Where to buy: Diamine [Here]

Price: £9.95

Bottle size: 50ml

Colour: Deep blue

Shading: Nope

Sheening: Nope, but you have the gold shimmer particles

Recommend?: Blue and gold?! SIGN ME UP!

I have been fortunate enough to receive samples from Diamine of five of their new generation of Shimmertastic inks. Here are the links to other reviews on the Shimmertastic range if you’re interested (all links open in a new tab). I will add more links as the reviews are posted:

Something I enjoyed about Arctic Blue is that the blue colour is beautiful, but the silver gave me an appreciation of the ink representing something like the sparkle you see in the snow. It was a lovely contrast between what I attribute to snow as well as the beautiful blue sea colour. However, I much much much prefer gold over silver (sigh, Pelikan M805 Ocean Swirl..) and blue is also my favourite colour (SIGH, Pelikan M805 Ocean Swirl) so I am very excited about this ink, to say the least.

Blue and gold is a fantastic colour combination, second only to blue and brown (I’m particular, spoiler) and I think that this is the best blue-gold colour in the Shimmertastic range. I say this because I think it’s a richer blue – but I wouldn’t call it a darker blue, as you still have inks such as Shimmering Seas which is definitely a darker blue. This is more vibrant. That’s what I enjoy. This is an amazing blue.

This isn’t a typical royal blue, but it is something you could definitely get away with in certain situations rather than colours such as Pink Glitz. Though, in comparison to other ‘blue blends’ in the Shimmertastic range, I think the gold is more prominent than the others, so take that as you will. Also in comparison to others in the range, you have no sheen – while I know Blue Flame has a hint of sheen to it.

The ink also performs amazingly well on cheaper paper. Because copy paper is more absorbent, usually you get more of the shimmer come through, but what impresses me about the range (and I’ve said this on other reviews, too) is that you don’t sacrifice the writing experience. You don’t get dreadful bleedthrough or feathering with the inks.

I’m going to end the review on this note – I love the colour of this ink so much and the gold completes it. So I’m going to allow images to finish this review for you as I don’t think words can really explain just how cool it looks.

Disclaimer: These inks were sent to me for review purposes in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed are my own and no other compensation was provided.