Diamine Inkvent 2023 is over and what an Inkvent it was! This year’s calendar was my favourite by far, mostly because of the break from the usual red-green-gold run of inks, and the very low volume of “filler inks”. This lineup is strong and interesting:

Grouping the inks by colour family you can see how different this year’s Inkvent is compared to previous ones (2019, 2021, 2022).

Pinks: I think these are the most pink inks we’ve had in an Inkvent Calendar and I’m all for it. The scented ink was terrible, but as there were only two scented inks out of 25 and only one that was really bad (Sweet Dreams) I’ll give Diamine a pass. Both Cashmere Rose and Masquerade were stand out inks, worth considering full bottles of.

Blues: It was a stand out year for blues, with not a boring ink in the bunch. Glacier brought all-of-the-glitter, all of it, and Early Dusk, Nightfall and Blizzard are all interesting inks even though they are blue (one of the more standard of ink shades).

Greens: This Inkvent had only three green inks, with Velvet Emerald more of a teal colour. Of the three Diamine Sugar Snap stands out.

Reds: The first Inkvent calendar to feature just two red inks, but both of them solid choices. Go for Bah Humbug for a darker take or Tinsel of a brighter one. As I don’t really use red inks, the choice to include only two red inks this year was a boon for me.

Oranges: two oranges this year, one utterly unusable (Buck’s Fizz) and one wonderful (Fireside Snug).

Purples: Who’s surprised that this year the purple Inkvent calendar featured no less than four purple inks? Nobody. All of these are great but Jacaranda is my favourite.

Browns/Earth Tones: There are four of these this year if you include Atral (which is a black/brown ink) and Weeping Willow (which is a duo-chrome ink). Weeping Willow is stunning and the number one ink that I’ll purchase from this year’s Inkvent.

Outliers: the only yellow ink this year is Diamine’s Fortune’s Gold and that’s fortunate as I don’t use yellow inks. Sadly Diamine Moon Beam is the sole grey ink in the lineup, but at least it’s a very pretty one.

Which inks are my favourites? These seven:

They all have interesting base ink colours and oftentimes something else going on. I have too many inks already so I won’t be buying 7 more bottles to add to the collection, but of the 7 the top three are Weeping Willow, Jacaranda and Fireside Snug, and I may buy bottles of those.

What did you think of this year’s Inkvent? Do you plan on purchasing any of the Inkvent 2023 inks?

If you haven’t purchased the Inkvent 2023 calendar it’s likely that you’ll be able to purchase it at a discount now. It’s a great way to get some cool inks to play around with, particularly if you like shimmer inks but don’t see yourself getting full bottles of them.