Monarca Manglar Review: A New Ink Brand in Mexico!

[Matthew TWP]

 

 

I ran across this bottle of ink completely by chance as I was browsing around on Etsy. I've seen quite a few calligraphy channels on YouTube by Mexicans, but I didn't know if there was a strong fountain pen community there, so I was excited to see the brand of ink. (Here's a link to the Monarca Stationery store. I'm an Etsy affiliate, but not sponsored by or affiliated with Monarca at all). I should say that the seller is based in Mexico, the ink was shipped from Mexico, the inks are inspired by Mexico, but there's no indication anywhere that the inks are made in Mexico, for whatever that's worth. I'm assuming that they are.

 

The inks all ship in 30ml / 1oz. Boston bottles, and they cost $20 each, plus shipping (which is fast... got to Seattle in two days... but expensive). I really like their selection of colors. I just bought one to try out, but I ended up getting samples of all 9 of their inks. They have two series of four inks each, one representing the arid semi-desert regions of the country, and another representing the Mexican Caribbean, with themed boxes to match. There's also a 9th ink called "Rey Jaguar" that is not in either series.

As you may have noticed, the bottles also ship with a wooden pen-rest base, which is actually very practical for these bottles that have a smallish footprint. Mine smells freshly oiled and kinda nice.

 

I swatched the Monarca Manglar (Mangrove) on my Col O Ring, Rhodia, Cosmo Air Light, and Tomoe River 68gsm (old) for the review.

 

I'm a big fan of the color, especially on ivory papers. Though I'm sure they exist out there, I don't have any inks of this color in my collection, though I have plenty of grass greens and olive greens and pine greens. This one is a nice addition.

 

 

And again, I did a couple of writing samples on Rhodia (ruled) paper and Cosmo Air Light. I found that the ink is pretty well behaved; I didn't have any problems on Cosmo, but on the Rhodia I occasionally got some hairline feathering along the long fibers in the paper, though I encounter that with most inks. No sheen from this ink, and no shimmer, though three of the Monarca inks do have glitter, so be aware (Cenote, Rey Jaguar, and Cardona). I got a tiny bleed-through spot on the Rhodia, but nothing on the Cosmo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't taken a lot of time to write with this ink (just a couple of pages so far) but it doesn't stand out as being particularly wet or dry, and its dry time is also pretty average. It doesn't offer any water resistance.

 

 

I love their color "Cielo Cruel", which is a dark powder blue. It's gorgeous and I can't stop thinking about it for some reason. I'm not ready to buy another $20 single bottle with $15 shipping, though, so if any of you decide to place an order, I'll split the shipping with you 🙂 Let me know.

Here's a video I made that shows swatches of the full line of inks.

 

Hope some of you find this useful!

 

 

[lapis]

Great review of a completely new ink (line), at least new to me. And what a neat green. "Leaf" sounds really good... like it is a mix of green and blue and more yet not simply a teal. Thanks for this news and great comparison of similar veins as well!

[mizgeorge]

Oh! Some of those look beautiful - I really like the ridiculously pale Arena Blanca, and also Cielo Cruel and Jaguar Rey. The shipping costs are all over the place though - it would appear to be cheaper to ship the full pack of 8 than to ship one bottle to the UK, which makes no sense at all. 

 

Thanks for the discovery though! 

[Matthew TWP]

21 minutes ago, lapis said:

Great review of a completely new ink (line), at least new to me. And what a neat green. "Leaf" sounds really good... like it is a mix of green and blue and more yet not simply a teal. Thanks for this news and great comparison of similar veins as well!

 

1 minute ago, mizgeorge said:

Oh! Some of those look beautiful - I really like the ridiculously pale Arena Blanca, and also Cielo Cruel and Jaguar Rey. The shipping costs are all over the place though - it would appear to be cheaper to ship the full pack of 8 than to ship one bottle to the UK, which makes no sense at all. 

 

Thanks for the discovery though! 

 

Thanks! I was pretty excited to run across them. In fact, excited enough that I didn't really think about the fact that I was paying $20 for a 30ml bottle and $15 for shipping, which is pretty steep. My guess is that with their 8 packs they have to ship with a slower shipping method, so it's actually less expensive. As expensive as it was, mine did arrive in two days, so I can't complain too much.

