Swatching My 2026 SFPS Ink Haul

(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!.)

I didn’t think I bought that many inks at the 2026 SF Pen Show but apparently I had 10 bottles! (This doesn’t even include other bottles of ink that I had pre-purchased but didn’t get muled to me until the show - those totally don’t count as pen show purchases, right?!) Now that I’ve recovered from the show AND from writing one of my longest recaps, I had some time to swatch some inks and make a wee dent in my swatching backlog.

This isn’t going to be an ink review, but more of a quick look with a few comparisons. The inks are sorted alphabetically by brand:

1. Anderillium x Hello Tello, Alba Turquoise
2. Colorverse x 2026 SFPS Pier 39
3. Esterbrook x SakuraDragon Dark Cherry Wood
4. Esterbrook x SakuraDragon Morning Skies
5. Esterbrook x SakuraDragon Sleepy Burgundy
6. Fog Cats Whiskers in a Hazy Dream
7. Kobe x Vanness Hummingbird Green
8. Leonardo Purple + Diamond Shimmer
9. Papier Plume x Stationery Universe Lavender Nocturne
10. Pinky Elephant Lavender Latte

Top row: Inks 1-5, bottom row: inks 6-10.

As usual, my swatching was done with a Kaweco clutch pencil holder with a Kakimori stainless steel dip nib and Col-O-Ring and Wearingeul swatch cards. Side note: Despite my best post-processing efforts in Lightroom, the exported pictures still don’t look as good as I’d like. I err on the side of swatch accuracy over the whiteness of swatch cards or accurate color or lighting of the writing mat/background.

Anderillium x Hello Tello Alba Turquoise was the one ink I didn’t buy, but was a gift from Jon Tello, who sells this ink at pen shows. This ink is a slightly green leaning turquoise, without being teal.

Inks similar to Alba Turquoise: Diamine Marine (touch too green), Kobe #48 Suidosuji Marchais Blue, and Robert Oster Torquay (both of which are every so slightly too blue but are very close matches).

Colorverse x 2026 SF Pen Show, Pier 39 gets its inspiration from the sea lions at Pier 39, a popular tourist destination. It is a medium dark brown with subtle green sheen in wetter swatches.

You can make out the green sheen in the large swatch. I like that it’s not overbearing and that you can tell the ink color is still brown.

Inks similar to Colorverse Pier 39: Kuretake Art Nouveau Mahogany Brown and Diamine Lion Rock (both have similar coloring and subtle green sheen), and Colorverse Dakota Thunder (a touch too red).

Esterbrook x SakuraDragon Dark Cherry Wood is a dark brown with a hint of reddish-purple undertones.

Inks similar to Dark Cherry Wood: Diamine Merlot (too purple), Robert Oster Hobart (too pink), and Robert Oster Australian Syrah (a bit too burgundy).

Esterbrook x SakuraDragon Morning Skies is a lovely chromashading blue with subtle purple shading.

Hard to tell from photos but you can kind of see the purple shading in the wetter spots.

Inks similar to Morning Skies: Dominant Industry x Cult Pens Sunrise (a touch too light in writing samples), Sailor Manyo Nadeshiko (darker and more purple), Sailor Ink Studio 143 (too blue).

You can see a bit more of the purple chromashading from the first three swatches from this angle.

Esterbrook x SakuraDragon Sleepy Burgundy is a shading, dusty burgundy ink that leans slightly dry when swatching.

Inks similar to Sleepy Burgundy: Callifolio Grenat (too red), Roher & Klingner Alt-Bordeaux (too reddish-purple), Robert Oster Australian Syrah (too red).

Fog Cats Whiskers in a Hazy Dawn (made by Monteverde) is a shimmering purple-blue chromashader with pops of pink in wetter swatches. I couldn’t capture the shimmer in my swatches though.

Look at how cute and cool this bottle cap and label are!

