A little bit of history
A couple of years ago there was a lot of buzz about another brand (you all know which one) putting shiny sparkles into a handful of their inks. It looked fun, but it was expensive, and Diamine don’t do things by halves. They brought out a whole set of ten, then followed it up this year with twelve more shimmering inks, each sporting a healthy dose of gold or silver coloured glitter. What could be more fitting for our Christmas meta-review?
Ink! What is it good for?
Well let’s be honest, this isn’t one you’re likely to take to work, unless your job involves writing Christmas cards (it’s absolutely brilliant for that). This is ink for having fun with! If you treat it wisely, it will work in ordinary fountain pens and there are only two modest caveats. Firstly, always give the bottle a very thorough shake before filling the pen, and ideally use a pen which can stand a gentle perturbation before writing too; the glitter is in suspension, not in solution, and will laze on the bottom unless stirred into life. Secondly, any particulate matter can gum-up pen parts in time, so pick a pen which you can thoroughly dismantle for the occasional clean, including the converter or piston (TWSBIs and most Platinums are therefore a good choice). Other than that, you can sparkly-scribble to your heart’s content.
VFM
The going rate is about £9 for 50ml, which makes this noticeably more expensive than the standard fountain pen inks from Diamine, but still very good value compared to some of the more ‘exotic’ inks around. The base colours are for the most part very nice inks in their own right, and other than occasionally bleeding-through with very wet nibs, or feathering on cheap paper, they’re pretty well-behaved too. You really can’t go too far wrong.
OK now, that’s enough chat – show me the shiny!
The bright blues
We start with a couple of absolute crackers. Blue Lightning, a very bright blue with silver sparkles, has a loyal following from the original collection, while Tropical Glow has become an immediate favourite with almost everyone who’s tried it, even making the ‘Too Many Peacocks‘ Christmas Day hit list. ‘Not a bad way to start, eh?
The dark blues
Blue Flame and Blue Pearl are fairly traditional royal blues, with gold or silver sparkles respectively; the effect is predictable but pleasing.
Enchanted Ocean and Shimmering Seas are a little harder to categorise – like the sea, they keep changing colour as the light shifts. But both are broadly blue-black with either green or purple hints, with a spot of iridescence from bioluminescent plankton at the surface.
The reds
Pink Glitz is, unusually for a pink, so riotously butch that you could put it in a PFM and get away with it, while Red Lustre could safely be spilled all over the Christmas tablecloth without anyone noticing. Firestorm Red and Inferno Orange look a lot like the open fire you’re meant to be roasting some chestnuts on right now (but thanks for taking a break to read this instead).
The browns
This civilised set of browns goes all the way from molten chocolate to wet beach, and the sparkles really add something to what can otherwise be a somewhat drab colour for inks. They really do work surprisingly well on the page.
The greens
Green ink has its devoted fans, and here are a couple of splendid stocking fillers for any you encounter. Magical Forest is almost perfect for writing the price list in your neighbourhood crystal healing emporium, while the lime green with golden sparkles of Golden Oasis looks for all the world like a gecko flitting by.
The greys
While not everyone feels that grey is quite the colour for the festive season, re-brand it as silver and everything’s fine. So here we have dark silver with bright silver sparkles (hmm, subtle) darker silver with golden sparkles (less subtle), and silver with the lights off (OK, OK, it’s black). The dark base ink does show the sparkles up quite effectively.
The purples
Of course we’ve saved the best for last – for those into a spot of purple action at least! Two of these have already featured on Too Many Purples and the third will follow soon. Purple Pazzazz is a warm purple which is quite reminiscent of Lamy’s much-trumpeted dark lilac, but easier to get hold of and with golden sparkles to boot; what’s not to like? Lilac Satin is not unlike Diamine’s earlier Iris from the flowers box set, with added silvery shine, and that’s a rather splendid finish too. Finally, Magenta Flash is a very purpley sort of magenta for a change (no pinks in disguise here), and looks rather spectacular in a wet-nibbed pen of your choice.
Come and get it!
You can get hold of your own Shimmertastic supplies in all of the usual favourite online sources, or direct from Diamine themselves. Easy peasy.
This meta-review draws upon:
- Scribble Monboddo’s hand-written review of all the Shimmertastics
- Rob Smith’s review of Lilac Satin, Inferno Orange, Firestorm Red and Caramel Sparkle
- Dan Oakey’s reviews of Cocoa Shimmer, Pink Glitz, Tropical Glow and Golden Oasis
- The Clumsy Penman’s tests of the original ten Shimmers, Inferno Orange, Magenta Flash and Firestorm Red
- Nikki’s review of Moon Dust, Tropical Glow, Blue Flame and Lilac Satin
- Ian’s reviews of Night Sky and Purple Pazzazz
- Sarah’s review of Magenta Flash, Moon Dust and Pink Glitz
- The Pen and Inkwell video review of the twelve new colours
- Matthias’ review of Enchanted Ocean
- James Lake’s review of Enchanted Ocean and Cocoa Shimmer
- Gillian’s review of Golden Oasis, Tropical Glow, Blue Flame and Lilac Satin
Thanks to:
Pure Pens for samples of the original ten flavours, Diamine themselves for samples of the new twelve colours, and Cult Pens for sponsorship-in-kind to get big bottles of some of the best for sharing-around.
