Ink Drop: February 2011

The nice folks at Goulet Pens have an ink sample club called the Ink Drop. February's colors have just arrived here; the theme is My Inky Valentine.

This month's theme is rather clever; each ink's name contains the word "rose" - and thus we've each received a lovely bouquet of inks. Given the similarity in names, I am surprised at the variety of colors; though they're all in the same family, they are quite distinct from one another.

The colors, as listed on the sample page I created and photographed, are:

• Noodler's Ottoman Rose: a rosy red; reminds me a bit of Caran d'Ache Sunset, though a quick check of my ink diary shows Ottoman Rose to be a shade darker.
• Noodler's Shah's Rose: a lovely dusky pink, similar in appearance to Wancher Ebine - the Ebine is a touch greyer.
• Private Reserve Arabian Rose: a dusky puple, in the same color family as Cd'A Storm or J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune, though much clearer and brighter than either.
• Private Reserve Rose Rage: Wow. Bubblegum pink. Kind of pretty, but I'm not quite sure of its usefulness. Almost looks like highlighter material.
• J. Herbin Rose Cyclamen: The brightest of the lot, in my opinion; the swab is rather vibrant but with a narrower nib this wouldn't be hard to read, and it's a lovely color. I don't personally have anything that compares with it.

Sample page is on a Rhodia Dot Pad, written with a glass pen. Swabs are a single pass with a Q-tip.

Please note: These photos were color-corrected using a ColorChecker Passport and Adobe Lightroom 3 on a color-corrected monitor. To my eye, and on my monitor, they are dead-on representations of the colors in real life. I cannot control what other monitors look like, however; if you have your heart set on a particular color and shade, I highly recommend you try a sample before buying a bottle. I'd hate to contribute to disappointment.

I may end up buying a bottle or two of these; I particularly like the Arabian Rose. What do you think?