Lamy Crystal Azurite Ink is one of ten recently introduced ink colors from prolific German pen company, Lamy, as part of their entirely new line of ink colors intended to inspire creativity. The regular Lamy ink line contains basic colors housed in a unique 50 ml glass bottle. In addition to their regular line, Lamy releases one new special edition ink color each year. The special edition Lamy ink color for 2019 was Bronze. However, with the release of its new “Crystal ink” line, Lamy introduced ten additional ink colors; all based on different crystals and all both brilliant and inspiring. Everything about Lamy’s Crystal line of inks is different: the price, the bottle, packaging, colors, and even the amount of ink. We hope you enjoy this introduction into Lamy’s unique Crystal Ink line.
Lamy Crystal Azurite ink is a deep purple color that is both dark and majestic. It has some nice traits that we’ll discuss below and is dark enough on paper to be used as an everyday color of ink at the home or office. Other Lamy Crystal ink colors are: Agate (gray); Amazonite (turquoise); Benitoite (blue/grey); Ruby (red); Obsidian (black); Topaz (copper brown); Rhodonite (pink); Peridot (green) and Beryl (berry). Pen Chalet is proud to be an authorized retailer of Lamy products including the regular ink line, its Crystal ink line and fine writing instruments.
Continue reading for a chance to win the bottle of Lamy Crystal Azurite ink we used for this review.
During our review of Lamy Crystal Azurite ink, we found the following traits that you may find useful when choosing your next ink:
Testing Factors
For our review of Lamy Crystal Azurite ink, we used a French-made J. Herbin glass dip pen on Rhodia dot pad paper. The dip pen has a tip that is similar to a fine-medium fountain pen nib. Please note that different pens and paper may produce different results.
Bottle Size
Lamy Crystal Azurite ink comes in beautiful heavyweight rounded triangular 30 ml glass bottle – a brand new look for Lamy. Each bottle comes in a professional looking cardboard box that reflects the color of ink inside. The box is well designed and includes some internal structure protecting the ink bottle. The new Lamy Crystal ink lid is a large mouthed aluminum lid with a crystal embossed on it. For extra protection, each lid seals on a plastic liner which is, conveniently, the color of the ink inside.
Cost
Lamy Crystal Azurite ink is more expensive than Lamy’s regular ink line, retailing for $16.00 in the USA, but at Pen Chalet you’ll find it is available at a discounted price, making Lamy Crystal Azurite ink a low, mid-range priced ink option in the market today.
Dry Time
During our review of Lamy Crystal Azurite ink, we found it has a very reasonable dry time of approximately 6-7 seconds, making it available as an everyday ink option.
Bleed Through
Lamy Crystal Azurite ink is a very dark ink, but we found no bleeding during regular use. However, during our cotton swab test, we did notice a slight amount of bleed through on Rhodia paper.
Feathering
We found no feathering during normal use while testing Lamy Crystal Azurite ink. While we did notice some slight feathering during the water test, the lines remained legible and distinct.
Water Test
During our review of Lamy Crystal Azurite ink, we conducted a water test where we let our ink sample dry for about 3 minutes. The results of this test were typical for non-waterproof ink: significant color smearing and slight feathering. Due to the dark color of Lamy Crystal Azurite ink, significant color smearing is to be expected. Lamy Crystal Azurite ink is not waterproof ink.
Shading and Sheening
Lamy Crystal Azurite ink is a very dark purple, but with the right penmanship and nib, may produce a lighter purple to go with the deep dark shade. In fact, with a very wet nib, you may see some green metallic sheen.
Conclusions: Lamy Crystal Azurite Ink
Although Lamy Pen Company is known worldwide for its fine writing instruments, Lamy also produces some very nice (and economically priced) fountain pen ink. Lamy Crystal ink is a brand new series of inks with an updated bottle, look, packaging and color. Our first shipment of Lamy Crystal inks sold out almost immediately with very positive customer responses. Lamy Crystal inks are now fully stocked again and ready to ship. Lamy Crystal Azurite ink has a very reasonable dry time and seems to offer some shading possibilities even though it is a very dark color. Happy Writing from Germany!
Enter to Win
Enter to win the actual bottle of Lamy Crystal Azurite ink that we used in this ink review:
Beautiful color!
This color is lovely!
These inks look great
That is one gorgeous purple! Love it!
Lamy has finally joined the rest of the pack with these new inks.
My wife and I both love this ink!
Great review, and I’m a huge purple fan. My only issue is that this seems to be following the fad in the ink industry of providing less for more. Ink companies are shrinking the volume of ink in the bottles while using pricey and often impractical bottles. Lamy Azurite is a gorgeous ink, but it’s over triple the cost of Lamy’s previous ink. Maybe I need to win this bottle and I’ll be blown away by it’s mystical properties…
I certainly don’t have enough purple inks in the collection
I really like Monteverde Black Ash, but I’d love to see a review of other beginner inks.
Any fast drying ink, cool!
Don’t really have a favorite ink, but I’m always excited about trying a new one, like the Lamy Crystal.
The ink looks wonderful. I look forward to trying some, one way or another.
Fabulous colour that I would love to own! Love your reviews; always so thorough and informative. Thanks for a chance to win it
Would love to see all the Lamy Crystal colors up close, but the Azurite is gorgeous!
Beautiful royal blue-purple! ✒
What a lovely, interesting blurple
this ink is so pretty!
It looks more like Diamine Blue Velvet 🙂 Will be awesome to try it 🙂
My current favorite ink is Pelikan Turquoise
Wow! I’ve been looking for a nice sheeny ink for my broad nib TWSBI, and this might be the one!
Could we see a nice brown ink next?
This looks like a fantastic ink to add to my collection! I always wind up collecting a disproportionate amount of purple inks because I love how they behave differently depending on the pen and nib.
I really like how this one can pass as a business ink with special subtle touches.
The Lamy Crystal inks look really neat. I haven’t had a chance to try any of them yet, but this Azurite shade is right up my alley and is at the top of my “to check out” list.
Test some blacks please 🙂
Just tested this ink and it is gorgeous!!
That looks lovely. Can you do the Topaz as well?
I haven’t tried any of lamys crystal inks yet. This would be a great color to try.
Love this ink color!
Lovely potency in this ink. The color makes me think it would be a good candidate for mixing with a red ink to bring out some pinker hues. I question if the green sheen would be still be visible in that case. I looked at the other options in the Crystal Ink line, and saw the ‘Peridot’ and ‘Rhodonite’ colors, which I think would be good choices for future showcases. I wonder if they would be similarly bold in saturation as the Azurite shown here. I’d like to see inks that would produce some sheen in even fine or extra… Read more »