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Today I'm reviewing Diamine Brilliant Red ink. Diamine Brilliant Red is a mid-red dye based ink that could be viewed as a “standard daily red.” It’s neither too pink nor too orange and is from Diamine Inks standard range. Diamine Brilliant Red isn’t a heavily saturated red, it’s less saturated than Diamine Poppy Red and Sheaffer Skrip Red, but it’s that type of bright red. I found it flowed well in the pens I used it with and I saw some shading particularly with the finer nibs. It looked more saturated with my Lamy B nib. Lubrication was good, and it felt smooth writing across all of the papers I used. Flow Rate: Good. Not really wet and dries quickly.Lubrication: Good. Smooth across the paper.Nib Dry-out: Not noticed.Start-up: Immediate.Saturation: Not heavily saturated ink.Shading Potential: Some shading seen.Sheen: None seen.Show-Through:Rhodia Dot Pad - just a littleTomoe River 52gsmSilvine lined padGeneric lined padField NotesSpread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Not seen.Nib Creep / “Crud”: Not seen, even after over 1 week in the penStaining (pen): Not seen after several days in the pen - easy clean-up with water.Staining (hands): Easy clean-up with bar soap.Clogging: Not seen. Seems unlikely.Water resistance: Not sold as waterproof and has no water resistance.Availability: Available in 80ml glass bottles, 30ml plastic bottles and cartridges from Diamine Inks web-site and many other outlets.

My latest ink samples from Diamine include Passion Red, so that's the ink I'm reviewing today. It'a a bright red, as you would expect. It leans more towards the pinkish side of the colour spectrum than Wild Strawberry and Classic Red, and it never looks orange. If you're being romantic, maybe it looks like a red blush in the cheeks or on the neck? Diamine Passion Red is a bright red. It's a very good performer in all of the pens and on all of the paper I tried it with. It's reasonably saturated but I don't see much shading and I saw no noticeable sheen. It wrote straight away without any hard starts or skipping. The flow is very good although the lubrication along a line felt a little dryer than some other reds I've tried, particularly with the Pilot F nib. The flow feels slightly wet, and some will think the dry time on my thick, shiny paper is quite long. Although I forgot to do the water test before I scanned the main review sheet, this ink has virtually no water resistance at all. The red inky water spread quickly. This is quite common with red inks. Nevertheless, I think it's a good bright red ink. It is very similar to Diamine Tulip from the Flowers Gift Set. Slightly less pink than Diamine Classic Red, and Diamine Ruby. More pink than Diamine Poppy Red, Caran d'Ache Infra Red and Sheaffer Skrip Red. However, it's much more saturated than those last two red inks. With Passion Red, I see less of the dark outline around letters that sometimes shows up with other red inks from Diamine. This isn't sold as a waterproof ink, and shows no noticeable water resistance.Bearing in mind the review form paper I use is thick with a shiny surface, and I used a Lamy M nib and a Pilot F nib, this ink took 18-20 secs to dry from the M nib. No smear after dry.It exhibited very good flow and good lubrication and I found it smooth to write with. I saw no skips or hard starts while I did swabs and dry time tests.It is currently available in 80ml glass bottles or 30ml plastic bottlesDiamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.It's a reasonable price. Chroma Test strip: