It’s day 22 of Diamine’s Inkvent (check out that snowflake!):

Day 22’s ink is Diamine Deck the Halls, a dark purple chameleon ink, and an interesting one at that.

Deck the Hall is dark and saturated, with just a hint of shading and a fascinating chameleon effect. I was expecting something with a silver, green or blue shimmer, but Deck the Hall shimmers from coppery orange to pink.

I don’t really like this dark eggplant colour, bu the chameleon shimmer effect here works very well, because of its strong contrast with the base colour. The effect reminded me of a hummingbird’s wings flashing.

I don’t really like the base colour so I don’t see myself buying a full size bottle of Diamine Deck the Halls. That being said, this ink is very Inkvent appropriate and an interesting ink with a lot of character.

Bonus: the signature I mentioned in my writing sample:

It’s day 21 in the Diamine Inkvent calendar.

Day 21’s ink is Diamine Cosy Up, a standard bubblegum pink.

Cosy Up is a bright and cheerful colour with a lot of shading. If you like Diamine Coral you’ll likely like Cosy Up too.

I’m not a big fan of pink inks, but this one made me smile. It’s a very Barbie appropriate colour, one that Elle Woods would have loved.

There are a lot of ink options in this shade of pink in the market, so there’s no reason to prefer this one when it comes out, unless you are a fan of the bottle. That being said, it was nice getting a little sample of this in this year’s Inkvent.

It’s day 18 in Diamine Inkvent. Exciting, I know 🙂

Day 18’s ink is Diamine Olive Swirl, an olive green chameleon ink with a good amount of shading and a whole lot of class.

Diamine Olive Swirl is a very cool colour – a pretty vibrant olive green with the coolest chameleon effect. The shimmers here change from pinkish copper to green, and it is a very attractive combination with the base colour.

I like sketching with unusual colours every once in a while, and even though I don’t sketch with shimmer inks, I can see myself sketching with Olive Swirl. The base colour is so good and the chameleon shimmer is subtle and yet adds so much interest to it, that I really enjoyed sketching this sea turtle with it.

Of the chameleon inks so far, Olive Swirl is by far my favourite. Green and pink are a classic combination, and the fact that you see the pink only in certain angles and so very subtly adds a lot to this ink’s charm. Definitely an ink I see myself purchasing in the future.

It’s day 17 in the Diamine Inkvent calendar, and check out that cool snowflake:

Day 17’s ink is Diamine Flame, an orange standard ink. Yay for standard inks again!

Diamine Flame is a bright orange with some shading and did I mention that it’s a standard ink? No shimmer, sheen, sparkles or scent. Nice for a change.

I am continuing my animal theme for now, this time with a sketch of a clown fish. You can see Diamine Flame’s shading and outlining properties quite well here”

Diamine Flame is dark enough to be legible without losing its orange nature (it’s not too red, in other words). Will I buy a full bottle of this? Likely not, as I don’t normally use orange inks. It is, however, a well behaved, interesting enough orange ink for me to recommend it if you are looking for something in that shade and find Diamine more affordable/accessible than Robert Oster, Pilot Iroshizuku or Montblanc.

It’s day 15 of Diamine’s Inkvent, and it comes with another cool illustration on the door:

Oh no! Day 15 is another scented ink! Day 15’s ink is Diamine Pick Me Up, a scented and sheening chocolate brown ink, and it’s likely going to be one of my least favourite inks in this year’s Inkvent.

The base ink itself is a warm, rich colour, with some shading and a greenish gold sheen which I could do without. It also has a strong artificial smell of either burnt chocolate or chocolate with coffee (but not the good kind of chocolate with coffee).

I enjoyed drawing this aardvark. I didn’t enjoy using this ink, largely because of the smell. I dumped out the previous scented ink, and this one looks to be following it down the drain.

I used a Lamy AL Star fine nib to write and sketch this review, and I am going to clean it out thoroughly this weekend by the looks of it. I just can’t stand the smell, and the ink isn’t appealing enough for me to want to use it despite the scent and the sheen.

It’s day 14 in the Invent calendar, and it’s time for one of my favourite door illustrations:

Day 14’s ink is Diamine Three Kings, a standard dark yellow ink. Yes, that’s not a mistake – there’s not a smidgen of sparkle in sight with this one, despite the ink’s shade and its name. I salute whomever had the restraint.

What Three Kings does well is shade. The colour reminds of aged gold, a yellow with a good hint of dark orange to it.

I drew a not very good sketch of a lion with Three Kings, and while I love the shading that it offers and it reminds me of yellow ochre (which I use a lot in my sketches) I don’t think that it’s the best shade for sketching. It won’t stand up to other colours, it isn’t waterproof so it won’t combine well with watercolours, and it’s a bit anaemic on its own. Maybe combined with other brown inks…

Diamine Three Kings is an interesting colour, mostly because it’s sort of a colour hybrid (like R&K’s Alt Goldrun in concept, if not in colour), and it isn’t a shimmer or chameleon ink. I don’t see a bottle of this ink in my future, but if you are looking for a yellow ochre ink, Three Kings may be the ink for you.

It’s day 13 of Diamine Inkvent, and I almost didn’t create this review because I had a late afternoon post cancer heart echocardiogram at the hospital and I was sure that I was in for at least a two hour wait. Thankfully my wait was much shorter (and even more thankfully my heart survived everything that cancer and chemo threw at it), so here’s today’s review.

Day 13’s ink is another chameleon one: Diamine Upon a Star. Let’s all pause and acknowledge that this is just a beautiful name for an ink. Upon a Star is a royal blue ink with green, purple, blue chameleon shimmer that makes me think of peacock tail feathers.

Diamine Upon a Star is a saturated royal blue with a good amount of the somewhat tiresome but well know red sheen. The sheen can easily overshadow the chameleon glitter, and so the effect can sadly pretty easily be lost.

I’m still watching Dinsey’s the Magic of Animal Kingdom (it’s very good, even if I’m not 100% in love with Josh Gad’s narrating style) and so I drew a macaw to test out this ink. I was using a Lamy Safari fine nibbed pen and the chameleon effect is almost entirely lost beneath the shimmer.

I have too many inks in this shade of blue to even consider Diamine Upon a Star, especially considering that its chameleon effect just looks like red sheening or disappears under the red sheening most of the time. It’s a nice ink to have a little sample of, but not one that I plan on purchasing in the future.