Ink Review: Diamine Tulip

[Chrissy]

I always planned to review two reds, Diamine Poppy Red and Tulip next to each other. It saves emptying and cleaning out the pens that are filled with the comparison colours. This one is Diamine Tulip from the Flowers Gift Set.

This is another very good, bright red. It is very slightly darker than Poppy Red, and has slightly less of the pinkish undertone/edge than Poppy Red has. It's a very saturated red ink that looks even better when it's used in a pen with a broader nib. Like Poppy Red, it looked more subdued when I wrote with it in my fine nibbed pen. I loved it in my Lamy Nexx and they were an excellent combination together. You know when a pen and ink really like each other, and go well together, and you feel you could write all day with them, well it was like that.

On the Diamine web-site, they only have small swab stripes showing the colours of the Flower Gift Set. So when I ordered Tulip, from the swab I saw, I thought it was going to be much more of an orange red. It isn't. It's definitely a classic bright red in the style of Poppy and Ruby.

This ink was a joy to write with, neither too wet nor too dry. It flowed well in the pens I filled with it, and I experienced no problems with it at all. I'm not sure whether you would need both Poppy and Tulip in your collection, but if you love red inks like me, you might decide to splurge.

It gets a thumbs up from me.

• It flows very well and lubricates the nib very well. I saw no skips or hard starts despite leaving the pen uncapped while I did all of the swab tests.
• Bearing in mind the paper I use is thick with a shiny, smooth surface, and I used a Lamy 1.1mm nib, this ink only took 10-12 secs to dry. That's very quick on this paper, and a bit quicker than Poppy Red.
• This isn't a waterproof ink, but it has reasonable water resistance. Not quite as water resistant as Poppy Red, but still not too bad. The water was only on the grid for about 30 seconds.
• It is currently available in 30ml glass bottles as one of the Flowers Gift set or 30ml plastic refill bottles
• Diamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.

Diamine Tulip.jpeg

[Morgaine]

I thought you were going to tiptoe through the tulips!

I have the Poppy Red and am happy with that. Tulip though does look nice too.

[Chrissy]

I agree with you. On the other hand, I suppose that if you had the Flowers set, then maybe you wouldn't need Poppy Red, as you would already have Tulip.

[TSherbs]

Looks very similar to the Skrip Red sample.

[Crazyorange]

Looking for an alternative to MB Cornpoppy red but I don't think this is going to be the one for me.

I see these reviews of Diamine inks a lot, does the OP get paid by Diamine for the always positive reviews, get paid in money or in the ink, I cannot see any disclosure.

Positive reviews? I think Chrissy does a great job of being unbiased by presenting a simple review, so the person can make their own decision. If she gets paid, then good for her....because it takes time to do these reviews. But I highly doubt it.

[SIR]

I would want to know whether the person doing the review is being paid to ensure that they are impartial and have no bias. Its up to you whether thats important to you or not, I dont care.

Indeed, and not only do we not always get what we want, sometimes we are better off for simply having the pleasure of wanting but in the knowledge that we will never have.

[Titivillus]

Looking for an alternative to MB Cornpoppy red but I don't think this is going to be the one for me.

I see these reviews of Diamine inks a lot, does the OP get paid by Diamine for the always positive reviews, get paid in money or in the ink, I cannot see any disclosure.

Positive reviews? I think Chrissy does a great job of being unbiased by presenting a simple review, so the person can make their own decision. If she gets paid, then good for her....because it takes time to do these reviews. But I highly doubt it.

Thats right, I am making my own decision. Personally, in any review, I would want to know whether the person doing the review is being paid to ensure that they are impartial and have no bias. Its up to you whether thats important to you or not, I dont care.

Maybe assuming that she would say if she was being paid would be the better path I know from experience that if I find one ink manufacturer's color that I like then purchasing other inks from the same is likely, just like pens. So it would seem that I was being paid if I reviewed my inks since I have a bunch of 'x'!

[southpaw52]

Nice review and well done. I like red inks, this ink looks like it has less pink.

[Laura N]

Looking for an alternative to MB Cornpoppy red but I don't think this is going to be the one for me.

I see these reviews of Diamine inks a lot, does the OP get paid by Diamine for the always positive reviews, get paid in money or in the ink, I cannot see any disclosure.

Looking for an alternative to MB Cornpoppy red but I don't think this is going to be the one for me.

I see these reviews of Diamine inks a lot, does the OP get paid by Diamine for the always positive reviews, get paid in money or in the ink, I cannot see any disclosure.

Positive reviews? I think Chrissy does a great job of being unbiased by presenting a simple review, so the person can make their own decision. If she gets paid, then good for her....because it takes time to do these reviews. But I highly doubt it.

Thats right, I am making my own decision. Personally, in any review, I would want to know whether the person doing the review is being paid to ensure that they are impartial and have no bias. Its up to you whether thats important to you or not, I dont care.

I dislike being rude and using bad language on internet forums. So bear in mind that I'm refraining from a lot worse language when I say to you, in the words of my good friend Jon: shove it up your ass.

You come on here, using a fake name, apparently just for the purpose of needling Chrissy. I will guess that you are probably one of the persons who needles her on FPN, but you know you can't go quite as far there, right? I'm going to guess you're only brave enough to be passive aggressive there and to save your undisguised nastiness for here.

FPG and FPN are lucky that Chrissy takes the time to do these reviews, and takes the time to fiddle with color management so people can see accurate presentations of the ink color. It may be hard for you to understand this, but not everyone looks at internet access and fake names as an opportunity to sling mud about things, like pens or inks, or worse yet, other forum members.

