Montblanc Ladies Edition Pearl

[Mannyonpil]

Mix it with some Purdy ink from Montblanc ;-)

 

Cheers

 

Michael

 

PS: I was allowed to buy it and will try it out soon

Excellent!

[Intensity]

As for the ink itself, I kind of like it but I do not generally use inks of this color. I much prefer darker blues, greens, browns, and greys etc.

 

As for the marketing, it is more than a little retrograde, no? Do they also have a manly ink, maybe one that matches the pipe tobacco, dark wood paneling, and leather upholstery of my study? Is it okay if, as a man, I use this new pink ink? Will it clash with my fez and smoking jacket?

 

"We're sorry, Mr. Mannyonpil, this ink is clearly for the ladies. We cannot allow you to purchase, own, or use this ink."

 

"But I kind of like it..."

 

"Sorry this is for The Ladies only!"

 

"But, but, gender is just a social construct! A performance, really."

 

"Look, just leave your social theory out of this and go write with those blue inks you like so much. Blue is for boys, after all!"

 

"I do like blue but maybe I might want to try some of this pink you've got here; I like the shading."

 

"You seem pretty shady yourself, you non-conforming ink creep. Get out of here before we call security!"

 

They do actually have something like that which can generally be construed to be targeted at their male clientele (unless you already knew that and were trying to make a joke about it):

 

https://www.montblanc.com/en-us/collection/refills/writing-accessories/118215-ink-bottle-50-ml-elixir-parfumeur-wood--tobacco-scent-gre.html

https://www.montblanc.com/en-us/collection/refills/writing-accessories/118216-ink-bottle-50-ml-elixir-parfumeur-leather-scent-orange-br.html

 

The scent, the bottle styling, the color are what has been targeted at the male audience in the recent decades, and your personal preferences seem to align with what they are trying to do for those inks.

 

However I think this goes both ways, the advertising. We can be irritated with the advertising companies trying to "box" us into some predetermined standards and categories, but they are simply doing what will generate more sales and what they expect the customers will and already do instinctually want. An average person has a strong drive to fit in with society and follow socially-dictated rules. This goes from the type of clothing one wears to "socially acceptable" behavior, both of which are generally also gender-specific. That's why there are trends in fashion, for example, and most people tend to wear what is currently in fashion (relatively speaking, the chosen fashion can lag behind a decade or a few, but not significantly enough to wear clothes popular 100+ years ago). These are social constructs to begin with, generated by the masses over time. Only more recently challenging stereotypes has become popular and more accepted (still not everywhere), but still the challenges also illustrate that the biases exist everywhere and in everything. For every female that says "don't give me pink like you know what's best for me!" there will be a bunch who will be happy to find a pink (or recently "rose gold") option. If you look at this article, it's a great example of how the marketing plays on our biases and desire to fit in, and we (on average) support it with our money enough to obviously continue with the set trends, until the next successful round of marketing:

 

https://www.smithson...g-pink-1370097/

[namrehsnoom]

Nice review. I already had little interest in this ink, and your review just strengthened this. I don’t really mind washed out colours, but here the shading seems too extreme (certainly not delicate), and the ink is simply too expensive for what you get.

 

But not all recent MB inks are disasters... I am currently playing with Petrol Blue, which really is quite a good-looking teal. So I still keep an eye on their new releases, because occasionally a good one is coming out.

[inkstainedruth]

But not all recent MB inks are disasters... I am currently playing with Petrol Blue, which really is quite a good-looking teal. So I still keep an eye on their new releases, because occasionally a good one is coming out.

 

Agreed. I really like Beatles Psychedelic Purple LE, and while I don't normally like blues that lean teal, Leo Tolstoy LE from a couple of years ago is a notable exception.

Still comtemplating how they would deal with something commemorating Frieda Kahlo, though -- or Alice Neel (who came to my university when I was there -- they had a visiting professor series and one of the things she did was critique the student work in my painting class (she wanted to actually have a guy in the class sit for her because he had what I guess is a hairlip and she thought he looked "interesting"). She was pretty old by then so it's weird to think of her as young (as played by IIRC Susan Sarandon in the movie Pollock). She would paint portraits people commissioned and than said "Oh, I don't like this...." so she kept them.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[chromantic]

Hard to associate Marilyn with something so washed-out.

[encremental]

Oh, I really love Alice Neel. There was a big show here in London at the Whitechapel Gallery a few years ago and I was blown away!

 

John

[DilettanteG]

I'm good on pink inks, so I doubt I'd buy this one, but I do really appreciate OP's handwriting. Just lovely! It really shows off the shading.

 

As far as Montblanc needing to assign gender to an inherently genderless thing like ink, it does seem a little desperate. I guess it's no weirder than naming pens after people who've never used them. I like my MB products, but they can miss me with their marketing, thanks,

[Enkida]

I'm starting to think that MB just doesn't like women at ALL, and/or doesn't believe we should be using fountain pens.

The Marilyn Monroe pen was pretty awful. I don't know who they thought their market was for that monstrosity, since I couldn't see any man being caught dead using one, and most women of MY acquaintance would be going "WTH?" Just like I did when I saw it. That Pearl ink is pretty atrocious and so light as to be illegible; and that other pink they came out with a while back was even WORSE (unless I'm misremembering and this is the same stuff...).

Not only does MB NOT get a thumbs up, I give them the "one-finger salute" (I'd post a photo but that would get this topic locked pronto...).

