Phew, that’s a wrap on another 25 Days of Dupes! While I was more rushed this year than I have been in previous years, I’m happy to have gone back to the Inkvent calendar from the Colorvent.
Doubtless, these Inkvent inks will get released as full bottles next year as all the others have. Hopefully this series helped you decide which — if any — to get.
Lessons Learned… Maybe
I don’t know if I can call this a lesson learned (we’ll find out next year), but I really need to stop underestimating the amount of time it takes me to prepare these posts. I enjoy this series, and I’m happy they seem to be so helpful to people, but I had quite a few late nights.
Because of my time crunch, I didn’t get a chance to do the additional writing comparisons I wanted to add, so hopefully I can do that next year. Would you like to see writing comparisons for each best match as delayed bonus content?
Comparing the Inkvent Calendars
I picked up my own Inkvent this year, but it was fairly late, which didn’t leave me much time to buy ink samples. I placed two orders on black Friday, picking up 27 samples to try to match the inks.
I appreciate that Diamine dropped the star bright formula, as I didn’t like it. I also applaud them for finally nailing the scented ink formula, even though the one included this year wasn’t to my taste.
However, I’m not pleased that 20% of the best matches I found were from previous Inkvent calendars, with 4 of them being successful dupes or successful color matches. That said, I had 8 “OK” matches and even 1 fail, so in general, the colors were fairly unique.
“Running the Numbers”
Formulas
My previous years’ format — counting the (now) five main formula types: standard, shimmer, sheen, pigment, and scented — has worked well, so I’m sticking with it. Reminder: I’ve grouped the various subtypes into those five main types, so this means the numbers won’t add up to 25 — or 100% — but I think it provides a better understanding of the ink types distribution. However, I’ve adjusted the table this year to show the amount of each formula grouping as well as each subgroup.
NOTE: I’m going by Diamine’s “official” ink type designation, but I disagree with them fairly often when it comes to sheening.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Group | 6 (24%) | 6 (24%) | 7 (28%) | 10 (40%) | 13 (52%) | 12 (48%) |
| Standard | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 12 |
| Multishader* | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Sheen Group | 5 (20%) | 5 (20%) | 0 | 4 (16%) | 6 (24%) | 9 (36%) |
| Sheen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Extreme Sheen | 3 | 5 | — | — | — | — |
| Sheen & Shimmer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Chameleon & Sheen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — |
| Scented & Sheen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — | — |
| Shimmer Group | 11 (44%) | 12 (48%) | 16 (64%) | 13 (52%) | 10 (40%) | 7 (28%) |
| Shimmer | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Sheen & Shimmer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Pigment Shimmer | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Chameleon | 5 | 6 | 9 | 5 | — | — |
| Chameleon & Sheen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — |
| Pigment Chameleon | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Star Bright | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — |
| Scented Group | 1 (4%) | 2 (8%) | 2 (8%) | 2 (8%) | — | — |
| Scented | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | — | — |
| Scented & Sheen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — | — |
| Pigment Group | 5 (20%) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pigment | 3 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pigment Shimmer | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pigment Chameleon | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
* Multishader is my own designation, but I’ve included it as a sub-category to standard inks since there have been so many multishading inks.
This year’s Inkvent was pretty comparable to the 2024 calendar — remember I didn’t cover that one on the blog — in major grouping distribution, but it was significantly less shimmer-heavy than 2023.
Sheen is my least favorite ink property, so I personally preferred the shimmer-heavy 2023 to the extreme sheening 2025. But, the extreme sheen inks are, at least, usable, which the star bright wasn’t.
Colors
Considering that this was the Teal Edition Inkvent — and therefore it’s expected that it will have a higher concentration of teal and/or turquoise inks — there was a pretty good color distribution. I’m a little surprised they didn’t have a single black or gray ink since they’ve included at least one every other year.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pink | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Burgundy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Orange | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Yellow/Gold | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Green | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| Teal/Turq | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Blue | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| Blurple | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Purple | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Brown | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Gray/Black | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
The Dupes
Below, you’ll find an easy reference so you don’t have to click through the separate blog posts to find the best matches.
View status definitions
Success: all properties are matched including sheen, shimmer, and/or multishading
Successful color match: only the color has been matched
Close: there are noticeable differences in the ink swatches, but the inks would likely be indistinguishable when writing
OK: there are noticeable differences in the ink swatches and writing samples, but the inks are very similar (e.g. they are the same hue, but the match is too light or too dark)
Fail: all inks have noticeable differences from the Inkvent ink in the ink swatches and writing samples and have multiple properties that are different
| Day | Inkvent Ink | Dupe Status | Best Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Celestial Skies | Success | Vinta Bisperas |
| 2 | Energy | Close | Private Reserve Purple Mojo |
| 3 | Carousel | Successful Color Match | Jacques Herbin Moulin Rouge |
| 4 | Smoky Tobacco | OK | Robert Oster Melon Tea |
| 5 | Marie Rose | Fail | Robert Oster Whiskey (diluted) |
| 6 | Fir & Fog | Close | Ferris Wheel Press Spruce County Post |
| 7 | Blush | OK | Colorverse Brunch Date |
| 8 | Dream Catcher | Success | Diamine Cosmic Glow |
| 9 | Bittersweet | Success | Anderillium Luna Moth Green |
| 10 | Nostalgia | Close | Colorverse Egg Cockle |
| 11 | Brrr! | Successful Color Match | Taccia Fukaki Hanada |
| 12 | Bubbly | OK | Monarca Arena Blanca |
| 13 | Molten Basalt | Close | Diamine Tempest |
| 14 | Mittens | OK | Rohrer & Klingner Vroni |
| 15 | Frostbite | Successful Color Match | Diamine Taj Mahal and Diamine Midnight Hour |
| 16 | Ruby Taffeta | Successful Color Match | Diamine Spiced Apple and Wearingeul Human Problems |
| 17 | Gala | OK | Pilot Iroshizuku Murasaki-Shikibu and Colorverse Milky Lavender |
| 18 | Laurel | Success | Diamine Holly |
| 19 | Overcast | Success | Vinta Perya |
| 20 | Ambience | OK | Sailor Ink Studio 473 |
| 21 | Chaos | Close | Colorverse Intense Magnetic Field |
| 22 | Pineapple Spritz | OK | Jacques Herbin Ambre Insouciance |
| 23 | Let it Snow | Successful Color Match | Robert Oster Free Spirit |
| 24 | Antler | OK | J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil |
| 25 | Myrrh the Merrier | Close | Wearingeul For Whom the Bell Tolls |
You may also want to take a look at the 2025 Inkvent blog series by CJ’s Wunderkammer, The Gentleman Stationer, Weirdoforest Pens, and Writing at Large.
Thanks for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed my post. What did you think of this year’s Inkvent calendar? Do you have any other possible dupes to suggest? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
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