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25 Days of Dupes 2022 – Week 1

Posted in Ink

Hello, welcome to the first post of 25 Days of Dupes 2022. Below you’ll find the inks for days 1-4. If you have a suggestion for a possible dupe, let me know in the comments, and I’ll add it to the wrap up post.

Some reminders:

  • The first image for each ink shows the inkvent ink and what I feel is the best match, swatched on Tomoe River paper.
  • The second image for each ink shows the inkvent ink and the different inks I tried matching it to, swatched on Iroful paper.
  • I swatched ink with a small paintbrush, and wrote with a Zebra G dip nib in the first image.
  • I can’t guarantee that the color you see on your screen will be true to life. However, with all the dupes on the same page, you’ll see how the colors look in relation to each other, which is the main point of these posts.
  • I’m not attempting to dupe the special properties of the inks (sheen, shimmer, scent).

Enjoy, and happy inking!


Day 1: Bliss

Bliss is a standard ink; it’s a turquoise we’ve all seen a million times. It was fairly easy to dupe out, with all of the inks I tested serving as great matches. Diamine Aqua Lagoon only slightly wins out.

Bliss and its best match
Bliss swatch on top, Aqua Lagoon swatch on the bottom.
Bliss and the colors I tested
Bliss swatch along the top, with (left to right) David Oscarson 20th Anniversary Teal, Diamine Aqua Lagoon, and J. Herbin Bleu Calanque swatched under it.

Day 2: Yule Log

Yule Log is a shimmer ink; it’s brown with a rose gold shimmer. The best match I found was J. Herbin Lie de The, although it isn’t perfect. However, I doubt you’d notice the different in actual writing. None of the other colors I tested even came close.

Yule Log and its best match
Yule Log swatch on top, Lie de The swatch on the bottom.
Yule Log and the colors I tested
Yule Log swatch along the top, with (left to right) J. Herbin Terre d’Ombre, Diamine Macassar, Pilot Iroshizuku Tsukushi, and J. Herbin Lie de The swatched under it.

Day 3: Solar Storm

Solar Storm is one of the new “formulas,” a chameleon ink; it’s a blue leaning toward purple with blueish-gold shimmer. The idea is that the shimmer is duochrome, where it looks different depending on the angle at which you view it. To be honest, though, I don’t really see the duochrome effect in the swatches or writing.

Disappointingly, Diamine Storm (2021 Inkvent) is a near-perfect match, despite looking rather different in the photo (below left). I’ve also provided an edited version (below right) so you can see roughly how it looks in real life. Sailor Ink Studio 343 and Diamine Night Shade (2021 Inkvent) are fairly similar as well.

Solar Storm and its best matchSolar Storm and its best match edited to appear true to life
Solar Storm swatch on top, Storm swatch on the bottom.
Solar Storm and the colors I tested
Solar Storm swatch along the top, with (left to right) Sailor Manyo Kakitsubata, Sailor Ink Studio 343, Diamine Midnight Hour (2019 Inkvent), Diamine Storm (2021 Inkvent), Caran d’ache Magnetic Blue, and Diamine Night Shade (2021 Inkvent) swatched under it. Solar Storm looks much more purple in photos than in real life.

Day 4: Spruce

Spruce is another new “formula,” a scented ink; it’s a teal ink with a fuchsia sheen. Diamine Holly (2019 Inkvent) is a near-perfect match. Honestly, though, all three colors I tested match pretty well. I’m fairly certain Diamine November Rain would also match perfectly, but I couldn’t find a sample to test it.

Spruce and its best match
Spruce swatch on top, Holly swatch on the bottom.
Sprice and the colors I tested
Spruce swatch along the top, with (left to right) Pilot Iroshizuku Shin Ryoku, Diamine Holly (2019 Inkvent), and Diamine Black Ivy (2021 Inkvent) swatched under it.

Thanks for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed my post. What do you think of this week’s colors and dupes? Are there any you’ll want to get later, or do you already have some of the dupe inks? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.

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3 Comments

  1. These are very interesting and helpful. Thanks. I wish the photos were clickable to open a much larger version of the photo for closer inspection. Next time?

    November 30, 2023
    |Reply
    • Hi Robin, I can do that for this year. I used smaller image sizes last year because I thought they were big enough as is.

      November 30, 2023
      |Reply
  2. At least Night Shade has the decency to be shimmer-free!

    Can we just get some multi-shaders and not clog up all the nibs with glitter, please?

    December 5, 2022
    |Reply

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