[LizEF]

Lovely review and wonderful photos as always.  The pen rest is a nice touch, but I think after the first, I wouldn't want any more of them congregating on my desk!   As to the ink, not really my color, though the shading is nice, and the color change based on paper is interesting.

 

But I confess, the thing I like most in this review is Mr. Aardvark.

[I-am-not-really-here]

Naturally the one color that caught my eye, Rey Jaguar, is tagged Limited Edition and $29.  So the shipping adds "only" 50% to the cost.  

8 minutes ago, LizEF said:

But I confess, the thing I like most in this review is Mr. Aardvark.

Anteater, methinks.

[LizEF]

13 minutes ago, I-am-not-really-here said:

Anteater, methinks.

I couldn't decide - his tail looks too hairless to be an anteater, and his snout a little too large in diameter...  But his ears also look too small for an aardvark...  Well, whatever he is, he's adorable!

[Matthew TWP]

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

I couldn't decide - his tail looks too hairless to be an anteater, and his snout a little too large in diameter...  But his ears also look too small for an aardvark...  Well, whatever he is, he's adorable!

 

The anteater was something that my sister brought back to me from Oaxaca, and it's been keeping me company on my desk for several years now. She's pretty wily... never know what kind of mischief she'll get into. The anteater, I mean... not my sister.

[LizEF]

24 minutes ago, Matthew TWP said:

 

The anteater was something that my sister brought back to me from Oaxaca, and it's been keeping me company on my desk for several years now. She's pretty wily... never know what kind of mischief she'll get into.

Pardon me.  Miss Anteater is adorable!

[yazeh]

@Matthew TWP here you are with another fabulous/ classy review.  

I really loved the attention to detail and how you colour code your glass pens to the ink, the little touch with envelope and paper inside. Great presentation. 

Looking forward to your next reviews. 🙏

 

[Matthew TWP]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

@Matthew TWP here you are with another fabulous/ classy review.  

I really loved the attention to detail and how you colour code your glass pens to the ink, the little touch with envelope and paper inside. Great presentation. 

Looking forward to your next reviews. 🙏

 

 

Thanks Yazeh 🙂 

[jchch1950]

Nice Mexican Ink. Before they were inks made by some of the big pen companies but the Monarca brand is new.The store😋 is call Monarca Stationary so maybe other items will be available in the near future.

[txomsy]

Thanks for a great review, I didn't know of this brand, and it seems to have some really appealing colors and a wonderful presentation. At 22.5€ shipping to EU, I fear I'll have to wait until I can justify the expense, though.

[namrehsnoom]

Beautiful review, and what a nice discovery! Me thinks that this lovely review will definitely boost sales for this below-the-radar brand 😉 

Shipping to Europe is on the expensive side, and only worth it if you get all inks at once.

[Matthew TWP]

2 hours ago, txomsy said:

Thanks for a great review, I didn't know of this brand, and it seems to have some really appealing colors and a wonderful presentation. At 22.5€ shipping to EU, I fear I'll have to wait until I can justify the expense, though.

 

28 minutes ago, namrehsnoom said:

Beautiful review, and what a nice discovery! Me thinks that this lovely review will definitely boost sales for this below-the-radar brand 😉 

Shipping to Europe is on the expensive side, and only worth it if you get all inks at once.

 

Thanks! Yes, the shipping charges are the only reason that I haven't purchased a second bottle after trying the first one. I think I'll have a chat with them about it and see if there's anything that they can do to lower the shipping cost. I wonder if the standard mail in Mexico doesn't allow liquids to be shipped? We'll see. 

[amberleadavis]

Very nice comparison. I think the ink looks very different depending on the pen so thank you for sharing.

[Matthew TWP]

Yes, I just chatted with Miguel from Monarca Stationery, and he confirmed that standard Mexican Post doesn't allow shipping of liquids and isn't tracked, so it's not a practical option. I guess this means that I'll just have to order several bottles at a time to make it work 🙂

[Matthew TWP]

1 minute ago, amberleadavis said:

Very nice comparison. I think the ink looks very different depending on the pen so thank you for sharing.

 

My pleasure 🙂

[Mike Montero]

Matthew great video and review, thank you very much for your suggestions and opinions, we will take them into account for the next batch of inks

[axialix]

Very nice photos and great review! I'm curious what kind of camera you used?

 

"I'm a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar". Serenity reference?