Where to buy: Beaufort [Here]

Price: £8.35

Bottle size: 45ml

Price/ml: £0.19 (2dp)

Colour: Dark blue

Shading: Not really

Sheening: On the swab, yes but in normal writing – no

Recommend?: I highly recommend this ink

I have been sent six inks to review from Beaufort. Below I will put links to the other six (which includes the overview, my maths hasn’t failed me.. Yet!) reviews that you can read. I will update them as and when they’re published.

(((Whoop – 50th post!!)))

I want to say it was intentional that I reviewed the black and then the blue and now the blue black, but that was just a happy coincidence.

Blue black is a very nice niche, but not one that I’ve immersed myself in all that well. The only two blue blacks I have to my name are Diamine Blue Black and Pelikan 4001 Blue Black (oder, Blau-Schwarz). To be honest, I think I thought that Diamine’s version was end game just because I fell in love with it so quickly and so I didn’t really seek out any others. It also gets the approval from the other half, as when we went to the monthly London pen club meet up, she was able to pick up a 30ml bottle of it and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Beaufort Blue Black has big boots to fill.

Raving about Diamine’s Blue Black, it’s only right to compare the two inks, and while I’m at it I’ll show you Pelikan’s. Initially I thought Diamine’s offering was very close to Beaufort’s, however I then realised, upon comparing side by side, that the Diamine version isn’t as dark; you see more blue coming through. I’ll start by saying that Beaufort’s Blue Black is a very nice ink and it’s one I would definitely recommend and use again (not just because I don’t have the Diamine one with me at university). However, Diamine Blue Black just strikes a perfect balance between blueness and blackness. The two are rather close, though.

Does that mean it’s not worth it? Of course not. But to me, I just can’t recommend this ink over Diamine’s Blue Black. That is, again I really want to stress, not to say this ink isn’t a great ink because it really is. If maybe you wanted something a little bit more dulled down or darker, this would be the perfect alternative.

I mentioned above that the only other blue black ink I have is Pelikan 4001. In comparison to Beaufort, the 4001 ink is lighter; it appears more grey.

I thought it was worthwhile comparing the Blue Black to Zodiac Blue, too. Just to show two extremes and how Blue Black sits in between the two. Not as saturated and vibrant compared to Zodiac Blue, but noticeably darker than 4001.

Beaufort Blue Black does well on cheaper paper; the colour is very consistent. I mentioned in both the Obsidian Black & Zodiac Blue reviews that the colour becomes darker on this sort of paper, but it doesn’t seem to be that way with Blue Black, which is nice because it means that the ink doesn’t just become a black ink. I don’t witness any bleed through either, only show through. I think the ink is a very utilitarian choice.

As with the other Beaufort inks, waterproofness isn’t a strong point. Perhaps contradicts my comment above about it being utilitarian, if that’s something important to you. There are iron gall or otherwise waterproof blue blacks out there that you could use as well (Pelikan 4001 being one of them).

Conclusion

This is a very solid offer from the Beaufort range, and not one I initially thought I’d enjoy so much. Diamine’s version is still my favourite, but I would be lying if I was to say this didn’t come very very close.

Disclaimer: I was sent this ink from Beaufort in exchange for an honest review. No further compensation was provided.