Today we’re reviewing Wearingeul inks Queen of Hearts ink and Eung-Ang Eung-Ang ink. Two of the more recent releases from Wearingeul inks, we got them into the hands of one of our guest reviewers. Read on to find out what she thought of these two fountain pen inks – but first we should introduce you.

Meet Lisa: Quick Guest Reviewer Intro

Lisa (IG: @vanleigha) adores exploring color – whether she’s creating journaling collages or swatching fountain pen inks. She began her marketing career in print production at an advertising agency. After making hundreds of middle-of-the-night press checks, she’s fairly confident in her color matching skills. Lisa started swatching fountain pen inks as a hobby during the 2020 pandemic and, to date, has created swatches of more than 450 different inks. Thankfully for her household budget, the matching fountain pens in her collection are not quite as numerous.

Manufacturer Info: Wearingeul Inks

Wearingeul is a relative newcomer to the U.S. fountain pen ink world, having debuted its first line of inks and papers less than a year ago from Korea. They describe themselves as a stationery brand based on Korean and world literature, re-interpreting novels and poetry with colors. They attempt to take invisible parts of art and design works that people can see, sense, and even smell. They currently offer over fifty colors of ink, five different glitter potions, and papers and accessories related to fountain pens.

Today’s Featured Ink Series: Two Inks from Two Different Wearingeul Ink Series

• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Ink Series: Queen of Hearts is one of 5 colors currently included in this ink collection. All the inks are inspired by characters in the well known stories of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Other colors in the series include: Alice (glistening/shading ink), Cheshire Cat (shading), Mad Hatter (shading), and White Rabbit (shading).
• Poetic License Ink Series: Eung-Ang Eung-Ang is one of 3 ink colors currently offered in this ink collection, and each is inspired by a poet that left a mark on their readers with powerful creativity. Other colors in the series include: New Hope Crown (shading ink) and Potato of Spring (shading ink).

Featured Inks: A Bit More About Today’s Two Featured Fountain Pen Inks

• Queen of Hearts (Red Brown Glistening ink)
• Enug-Ang Enug-Ang (Pale Blue Glistening ink)

Products Used During Today’s Ink Review:

• Col-o-ring Ink Testing Book
• Rhodia Paper
• J. Herbin Spiral Glass Dip Pen
• Cotton Swabs
• Kakimori Brass Nib (for broad applications)
• Tsubame Note Ink Collection Card (for cream paper applications)
• Tomoe River Paper (Hobonichi Weeks)

Reviewing Wearingeul Inks: the Bottles and Packaging

The squat, square glass bottles are nicely sized at 30ml each with a wide mouth for ease of dipping when you fill your fountain pens. The overall impression is one of elegant simplicity. Packaged with each ink bottle is a true-to-life swatch card with the Pantone color match and the RGB formula. One kudo to their marketing materials: they show real-life color results.

Get to Know Wearingeul Eung-Ang Eung-Ang (Glistening) Ink:

Note: Not recommended for EF fountain pen nibs
Wearingeul Eung-Ang Eung-Ang ink is a lovely pale sky blue glistening ink with average readability for such a light ink. It’s a delicate journaling color that’s perfectly readable when used with a broader nib. The glistening element will surface when the ink dries (unlike when wet with many shimmer inks) and is a blue crystal or silver in appearance. It reminds me of a true blue aquamarine or blue topaz gemstone. The ink was inspired by Korean Poet, Beak Seok’s “Me, Natasha and a White Donkey” and illustrates a snowy load, which is cold, windy, but soft and tender. It is a pastel sky blue ink with silver and blue glitter, according to Wearingeul. It’s a slightly drier formulation than its gold glistening counterpart, Alice, but not to its detriment or performance in a pen.

