’m impressed with the performance of Rey Jaguar, especially due to the fact I didn’t ink it up to use with a wide nib. I have a stock Jowo Fine nib in my Icon and wanted to check the performance in a setup I wouldn’t normally use. The flow is fantastic, and exceeds any expectations I had of using a shimmer ink in a fine nib. The lines are consistent, and shimmer deployment is well regulated. I will try more shimmer inks in fine nibs if they work as well as this one.

Do you need this ink? That is, of course, impossible for me to answer. The color is reasonably unique, although there are other golden brown shimmer inks out there. It’s priced slightly on the high side at $26 for 30 ml, but is limited to only 600 bottles, and ships with Monarca’s unique wooden bottle holder and pen rest in each box. It’s also a fun new brand, and sales of this ink support Jaguar conservation efforts.

Personally, I’m thrilled with it from a performance perspective, and that is the most important feature of any product - especially one new to the market. I’d have no issue recommending Rey Jaguar, or any of the standard Monarca inks, of which we will have more reviews of soon.

(Monarca Stationery provided this ink at no charge to The Pen Addict for purposes of this review.)

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