Inks similar to Whiskers in a Hazy Dawn:Sailor Manyo Nekoyanagi (swatches are similar but the writing is lighter than Whiskers), Vinta Simulan Lilac Dawn (a bit too blue), Dominant Industry x Cult Pens Dawn (too purple).

Kobe x Vanness Hummingbird Green is a rich, emerald green which can shade with slightly drier pens, or give a more saturated line from average to wetter pens.

Inks similar to Hummingbird Green: Bungubox x Esterbrook Kingfisher Teal (which is, as you might have guessed, too teal), Montblanc Homage to The Great Gatsby Green (too blue ), Montegrappa Green (the most similar of the inks I have swatched).

Leonardo Purple + Diamond Shimmer is a rich magenta that has rose gold shimmer. I didn’t notice the word “shimmer” on the bottle until after I finished the swatches, oops. 🙂

You can kind of make out the shimmer from this angle, but it’s much easier to see in person.

Inks similar to Purple + Diamond Shimmer: Sailor 50 States Louisiana (slightly too pink but is the closest match), Diamine Tranquility (bit too light and too pink), Van Dieman’s Harvest Beetroot Relish (too light and a bit too pink).

Papier Plume x Stationery Universe Lavender Nocturne is a dark purple that’s not quite dark enough to be purple-black. This ink also comes in a shimmering version.

Inks similar to Lavender Nocturne: Sailor Shigure (too blue), Monteverde Jungle Elephant and KWZ Grey Plum (both are very close matches with Jungle Elephant being a touch too dark).

Pinky Elephant Lavender Latte is a collaboration ink with artist Elda The of Thousand Skies and ink maker Tono & Lims. Lavender Latte is a medium coffee brown with purple undertones and periwinkle shimmer.

This is such a cool and different shimmer/ink combo - you can see the periwinkle blue shimmer in swatches but I haven’t been able to get it in writing samples yet.

Inks similar to Lavender Latte: Robert Oster Perth and Smokescreen (both didn’t have enough purple undertones, but Smokescreen moreso), Kobe 150 Purple Sepia (too dark of a brown and not enough purple).

Since I inked up a bunch of pens before the SF Pen Show, I wasn’t planning on inking any pens up with these inks, but I’m really looking forward to inking up Fog Cats Whiskers in a Hazy Dawn and a tie between Colorverse Pier 39 and Pinky Elephant Lavender Latte. Now that I’ve swatched these 10 inks, I’m going to use the momentum to swatch some more before heading to the Dallas Show in a couple of weeks. Until then, stay safe and stay inky!

(Disclaimer: All inks were purchased by me (except for Alba Turquoise), at the SF Pen Show.)

Amarillo Paradise Vibes Ink Review

So glad the Bossman was at the St. Louis Pen Show cuz he picked up the latest inky releases from Amarillo Stationery for me to review!

Inspired by the gorgeous Bird of Paradise blooms, the Amarillo Paradise Vibes set of inks launched a few months ago and come in 30ml glass bottles. I mentioned in my Amarillo Vibes ink review that the bottles do look a lot like some from Birmingham Pen Company, Erick Gama (the guy behind Amarillo Stationery) confirmed that the inks are NOT made by them.

The box design goes across multiple sides of the box!

I love the addition of the ink names and swatches on the tops of the boxes - very handy for finding them in my ink drawers. The labels also have the name and color of the ink.

Here are the bottles with their Col-O-Ring swatch cards.

As in the past, all swatches were done on Col-O-Ring cards using a Kakimori steel dip nib, while writing samples were done with a TWSBI Go with a steel Medium nib and a Lamy Vista with a steel Medium nib. The TWSBI Go is a wetter writer and the Lamy is a drier writer, so these two give me a good idea of how an ink will look from different pens. The notebook used for writing samples is the Endless Recorder with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. Dry times for the Vista are shown with “(V)” and the Go will be below that and shown with “(T)”. Dry times may be a bit slower on 52gsm TR or faster on paper like Cosmo Air Light, Rhodia, copy paper, or with drier or finer nibs, etc.