Get to Know Wearingeul Queen of Hearts (Glistening) Ink:

Note: Not recommended for EF nibs
Wearingeul’s Queen of Hearts fountain pen ink is a rich, dark brown appearing ink with a deep red base and gold glitter. It reminds me of iced brownies, and it’s just as luscious looking when you see it on your page. (Side note: I dislike most, if not almost all, true brown inks, especially those with yellow bases, so my love of Queen of Hearts is matched only by Jacques Herbin’s 1670 Caroube de Chypre.) Although the manufacturer recommends against using the ink with EF nibs, I’ve had a Fine Writing International pen using a steel JoWo #6 nib that’s been inked with Queen of Hearts for over a month. It began writing immediately without any clogging this morning when I picked it up. While you should always use caution with any glistening/pearl inks in a fountain pen, my opinion is that the formulation of Queen of Hearts is somewhat oily and thereby creates the viscosity necessary to prevent many narrower-sized nib writing issues common with shimmering inks. Wearingeul describes this ink color as having a red-black base with gold glitter and dark brown sheen.

***Wondering where to find the giveaway for the inks in our weekly ink reviews? We used to run a weekly giveaway featuring each week’s ink, but now we have a monthly giveaway day that includes the inks featured in past reviews!  ALL of the inks featured in our weekly ink reviews are listed as giveaway prizes during 15 on the 15th: GIVEAWAY DAY with Pen Chalet.

Reviewing Wearingeul Inks: Technical Ink Review Results

(Results listed are for BOTH inks tested unless noted).

1-Dip Test: Write six lines without noticeably thinning out, and shimmer was visible throughout all the writing
Dry Time: Extended dry times (15-20 seconds) are required to prevent smearing, but in actual use, this hasn’t been an issue for me
Bleeding: None noted
Feathering: None noted
Water Test: Mixed results: while the writing or drawing may smear when a wet cotton swab is run across the markings, the lines retain their integrity and are quite readable (in other words, don’t panic if you spill your water right before your speech)
Shading Traits: None observed
Sheening/Glistening Traits: Subtle glistening in the light blue Enug-Ang Enug-Ang and obviously heavier glistening in the brown Queen of Hearts. Of note, the shimmer surfaces much more as the ink dries (as opposed to being a wet surface shimmer).

Reviewing Wearingeul Inks: Conclusion for Queen of Hearts & Eung-Ang Eung-Ang

I’m an ink whore, especially for shimmer inks…and nearly every one of the over 25 Wearingeul inks I’ve sampled has been a delight to use and is somewhat unique in its color shade. The colorists at Wearingeul seem to have found small windows in the market offerings and created variations that are different enough from other brands’ colors not to make you feel like you keep buying the same color ink over and over again. If this ink line were clothing, you’d describe them as silky cotton for their fabulous everyday useability with the sensation of owning a luxury premium weave or blend.

A Bit of a Confession About the White Rabbit:

I was also given a bottle of Wearingeul’s light red-brown White Rabbit ink to review, and I could not for the life of me make a pretty swatch. There are far better reviews out there on the internet to read than I would have fairly given to Wearningeul’s White Rabbit, but in case you’re desperate for a smidge of info without leaving this page of Wearingeul ink reviews…here’s an image of the test results.

We Hope You Enjoyed Reviewing Wearingeul Inks with Lisa:

A big thank you to our guest reviewer, Lisa! We hope all of you enjoyed her review. We love seeing inks from varying perspectives – it’s one more way to figure out which inks are right for you and your projects without buying them ALL! (Not that we’re shaming you if that is the exact approach you prefer). Watch for more ink reviews coming soon from the Pen Chalet Staff and our guest reviewers. And shop your favorite fine writing instruments and fountain pen inks at PenChalet.com.

Enter to Win This Week’s Ink, Next Week’s Ink & More 

Look for the bottle of Dominant Industry Leaf Green Ink used in this week’s ink review as one of the giveaway prizes in our upcoming 15 on the 15th: Giveaway Day with Pen Chalet! Enter to win now:

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