Frankly, if MB wants to go back to the 1950s, they lose DOUBLY because I will just go back to using my Parker 51s.... Even more than I do now.... You'd think that they would actually want to consider joining the 21st Century. Especially after the "Me Too" movement. (Oh, not selling enough pens to women? Maybe they might want to consider what they're actually trying to SELL us.... I've already had that argument with Pilot over them only selling the "girly" colors of Decimos in the US, and ended up having to get one from a Japanese seller instead to get what I wanted (the Light Grey, which is stellar and way more attractive a color than "Champagne Pink" -- blecch).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

This entire paragraph is hard truth, for me at least, and this ink and the stupid ass campaign around it reminds me strongly of the "Bic Pens FOR WOMEN!" fiasco that happened a few years back, when BIC released pink and lavender purple colored ballpoint pens to celebrate Women's Day with this monstrosity of an ad:

 

 

 

Way to go Montblanc, I mean, really.

[Intensity]

This entire paragraph is hard truth, for me at least, and this ink and the stupid ass campaign around it reminds me strongly of the "Bic Pens FOR WOMEN!" fiasco that happened a few years back, when BIC released pink and lavender purple colored ballpoint pens to celebrate Women's Day with this monstrosity of an ad:

 

 

 

That... ugh... ...

[inkstainedruth]

I remember that ad campaign.

NOTHING could have induced me to buy one. Nothing could have induced me to accept one as a gift. Reminded me of this old TV ad for Sheaffer that someone found on YouTube (I think) and posted the link to: "Buy your husband a PFM for Christmas! You know he wants one!" or some such malarky. Of course they did show how the fill system worked -- which led ME to go "Oh kewl! I want one!" Well, circumstances (and prices) haven't gotten me a PFM -- but I DO now have six or seven "regular" Snorkels (which are a better weight and girth for me).

This, though? "You've come a long way, baby...." Yup. Time traveled all the way back to the middle of the 20th century.... Yuck. At least the PFM ad was a product of its time. BIC had NO excuse for this.... And they weren't even fountain pens!

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DilettanteG]

 

 

This entire paragraph is hard truth, for me at least, and this ink and the stupid ass campaign around it reminds me strongly of the "Bic Pens FOR WOMEN!" fiasco that happened a few years back, when BIC released pink and lavender purple colored ballpoint pens to celebrate Women's Day with this monstrosity of an ad:

 

 

 

Way to go Montblanc, I mean, really.

 

So is this Montblanc saying, "Hold my beer?"

 

[encremental]

I wonder if it's a German thing? Pelikan do stuff like this as well.

 

As a sidebar, I do love counting male disclaimers that often precede pink - related comments on FPN. Once you notice them, it becomes compulsive

 

The wonderful UK comedian Bridget Christie won an award for her show 'A Bic For Her' in 2014. It used to be on YouTube but I can't find it so have just been pleasantly distracted by her brilliant 'Ant' routine instead. Worth seeking out.

 

John

Edited July 6, 2019 by encremental

[inkstainedruth]

 

So is this Montblanc saying, "Hold my beer."

 

 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DilettanteG]

I wonder if it's a German thing? Pelikan do stuff like this as well.

 

As a sidebar, I do love counting male disclaimers that often precede pink - related comments on FPN. Once you notice them, it becomes compulsive

 

The wonderful UK comedian Bridget Christie won an award for her show 'A Bic For Her' in 2014. It used to be on YouTube but I can't find it so have just been pleasantly distracted by her brilliant 'Ant' routine instead. Worth seeking out.

 

John

 

Pelikan? Say it isn't so!

 

Couldn't find Bridget Christie's Bic for Her, but I did find this:

 

[encremental]

Ah! That jogged my memory - it wasn't YouTube, it was Netflix. She has a standup show called 'Stand Up For Her' on there! I think the man in the fridge routine is there as well as the Bic one.

 

John

Edited July 6, 2019 by encremental

[inkstainedruth]

 

Pelikan? Say it isn't so!

 

Couldn't find Bridget Christie's Bic for Her, but I did find this:

 

 

That was HILARIOUS!

The best part, of course was when she said *her* rape fantasies involved "more prosecutions and longer sentences....."

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DilettanteG]

That was HILARIOUS!

The best part, of course was when she said *her* rape fantasies involved "more prosecutions and longer sentences....."

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

That was my favorite part too!

[Honeybadgers]

 

That was HILARIOUS!

The best part, of course was when she said *her* rape fantasies involved "more prosecutions and longer sentences....."

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I dunno why but the reversal of the absolute scummiest thing a human being has ever said ( "she dressed like she wanted it" or thereabouts ) never stops being funny to me. That's a glass of water that we all, as a collective society, need to keep having thrown in our faces just as a reminder of how awful it is.

Edited July 9, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[inkstainedruth]

 

I dunno why but the reversal of the absolute scummiest thing a human being has ever said ( "she dressed like she wanted it" or thereabouts ) never stops being funny to me. That's a glass of water that we all, as a collective society, need to keep having thrown in our faces just as a reminder of how awful it is.

 

That reminds me of a mini-series I saw a number of years ago on PBS, having to do with a college professor whose university has made "redundant". So he decides to track down the creator of his favorite crosswords, and eventually gets involved with a whole conspiracy by a large corporation after he discovers the crosswords person's home has been burned down (a case of arson). The (female) cop who gets stuck with having to deal with him gets told by him at one point "I know something very funny about sex!" So she finally gets him to tell her the "funny part" and he says "A woman wearing only underwear and stockings is sexy -- but MAN wearing only underwear and stockings... isn't!" Of course you probably couldn't say something like this now (the show was from about 25 years ago, because I saw it when I lived in Massachusetts, flipping channels one Saturday afternoon when I was home sick).

I wish I could remember the title of the show. I think Alan Bates was the professor. It was quite enjoyable, even if the "mystery" part was somewhat slight (it's more of a "road" picture and a middle-aged romance between the two leads, the professor and the cop).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Arkanabar]

IMDB to the rescue! You're remembering Oliver's Travels.