*Side note: Photographing inks is not easy. My photo editing skills are mediocre at best, so I prioritize swatch/writing sample accuracy over paper or background color accuracy. Even then, it doesn’t always work out – it could look great in the Lightroom app, and then less great when I export to my phone, or great on phone, and less great when I upload to the Bossman’s Dropbox, etc. * The Amarillo Paradise Vibes series includes “Blue Treat”, “Drama, Please”, “Needs More Sun”, and “Not Too Much!”

Amarillo Blue Treat.

Amarillo Blue Treat is a nice standard blue that has nice shading in drier pens and is a wee bit more vibrant than the typical standard blue in wetter pens.

Writing sample of Blue Treat on 68 gsm Tomoe River Odyssey Notebook.

You get more shading from the drier-writing Vista compared to the wetter Go. As expected, the ink is a bit darker and more saturated in the Go, but the main color is still the same. (Some inks can look very different in drier/wetter pens.)

Blue Treat had decently fast dry time.

Blue Treat’s chromatography has purple, blue, and tinges of turquoise on the edges. Since I have to trim my chromatography stripes to fit my glass, I decided to do a “dot chroma” by making a dot with the Go and then syringing a drop of water on top of it. Two drops results in a ringed effect - kind neat!

Inks similar to Amarillo Blue Treat: Papier Plume Calle Real (a touch lighter in writing sample), Pelikan Edelstein Sapphire (good color match but drier ink), Diamine China Blue (a touch on the blue-black side), Iroshizuku Tsuyu-kusa (a touch darker), and Akkerman #3 Blauw (the closest match.)

Amarillo Drama, Please.

Drama, Please takes its inspiration from the Bird of Paradise’s purple pop of color amidst the orange sepals of the plant. Amarillo describes it as a standard purple; I would add that it is slightly blue leaning, as opposed to a red purple.

Writing sample of Amarillo Drama, Please, where the difference in shading is quite drastic. Writing with the Lamy Vista did not feel dry even though the ink was a lot lighter.

Drama, Please is a lot darker and slightly more saturated with the Go, with the Vista writing sample looking almost like pastel lavender.

Similar to the chroma for Blue Treat, Drama, Please’s chromatography, has the edge of turquoise on the top but is primarily purple, with some pink undertones. You can almost see the pink in the drier Vista writing sample above.

Despite the significantly lighter writing from the Vista, both dry times were fairly similar and had average to slightly fast dry times.

Inks similar to Amarillo Drama, Please: Robert Oster GoGo (touch too light), Kobe 56 Shichidanka (closest match), Diamine Inkvent 2023 Jacaranda (a bit too light and pink), Diamine 160th Anniversary Athol Violet (a wee bit too red, but also very close.)

Amarillo Needs More Sun.

Needs More Sun is described as a standard orange but the yellow-orange shading on this one is SO GOOD! As with the others, there is more shading in the Vista but there’s some shading from the Go as well.

Writing sample of Needs More Sun on 68 gsm Tomoe River. It is a very readable orange, not being overly eye-searing, nor too light. Did I mention the shading?

The writing samples aren’t nearly as different with Needs More Sun than the others so far, but as to be expected, drier nibs tend to show off shading better.

Needs More Sun had decently fast dry times from both pens. Not sure what happened on that first line from the TWSBI Go because the other lines were orange.

Needs More Sun’s chromatography was a lovely surprise of rose, pink, and yellows, and some orange here and there.

Inks similar to Amarillo Needs More Sun: Ferris Wheel Press Pumpkin Patch (bit too red), Montblanc StarWalker Extreme Blaz Orange (very close match), Van Dieman’s West Coast Tangerine (very close match that’s a touch darker), Iroshizuku Yu-yake (a hint of peach by comparison.)

Amarillo Not Too Much!

Not Too Much! is a reminder to water your Bird of Paradise, but not too much! It is described as a bright standard green, though offhand it reminds me of Granny Smith apples.

