I have seen this ink on Pendemonium for a few times and I have always wondered about it, and have been rather curious about the bulletproof magic of Noodler’s. So when I finally purchased the much-reviewed El Lawrence for a friend, I ordered Mata Hari's Cordial as well.

I was struck by the huge size of the bottles. This is my first Noodler’s purchase, so I was not prepared for the tall and heavy bottles, filled to the brim to boot! In fact, my first thought was that these inks could last me a couple of years!

Mata Hari's Cordial also happens to be my first pink ink, so I opened its bottle before that of the rest. I loaded it into my Pelikan Grand Place with the 18k medium nib, which I have already soaked and flushed and dried the day before, in anticipation of this moment.

I am quite pleased with this ink. On paper it’s shade of rose, what I know to be "Old Rose," and is not at all washed out. The lines it lays down are thick, rich and clear, and it’s definitely not your ordinary everyday work ink. I would say that it’s a nice and proper Old Rose, the Old Rose that is predictable and familiar, the Old Rose of my hair ribbons from childhood, the Old Rose of my grandmother’s silk jewelry pouches. It’s absolutely wonderful to use for letters and journals, and it has very subtle shading when used on ecruwhite kid finish 32 lb resume paper from Crane.



On other more ordinary papers, though, there is almost no shading.




I have already edited the scans with Photoshop in an effort to capture the Old Rose of the ink. It should be a medium dark dusty rose, not magenta, not fuchshia, not hot pink, not gray pink, and not faded pink. Not too dark, either, and definitely not washed out. Just your regular rose, darkened a few degrees, and rendered “old.” Old Rose. Very 1930’s.

I also like the other qualities of this ink. It dries quickly on the three different papers I’ve tried it on, it does not smear or smudge, does not bleed, and flows almost like Waterman ink. And of course, it is fully waterproof, retaining its color and clarity even after an hour of soaking in tap water.



Truly hardy for something that looks very feminine. (But then again, isn't that the essence of being a woman?)

I did expect something more striking-looking for an ink named after perhaps one of the most enigmatic women in the history of 20th century warfare. I certainly did not expect a prim and proper Old Rose. But I suppose this is just as well. For after all, for all we know, Mata Hari really just might have been the prim and proper Old Rose that history had never made her out to be, and there, in those spaces between mainstream history and the history that will never see the light, lies her magic over us.

THIS just may be the exact color of ink I was hoping for when I began my pink ink quest. Lovely, lovely color.

Thank you extremely. Very nice review!

That is a very very nice color! I'm normally not too fond of light colors, but Noodler's Apache Sunset and now this are really appealing. Thanks for the review! Time to go and bug The Pen Shoppe about ordering some more Noodler's!

Thanks for your feedbacks. Ged, the color is actually not light at all. It's a medium dark old rose. Very hard to capture a faithful scan of it, and it took me quite some time on Photoshop to find the closest color.

Will post a new scan with a different color, for comparison.

Excellent review, thanks! Very thorough and your description and images make me want to place an order asap. Sigh. How is Mata Hari's Cordial in terms of feathering?

Excellent review, thanks! Very thorough, and your description and images make me want to place an order asap. Sigh. How is Mata Hari's Cordial in terms of feathering?

It does not feather at all! I think it's a really reliable ink.

And here's the comparison scan I promised.



I just love that photo of Mata Hari that I posted with my review. I do hope there's a chance that it will be used as a label on the newer bottles.

The label is currently this:


The El Lawrence label, I think, is just fabulous:


Both images of the two labels were lifted from the Pendemonium website.

Beautiful color, beautifully written review. I'd order the ink for your summary sentence alone.

I see your point, very old rose indeed. Thanks for the second sample, El Lawrence looks like a pleasent green. Why can't Noodler's make some really disgusting color... So I can finally say I hate one!

My sentiments exactly, Ged! Now I'm afraid I am going to go on a Noodler's ink shopping spree. Oh, dear. At least I'm not alone in this. I've got you all for company!

And thanks to everyone! You'll really enjoy this ink.

On my computer, the scans look similar to Noodler's Kuprin (a Swisher exclusive, one of the bulletproof "Russian" inks), although my guess is that Kuprin is a little more intense and less chalky. It would be interesting to compare the two, but I only have Kuprin, not Mata Hari.

Hi, Dr. Grace. I don't have a Kuprin, but looking at the swashes at Pendemonium, the two inks seem to be of similar color but with different intensities. The Kuprin looks like it has a lot more of the magenta element (which is how Mata Hari looks when I add black to it in Photoshop) while the Mata Hari looks a lot softer, but not at all faded, perhaps because it is saturated.

I like comparing it with the El Lawrence, a popular dark ink, because I like showing how the Mata Hari is not at all washed out but is really a true soft feminine color. I think it was not so easy to achieve this perfect balance between softness and saturation, and this makes me appreciate the Mata Hari even more.

Thank you for the review. Mata Hari's Cordial is a favorite of mine. I would love to see how it compares in tone to Private Reserve Arabian Rose.

I like Mata Hari Cordial, but I'll be interested in whether it dries in your feed unit after it sits a few hours. That's been the major complaint about the UK Eternals.

No drying on feed. It's been in my Grand Place overnight (capped), and this morning it wrote without skipping. If the pen is left uncapped for a few minutes, though, the pen writes dry for the first downstroke, but the succeeding strokes write normally.

Just an update. Yesterday afternoon my Lamy Vista filled with El Lawrence would not write at all. I believe the ink dried on the feed. But the Mata Hari-Pelikan Grand Place combo wrote wonderfully and wetly on the first stroke after being unused (capped) for a few hours.

I'm thinking it could be the pen, so I filled a Lamy Safari with Mata Hari, capped it, and let it sit overnight, just to test how it fares. Voila! This morning I uncapped it, and it writes normally on the first stroke!

Ergo, it's safe to say that most likely, it's the pen and not the ink.

FYI, my Lamy Safari with F, M and 1.1 ital nibs always works flawless ly with El Lawrence. However, all my other pens have flow issues with it.

Wow, that's a great pink. Thank you for pointing out one I had missed....thanks so much...thanks.

There is something redeeming about this: now I have an excuse to buy a pen for every ink...

Fabulous, fabulous review! And yes, I love the image of Mata Hari that you posted. It would certainly make for a lovely bottle label. You're getting me hooked on Noodler inks.

I think middle age is having its way with me. I thought I had posted a couple of days ago to say how impressed I am with this ink. I am not into bright pinks, but this ink had the right depth of color for me. I am going to have to try this one.

Thanks for the review.