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.)

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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.)

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

Papier Plume x Stationery Universe First Blossom Ink Review

(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!.)

At the 2026 Chicago Pen Show, Tori Woods of Stationery Universe released her First Blossom collection. Inspired by the blooms in her neighborhood, she collaborated with Papier Plume to make these inks a reality. And like a dingbat, I kept forgetting to buy the First Blossom inks. Thankfully, she was at the St Louis Pen Show, and so was the Bossman, which means free ink for me! That also means I gotta earn my keep, so let’s get to it!

Papier Plume x Stationery Universe First Blossom and First Blossom Shimmering.

I love that Papier Plume dips the caps in wax and uses a wax seal on top! The one on the right is the Shimmering one - even with a rapid flip, the shimmer dispersed pretty quickly.

As usual, all swatches were done on Col-O-Ring cards and also Wearingeul Instant Film Color Swatch cards, using a Kakimori steel dip nib and writing samples were done primarily with a Lamy Vista with a steel Medium nib and a TWSBI Go with a Medium nib. The notebooks used for writing samples are from an Odyssey Notebook, with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. Dry times for the Vista are shown with “(V)” and the Go will be shown below that with a “(T)”. Dry times may be a bit slower on 52gsm TR or faster on more absorbent papers like Rhodia, copy paper, Cosmo Air Light, or with drier or finer nibs.

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.

First Blossom and swatches.

First Blossom is an ink that is difficult to describe: pinkish purple, or purplish pink, or purple leaning muted hot pink, maybe muted magenta? Either way, it is a lovely color. In the TWSBI Go, the line is more saturated while the drier Vista shows off a bit of the shading. There was no sheen from either pen. It had average to fast dry times in both pens.

First Blossom writing sample.

You can see the First Blossom’s shading from the Vista (top) versus a slightly more saturated writing sample from the Go.

You get more shading when printing due to the pooling of ink at the bottom/end of the stroke. As you can see, there is shading from both pens, with more showing from the Vista than the Go.

Pretty fast dry time for First Blossom. I was surprised that the ink dried a little faster from the Go initially, but both were dry in around 30 seconds.

Chromatography from First Blossom - a colorful spread of magenta/purple at the base, to blue, then to a peachy pink up top.

I will save the comparison photos for later since the two inks have the same base, the only difference being shimmer vs none.

First Blossom Shimmering and swatches.

First Blossom Shimmering has the same base color ink as the above First Blossom, but with the addition of rose gold shimmer particles. Lamy Safari-based pens, like the Vista, can be a bit ink-stingy with their nib/feeds (one of the reasons why they tend to lean drier compared to other pens) - this has the added effect of making shimmers less obvious in the Vista writing sample. Friction-fit TWSBIs like the Go, Eco, Swipe, have a more generous flow, resulting in more shimmer flowing onto the paper. The rose gold shimmer, while lovely, is subtle and difficult to see against the pink-toned ink, and was very difficult to photograph. You need more heavy-handed swatching to get the shimmer to show through.

The parts that look like white specks in the upper middle section are actually the shimmer particles. There are a few random specks throughout this swatch.

Some more impossible-to-photograph flecks of shimmer.

First Blossom Shimmering writing sample.

First Blossom Shimmering doesn’t shimmer much from the Vista (top) and is occasionally there from the wetter Go. As with the non-shimmering version, the shading is more noticeable from the drier Vista.

Printing with the First Blossom Shimmering. Same difference in shading as above.

Shimmer PSA: As with any shimmer in any pen, periodically “rotate” the pen nib up and down, so the shimmer particles have a chance to disperse. If your feed looks saturated with shimmer, or seems to be clogging the feed, you can try to gently flood the feed with ink (either by gently twisting the converter or piston, or lightly pressing the spring or button, if applicable) and then retracting the converter/piston/spring/button to “suck up” the shimmer particles back into the converter/barrel. Always do this over a sink or paper towel, not over your precious writing or art 🙂

This time the TWSBI’s dry times took longer than the Vista, no idea why.

Chromatography from First Blossom Shimmering - Same chromatography as above - magenta to blue to peachy pink.

When I said that I didn’t know what color First Blossom is, I wasn’t joking. I looked through the Pinks in my Col-O-Rings and my Purples (where the Magenta swatches typically are) and neither really fit the bill. Robert Oster Cherry Blossom (representing dusty pinks) and Wearingeul Cheshire Cat (on team magenta) were close but no cigar.

Here are some inks from both the pink and magenta/purple parts of the spectrum that kinda look similar to First Blossom (top middle) and First Blossom Shimmering (top middle): KWZ Meet Me in St. Louis 2026 MOBOT (Missouri Botanical Garden) (fairly close match but a bit too dusty pink), Inkebara Pale Violet (too purple, but I do love this color), Ink Institute x GourmetPens’ Saskatoon Berry Pie (too purple and too bright, but probably the closest otherwise), and Robert Oster Violet Dreams (too purple).

Both of the inks generally behaved well, though they are a touch on the dry side, so I recommend using them with wetter pens if you want a more saturated line and especially if you want to see more of the shimmer. Both inks also cleaned out easily. I like seeing how different pens can produce similar but different results with the same ink.

Some pens I’d match with these inks (clockwise from upper left): TWSBI Fluorite, Pelikan M600 Pink, Lamy AL-Star Lilac, Platinum 3776 Nice Lilas. (I’m currently leaning towards inking Shimmering in the TWSBI since I have a juicy Broad nib in it.)

The 30 ml ink bottles of the Stationery Universe First Blossom ink cost $13/bottle for non-shimmer and $15 with shimmer. Definitely worth checking out if you like this unique color!

(Disclaimer: These inks were purchased at the 2026 St. Louis Pen Show from Stationery Universe at regular price.)