Writing sample of Amarillo Not Too Much!

Not Too Much! looked similar from both the Vista and the Go, with the latter being ever so slightly more saturated.

Average dry times for both writing samples of Not Too Much!

The chromatography for Not Too Much! surprised me with the very dark olive line up top with the bright turquoise edge. The yellowy green was expected though.

Inks similar to Amarillo Not Too Much!: Diamine Inkvent 2024 Pine Needle (a bit on the muted olive side), Colorverse x Goldspot Cosmic Lime (very similar but has shimmer), Robert Oster Jade (a bit too dark and duller), Anderillium Bobtail Squid Green (a touch darker but very similar), Sailor x Tinterias Cilantro (not yellow enough nor close enough to a match but I had to include as a nod to the Tinterias podcast that Erick Gama used to co-host and is still being produced by Jeffrey Coleman.)

Swatches of the Amarillo Vibes (top four) and Paradise Vibes (bottom four) on 68 gsm TR in the Endless Recorder.

All 4 inks behaved well, wrote nicely, and cleaned out easily. Dry times were average and I’m a bit surprised that the shaders didn’t really dry that much faster, given how much shading they had from the Vista. The Amarillo Paradise Vibes ink series is currently available on the Amarillo Stationery website for $20/bottle (shipping is not included).

(Disclaimer: All four inks were purchased by the Bossman from Erick Gama of Amarillo Stationery at the St. Louis Pen Show. All other inks, swatches, and notebooks are my own.)

---

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Pairings Party: Nahvalur Original Plus Powder Blue, Wearingeul Undine

Even if I’ve reviewed a product before, I like to return to it every few years if the company keeps it in the lineup. It doesn’t have to be changed much, if at all, but I do want to see if anything is different as the product matures. And let’s be clear, I’m a simple man. I see fun colors, I’m interested.

That’s the case with the Nahvalur Original Plus in Powder Blue. It caught me by surprise in 2023 with how nice it was, and it has continued to be one of the best mid-range, bang-for-your-buck, pens going.

In testing the Powder Blue Original Plus, it performs exactly as my first one in Matria White. That’s a good thing. The only difference is that I chose the 1.1 mm nib for the new model, as opposed to the Fine nib in the … original.

Outside of color and nib, the Original Plus is known for using a vacuum filling mechanism. That’s not something often seen at this price point, and it works great. Filling is easy, it seals off well when not in use, and cleaning is a breeze because you can unscrew the grip section and run water through the barrel.

Nahvalur releases new colors of the Original (Piston-filler,) and Original Plus two or three times a year, including the just launched full color Original in translucent and opaque barrel models at the Washington D.C. Fountain Pen SUPERSHOW this past weekend. I still prefer the clear barrel/color cap and finial style, but all of them look great.

When choosing an ink for Powder Blue, my default choice would normally be Pink, but I went more matchy-matchy with Wearingeul Undine. I’m not sure of the story behind the ink, and reading the product description I’m not sure I want to, but wow is this a nice color. It’s a bit of a dual shader, with a colorful Turquoise/Teal combo (is that a thing?) with a lot of Pink/Purple shading. It flows great from the 1.1 mm nib.

Recommending both of these products is easy. In thinking about the Original Plus, it is a $63 pen (with some sale options at $47,) and I think that is fair for what you get in this market. As I was thinking about it in the context of other pens in this price range, would I choose the Original Plus, or the Pilot Prera?

As a bonafide Pilot stan, I think it’s a coin flip. The Prera has a better nib, and the Original Plus has a better filling system. Both come in fun colors, and should hold up as well as plastic barrel pens can.

Where would you rank the Original Plus versus the Prera, or the TWSBI ECO or 580? It’s right there in the mix for me, and I’m glad to have another solid option in this range.

(These products were purchased from Dromgoole’s and Goldspot, respectively, at a discounted price.)

---

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!