This week’s ink, Lamy Crystal Beryl fountain pen ink, is one of just ten 2019 releases from well-known and well-loved Pen Company Lamy. The company releases one new ink color for its regular line each year, and for 2019, it was Bronze. For 2020, we’ll be getting a new color for the standard line named Turmaline, a beautiful aquamarine color. However, in 2019, Lamy took everyone by surprise – breaking their typical routine to release a brand-new series of ink with new colors, new packaging, and a new size. They call it the Lamy Crystal ink series.

So before we dive into any new 2020 ink releases, we wanted to re-introduce you to one of the fantastic 2019 ink releases: Lamy Crystal Beryl Ink.

Before you purchase your next fountain pen ink, read the full review below of Lamy’s Crystal Beryl ink. In addition to getting all the details, you’ll get the chance to enter to win the bottle of ink used for this week’s fountain pen ink review!

All About the Ink Maker: Lamy

Lamy is another well-regarded brand that is internationally recognized and loved by many fountain pen enthusiasts. The Lamy success story began half a century ago with the introduction of the Lamy 2000 fountain pen. The Lamy 2000 model became their fountain for success with its clear, unmistakable design defining the company’s design language and characterizing the style of new releases throughout the years. Many fountain pen enthusiasts not only love Lamy for the pen designs but have also become quite attached to Lamy fountain pen inks.

All About the Ink Series: Lamy Crystal Ink Series

There are ten ink colors in Lamy’s Crystal Ink Series – all made in Germany. The popular ink series is a compliment to Lamy’s ink portfolio, presenting a group of extremely attractive inks with brilliant tints. The Cyrstal ink series fulfills the expectations held for Lamy inks – that they will provide exceptional color intensity and product quality. One of the inks in the Lamy Crystal ink series is this week’s featured ink, Beryl. Other Lamy Crystal ink colors are Agate (gray), Amazonite (turquoise), Benitoite (blue/gray), Ruby (red), Obsidian (black), Topaz (copper brown), Rhodonite (pink), Peridot (green), and Azurite (purple).

Pen Chalet is a proud, authorized retailer of all Lamy products, including the regular ink line, the Lamy Crystal ink series, and Lamy fine writing instruments. Find your next Lamy product at Pen Chalet.

All About This Week’s Chosen Ink: Lamy Crystal Beryl Ink

Beryl fountain pen ink is one of the ten colors in the Lamy Crystal ink series. This week’s ink is a deep, dark, red-purple color that is bright, vibrant and shows up well on paper. After the review, we would recommend it as an everyday use ink option.

Lamy Crystal Beryl ink is named after a unique stone that comes in a variety of colors: green (Emerald), pink (Morganite), green-blue (Aquamarine), and Red Beryl. Red Beryl, the inspiration for Lamy’s Crystal Ink Series’ Beryl ink, is the rarest of all Beryl gemstone colors and is only found in Utah, USA.

** Don’t stop now. Keep reading for a chance to win the bottle of Lamy Crystal Beryl fountain pen ink used for this week’s Pen Chalet Ink Review. (Or if you’re still cultivating the art of patience, scroll down to the bottom where you’ll find the link to enter this week’s giveaway).

It’s Time: Lamy Crystal Beryl Ink Review

It’s that time again – time for us to give you our thoughts on the chosen ink of the week here at Pen Chalet. And since we know you love it, we’ll also conduct the weekly giveaway alongside the Pen Chalet ink review. Lamy inks are always a hit – because you can count on them to be high quality and focused on color. We trust Lamy, so we expected this week’s ink to perform well as we jumped into all the typical tests to identify the characteristics fountain pen enthusiasts want to know when considering a new ink purchase. If you’re interested in purchasing Lamy Crystal Beryl ink, you’re going to get plenty of helpful information in today’s Lamy ink review.

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

We’ve tested a lot of fountain pen inks, and we’re well aware that the other products used alongside the ink being reviewed can make a huge difference. That’s why we like to be very clear about what products were used each week during the ink review. So any accompanying products used during the ink review will be listed here in the testing factors section of the review.

While reviewing Lamy Crystal Beryl fountain pen ink, we used a J Herbin spiral glass dip pen (which has a tip similar to a fine-medium fountain pen nib) on Rhodia dot pad paper. The results we discuss below came while using this week’s ink with the pen/paper described above. Always remember that different papers and nib sizes may produce different results.

What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Lamy Use?

Lamy Crystal Beryl ink comes in Lamy’s new, rounded triangular 30 ml. glass bottle. The new fountain pen ink bottle was wholly redesigned exclusively for Lamy’s Crystal ink series. Ink is received packaged in a professional cardboard box, and the ink color is reflected in the packaging. You’ll quickly notice the new Lamy large mouth aluminum nib with a crystal embossed on the top. Each lid is housed on top of a plastic liner/insert that is actually the color of the ink inside. (What else would you expect from German designers and engineers?)

How Much Does Lamy Crystal Ink Cost?

Lamy Crystal Beryl ink is more expensive than the regular line of Lamy ink, and it comes in a smaller bottle. It falls in the mid-range priced ink for price and quantity, but it’s even more affordable when you purchase it at Pen Chalet’s discount pricing.

How Fast Does Lamy Beryl Ink Dry?

Lamy Crystal Beryl fountain pen ink had a dry time of approximately 6-7 seconds with medium saturation. This is a reasonably quick dry time, and definitely quick enough to make Beryl appropriate for everyday use. (At Pen Chalet, we generally consider any dry time under 10 seconds to be reasonably fast, and appropriate for daily use).

Does Lamy Beryl Ink Bleed Through?

We saw no bleeding during normal use of Beryl fountain pen ink, and only slight bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test (at the most saturated points, which were very wet).

Was There Any Feathering While Using Lamy Crystal Beryl Ink?

We saw no feathering during normal use, but we did see some slight feathering during the water test. But the lines remained legible.

How Does Lamy Crystal Beryl Ink Stand Up to Water?

This week’s ink is not a waterproof fountain pen ink, but we always include a water test in the review. (For the water test, we let an ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample). During the water test of Crystal Beryl ink, we saw significant color smearing, which is expected for dye-based ink. The lines were still very legible, but we did see some slight feathering during the wettest parts of the water test.

Does Crystal Beryl Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

When looking for possible shading traits with Beryl ink, we saw a dark purple-red color. The ink may produce some color variation if using a nib that allows ink flow variation like a stub or italic nib.

Final Conclusion on Lamy Crystal Beryl Ink:

This week’s fountain pen ink is a creation of Lamy Pen Company, known worldwide for its fine writing instruments. The company has more recently become known far and wide for producing highly functional inks at a low cost. Lamy ink fans who have not yet tried the Lamy Crystal ink line will agree that the Crystal line inks are a step up in both cost and presentation. Still, the colors they bring to the fountain pen world are noticeably vibrant and unique in comparison to what else is available.

Lamy Crystal ink series is a mid-range priced ink series from a historic German pen and ink company, including ten different color options. All inks in the Crystal ink series come in the completely redesigned 30 ml. glass ink bottle.

The dark red-purple ink color of this week’s ink, Beryl, is beautiful. Easy to clean and easy to use, this high-performance ink’s very reasonable dry time makes it an excellent choice for an everyday use ink. Happy writing from Germany!

Enter to Win:

Enter to win the actual bottle of Lamy Crystal Beryl Ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:

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