2021 25 Days of Dupes Wrap-Up

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series. If you were unable to purchase the Inkvent Calendar, then I hope this settled your mind about experiencing the colors. I can only assume that the 2021 colors will eventually be released individually, so hopefully this series helped you decide which ones to get.

Comparing the Two Inkvent Calendars

I definitely preferred this year’s calendar to 2019’s. There were actually some unique inks, including some I had to make custom mixes for, rather than a bunch that were practically rebottled versions of standard colors. However, I still feel like Diamine could do better. It shouldn’t be possible to dupe a color in the Inkvent Calendar with a Diamine Ink. That means the colors aren’t “new ink colors that can’t be found anywhere else in Diamine’s existing ranges.” But, I have to at least give Diamine credit for the improvements, especially the additional of multishaders.

I’ve seen some people complain about a lack of variety in this year’s Inkvent Calendar in comparison to 2019’s, so here they are side-by-side. I also went through and actually “ran the numbers” — see the table below.

Color or Property	2019	2021
Standard	12	13
Shimmer	4	6
Sheen	6	2
Shimmer & Sheen	3	4
Pink	0	4
Burgundy	1	0
Red	4	1
Orange	1	2
Yellow / Gold	1	2
Green	3	0
Teal / Turquoise	2	4
Blue	5	6
Purple	2	3
Brown	4	2
Gray / Black	2	1

While I can’t really say that this year’s had less variety, I do think it’s interesting that there wasn’t a single green ink. Diamine could have put in 2 greens and only 4 blues. And maybe 1 teal, 1 turquoise, and 3 reds. More interesting to me is the change in distribution of the “special” inks. They cut the sheening inks by ⅔ and put in half again as many shimmers. I wonder if any of these changes were based on sales of the full-sized bottles of the 2019 inks.

The Dupes

Below, you’ll find an easy reference so you don’t have to click through 25 separate blog posts to find the Inkvent dupe names. I only list the ink that I feel is the best overall dupe. If you want to see the comparison swabs or the other dupe options, you can click through to the corresponding post.

1. Seize the Night – Custom Mix
2. Garland – Organics Studio Walden Pond
3. Ash – Caran d’Ache Infinite Grey
4. Tempest – Robert Oster Thunderstorm
5. Harmony – Robert Oster Violet Dreams
6. Winter Spice – Robert Oster Aussie Brown
7. Candle Light – Rising Reflections
8. Raspberry Rose – Custom Mix
9. Storm – Caran d’Ache Magnetic Blue
10. Peach Punch – Custom Mix
11. Party Time – Kobe 41 Suma Rikyu Rose
12. Stargazer – Taccia Dark Wash Jeans
13. Ruby Blues – Diamine Skull and Roses
14. Red Robin – DeAtramentis Oriental Red
15. Night Shade – Sailor Ink Studio 343
16. Vintage Copper – Monteverde Fire Opal
17. Thunderbolt – Monteverde DC Supershow Blue
18. Diamine Subzero – Diamine Aqua Lagoon
19. Festive Joy – Custom Mix
20. Pink Ice – Custom Mix
21. Brandy Snap – Ferris Wheel Press Autumn in Auburn
22. Black Ivy – Lamy Petrol
23. Wonderland – Diamine Marigold
24. Yuletide – Colorverse Gravity Wave
25. All the Best – Colorverse Andromeda

Other Dupes Suggestions

During the course of this series, I both had other possible Ink Dupes suggested, and found a few possibilities online. I’m providing them here for you to test out. Keep in mind, I haven’t compared them to the Inkvent inks, so I don’t know how accurate these are.

If you have a dupe suggestion, let me know so I can add it to this list.

1. Seize the Night – No additional dupes
2. Garland – No additional dupes
3. Ash – No additional dupes
4. Tempest – No additional dupes
5. Harmony – No additional dupes
6. Winter Spice – No additional dupes
7. Candle Light – Diamine Honeyburst
8. Raspberry Rose – Ferris Wheel Press Royal Rhubarb and Noodler’s Black Swan in Australian Roses
9. Storm – No additional dupes
10. Peach Punch – No additional dupes
11. Party Time – Birmingham Pens Psychedelic Magenta
12. Stargazer – No additional dupes
13. Ruby Blues – No additional dupes
14. Red Robin – Diamine Monaco Red
15. Night Shade – Birmingham Pens California Raisin
16. Vintage Copper – No additional dupes
17. Thunderbolt – Organics Studio Bert’s Blue
18. Diamine Subzero – No additional dupes
19. Festive Joy – No additional dupes
20. Pink Ice – Birmingham Pens Teaberry Ice Cream and Sweetberry
21. Brandy Snap – Papier Plume Caramel
22. Black Ivy – No additional dupes
23. Wonderland – No additional dupes
24. Yuletide – Sailor Yama Dori
25. All the Best – No additional dupes

Thank You!

While I bought, or already had, most of the dupe possibilities, some were gifted to me by generous friends in the DC Metro Pen Crew. Thanks to everyone who helped out.

And thanks to you, for joining me on this 25 Days of Dupes journey.

---

Make sure to subscribe to my blog or follow me on Instagram so you don’t miss any posts. I generally post at least once a week.