Welcome to the third post of 25 Days of Dupes 2025. Below you’ll find the inks for days 12-18. If you have a suggestion for a possible dupe for any of these inks, let me know in the comments, and I’ll add it to the wrap up post.
View Reminders
- You can click the images to view them larger.
- I swatched each ink with a small (#2) paintbrush and wrote with a F Sailor Compass Hocoro Dip Pen.
- The dilution pages show the sheening inks diluted with water in single-part steps. I started with just the ink, then 1:1 ink to water, then 1:2, etc.
- While I try to edit the images so they look as close to real life as possible, 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 can’t fairly call any ink a perfect color match, as I’m not comparing them scientifically, I’m just using my eyes. Therefore, I won’t be going any further than calling an ink a “near-perfect color match.”
- I’m not attempting to dupe the special properties of the inks — sheen, shimmer, scent — only the base color.
Enjoy, and happy inking!
Jump to a day: Bubbly | ⇣ Molten Basalt | ⇣ Mittens | ⇣ Frostbite | ⇣ Ruby Taffeta | ⇣ Gala | ⇣ Laurel
Bubbly
Classification: Shimmer| Color: Gold/Brown
Bubbly really is an excellent champagne color. It doesn’t quite count as gold, but neither does it quite count as brown. It has hints of green multishading if you put down enough ink, and what looks like a mix of silver and gold shimmer.
Dupe status: Fail
Closest Matches: Monarca Arena Blanca and Ferris Wheel Press Treasured Manuscript
I compared Bubbly to:
- Lennon Tool Bar Coastal Village – too brown
- Monarca Arena Blanca – not yellow enough
- Ferris Wheel Press Treasured Manuscript – too yellow
- Birmingham Pen Co Wilting Thicket – too pink
- Robert Oster Earth – too green
Jump to a day: ⇡ Bubbly | Molten Basalt | ⇣ Mittens | ⇣ Frostbite | ⇣ Ruby Taffeta | ⇣ Gala | ⇣ Laurel | ⤒ Back to Top
Molten Basalt
Classification: Standard (Sheen)| Color: Blue-Black
I can only assume that Diamine’s classification of Molten Basalt as a standard ink is a mistake. It shows a lot of bronze sheen, and on some papers is overwhelmed by its sheen.
Dupe status: Very close
Closest Match: Diamine Tempest
I compared Molten Basalt to:
- Diamine Tempest – slightly too dark; contains shimmer that mostly settles
- Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite – too light
- Diamine Tariff Teal – too green
- Lennon Tool Bar George Kerr – too green and too light
- Taccia Aoguro – slightly too light
Dilution
Depending on how much you like sheen, you may want to dilute 1:1 (ink to water) to see the ink color but still get lots of sheen or 1:2 for a hint of sheen.
Jump to a day: ⇡ Bubbly | ⇡ Molten Basalt | Mittens | ⇣ Frostbite | ⇣ Ruby Taffeta | ⇣ Gala | ⇣ Laurel | ⤒ Back to Top
Mittens
Classification: Pigment| Color: Pink
Mittens is a soft magenta ink. It doesn’t shade much.
Dupe status: Fairly close
Closest Match: Rohrer & Klingner Vroni
I compared Mittens to:
- Rohrer & Klingner Vroni – slightly too dark; also a pigment ink, so will behave similarly
- Tono & Lims Nagasaki – too light
Jump to a day: ⇡ Bubbly | ⇡ Molten Basalt | ⇡ Mittens | Frostbite | ⇣ Ruby Taffeta | ⇣ Gala | ⇣ Laurel | ⤒ Back to Top
Frostbite
Classification: Shimmer (Shimmer & Sheen)| Color: Blue
Frostbite is a royal blue ink with bronze shimmer. Despite only being classified as a shimmer ink, it has enough bronze sheen to nearly overwhelm the color in heavy swatches.
Dupe status: Successful color match
Closest Matches: Diamine Taj Mahal and Diamine Midnight Hour
I compared Frostbite to:
- Colorverse α Aquarii – slightly too purple
- Scribo Blu Cosmico – too dark
- Krishna Golden Summer Blue – too purple
- Tom’s Studio Marianas – slightly too muted
- Diamine Midnight Hour – near-perfect color match, too much sheen
- Diamine Taj Mahal – near-perfect color match, slightly darker in swatch
Dilution
Likely because it’s not classified as a sheening ink, even the ink only swatch still shows some of the base color. But, diluted 1:1, you get only hints of sheen without changing the color of the ink.
Jump to a day: ⇡ Bubbly | ⇡ Molten Basalt | ⇡ Mittens | ⇡ Frostbite | Ruby Taffeta | ⇣ Gala | ⇣ Laurel | ⤒ Back to Top
Ruby Taffeta
Classification: Chameleon| Color: Red
Ruby Taffeta is a solid blood red with multichromatic shimmer that shifts from lime green to pale blue to magenta.
Dupe status: Successful color match
Closest Matches: Diamine Spiced Apple and Wearingeul Human Problems
I compared Ruby Taffeta to:
- Diamine Spiced Apple – near-perfect color match, different colored shimmer
- Wearingeul Human Problems – near-perfect color match, no shimmer
- Robert Oster Red Candy – too light
- J. Herbin Rouge Grenat – too dark
Jump to a day: ⇡ Bubbly | ⇡ Molten Basalt | ⇡ Mittens | ⇡ Frostbite | ⇡ Ruby Taffeta | Gala | ⇣ Laurel | ⤒ Back to Top
Gala
Classification: Standard| Color: Blurple
Gala is a perfect blurple (blue-purple), leaning heavily toward blue. It’s fairly pale, but it does have some shading.
Dupe status: OK
Closest Matches: Pilot Iroshizuku Murasaki-Shikibu and Colorverse Milky Lavender
I compared Gala to:
- Pilot Iroshizuku Murasaki-Shikibu – too dark
- Colorverse Milky Lavender – slightly too pink
- Kobe #57 Hime Ajisai – too pink
- Kobe #56 Rokko Shichidanka – too blue and too dark, * compared for curiosity’s sake since it pairs with Kobe #57
- Troublemaker Foxglove – too pink
Jump to a day: ⇡ Bubbly | ⇡ Molten Basalt | ⇡ Mittens | ⇡ Frostbite | ⇡ Ruby Taffeta | ⇡ Gala | Laurel | ⤒ Back to Top
Laurel
Classification: Extreme Sheen| Color: Teal
Laurel is a deep teal ink, although an argument could be made for it being a forest green as well. As would be expected with an extreme sheen ink, the magenta sheen completely overwhelms the color unless you are careful about the amount of ink you put down.
Dupe status: Success
Closest Match: Diamine Holly
I compared Laurel to:
- Diamine Black Ivy – too dark
- Monteverde California Teal – too pale
- Diamine Dark Forest – slightly too green
- Diamine Holly – near-perfect match, right down to the magenta sheen that obliterates the base ink color
- Diamine Season’s Greetings – too blue
Dilution
While you can see a decent amount of the base color when diluted 1:1, I would personally use ink diluted 1:2 or even 1:3 to only have hints of sheen.
Jump to a day: ⇡ Bubbly | ⇡ Molten Basalt | ⇡ Mittens | ⇡ Frostbite | ⇡ Ruby Taffeta | ⇡ Gala | ⇡ Laurel | ⤒ Back to Top
What was your favorite color from this week? Did I miss any potential dupes? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed my post. 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.
