J. Herbin Fountain Pen Ink - 30 ml Bottle - Orange Indien (Indian Orange)

Without a doubt the best black fountain pen ink in the world. A very deep black, with great flow, good lubrication, limited feathering and bleed-through on most papers, nice dry-time and very safe in all pens. I just wish that Jet Pens would stock the cheaper 100ml plastic bottles!

A great brown color. As with the previous reviewer, I feel that it matches the swab on the site perfectly. This is a great alternative to a harsh black when journaling. It looks especially good on off-white paper.

Not "pensive violet purple": "Pensee" (noun, feminine) is the French name for the flower called "pansy" in English. There's a drawing of one on the label, and the petals are indeed very similar in hue to that of this ink.

This is not a colour I have much call for, but it is indeed a lovely, clean violet- a grown-up version of the ink ( AKA Waterman's Violet) that French primary school kids would use in their exercise and composition books.

Herbin inks are among the best in the world, and have been made to a very high standard indeed for centuries longer than most ink manufacturers have been in business. This superb, pure hue is no exeption. If you are a fan of violet and have not tried this one yet, I urge you to buy a bottle. More likely than not, it will not be your last.

Writes smoothly and nice brown. Might differ from screen to screen, but the color chart was pretty accurate for me.

This may be translated as 'midnight PURPLE', but I wouldn't describe it as purple at all - there's nowhere near enough red tones for that. After going through a couple of bottles of this, I would describe it as closer to a blue black than to anything else; I believe translating it as Midnight BLUE would make more sense (a more literal but awkward translation of the french would be 'night-time blue' - IOW this is basically meant to be the color of a night sky). So if you're looking for a purple ink, this isn't it - try violette pensee for a classic violet ink (like that used for years by french school children).

That said, if you're after a great looking ink, do give this one a chance :-) Particularly if you're one to appreciate the subtle charms of blue black ink ;-) I've tried a lot of ink over the years, including some pretty hoity-toity brands, but this niche brand is by far my favorite. I have about a dozen colors (maybe more) and not one of them has been a disappointment - vivid but not loud, and all of them really distinctive.

The real strength in this one is the way it falls right in between blue and black. A lot of blue-black colors are really just black softened with a little blue (which basically ends up looking like a dark grey) or they are a basic washable blue with a hint of black added - think the way it looks when you have just switched from one to the other without first rinsing out your pen lol).

Not this one, which falls right in the middle. The benefit of this is that it's a great color for notetaking, particularly stuff you need to memorize or review a lot: it's dark enough to provide enough contrast with the page, but not harsh like pure black inks which, when it's 2am and you're staring at a page full of scribbling in pitch black, it ends up looking like chicken scratch :P