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Sometimes inks are not made for being used at work, for taking notes, for normal correspondence... but they are so gorgeous that you simply don't mind what other people could think of you and keep using them like there's no tomorrow. The review which is going to follow is the complicated love story between me and Diamine Shimmertastic Sparkling Shadows. Diamine Shimmertastic Sparkling Shadow is a interesting grey ink, dark enough to be definitely usable, with high ammount of nice shading on every paper, and lots of nice gold glitters. Like most Diamine Inks, has really good characteristics: marvellous flow (despite the presence of glitter I've never experienced cloggings), well lubricated, smooth feeling when writing with every type of nib, no feathering, not a single bleedthrough (even under the third swab test). Dry times are fairly long, and it's not waterproof. But let's sto wandering around the main thing around this ink: It's a glittery ink. Glittery inks are not made for everyday based use, it's unlikely you'd be signing a paper with this kind of ink, it feels unprofessional and not respectful in front of the person you're writing to. I definitely agree, I respect the social convention by not using it if inappropiate, but I really cannot give a look to this ink without finding it gorgeous. It's a wonderful grey ink (and it's definitely not easy find a good grey ink) that gains a sort of third dimension by the adding of extremely thin gold particles. It ends to be an ink suitable only for drawing, for other artistic purposes, for signing holiday cards or doodling around... But the pleasure you feel while writing, the shining trace of ink you leave on the paper is something I find difficult to find in other inks. Ink with such glittery particles are usually known to be difficult to clean, I've to say that this particular one it's a little more difficult to clean and needs a little more mantainance, but just a little, cleaning is not a big issue in my opinion. So, the usual final question is : It is worth it? A bottle of 50 ml of this ink costs around 12€, and you acquire a huge ammount of a extremely well ingeneered ink. It's up to you, in my opinion this ink is worth every cent, but I like using it for different and personal reasons. If you want something you're like to use every day probably this is not made for you. If in doubt, buy it, for 12 € it's worth trying. COPY PAPER SCHIZZA & STRAPPA PAPER TRACING PAPER INKDROP CROMATOGRAPHY SHIMMER CLOSEUPS

Following on from my thread announcing the launch of Diamine Shimmertastic inks I am happy to post my reviews of them. This one is Sparkling Shadows. This ink is grey with a great gold sheen My reviews show you my experiences with these inks in several of my pens. I’ve experimented by having these inks in my pens for weeks, and have intermittently written with them to see how they start, and how they write. I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. I’ve experienced no feathering with any of them, and they have all behaved really well for me. Diamine recommend that you gently agitate the bottle to mix the particles through the ink before filling your pen. They also recommend that you gently agitate your pen to mix the particles with the ink in your pen when starting a new writing session. I recommend good FP maintenance when using ink that contains particles. I suggest you clean your pens out a little more frequently than you might do with normal ink. These inks will come in 50ml glass bottles, and they have either gold or silver particles in them.