How it looks As the brand name suggests (just for once, it’s entirely relevant and accurate) the whole pen has been precision-turned to make it a tactile pleasure to use – but we’ll come on to how it feels in a moment. How it looks is, frankly, pretty much like the stereotypical alien mind-probe; with those eerily-accurate ripples and space-age materials, it wouldn’t look out place in Captain Kirk’s hands (its uses are far less sinister, though, unless you write left-handed of course). The very sharp-eyed may be able to spot some light marks from the lathe chuck on the barrel of the polycarbonate version (as depicted below), but it doesn’t greatly detract from the overall effect.
How it feels Those ripples and ridges provide a good grip without discomfort, and most users have found this a pleasure to pick up and get writing with. The weight varies considerably depending upon the materials chosen; the all-brass version is without doubt a nicely weighty pen, the all-polycarbonate version is feather-light, and the combinations of polycarbonate barrel and metal section concentrate the weight just where you most want it, near the nib. Which feels best for you depends largely upon personal taste. The only catch we detected was that the copper grip can be a little slippery on a warm day.
VFM The Gist has to cope with transatlantic tariffs and the buffeting of currency exchange rates, so competing on price with European offerings is not always going to be easy. With a simple steel nib, the all-polycarbonate looks to us like fair, albeit perhaps not stellar, value at £70 – whereas just £30 more will get you the all-copper version which seems an absolute steal.
Where to get hold of one Newcomer e-tailer iZods is stocking a broad sample of the Gist range in the UK, including the titanium and copper versions 
Kaweco Sport A pen which looks like no other – and which no self-respecting fountain pen fan’s collection is complete without – and all for under £20. Available very widely, including at 
Dex by Kingsley Smooth Fountain Pen An extraordinarily good fountain pen available at a bargain entry-level price in a wide range of colours – and our budget would stretch to a converter and a nice bottle of ink to go with one! A nice little introduction to the world of fountain pens. (£9.60 at 
Diamine Shimmer Inks Diamine are many people’s favourite brand when it comes to inks, being both easy on the pocket and on the eye – but their Shimmer inks are something special. These delightful inks have gold or silver coloured particles suspended in the ink, leaving a wonderful shimmer on the paper when you write. A new batch of colours have recently been released, so look out for a review on them here soon! (from £8.95 at 
KWZ Ink Konrad Żurawski has been creating fountain pen inks since 2013. The inks are handmade in Poland, but despite being made on a small scale, there are already quite a number of colours to choose from. With excellent flow properties, they do a great job with flex nibs (and we hope to review a handful next year!), although be warned that the smell is not to absolutely everyone’s taste. (From £12.95 at 
William Hannah binder + refills William Hannah paper seems to be universally admired by fountain pen users and is available in plain, lined, grid, dotted, to-do list, planner and weekly diary format – plus our budget will just about stretch to an A5 ‘archive set’ so there’s something to put it in! Available direct from 
The Start Bay Compass A7 Notebook – a handmade leather notebook cover with two A7 notebook inserts (Rhodiarama A7 lined notebooks) and including an option free charm (all packages in an unbleached cotton bag). A great introduction to the world of traveller’s notebooks (
The LAMY 2000 is widely heralded as a design classic, and WHSmith have become wildly popular for offering these for £100 recently. Inevitably, they’ve just sold out at this time of year (although 
The Diplomat Aero is, of course, the fountain pen that looks like a Zeppelin, and very nice it is too. Official UK prices exceed our limit, but Amazon has a 
Platinum’s 3776 is rightly famed as a brilliant gold-nibbed everyday writer, and although the more exotic tips like the ‘Music’ variant exceed our limit, the Bourgogne or Chartres finishes with the excellent Soft Fine nib are certainly accessible within our budget. Quality control can be a little variable, so this is one worth buying from a reputable dealer rather than talking your chances on Amazon – we’d recommend trying 
The Tactile Turn Gist will be a subject of a meta-review here soon, but the signs so far are that it’s a future classic in the making, and a Kickstarter project that has gone mainstream for all the right reasons. Some of the finishes inevitably go well over our budget, but if you’re happy with a steel nib then both the poly-carbonate and, amazingly, all-copper versions are available within our price range from UK distributor 
William Hannah notebooks are a properly British contribution to this collection, and absolutely the