Ink Review: De Atramentis Pearlescent Magenta Red

Today we are going to take a look at the four De Atramentis Pearlescent Magenta Red inks, and just looking at the swabs I like the bronze version best, so most of the photos will feature Magenta Red Bronze. I purchased my samples of ink from Vanness Pens. 

Left to right, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Copper. There is quite a bit of bright green sheen in the swabs, but the swabs also have lots of feathering.

The shimmer isn't visible when the ink is wet, it only appears when the ink dries.

Swabs:

In large swabs there is a ton of shimmer and a little bit of green sheen.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: After 20 seconds the ink is completely dry, but you can still smear the shimmer.

Water resistance: Medium

Feathering: Low-there was some feathering, mainly in the flex nib on all papers.

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: High-there was bleeding in all nib sizes on Rhodia and Leuchtturm, and in some nib sizes on Tomoe River paper.

Other properties: no shading, a tiny bit of sheen, and lots of shimmer. There could be some shading in there, but I didn't notice any since it was covered in shimmer, and the sheen is only visible in large swabs.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was feathering and bleeding in every nib size as well as clogging.

Comparison Swabs:

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): De Atramentis Magenta Red Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Copper. Click here to see the De Atramentis inks together.

Diamine Magenta Flash, Ancient Song Moon Over a Mountain Pass, and Diamine Purple Pazzazz. Click here to see the purple inks together. Magenta Flash is a bit more pink, Moon Over a Mountain Pass is pretty close, and behaves much better. 

Longer writing:

I used a broad Kaweco Sport Sunrise for the gold version, a broad Twsbi Eco Pink for the silver version, a broad Kaweco Al-sport Rose Gold for the bronze version, and a medium Pilot Vanishing Point for the copper version. I think I prefer the bronze version out of the four. All had some clogging issues, even with the wet flow. 

Overall, there is a ton of shimmer in these inks, but every pen had clogging and flow issues. This ink also had a lot of bleeding and some feathering as well, so it's not an ink I would recommend.

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and is not sponsored in any way.