Short Comparison Of New, Exclusive Herbin Inks : "les Encres Essentielles"

[neokeitaro]

Hi,

 

I live in France and received for christmas a giftset of 5 inks from Herbin, out of a collection of 10 that Herbin calles "Les Encres Essentielles" (you'll easily guess the translation).

 

At first I thought they were renamed inks, but no: Ambre de Baltique is clearly different from the Ambre de Birmanie that I have.

 

Here is a quick test of all these inks, with hero nibs on Rhoda 80mg high grade velum paper.

 

 

The scan was made on an ungraded epson V750, and while the hues are correct, they appear a bit darker and more saturated than they really are (just a touch. I'm a colorist so I am especially sensitive to color changes).

 

I was pleasantly surprised by these inks. Some inks from Herbin I'm not particularly fond of, such as Rouge Opéra (too pink for me) and Lie de Thé (too unsaturated for me), but these look really good. They still have that complexity that is for me a trademark of the brand. Bleu de Minuit is deep, Bleu Astral is a very nice middle ground between blue and deep green, Terre D'ombre has the right amount of saturation (and no green at all, contrary to what the scan is showing). Gris de Houle is a true grey, no blue or green in it. Ambre de Baltique is nice but quite light, and I prefer Ambre de Birmanie, which is darker (more legible) and has amazing shading. BUT they actually go great together.

 

 

 

So where do these inks come from? You won't find any information about them on Internet so far, not even on their official website. After some research, it seems that (apart from a special opening of their factories in mid december this year), these inks are ONLY sold in Le Bon Marché, a department store in Paris, where they sell it in these little gift boxes, in bottles (which I couldn't see, no idea if the shape is different), as well as by the tap. They have 10 colors, Bleu de Minuit and Bleu Austral seem the most popular.

 

Here is a picture of their tiny bottles (15ml):

http://i.imgur.com/uK10p4W.jpg

 

What do you think?

[visvamitra]

Thanks! I'm a huge fan of J. Herbin inks. It's my favorite ink maker (ex-aequo with Sailor). These inks look cool. Now, I'll have to find a way to get them

[Jan2016]

Nice inks!

So no I have to get a acquintence in South-Korea (Egoistar), and a acquintence in Paris!

Edited December 27, 2017 by Jan2016

[senzen]

Wow, thanks for these and the great scan. I'm quite liking Ambre de (du??) Baltique, although legibility might be a concern, Terre d'Ombre (even though it looks a lot like a freshly inked Lie de Thé to me) and, unbelievably with 8 blue inks, both bleus, particularly Austral.

 

There's no way I'd be getting 15ml bottles though.

[inkstainedruth]

Some of those look really nice -- in particular the grey one (Gris Nuage is too light to be legible on the page, and this one Gris de Houle, looks much better in that regard).

Thanks for the information. Anyone know when these are going to make it to this side of the pond?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[crahptacular]

Those bottles look really cool! Not sure about practicality (they seem quite narrow), but the presentation sure looks nice. Hopefully these become more widely available in the future.

[neokeitaro]

Thank you all for the kind words.

As for info, I've contacted Herbin on facebook but no answer so far, and I couldn't find ANY info. Even the salespersons in Le Bon Marché couldn't really tell me much.

 

As for Terre D'Ombre, the main difference with Lie de Thé is that Ombre goes toward red, while Thé has more of a greenish tint.

[lgsoltek]

I've heard about this. They are indeed sold at Le Bon Marché at a rather high price with no writing samples to see. Thank you for sharing!

Edited December 27, 2017 by Lgsoltek

[Olya]

Bleu de minuit & Bleu austral are right up my alley!

 

I've wondered for a long time why Herbin doesn't expand their regular line a bit and add some more blues and a nice teal... These two would be perfect for me!

[neokeitaro]

I've heard about this. They are indeed sold at Le Bon Marché at a rather high price with no writing samples to see. Thank you for sharing!

 

Exactly. I was there two days and someone asked to try them but the salesman refused. So unless you buy them, you have no way to see what they look like. Hence my test and sharing here I'm considering buying the other five but they're quite expensive (50€ for the set of 5 small) and I have wayyyy too many inks already.

[Honeybadgers]

Would J. Herbin stop making inks in stupid little bottles that contain less than 30 fills of ink? I don't buy their stuff if I can't find it in the 100ml bottles because the next smallest size is 30.

[jmccarty3]

Those two blues are very nice.

[visvamitra]

50 euros for five mini bottles? Wow. Thah's pretty expensive.

[neokeitaro]

Would J. Herbin stop making inks in stupid little bottles that contain less than 30 fills of ink? I don't buy their stuff if I can't find it in the 100ml bottles because the next smallest size is 30.

Actually in the shop there are taps for each color so I guess you can buy larger amounts as well. But yes, especially the mini 15ml bottles don't see very practical for filling...

[lgsoltek]

50 euros for five mini bottles? Wow. Thah's pretty expensive.

 

Judging from the way they operate (set in one of the most expensive department stores, no-samples-to-see and no-try-unless-you-buy policy and that price tag), I think they are aiming to be some kind of haughty luxury brand. Meh. It's just water with dye, people. Even perfumes can be smelled before buying.

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

The most impractical bottles I've ever seen, and I like to browse for pictures of vintage bottles. Wow.

 

Bleu Austral looks magical. Terre D'Ombre looks like Pelikan Brillant-Braun. Although my favourite is Ambre de Birmanie. It's on my wish list. It looks stunning.

[neokeitaro]

 

Judging from the way they operate (set in one of the most expensive department stores, no-samples-to-see and no-try-unless-you-buy policy and that price tag), I think they are aiming to be some kind of haughty luxury brand. Meh. It's just water with dye, people. Even perfumes can be smelled before buying.

To be fair, Le Bon Marché is NOT a pen shop, they only have a small fountain pen section, and you can't try any ink. They sell Namiki, Iroshizuku, Caran D'ache, Cross and Faber Castell I believe.

[lgsoltek]

To be fair, Le Bon Marché is NOT a pen shop, they only have a small fountain pen section, and you can't try any ink. They sell Namiki, Iroshizuku, Caran D'ache, Cross and Faber Castell I believe.

 

So the stand is operated by Le Bon Marché? I had thought it was operated by the J. Herbin guys.

[neokeitaro]

Yes it is. I believe some of the sales persons where trained by Herbin but the few that were there really couldn't tell me much about it. It's not really a stand too, there are shelves with various products (pens, inks, notebooks, etc) and on that shelves there are some herbin products.

[senzen]

Ink by the tap... That could be dangerous for my finances.