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So I really didn't want yo get into mixing inks, it took me a while to match the right pen to each of my 29 inks and I didn't want even more complications, but... Seeing Équinoxe 6 was depleting I got a 50ml pouch only to find it doesn't look like what I liked, which has been widely reported: perhaps there is an error in a batch, or perhaps it just got mixed, in any case there doesn't seem to be an equivalent in the Callifolio line. Solution: 2/5 Équinoxe 6 (the greener version) and 3/5 Sheaffer Skrip Blue which I had laying around and didn't use. The result looks like what I like, although the original went a bit darker and with a lot of sheen. What is looks like out of the pouch: http://i64.tinypic.com/2d8s1np.jpg Now: http://i67.tinypic.com/4qiedi.jpg No starting or clogging up issues (my original less greenish Équinoxe 6 did have a tendency on its own to clog up some pens). If anyone likes this colour and doesn't need the hassle, I got the colour I liked from jetpens (no affiliation), perhaps their entire batch looks like that... Or not.

So I was quite content with my six blues: Ama Iro, Kon Peki, Tsuyu Kusa, Asa Gao, Myosotis, Ajisai. I mean how could one fit more and tell them apart? Already Ama iro and Kon Peki could look too close for comfort in certain pens... But oh I had to keep reading FPN, didn't I? So while I was looking for other stuff online I sort of accidentally got Callifolio's Equinoxe 6 and Sailor's Souten, half expecting them to be close to what I already had. It's at night and I can only take a photo using my phone under a yellowish led lamp... But I think I may have scored, i.e gotten two good looking and different blues... Equinoxe 6 was a particularly crazy purchase, since it looks different on various online reviews. Also, notice how different Ama iro looks when coming out of a Muji F, after it's been there for a few days, and a freshly inked Waterman Lauréat... That's part of a salvage operation for another Laureat, so I'm not sure if this pen is going to explode, but as much as I like Ama Iro on a Muji, I'm not getting its true colour as on the right in this shot.

There are couple of very good reviews, this is just to give an idea of the metamorphosis this ink goes through, and how it looks next to others. Notice the first doodles in row 1 and row 3: when it starts it wants to be a (not purplish but certainly not as greenish) blue, closer to Souten, but eventually settles on a green blue, closer to Kon Peki, but still distinct, even if this shot doesn't capture that perfectly. When it starts it also has a lot of sheen. This is with a Faber Castell Ambition in extra fine, on a Rhodia n. 8 pad. By the time I started rows 11 and 13 after filling in the other colours, it had gone back to its darker self; it was kept in a box in the few minutes in between, I don't think we can talk about evaporation: sediments?? Row 4: Ama Iro, Kon Peki, Souten back side of the nib, Souten, Tsuyu Kusa. Row 6: Chiku Rin, Vert Empire, Verde Muschiato, Ina Ho, Asa Gao. Row 8: Orange Indien, Fuyu Gaki, Mandarin, Inti, Myosotis. Row 10: Ancient Copper, Rouge Hematite, Diamine Poppy Red, Lie de thé, Ajisai. Row 12: Verdigris, Perle Noire Pilot extra fine, perle Noire Muji fine, yama Guri. In the end I don't mind the colour shift since I've come to expect it, I really like this colour in its different variants anyway, and it looks good coming out of the pearwood pen, but I can understand why it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Vert Empire is misbehaving and looking a lot darker than it is, there's always one in the family shot! Edit: reshooting just for Vert Empire

Lgsoltek suggested earlier a CRV to compare some of our inks. There is a fear that some might been mislabeled in the past. Let's try to get to the bottom together. My samples of Bleu Méditerranée, Atlantique and Equinoxe 6 on Leuchtturm and Clairefountaine with relatively similar broad and wet nibs. The colours are consistent with the samples I received earlier. On Clairefountaine it's somehow hard to tell the difference between the BM and BA, but I can assure you that in reality the differences are striking. Now I can understand my constant fear that I filled a pen with the wrong ink whenever I reach for the Méditerranée. These are relatively fresh samples and I noticed there is some colour shift while the inks mature on paper. ORF RAW exported through the Lightroom, no adjustments.

Here's a quick comparison of five blues: Sailor Souten, Iroshizuku Tsuyu Kusa, Kon Peki, Ama Iro, Callifolio Equinoxe 6. Tsuyu Kusa is my one true blue. Kon Peki at first disappointed me, but I now really like it, it looks spectacular coming out of a pearwood Ambition. Ama Iro and Kon Peki are spectacular but look very different according to the pen, nib, how many days ago it was inked... I'm not sure if I want to try on another pen, maybe one that evaporates less like an m400, for Ama Iro. Equinoxe 6 and Souten were spur of the moment things, after having seen them for a while online, and so a risky purchase, as they could look too close to the others. To my eye they are easy to distinguish, in terms of more green going from Tusyu Kusa to Souten to Kon peki to Equinoxe 6 to Ama Iro.