Go ahead and consider this week’s Private Reserve Tropical Blue ink review and giveaway a celebration! We’re excited to have Private Reserve inks back in stock – and we know many of you are, too, as we’ve already heard from many of you about the recent addition. If you haven’t yet tried out a Private Reserve ink, pay close attention to the following review results, they can serve as a mini introduction to this brand!
All About the Ink Maker: Private Reserve
Private Reserve, an exciting “new” brand at Pen Chalet, offers fountain pen inks made in Europe and packaged in the United States. One of the oldest American fountain pen ink companies, they developed the concept for their vibrant, saturated inks more than 20 years ago. Private Reserve ink batches are not hand-mixed, but their chemists use a precise measuring system to get consistent results in both color and quality. Their inks have a reputation for offering smooth flow, high saturation, and top-notch shading possibilities.
While Private Reserve is under new ownership (and with a new distributor), their popular inks feature the same formulas and colors fountain pen enthusiasts already love. We’ve had this question pop up a lot, and we’ve only had Private Reserve inks back in stock for about a week! Oh, the joys of reintroducing an old, beloved ink.
If you’re looking for a Private Reserve ink, Pen Chalet is proud to be an Authorized Dealer, so check out the available inventory and current price at PenChalet.com. We carry all 36 colors of Private Reserve ink! And while the sample size Private Reserve inks are hard to keep in stock because so many of you want to try the entire line of inks – we DO keep adding samples to stock as quickly as we can!
This Week’s Featured Ink: Private Reserve Tropical Blue
Tropical Blue is a bright vibrant blue, like you might see in the tropics. This ink reminds us of Pilot Kon-Peki and other bright blues. It’s not quite turquoise, but not quite royal blue either. It’s a beautiful, blue ink that shows up dark on paper – a great everyday use ink color.
It’s Time: Private Reserve Tropical Blue Review
This week we put this Private Reserve ink to our standard ink review tests. Keep reading to hear all about the results!
Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):
For our review of Private Reserve Tropical Blue fountain pen ink, we used a French made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen on French made Rhodia dot pad paper. The dip pen has a tip that is comparable to a medium-fine fountain pen nib.
Let’s Talk About the Private Reserve Tropical Blue Ink Bottle
Private Reserve Tropical Blue ink comes in a simple large capacity round bottle, with very large lid. The packaging is simple and effective with a clear description of the ink color. The large lid has ridges along the side so it’s easy to grip and open without trouble. Although, as is true with any ink bottle featuring a large opening, make sure the lid catches the threads on the bottle when closing your ink – the larger the ink bottle opening, the larger the mess if the cap isn’t put on correctly.
How Much Does Private Reserve Fountain Pen Ink Cost?
Private Reserve inks are an economical ink purchase. You get a large quantity of ink for a great price. Check for the latest discounted pricing at PenChalet.com.
How Did This Week’s Ink Fair in the 1-Dip Test?
We applied a one dip test to see how far one dip could write on paper (dipping the pen into the ink only one time). Private Reserve Tropical Blue ink easily wrote across the paper on all three writing samples (one dip per writing sample: “S” “X” and scribble lines).
How Fast Does the Private Reserve Tropical Blue Ink Dry?
During our review, Tropical Blue ink showed a dry time of approximately 7-8 seconds with medium to high saturation; which is quick enough to be considered a great choice for an everyday ink.
Does Tropical Blue Ink Bleed Through?
We saw no bleeding during normal use, and only slight bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test. (And only at the most saturated points, which were really wet).
Was There Any Feathering While Using Tropical Blue Ink?
We saw no feathering during normal use, and only some slight feathering during the water test.
How Does the Ink Stand Up to Water?
Private Reserve Tropical Blue ink is not waterproof, but we put it through a water test anyway to see how well it performed. We got significant color smearing (expected with this dye-based fountain pen ink), but the lines were still clearly legible. We also saw some slight feathering during the water test.
What About Shading Traits?
Private Reserve Tropical Blue ink has some really nice shading traits, if you have a nib that will allow ink flow variation like a stub or italic nib. We saw a deep-sea blue color to shallow tropical water colors and a few shades in between. (All fantastic shades of blue).
Final Conclusion on this Week’s Featured Private Reserve Ink:
In conclusion, this week’s featured fountain pen ink is a popular ink that is being welcomed back into the Pen Chalet inventory. The Private Reserve inks are economically priced inks manufactured in the European Union. They come in clear, neat packaging with simple color labeling and a large, 60 ml. ink bottle. This week’s ink, Tropical Blue, is a beautiful, bright and vibrant blue color with a very reasonable dry time. We love that the large, easy to open lid on the Private Reserve ink bottles provides easy access, but be warned this type of large mouth lid may collect ink at the top. Open the lid slowly and pay attention to the possibility that the ink might drop on the threading a bit when you open the ink or you could be in for an epic ink mess. Private Reserve inks are high performance inks, easy to clean and use and we found this week’s Tropical Blue ink to be a great choice for an everyday blue ink color. Check out all 36 color options from Private Reserve ink – their color selection in impressive and their color names are succinct and often entertaining. Happy writing from the EU!
Enter to Win a Private Reserve Fountain Pen Ink:
Enter to win the actual bottle of Private Reserve Tropical Blue fountain pen ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:
I like the brightness of this blue and would like to see how it looks with a wider nib. Winning this would certainly help!
This looks like such a vibrant blue, I would like to try it on some of my colored note cards. I like the idea it flows smoothly also. I wonder how it would work in some of finicky fine nibs? Never tried this brand so will need to order a few samples to try.
Such a vibrant blue! Would love to take it for a test drive around a page or two…
This is a beautiful looking ink. It looks like an everyday blue that will not break the bank.
Have been living in the cold and snowy northeast this winter…I would love a shot of the tropics right about now!! It looks like a lovely fun color.
That blue is so vibrant! I’d like to see more reviews of Private Reserve inks!
I’ll see what I can do!
I’m a sucker for vivid true blues – this stuff looks great!