J.Herbin Encre Violette

[Immoteus]

Part 2 of my disappointment...

 

This is what the bottle looks like

http://www.jherbin.com/images/subtile_violet_big.jpg

 

All thats left is the Encre Verte (Apple Scent) and Rouge (Rose Scent). After the abysmal review of Ambre and Violette; I'm going to abstain.

Edited December 25, 2007 by Immoteus

[captnemo]

I'm pretty sure I don't like the color. It DOES have the color of real African violets but it doesn't look that great on paper. That's just my opinion.

 

I wouldn't dump it down the sink though. Somebody on FPN might like to sample it.

[ppenloverr]

i do not like it

[Taki]

Does anyone know if this color is the same as Violet Pansee?

[wackyjacky1]

My Violette Pensee is a darker purple than what the scan of Encre Violette appears to be. It's not super-saturated by any means, but based on Immoteus's scan it's definitely a richer color than Encre Violette:

 

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc71/wackyjacky1/IMG_0004_23.jpg

 

(It looks a tad washed-out in this pic because of the flash. I did not do any color adjustment.)

 

edit to add: Violette Pensee has exhibited no feathering and is definitely not a wet, runny ink in any pen I've tried.

Edited December 30, 2007 by wackyjacky1

[Taki]

Thank you very much, Jackie! I like the combination of the ink and a Core in that color!!

[GreenVelvet]

Like all the Herbin scented inks, I found the scent in this ink overpowering. It's so bad that I can't use the ink. It gives me a headache. I did like the color, though.

[Tricia]

Like all the Herbin scented inks, I found the scent in this ink overpowering. It's so bad that I can't use the ink. It gives me a headache. I did like the color, though.

 

The scent does fade over time, even in the bottle. You might want to let it 'age' a little on your shelf and try again.

 

 

 

[GreenVelvet]

It was pretty synthetic smelling. Thanks for the advice, though... I can't imagine this chemical kind of brew smelling any better in smaller doses, just less painful.

[wvbeetlebug]

Thanks for the review.

The bottle is cute. I would like the ink color better if it were more like the actual color of the bottle. I've only tried two JHerbin inks. Bleu Pervanche (beautiful color) and Lie de The (should've been brown but was a nasty poopy green color). I need an ink with some heft to it.

[GreenVelvet]

Oh, I was terribly disappointed with Lie di The, also! Definitely too much gold/green for a brown in my taste.

[penspouse]

:hmm1: Interesting. I have this ink and found it to be very dry in my Pelikan, M200 F nib, hardly flowing at all. I was waiting until my gusher Taccia ran out of the current black to filll it with the violet to see if that made it any better.

[Tricia]

Mmm, I like this ink, and the scented Rose is one of my favorite reds (currently in a Visconti Vedo italic). Different strokes, I guess. (Yeah, bad pun, but how could I resist? )

[RhodiumPlated]

I wonder if the ink may have been reformulated since the original review was posted…

 

Indeed, unlike the scan presented above, the colour coming out of my inkwell is a deep and dark purple that is saturated but by no means « neon » or pale. I find it comparable to the Violette Pensée I have seen, although not quite an exact match. It may be a hair too saturated for business use but is by no means gimmicky — scent aside, of course. The ink also behaves well on paper, exhibiting no feathering and only very slight beed-through on white Rhodia 90g/m² paper. It rinses well from the pen and dries quickly on the page, darkening a tad further as it does so. A medium nib produces subtle shading, although one would need to look for it to really see it.

 

I agree with the other posters that the smell is a wee bit synthetic and strong when coming out of the pen onto the page but one does not, of course, expect complex fragrances to come out of an inkwell. I find it pleasant but that is a matter of personal taste, and would compare it to what one would expect from a violet-scented soap or a lower-end confectionery. For other English fragrance lovers out there, it shares a common streak with Penhaligon's sirupy violet — without the « soul », of course —, as opposed to Trumper's dryer take on the topic.

 

— RP

 

PS: This is by no means a criticism of the original review, and I do not intend it to come across as such. Since Herbin seems to be in the habit of reformulating and tweaking colours in-between batches, I thought the contribution may encourage a more thorough reviewer to compare samples. (I only have the aforementioned, recently-bought version.)

Edited December 13, 2010 by RhodiumPlated

[Ghost Plane]

Reminds me of US dish detergent in scent but definitely a nice color.

[SamCapote]

Reminds me of US dish detergent in scent but definitely a nice color.

 

:roflmho:

[Aquaria]

Part 2 of my disappointment...

 

This is what the bottle looks like

http://www.jherbin.com/images/subtile_violet_big.jpg

 

All thats left is the Encre Verte (Apple Scent) and Rouge (Rose Scent). After the abysmal review of Ambre and Violette; I'm going to abstain.

 

 

I had none of these problems with my bottle of this ink. My J Herbin dip pen loved it, and so did the one FP I used it in, a Waterman Carene. The color is a standard violet-purple, a little less saturated than Waterman Tender Purple. I didn't test it on a wide variety of papers, but it did fine on Rhodia and my Maruman Eco notebook.

 

The smell is one of those things that depends on what kind of scent capabilities you have. You know how some people love the citrusy-green taste of cilantro, while others think it tastes like soap? Same thing with this ink. You either smell soap/something synthetic. Or you smell violets. I'm what they call a "supertaster," so I get all the real tones of scents and tastes, and some tones that most people never pick up on. So this doesn't smell like soap to me, but like parma violets--which are different from African violets or the traditional violets that most of us know. The difference is subtle, but definitely there. If you've ever smelled the difference from regular violets, you pick it up, right off.

[truthpil]

Has anyone had a problem with the scent particles in the ink becoming like an oil slick on the top of the ink in the bottle and coagulating into little clumps?

 

I use this ink for special occasions and love the color, but my bottle has floaties and an oil slick after a couple years of being in the drawer. I would suspect it's a case of SITB, but the floaties smell like extremely concentrated perfume.

[inkstainedruth]

Haven't tried this one. Someone gave me a sample of the rose scented one and it's a lovely color, but not as strong a scent as my bottle of De Atramentis Red Roses is. I will have to get my hands on a full bottle and see if the Herbin ink is as strongly scented in bottle form as the D'A ink (which I love because it really smells like heirloom roses). I don't mind having both because the colors are different -- the D'A is more of a dark red violet in a fine vintage nib on good paper, whereas the Herbin ink is more of a pinkish red coming out of my F-nibbed Safari. And the colors are sufficiently different I don't mind having both.

That being said, I have not has NEARLY as good luck with the other scented D'A inks I've tried....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth