If you’ve never had your hands on Shake N’ Shimmy Envy Ink, this week’s ink review is going to make you want to give it a try.

All About the Ink Maker: Robert Oster

We enjoy a great partnership with Robert Oster. His Australian company, Robert Oster Inks, creates a wide array of fountain pen inks known for their dependability, shading traits, and vivid colors. We currently carry close to 150 of Robert Oster’s popular inks. Most Robert Oster inks are a reflection of the Australian landscape. However, Pen Chalet recently released 4 Exclusive Robert Oster colors inspired by the landscape here in Arizona (the state in the western United States where Pen Chalet was founded). Another exciting ink series from Robert Oster is the Shake N’ Shimmy ink series, which introduces gold or silver sparkle or shimmer to the ink.

All About the Ink Series: Robert Oster Shake N’ Shimmy Ink

This week’s ink is from the Robert Oster Shake N’ Shimmy ink series. There are currently 26 different Shake N’ Shimmy inks being produced, including one special edition color. The inks in this beautiful series all introduce a sparkle or shimmer that shows up on paper (and they really make your writing pop). To get the most consistent influx of shimmer throughout your writing, we recommend you use an art pen, calligraphy pen, dip pen or brush type pen.

This Week’s Featured Ink: Shake N’ Shimmy Envy Ink

Robert Oster Shake N’ Shimmy Envy ink is a bright and vibrant green color of ink, with a silver sparkle. The bright green color still shows up well on paper and would be great for many ink projects, note, journaling, etc.

***Feeling impatient, and want to skip straight to the giveaway? Don’t worry – we’ll allow it. Just jump straight to the end of the review, and you’ll see where you can enter to win! Come back and read the full review later though – you don’t want to miss out on this week’s featured ink.

It’s Time: Robert Oster Shake N’ Shimmy Envy Ink Review

This week we put Robert Oster Envy shimmering fountain pen ink through our standard ink review tests. And we’ll share all the details right here!

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

We used a French-made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen (with a tip comparable to a medium-fine fountain pen nib) and Rhodia dot pad paper.

Let’s Talk About the Robert Oster Ink Bottle:

Robert Oster Envy ink comes in their standard PET environmentally friendly plastic 50 ml. bottle with a leak-proof cap. Each bottle is identical, with a simple white label printed with a representation of the color (Envy) on the cap. You’ll notice the coloring of the bottle’s labeling is different than usual on this ink. The silver brand label that wraps around the bottle horizontally, and the gray/silver colored twist cap on the bottle indicate that this is from Robert Oster’s Shake N’ Shimmy ink series. Robert Oster uses no additional packaging, which keeps the cost down for everyone.

How Much Does Robert Oster Fountain Pen Ink Cost?

This week’s Robert Oster ink has a higher price tag than Robert Oster Signature inks, but that’s because this is a shimmering ink. Robert Oster Shake N’ Shimmy fountain pen ink is a mid-range priced shimmering ink for the 50 ml. quantity. Check for the latest discounted price at PenChalet.com. 

How Did This Week’s Ink Fair in the 1-Dip Test?

We conducted a 1-dip test with Robert Oster Envy ink using a J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen and Rhodia dot pad paper. (For the 1-Dip Test, we dip the pen in ink once for each of three different writing samples. The three writing samples include: “S,” “X,” and scribble lines. The test looks for how well the ink performs on paper by showing if the pen runs out of ink before completing a full line). Envy ink very easily wrote across the paper on all three writing samples with lots of ink to spare, and we notice the shimmer in the ink all the way through the entire line.

How Fast Does the Envy Ink Dry?

Robert Oster’s Envy fountain pen ink showed a dry time of approximately 11-12 seconds with medium saturation. This dry time is a little longer than we like for an everyday ink, but shimmering ink is meant to be for those special projects and notes, so 11-12 seconds would be reasonable for such uses.

Does Shake N’ Shimmy Envy Ink Bleed Through?

We saw no bleeding during normal use and only slight bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test (but even then, only at the very wettest point).

Was There Any Feathering While Using Shake N’ Shimmy Envy Ink?

We saw no feathering during normal use on Rhodia Paper, but we did see some slight feathering and line distortion during the water test. (But that’s to be expected since this isn’t a waterproof ink). The lines were still very legible.

How Does the Ink Stand Up to Water?

For the water test, we let an ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample. This week’s ink isn’t waterproof, and we did see medium color smearing, but that’s very typical for a non-waterproof ink. The lines were still legible (with some very slight distortion and line fading).

What About Shading & Sheening Traits?

Robert Oster Shake N’ Shimmy Envy ink showed some nice shading possibilities with the right nib and penmanship. Envy ink also showed a slight black sheen at the wettest point of the cotton swab test (which is unintended).

Final Conclusion on this Week’s Featured Robert Oster Ink:

Envy is a mid-ranged priced ink for the 50 ml bottle size of shimmering ink. The nice, bright, vivid green ink color is made by well-regarded and prolific Australian ink company, Robert Oster Signature Inks. The inks feature the well-known and easily recognizable packaging seen with all Robert Oster inks (simple, effective, and environmentally friendly). The ink also showed a reasonable dry time for a shimmering ink at about 11-12 seconds. Like any high saturation, shimmering or sheening ink, we recommend you periodically clean your pen when using Envy ink (every couple weeks at a minimum). Use a pen cleaning solution such as Pen Chalet pen flush to avoid unwanted clogging. Happy writing from Australia!

Enter to Win a Robert Oster Fountain Pen Ink:

Enter to win the actual bottle of Robert Oster Envy shimmering fountain pen ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review: