Jacques Herbin Violet Boréal

[lgsoltek]

Violet Boréal is an uninspiring muted violet of medium saturation. Little shading and no sheen visible. It flows well but there's nothing interesting about it.

 

To be fair, with so many inks on the market already, it's getting more and more difficult to release something new that's interesting. If there's an uncharted territory of colours it's most probably because it's not worth doing (see the bilious Nude). So at least this boring violet performs well. But are you willing to pay that high-end price for a violet that's merely "okay" while there are so many more of them with more character and probably much cheaper?

 

Splash

Sample

(Rhodia)

(Tomoe River)

Comparison

(Clairefontaine 90g)

(Maruman looseleaf)

 

[lapis]

You're right about that -- that it's uninspiring. Doesn't really go anywhere. Thanks anyway for your good review. Flying into the red-vs-blue realm has become difficult, if not bewildering. Scribble Purple is more in the right direction.

[ENewton]

Thank you. My guess is that Herbin wanted to have a dark purple sans glitter in its range--Poussiere de Lune is a burgundy, and Violette Pensee isn't dark--but a version of Amethyste de L'Oural without glitter would be more to my taste.

 

Fortunately, at least in my experience, Amethyste has so little glitter that one can use it without problems in most pens.

[migo984]

Au contraire, I think Violet Boréal is lovely. For me, the two Diamines are uninspiring. But then, I am bored with this type of ink and am enjoying exploring subtly. In that vein I am currently trying out the seven Robert Oster MudPack inks and I’m loving them.

[DrDebG]

Thank you for taking the time to do this ink review. The color appears to be above average, but without much "zing". For the price, I will pass.

[Jan2016]

thanks for the review!

[Intensity]

Rather boring looking ink. I was briefly interested in Terre d'Ombre, to complement my Lie de The, and Bleu Austral from the new Jacques Herbin range, but after seeing writing samples, I see other inks that are more interesting. Seems like their 50ml Les Encres Essentielles inks are fairly monochromatic. Lie de The is a masterpiece of subtle color variation (along with good water resistance and good behavior in all of my pens)--I feel like the new ink line is a step back.

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the review. I think the color looks nice -- but I ALSO think that (at least on my screen) it looks a lot like Iroshizuku Yama-budo. And I have two bottles of that....

Is this part of the new line of more saturated inks? I have Bleu Profundeurs, and I like that one a lot.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Intensity]

I can't confirm, since I don't own Violet Boreal, but just looking at the photographed samples, Yama Budo is probably more saturated and vivid compared to this ink, and also a more "clean" magenta compared to the murkier and more powdery Violet Boreal.

[namrehsnoom]

...Seems like their 50ml Les Encres Essentielles inks are fairly monochromatic. Lie de The is a masterpiece of subtle color variation (along with good water resistance and good behavior in all of my pens)--I feel like the new ink line is a step back.

 

I totally agree from what I’ve seen so far. I like their classic line a lot - it has quite some great inks with lovely complexity and character. The new premium inks are... well... underwhelming. Seems to me that their marketing people were like “everybody is doing premium inks, we cannot stay behind”

[Honeybadgers]

that might be the most "violet" violet I've ever seen.

 

dig it. I dig all their premium inks, I just don't dig their premium prices.

[lapis]

I dig 'em and bury 'em.

[lgsoltek]

Thanks for the review. I think the color looks nice -- but I ALSO think that (at least on my screen) it looks a lot like Iroshizuku Yama-budo. And I have two bottles of that....

Is this part of the new line of more saturated inks? I have Bleu Profundeurs, and I like that one a lot.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

I can't confirm, since I don't own Violet Boreal, but just looking at the photographed samples, Yama Budo is probably more saturated and vivid compared to this ink, and also a more "clean" magenta compared to the murkier and more powdery Violet Boreal.

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

Thanks for the comparison. So I was not that far off the mark (although I notice that that cards are slightly different shades in of themselves -- but I run into the same problem with the cheapie sketch pads I use for testing inks).

I could see myself trying a sample of Violet Boréal at some point, but maybe not a full bottle. After all -- I did justify having both Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses and something else (might have been Yama-budo, come to think) a few years ago....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[VivienR]

Thank you for the review, you saved me from a disappointment.