Diamine Majestic Blue: Ink Review

I have to premise this review by saying that I'm a huge fan of Diamine Majestic Blue!! I'm biased as I love this color, though it does have its quirks. It's an extremely saturated color, I mean extremely. It's a deep, dark blue with a unique red overtone to it.

Diamine Majestic Blue fountain pen ink bottle and swab

Bottle Shape/Size:
Diamine's 80ml bottle (the type I tested from) is nearly 3 ounces of ink, and has an opening of 3/4". It's a nice solid bottle with the most solid feeling cap of any of the ink brands I've used. The opening is wide enough for most pens, and the usability of the bottle is overall pretty good. The 30ml bottle is not as easy to fill a fountain pen from, and is made of plastic. It's still good, but you might need to use a converter or decant your ink into an Ink Miser Ink-shot Inkwell.

Ink on Paper:
I tested the ink on 4 different papers, and due to popular requests, 2 different nib sizes:

Diamine Majestic Blue ink writing sample
Diamine Majestic Blue writing sample
Diamine Majestic Blue writing sample
Diamine Majestic Blue  writing sample

Water Resistance: Low
The extremely high level of saturation of this ink means that there is a lot of ink that actually sits on top of the paper as it dries. This makes it more prone to smearing, smudging, or washing away. The color is gorgeous, but not without a tradeoff!

 

Pros:
Deep, saturated color
Unique red sheen
Writes wet, great flow
Good ink economy

Cons:
Low water resistance
Prone to smearing/smudging
Harder to clean from your pens (and your hands!)

Brian's Bottom Line:
This is actually one of my favorite colors, and I've used it extensively in a variety of pens (all performing well). It takes some work to flush it out of your pens, though I haven't experienced any problems with staining plastic parts like you will with other highly saturated inks (not to say it can't happen, though). This is one of the most popular Diamine inks, and one of the most popular blue inks we sell, and for good reason. Despite it's 'quirks', the color is so captivating that its worth the trouble!

Diamine Majestic Blue is available in 2ml samples, 30ml bottles80ml bottles, and cartridges.