(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
Just a few months ago, I reviewed my first Vinta ink and was really impressed by the performance and the sheening characteristics. I was excited to try more, and that's exactly what I'm doing today with Vinta Blue Blood Dugong Bughaw 1521. From Vinta, here's some background on the name:
"Dugong Bughaw" is a term denoting the ancient Filipinos who were part of the royalty. Nevertheless, one can say also say that every Filipinos' blood runs blue brought about by the archipelagic nature of the country. This gorgeous sheening blue ink with undertones of pink and red is a literal representation of a blue blood.
I was really happy with the performance of their Azure Maharlika ink, so I had similar expectations for Blue Blood. Luckily, I haven't been disappointed.
Blue Blood is a dark blue ink that I can't decide whether to call a blue-black or just a really dark blue. It doesn't have any of the black or gray tones that I would expect from a blue-black, so dark blue is probably a better generic color name. Either way, the color is deep and saturated in a way that is really satisfying to see on paper. The ink flow is fantastic and will improve the writing experience of any dry nib.
With the wet flow comes a big trade-off: dry time. I've measured dry time to be between 30 and 60 seconds, and Vanness notes the dry time at 50 seconds on their page. This is a slow-drying ink, so buyer-beware. This is a poor choice for lefties or anyone looking for a fast-drying ink.
The headlining feature of this ink isn't the color or the shading, no. Shading with this ink is minimal, by the way. The boldest feature of this ink, by far, is the sheen. This ink has a pink/red sheen FOR DAYS. I know I said that Azure Maharlika had some excellent shading properties, and it still does. But I did have to plan and work a bit to capture that sheening effect on camera. Well, with Blue Blood, it's more difficult to capture the dark blue color of the ink without the pink/red sheen taking over. That's how strong it is.
While capturing the ink in the form of ink swatches is fairly difficult due to the high sheen factor, the ink does remarkably well in more normal situations, like writing with a pen (go figure, right?). With most normal pens, there's plenty of dark blue on the page, but you can make the red/pink sheen really pop depending on the angle of light reflecting off the paper. It really is dazzling, and I'll take this effect every time over any kind of shimmering ink. Shimmers are cool, but sheening feels more magical to me.
If the dry time doesn't turn you away and the prospect of a super-sheening dark blue ink piques your interest, then I enthusiastically recommend Vinta Blue Blood. I haven't had this much playing with an ink in quite a while, and I'm still surprised when I flip to a page of a notebook where I've used this ink before — the dark blue and red/pink reflective sheen is so dramatic and eye-catching. I absolutely love it.
Vinta Blue Blood comes in a 30ml bottle for $14.50 or a 4ml sample vial for a few bucks. Either way, if you decide to pick some up, I sincerely hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Now that I've had two great experiences with Vinta Inks, I'm more excited to see what else they have.
(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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