To suggest that she gets paid for these reviews is laughable. I do reviews myself, although I now mostly put them up on my own site. Don't bother to wonder why I do it -- you wouldn't understand. And surely don't bother to go there. But because I do these, I know that it takes a lot of time, a lot of care to do this. People who do this are trying to help others. Do you understand that? I realize that's very far from your orientation. The idea of doing something to help others, to share something one is interested in, may be foreign to you. Thank goodness that not everyone feels that way.

It must be very sad to be so bitter and angry, to look askance at every person and thing you see. I would feel sorry for you, but you don't deserve the time or effort. But, boy. To be a hater on a fountain pen site. That is hilariously lame. Are you proud of yourself? You can be mean and nasty to real people, under cover of a false name, on the internet. More particularly, you can be mean and nasty to someone whose sin is taking the time to share reviews of inks. That's really a great accomplishment. That's really brave.

I've watched good people leave this place, and the other, in droves over the years, because it's so mean. No good deed goes unpunished on a fountain pen forum. Well, I've joined the exodus myself, and this is a prime example why. Go back to your bridge.

[Chrissy]

Looking for an alternative to MB Cornpoppy red but I don't think this is going to be the one for me.

I see these reviews of Diamine inks a lot, does the OP get paid by Diamine for the always positive reviews, get paid in money or in the ink, I cannot see any disclosure.

Positive reviews? I think Chrissy does a great job of being unbiased by presenting a simple review, so the person can make their own decision. If she gets paid, then good for her....because it takes time to do these reviews. But I highly doubt it.

Thats right, I am making my own decision. Personally, in any review, I would want to know whether the person doing the review is being paid to ensure that they are impartial and have no bias. Its up to you whether thats important to you or not, I dont care.

I'm happy to confirm that all of my reviews are honest, impartial and have no bias, and that I don't get paid for doing them. Sometimes I use my own bottles of ink that I've bought, of which I have many. Sometimes I use my own sample vials that I've bought, and sometimes I use free samples that I have been given, by very kind friends, or kind people, or by ink manufacturers. I believe this is common among many ink reviewers. I haven't seen a disclosure requirement in the T's and C's on FPG or FPN.

I hope that answers your question as far as I'm concerned. I assume that you intend to ask all of the other reviewers on FPG or FPN whether their reviews are impartial and unbiased and whether they get paid for doing their reviews too?

The fact that you want to know whether the person doing any review is being paid to ensure they are impartial and have no bias not only suggests you know little about reviewers, but that you know little about honesty and integrity in people. I find that quite sad.

Once upon a time, I was recruited by someone in ebay to remove fakes of a well known brand from their site. I also did that with honesty and integrity, and to the best of my ability for 9 years. I didn't get paid for doing that either.

Perhaps some people are just happy to give?

[Jon Szanto]

I said what?

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Indeed. Although Chrissy and I don't always see eye to eye - mainly because of how I used to behave - I have always thought that her reviews were pertinent and fair. I also had the understanding that some of the inks were provided to her by whichever ink company wanted a review. The reviews are still valid and fair in my opinion. The source of the ink takes nothing away from it. The reviews take time and patience. For someone like myself, far from any good source of such inks, Chrissy's reviews have offered me free and real insight into what is available. Chrissy may not have known this but I have bought several Diamine inks based on the thoroughness of her reviews.

And to echo Laura: it's not big and it's not clever, and it certainly is not welcome, for someone to wade in to a forum like this and start casting accusations. Take it elsewhere, man.

[ethernautrix]

Nice review, Chrissy. Thank you.

As for the rest: Sheesh.

But pretty red ink. It's very helpful to see the comparisons.

[Chrissy]

Indeed. Although Chrissy and I don't always see eye to eye - mainly because of how I used to behave - I have always thought that her reviews were pertinent and fair. I also had the understanding that some of the inks were provided to her by whichever ink company wanted a review. The reviews are still valid and fair in my opinion. The source of the ink takes nothing away from it. The reviews take time and patience. For someone like myself, far from any good source of such inks, Chrissy's reviews have offered me free and real insight into what is available. Chrissy may not have known this but I have bought several Diamine inks based on the thoroughness of her reviews.

And to echo Laura: it's not big and it's not clever, and it certainly is not welcome, for someone to wade in to a forum like this and start casting accusations. Take it elsewhere, man.

I think we see eye to eye EOC. Thank you for your kind words.

[Chrissy]

I said what?

[Sailor Kenshin]

I like a red ink that leans orange. Thanks for this review, Chrissy.

[distracted_mom]

Wow! Being fairly new here, I had no idea people got so worked up by ink reviews! I missed a lot yesterday afternoon.

Chrissy, I take issue with your reviews for another reason: my budget can't handle it! In all seriousness, I really to appreciate them. How would I have known that I need Poppy (or maybe Tulip?) if you hadn't taken the time to share your review?

[Sailor Kenshin]

Wow! Being fairly new here, I had no idea people got so worked up by ink reviews! I missed a lot yesterday afternoon.

Chrissy, I take issue with your reviews for another reason: my budget can't handle it! In all seriousness, I really to appreciate them. How would I have known that I need Poppy (or maybe Tulip?) if you hadn't taken the time to share your review?

People don't get worked up by ink reviews. Trolls do.

[TSherbs]

I look at every review you post. Thank you for them.

[fqgouvea]

Me too. And often I share them with my wife as well.


Fernando Gouvêa -- fqgouvea@roadrunner.com