Pelikan Brilliant Red ink review

3 months into 2013 I'm finally posting something new on this blog. I've neglected it for too long, but in my defense I've been concerned with my personal well-being and healthy living in general, which left me with very little time to test and review new inks. As for fountain pens, I haven't bought any in a long time and it's unlikely I will. Although, to be honest, I'm tempted by the new TWSBI Diamond 580. Who knows, I might pick one up with an italic nib. My own Diamond 530 is showing signs of aging in the form of stress fractures around the section, despite using it very lightly.

During this time I haven't been completely idle in regards to inks. I still have a sizeable collection of samples that I would like to test, before I can even think about buying new inks. These past few months I have tested 2 inks. Today's review is about Pelikan Brilliant Red, which is your run-of-the-mill red ink. I tested it in my hardworking Pilot Varsity.

Before I begin, a disclaimer. I would like to apologize in advance for the inaccurate color reproduction in the samples. Some inks are harder to transpose to a screen and this is one of them. Since my workflow consists of photographing the sheet of paper (as opposed to scanning it), and then correcting the colors in post-processing, additional errors are sometimes introduced. Additionally, I do the processing on my good monitor, which tends to reproduce colors more accurately (as far as my eye can tell) but when I view the image on my cheaper monitor, it sometimes looks awful. Just be aware that color reproduction varies from monitor to monitor and eye to eye.

Bottle
Pelian Brilliant Red is almost as cheap as Noodler's inks. It comes in a 62.5 ml / 2 oz bottle and costs $9.45, or $0.15 per milliliter.

Color and saturation
As the name suggests, this is a bright red ink. I didn't find it highly saturated but it is rather bright. This is where my samples don't quite reflect reality. To my eye, the samples tend towards orange, while in reality the ink is actually a very neutral red. In addition, the samples are more saturated than the actual ink.

I compared it to another red ink I own, Noodler's Nikita, and the difference is obvious: while Nikita tends towards pink, Brilliant Red has a warmer and more neutral red tone. Out of the two I believe I prefer the Pelikan ink.

Shading
Pelikan Brilliant Red doesn't have any shading, being completely flat.

Feathering
None.

Bleedthrough
Since the ink is not very saturated, it doesn't bleed either. Of course, there's some ghosting when applied thickly with a q-tip or the glass dip pen.

Flow and lubrication
Pelikan Brilliant Red flows well in the Pilot Varsity. It's not too wet, nor dry. I assume that, being produced by one of the big ink brands, its properties are engineered to be very dependable and this is definitely the case here.

Drying time
Pelikan Brilliant Red dries quickly on regular (spongy) photocopy paper, somewhere between 5-10 seconds. On better paper, such as Rhodia 80g, drying times are comparable.

Smearing when dry
None.

Water resistance
This is not a water resistant ink and it shows in the water test. Within 30 seconds of being exposed to running water from the tap, most of the ink has washed off. You can notice some pink undertones when this happens.

Conclusion
Pelikan Brilliant Red is a decent, well behaving, non-water resistant ink. I would call it fairly average because it doesn't distinguish itself in any aspect. It simply performs. If you need a no-fuss red ink that is guaranteed to work well with any fountain pen, but are not interested in water resistance or other exotic properties, I would heartily recommend Pelikan Brilliant Red.

Finally, here are the two samples on photocopy and Rhodia 80g paper, respectively.

Pelikan Brilliant Green ink review

Welcome to my first review of a Pelikan ink! Although I didn't know what to expect from Pelikan Brilliant Green, the experience was so-so, leaning on the positive side. I only bought a sample which I tested in my trusted Pilot Varsity for over 2 weeks of daily writing.

Bottle
Brilliant Green comes in a 62.5ml / 2.1oz bottle which costs $9.25. At $0.20 per milliliter it isn't the cheapest ink, nor is it the most expensive.

Color and saturation
Pelikan Brilliant Green is, you guessed it, a green ink. Though it is the brightest green ink I have tested, I'm not sure I would call it "brilliant". The term "brilliant" implies something shiny, sparkly and perhaps even eye-popping. This, Brilliant Green is not. The color is, in fact, on the dull side and a bit washed out too. While the sample done with the q-tip looks brighter, that's by virtue of the large quantity of ink deposited on the paper. With a fountain pen, things are a bit different. I suspect this has something to do with the flow of this ink, discussed further below.

Overall I would liken this color to a light shade of emerald.

The watery nature of this ink doesn't help the saturation which is somewhere between low and medium.

Shading
Pelikan Brilliant Green may fail to sear your retinas but it features some surprising shading. This is especially evident in the large q-tip swaths but it is also apparent when writing with a medium nib like the the Varsity. The shading, in fact, reminds me strongly of watercolor. I did mention this ink is watery, didn't I?

Feathering
None.

Bleedthrough
The ink doesn't bleed through Rhodia paper, evidently. However, although I wrote in my review on copy paper that it doesn't bleed, upon using it some more I found that it bleeds a little on cheap paper, especially paper that's been abused a little (writing on both sides). I wouldn't worry too much about this unless you plan to use really cheap paper.

Flow and lubrication
I am puzzled by Pelikan Brilliant Green's flow. Though it glides relatively well across the paper (ok, feels a tiny little bit dry), the flow seems inconsistent. Can it be the Pilot Varsity pen? I'm doubtful because this pen has excellent flow with most of the inks I have tested. However, the more watery ones, such as J Herbin Diabolo Menthe, tend to flow poorly. I believe this is also the case with Pelikan's ink. The inconsistent flow practically means that one moment it writes wet, and if I pick it up again in 5 minutes it writes dry. All I can say is that this ink would get a huge usability boost if it wrote consistently and wetter.

Drying time
As you can see from the samples, drying times are very short, even on the shiny Rhodia paper.

Smearing when dry
None.

Water resistance
This isn't a water resistant ink. 15 seconds under running water almost wiped the ink clean from the paper.

Conclusion
Pelikan Brilliant Green is an ink with an interesting shade of green but the fact that it is watery doesn't help it stand out. Though the color is subdued you won't be able to use it in a formal setting. On the other hand, it can probably do a good job as watercolor substitute thanks to its strong - and quite lovely - shading. My sample had inconsistent flow issues and that's something to consider. You'll probably be fine using it in a pen with wet flow. Would I buy a bottle of Pelikan Brilliant Green? Frankly, no. While this isn't by far the worst green I've tested, it is a bit pricy for all its little disadvantages. In the meantime, I'm still searching for the perfect green ink.

Here are the two writing samples on photocopy and Rhodia 80g, respectively.