Ink Review: Diamine Passion Red

[Chrissy]

My latest ink samples from Diamine include Passion Red, so that's the ink I'm reviewing today. It'a a bright red, as you would expect. It leans more towards the pinkish side of the colour spectrum than Wild Strawberry and Classic Red, and it never looks orange. If you're being romantic, maybe it looks like a red blush in the cheeks or on the neck?

Diamine Passion Red is a bright red. It's a very good performer in all of the pens and on all of the paper I tried it with. It's reasonably saturated but I don't see much shading and I saw no noticeable sheen.

It wrote straight away without any hard starts or skipping. The flow is very good although the lubrication along a line felt a little dryer than some other reds I've tried, particularly with the Pilot F nib. The flow feels slightly wet, and some will think the dry time on my thick, shiny paper is quite long.

Although I forgot to do the water test before I scanned the main review sheet, this ink has virtually no water resistance at all. The red inky water spread quickly. This is quite common with red inks.

Nevertheless, I think it's a good bright red ink. It is very similar to Diamine Tulip from the Flowers Gift Set. Slightly less pink than Diamine Classic Red, and Diamine Ruby. More pink than Diamine Poppy Red, Caran d'Ache Infra Red and Sheaffer Skrip Red. However, it's much more saturated than those last two red inks.

With Passion Red, I see less of the dark outline around letters that sometimes shows up with other red inks from Diamine.

• Bearing in mind the review form paper I use is thick with a shiny surface, and I used a Lamy M nib and a Pilot F nib, this ink took 18-20 secs to dry from the M nib. No smear after dry.
• It exhibited very good flow and good lubrication and I found it smooth to write with. I saw no skips or hard starts while I did swabs and dry time tests.
• This isn't sold as a waterproof ink, and shows no noticeable water resistance.
• It is currently available in 80ml glass bottles or 30ml plastic bottles
• Diamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.
• It's a reasonable price.

Diamine Passion Red.jpg

[naimitsu]

Do I see a slight haloing around the edges? Or is a trick of the scan or screen I'm looking at?
Not sure if you have it, but how does it compare to PI Momiji? I think it is another red that leans a bit pink.

[datainadequate]

Great review Chrissy. Passion Red is my everyday red ink, and when my current small bottle runs out I will have no hesitation in replacing it with a big bottle. It consistently produces clear, very red text that demands attention, even when written with a fine nib. Important meetings in the diary, important explanations in my log book, notes to self that must not be overlooked: all these get written in Passion Red.

I think the haloing might be an artifact of the scan. I've never seen this when using the ink.

[Chrissy]

Do I see a slight haloing around the edges? Or is a trick of the scan or screen I'm looking at?
Not sure if you have it, but how does it compare to PI Momiji? I think it is another red that leans a bit pink.

I see less of the halo effect with this particular ink. I wonder if it's an effect of the scan on this occasion. I will check tomorrow in better light. I have P.I. Momiji, and it's less saturated than Passion Red. I can write a comparison with both though.

[Chrissy]

Great review Chrissy. Passion Red is my everyday red ink, and when my current small bottle runs out I will have no hesitation in replacing it with a big bottle. It consistently produces clear, very red text that demands attention, even when written with a fine nib. Important meetings in the diary, important explanations in my log book, notes to self that must not be overlooked: all these get written in Passion Red.

I think the haloing might be an artifact of the scan. I've never seen this when using the ink.

Thank you and you're welcome.

I must admit I was surprised how bright and clear it was. For some reason I was expecting a darker shade of red. I'm going to check up on this halo effect, but I know I've seen it with some red inks that I've reviewed.

[Chrissy]

I've added a couple more images. I tested Diamine Passion Red in a Lamy NexxM with a 1.1mm nib on Field Notes paper. You can see some slight feathering on this paper. Many inks do this on Field Notes paper.
I've also done a list of some of the red inks I have and I've compared P.I. Momiji with D. Passion Red on it.

Diamine Passion Red 2.JPG