It’s a little odd writing about Inkvent in June, but with the 2023 inks releasing, it seemed a good time for this post. I’ve been meaning to write it for a while, but other posts have taken precedence.
To start, this needs a caveat. If I’d purchased the calendar each year, I probably wouldn’t have purchased any of the inks. My ink collection is massive (hence the need for ink battles), and it takes forever to go through even tiny bottles (or samples). Since I gave away my 2019 Inkvent — foolishly, in retrospect — and didn’t buy the 2021 or 2022 calendars, there were inks I wanted to — and did — buy.
Inkvent Blue Edition, 2019
Mistletoe, Day 7
Fire Embers, Day 21
Samples for Duping
I’ve also purchased samples of Blue Peppermint, Elf, Ho Ho Ho, Jack Frost, Poinsettia, Purple Bow, and Winter Miracle for comparison use in my various 25 Days of Dupes posts.
Other Interests
Other inks I considered buying bottles of, but didn’t quite get around to do so, were Triple Chocolate, Gold Star, and Gingerbread.
Inkvent Red Edition, 2021
Ash, Day 3
This one is cheating a bit, since I didn’t buy this one. I picked up the mini calendar bottle at a DC Pen Crew meetup. But, I do use it, and, if I ever ran out of the mini bottle, I’d likely pick up the full bottle.
Peach Punch, Day 10
Night Shade, Day 15
I only have a sample of this one, and I haven’t decided yet if I’ll get a full bottle when the sample runs out.
Samples for Duping
I’ve also purchased samples of Brandy Snap, Festive Joy, Garland, Harmony, Night Shade, Party Time, Pink Ice, and Stargazer for comparison use in my various 25 Days of Dupes posts.
Other Interests
The only other ink I considered buying a bottle of was All the Best.
Inkvent Green Edition, 2022
Ghost, Day 6
This is another one I only have a sample of. I don’t use gray inks very often, so I don’t know that I’ll ever run out of the sample.
Memory Lane, Day 12
One More Sleep, Day 24
Samples for Duping
I’ve also purchased samples of Ghost, Jingle Berry, Silent Night, and Three Kings for comparison use in my various 25 Days of Dupes posts.
Other Interests
Other inks I considered buying bottles of, but didn’t quite get around to do so, were Yule Log, Dusted Truffle, and Olive Swirl.
Inkvent Purple Edition, 2023
So, I doubt I’ll actually buy full bottles of any 2023 ink, since I have the calendar. However, if I had only borrowed the calendar, like the previous two years, these are the inks I’d be interested in purchasing.
Moon Beam, Day 9
Although I don’t use gray ink all that frequently, I really like it, and the blue/purple shifty shimmer is a great addition.
Rainbow’s End, Day 14
Bright purple plus shifty rose-gold shimmer. Two weaknesses in one.
Merry & Bright, Day 16
I enjoy bright green inks, and the mixed silver & gold shimmer is a great plus.
Tranquility, Day 21
This is a bright ink — a favorite of mine — and I couldn’t find a dupe for it, which is always a nice plus. If nothing else, I would have wanted it to try and find a dupe in the future.
Sugar Snap, Day 24
Another pretty green ink with mixed shimmer, pale blue and silver this time.
So, of 100 inks in the four calendars thus far, I’ve purchased 8. Not a great track record for Diamine, but I think a decent portion of that is because I already own so many inks. I also feel that some of it is the amount of time between release of the calendar and release of the ink bottles. In the intervening 6 months since “the end” of the 2023 calendar, there have been so many other things going on that I didn’t even remember what the inks look like.
I’m assuming Diamine wants to give people a chance to use the inks in the calendars and decide what colors they want, but I think that instead they’re giving people a chance to forget all about them. Were the full bottles released in late January or February, they’d probably be able to cash in on some of the hype of those people who didn’t buy the calendar.
Another fun option to extend the excitement would be to take a page out of Sephora’s book and offer a coupon/voucher for a free or discounted full bottle of one Inkvent ink with the calendar. They could then keep people talking, allowing for discussion of what ink to get with the voucher. We also might all use more of the calendar inks if we needed to decide on an ink to pick up.
However, regardless of my minor suggestions, I still look forward to this year’s Inkvent calendar.
Do you buy the Inkvent calendar? Have you bought any full bottles, or are you planning to buy any of the 2023 inks? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
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2022 was the first year I was aware of Inkvent. I bought the calendar, and then I bought bottles of Pick Me Up and Silent Night. I bought the 2023 calendar, and I like a lot of the colors, but I don’t know if I’ll buy any bottles because I feel like I have too many inks these days, and I mainly use DeAtramentis Document inks, because I primarily use fountain pens for drawing (urban sketching and making comics).
Let’s see: Jack Frost, Vintage Copper, Deck the Halls, Memory Lane, and Tranquility. Still considering One More Sleep and Raspberry Rose.