Ink Review: Diamine Majestic Purple

[Chrissy]

Today I’m reviewing a sample of Diamine Majestic Purple

It’s a nice purple colour, neither too red nor too blue. I would call it a lilac colour. While I was testing it, I found it had good flow. I didn’t see any spread or feathering, nor any woolly line.

It wasn’t really saturated but it wasn’t watery either. It had quite nice shading especially with the fine and medium nibs.

After leaving Majestic Purple in the pen for a couple of days it started to feel just a little dryer, on some papers. It also felt slightly less lubricated along a line than some inks. On the other hand the cap on this Waterman Preface pen doesn’t seal very tightly, so I believe the pen would start to dry any ink.

Diamine Majestic Purple is a similar colour to Lamy Dark Lilac, but is slightly less saturated. I could see the difference in saturation between them on the 1 pass swab test. Based on colour and performance, it would still be a good replacement for that ink though.

Overall I found it behaved well, and I like it.

 

Despite all of my best efforts with scanning and photos, this ink looks slightly more blue on screen than it does on paper. I tried my best to adjust it to perfect in Photoshop, but Photoshop wanted to be problematic.

 

• This isn't sold as a waterproof ink, and it has little or no water resistance.
• Bearing in mind the review form paper I use is thick with a quite shiny surface at 100gsm, and I used several different nibs, this ink took 14-15 secs secs to dry.
• No smear after dry.
• It exhibited good flow and I found it reasonably 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 bottles.
• Diamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.
• It's a reasonable price.

[TSherbs]

My go-to purple, for years

[Chrissy]

My go-to purple, for years

 

I should have tried it before. I could have saved myself a search for Lamy Dark Lilac.

[alexander_k]

Lovely purple, well behaved ink. I've used it for some years but then got bored with it, exactly because it's just purple. So I switched to Eclipse but it was too dark, then to Grape, which was fine until I came across KWZ Grey Plum. Looking back at this one through Chrissy's review I'm inclined to give it a high grade. It remains a personal benchmark, even though I don't see me returning to it yet.

[MKeith]

As usual another great review Chrissy, thanks. This is one I may have to try after seeing this review. Any staining characteristics seen?

[Soggycitybob]

Purple is my favorite color! Thank you for this review. I've just saved it on my Goulet wish list!

[Chrissy]

As usual another great review Chrissy, thanks. This is one I may have to try after seeing this review. Any staining characteristics seen?

 

Your'e welcome. It didn't stain anything of mine, converter, pen or hands.

 

(Unlike the sample vial of BSB that I sent to someone and could still see spots of ink on my hand 3 days later.)

[Chrissy]

Purple is my favorite color! Thank you for this review. I've just saved it on my Goulet wish list!

You're welcome.

[Chrissy]

Lovely purple, well behaved ink. I've used it for some years but then got bored with it, exactly because it's just purple. So I switched to Eclipse but it was too dark, then to Grape, which was fine until I came across KWZ Grey Plum. Looking back at this one through Chrissy's review I'm inclined to give it a high grade. It remains a personal benchmark, even though I don't see me returning to it yet.

Thank you for your comments.

[The Good Captain]

I've never tried this particular purple but might just have to give it a go sometime. I've a number of others though, so it could be a while! Great review.

[Tin_Rocket]

I really like this colour, I'm using it in my Pilot MR currently and have to say it's quickly become one of my favourites.

[chromantic]

Thanks for the thorough review, Chrissy. I switched from Dark Lilac to this and the color is very close; the DL has a teensy bit of red-violet in the lighter shading whereas this is more straight purple. There's a bit of sheen, too, not as copious as DL and hard to say if it's gold or silver, but shiny. I do get some show through on laser and even some slight dotting on BnR but that might be due to a fine, wet line which, however, also provides some nice shading.

[da vinci]

The colour is to light for me, but I enjoyed the through review, thanks

[MsRedpen]

I should have tried it before. I could have saved myself a search for Lamy Dark Lilac.

Chrissy, thank you for the review and agree on closing (my) search for Lamy Dark Lilac.

Edited March 4, 2017 by MsRedpen

[eharriett]

I've been surprised people don't pay more attention to this color. It is my company's color and so it is always in a demonstrator pen (Waterman Kultur I turned into an eyedropper). The ink has absolutely ZERO problems. It can dry in the nib if left for at least a day, but that is because of the pen not the ink. It cleans perfectly, works perfectly on paper great and bad, and is unquestioningly purple. This is my business ink, but it can be used in anything needing purple. It is almost vintage in it's lack of issues in pens.

[Chrissy]

I've never tried this particular purple but might just have to give it a go sometime. I've a number of others though, so it could be a while! Great review.

 

I would recommend it. You're welcome.

[Chrissy]

Thanks for the thorough review, Chrissy. I switched from Dark Lilac to this and the color is very close; the DL has a teensy bit of red-violet in the lighter shading whereas this is more straight purple. There's a bit of sheen, too, not as copious as DL and hard to say if it's gold or silver, but shiny. I do get some show through on laser and even some slight dotting on BnR but that might be due to a fine, wet line which, however, also provides some nice shading.

You're welcome Thank you for your comments.

[Chrissy]

The colour is to light for me, but I enjoyed the through review, thanks

You're welcome.

[Chrissy]

Chrissy, thank you for the review and agree on closing (my) search for Lamy Dark Lilac.

You're welcome.

[Chrissy]

I've been surprised people don't pay more attention to this color. It is my company's color and so it is always in a demonstrator pen (Waterman Kultur I turned into an eyedropper). The ink has absolutely ZERO problems. It can dry in the nib if left for at least a day, but that is because of the pen not the ink. It cleans perfectly, works perfectly on paper great and bad, and is unquestioningly purple. This is my business ink, but it can be used in anything needing purple. It is almost vintage in it's lack of issues in pens.

Thank you for your comments.