Private Reserve Infinity Violet Ink - Quick First Impression

Backstory

A while ago I complained on Mastodon that although retractable fountain pens are convenient for scenarios where I’m taking notes or drawing up mind maps, they dry out if I pause to think for a bit and don’t retract them before writing again. I would revert to my behavior using retractable gel pens which don’t dry out as quickly. It didn’t help that I filled my Majohn A2 (with an EF nib) with a sheening ink that probably dried out more quickly than a regular ink.

I remembered that there are inks made to help with pens prone to drying out, and found which brand offered them — Private Reserve, their Infinity Ink line. They have 6 colors: Infinity Black, Red, Blue, Green, Turquoise, and Violet. I was going to get some samples, but then decided to go ahead and pick up a bottle of the violet from Amazon.

Amazon shipping department, this is a ridiculously-sized box for a small bottle of ink.

My first and only experience with Private Reserve up until now was getting a sample of Arabian Rose, a regular ink. It’s a very pretty color that I want to get a bottle of sometime. But I had some hesitation buying their ink bottles because, look how huge the opening is! If I EVER accidentally knock into an open bottle of Private Reserve ink, it’s all spilling out immediately. 😮 I was sooooo mindful when dipping in a pen to swatch the ink and filling the converter. A cat hair drifted into the bottle when I opened it to swatch, but luckily I caught and fished it out with the folded nib pen. :smh:

Folded nib pen held in the foreground for a bit of scale

This type of purple doesn’t photograph well. I had to play around with the HSL (Hue, Saturation, and Lightness) sliders in VSCO to get the shade to appear correctly, otherwise it would’ve looked too blurple, which this is not.

The Ink

Anyway, the ink itself is a lovely, vibrant violet color that matches the purple Majohn A2 pen body pretty well, even though it’s on the bluer side of purple. As you can see in the writing sample with the long blade nib, there is some nice shading, even though the ink is dark. However, with the writing sample from the Majohn EF nib, the ink looks somewhat flat and boring. With no shading, my writing doesn’t really look much different from when I use a fineliner, like a Sakura Pigma Micron or Staedtler Triplus (my two favorite non-fp, non-gel ink pens). That is my minor annoyance with using any inks that look too standard with the A2. I’d like to see hints that I’m writing with a fountain pen when I reread my journal, notes, or whatever, otherwise, I might as well have just written with a fineliner. 🤷‍♀️

As far as the ink’s non-drying attribute, it passes with flying colors. I left the A2 open while I did other things for several minutes, and was able to start writing again with no problem at all. I tested it twice so far with the same results. Huzzah!

Initial Conclusion

While the ink looks a tad boring in the A2, I value its resistance to drying out enough to keep using it. Also, the ink would probably show off more of its shading properties in wider or more interesting (architect, stub) nibs than an EF, and the color is beautiful, so I will have no problem keeping it in rotation. Though, I wish Private Reserve offered more interesting colors like their Arabian Rose in this formula. Or, if they could offer an additive to help any ink become resistant to drying out in an uncovered nib, that would be awesome.