(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
As I mentioned in the 2023 Atlanta Pen Show Recap, I had the pleasure of meeting Akhila Sheth who is the driving force behind Smruti Pens. Brad and I also got to meet her “assistant” (and husband) Nirmal and their two kids at the show, and they provided this Colorverse Brunch Date ink for us to review.
Colorverse Brunch Date is No. 80 in the Colorverse lineup and is part of their Season 6 - Earth Edition. It is part of the Joy in the Ordinary series along with No. 76 Under the Shade, No. 77 Walk the Dog, No. 78 Rainy Day, No. 79 Coffee Break, and No. 81 Delicious Sleep. I had heard that this could be a good match for some rose-gold trim pens so I was eager to test and review it.
Colorverse No. 80 Brunch Date.
A-ha! Now we know how the bread got stolen!!
Since my TWSBI Go pens were already inked up, I picked the TWSBI Swipe with a Medium nib and used that for the writing samples in the notebook. For the other writing samples, I used the Kakimori steel dip nib on the Col-O-Ring cards, as well as the 52 gsm, 68 gsm Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light 75 gsm papers.
Writing sample and swatch on 68 gsm Tomoe River Paper.
52 gsm TR paper.
Cosmo Air Light 75 gsm paper.
Writing sample and dry times on 68 gsm Tomoe River Paper.
Chromatography showed a pink with hints of orange on the upper portion, which I didn’t expect.
Brunch Date had an average flow, though it felt wetter than I expected based on what a lovely shader it is. Shading inks are usually drier than their more saturated counterparts, so I was a little surprised that it took ~30 seconds to dry on 68gsm TR, which is neither too fast nor too slow given the wet TWSBI Medium nib. It would definitely dry faster like Rhodia, copy paper, Cosmo Air Light or with drier or finer nibs.
Inks similar to Brunch Date: Robert Oster Melbourne, Kobe #54 Goshikiyama Ocher, J Herbin Rouille D’Ancre, Sailor Ink Studio 273, Papier Plume Maroon, Ferris Wheel Press Lady Rose, PenBBS #178 Rose Quartz.
This category of inks is so hard to describe and match! It’s sort of pinkish, brownish and in some cases, almost orangish. It really depends on what other pens or inks are next to it and then you can see how it differs. It is definitely not as orange as the Robert Oster Melbourne, nor as pink as the FWP Lady Rose or PenBBS Rose Quartz, nor is it as brown as Sailor Ink Studio 273 or Papier Plume Maroon (which is much lighter than I expected a Maroon to be). The two that are the most similar to it are Kobe #54 Goshikiyama Ocher and J Herbin Rouille D’Ancre - both of which are my favorite inks to match with rose gold trimmed pens.
Just for funsies, here are some Kawecos (AL Sport Ruby, AL Sport Rose Gold, and Sport Macchiato) that could work with Colorverse Brunch Date.
Colorverse Brunch Date, along with the other Colorverse Joy in the Ordinary series inks, can be purchased for $14 for 30 ml at Smruti Pens. You can also purchase 3ml or 5ml samples from them for $3 and $5 respectively. I am glad I have now added another option for matching with my rose gold pens!
(Smruti Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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