Purple Fountain Pen Ink Comparison

Purple is the color of royalty, wisdom, magic, and mystery—a color used and revered around the world since the earliest days of ancient history. A blend of cool blue and warm red hues, it has a rich and compelling duality that imbues your writing with a feeling of passion and sophistication. Let’s take a look at our top purple fountain pen ink recommendations, then delve into an in-depth comparison of all our purple inks.

Top Choices

Best Overall: Noodler’s V-Mail North African Violet

Noodler’s V-Mail North African Violet

If we had to choose one purple ink to rule them all, this would be it. North African Violet is a nice true purple with exceptional water and highlighter resistance and a faster-than-average drying time. Its large bottle size (3 oz / 89 ml) add to its appeal as a one-size-fits-all purple. It also has an interesting backstory—part of Noodler’s “V-Mail” ink series, it is a reverse-engineered replica of a World War II era ink used by civilians to write encouraging letters to soldiers deployed overseas.

Also Consider: Kaweco Summer Purple

Kaweco Summer Purple

A duskier, more sophisticated purple, Summer Purple is perfect for anyone wanting a more subdued ink. It isn’t as waterproof as North African Violet, but it has enough water resistance for anything you write should remain legible enough to copy to a fresh sheet if it gets wet. It also comes in standard international short cartridges for those who prefer the compact convenience of cartridges.

Best for Work & School: Sailor Jentle Nioi-sumire

Sailor Jentle Nioi-sumire

A soft, blue-leaning purple ink, Nioi-sumire offers a pleasant alternative to standard blue and black inks while still being appropriate for all but the strictest school or work environments. It dries quickly and performs well on a wide range of papers—an essential quality when you don’t get to choose the paper you write on. It isn’t waterproof, but like Summer Purple it has enough water-resistance that you should have no trouble copying any writing that gets wet onto a fresh page. It also has decent highlighter resistance, but if you plan on doing a lot of highlighting, we recommend looking at the next ink.

Also Consider: Diamine Imperial Purple

Diamine Imperial Purple

Imperial Purple is a beautiful and well-behaved royal purple. Its water-resistance is similar to Nioi-sumire’s, but it has exceptional highlighter resistance. It’s brighter and more obviously purple than Nioi-sumire, though, so it might not be appropriate for more conservative environments. Its 80 ml bottle size will last for reams of notes, and it’s also available in 30 ml bottles and standard international short cartridges.

Fast-Drying & Waterproof: J. Herbin Scented Violet Purple

J. Herbin Scented Violet Purple

One of our fastest-drying purple inks, Scented Violet Purple is perfect for lefties and for jotting quick notes in a pocket notebook. It’s also one of our most waterproof inks, making it great for outdoor writing or anything you want to protect from accidental spills. As an added bonus, it has a nice floral scent that lingers on the page for up to several days after writing.

Also Consider: Noodler’s Concord Bream & Noodler’s La Reine Mauve

Noodler’s Concord Bream & Noodler’s La Reine Mauve

Concord Bream is even faster-drying and more waterproof than Violet Purple, but there’s a catch—it’s one of the worst-feathering inks we’ve seen on just about any paper.

La Reine Mauve is just a bit slower-drying than Concord Bream and Scented Violet Purple, but it’s more waterproof than either. It’s also resistant to fading, UV light, and solvents like alcohol or nail polish remover. It doesn’t feather like Concord Bream, but it does spread slightly on the page, making your writing look about a size broader than other inks would from the same pen.

Comparisons

Color Groups

Purple inks come in a range of hues from not-quite-blue to nearly red, and each has its own unique character. To help you find your perfect purple, we’ve divided all of our purple inks into five basic color groups:

True Purple

These balanced true purples are a perfect place to start looking if you want to try a purple ink.

Dusky Purple

Dark and sophisticated, these dusky purples are great for journaling and letter-writing.

Blue Violet

These blue-leaning purples offer a refreshing alternative to standard blue inks without standing too far out of the crowd.

Red Violet

Leaning closer to red, these warm-blooded purples have a strong, energetic feel.

Magenta

Cheerful and animated, these magentas have a fun, feminine quality.

Drying Time

Fastest-Drying Inks

Fountain pen inks take longer to dry than gel or ballpoint inks, so choosing a fast-drying ink is especially important for lefties and people who use their fountain pens for jotting quick notes on the go. We’ve found the fastest-drying purple inks to be:

• Noodler’s Concord Bream
• J. Herbin Scented Violet Purple
• Noodler’s La Reine Mauve
• Pelikan 4001 Violet
• Waterman Tender Purple

Concord Bream feathers quite badly, however, and Violet Purple and La Reine Mauve also feather or spread more than typical inks. On the other hand, Pelikan Violet and Waterman Tender Purple are very well-behaved, offering a great balance of drying-time and line quality.

Click below to see the full results of our testing, which we performed by drawing X’s with a dipped fountain pen and smearing them after 3, 10, 20, 30, and 60 seconds.

Drying Time Test Results
Drying Time Test Results

These tests were done on Rhodia DotPad paper with a TWSBI ECO 1.1 mm fountain pen. Rhodia paper is ink-resistant, and drying times on it are longer than on other, more absorbent papers. The exact drying times you experience will vary depending on the pen and paper you use, so the results below are best used for comparing the relative performance of the inks.

Ink	3 Sec	10 Sec	20 Sec	30 Sec	60 Sec

Water and Highlighter Resistance

Most Water- and Highlighter-Resistant Inks

Most fountain pen inks will smear or fade if they get wet or highlighted. If you plan on highlighting your writing or want to make sure that an errant spill can’t wipe out your work, it’s important to choose an ink with good water resistance. We’ve found all of the following inks to be virtually waterproof:

• J. Herbin Scented Violet Purple
• Noodler’s Concord Bream
• Noodler’s La Reine Mauve
• Noodler’s Periwinkle
• Sailor STORiA Magic Purple

Additionally, Noodler’s Baystate Concord Grape produces a light purple halo when wet but remains otherwise unaffected and perfectly legible. All of these inks also stand up exceptionally well to being highlighted, as do Diamine Amazing Amethyst, Diamine Imperial Purple, J. Herbin Larmes de Cassis, Kaweco Summer Purple, and Noodler’s Purple Martin.

Click below to see the full results of our testing, which we performed by soaking the inks in water for 30 seconds, smearing them with a waterbrush, and writing over them with ink and gel highlighters.

Water and Highlighter Resistance Test Results
Water and Highlighter Resistance Test Results

These tests were done on Rhodia DotPad paper with a TWSBI ECO 1.1 mm fountain pen, Kuretake medium water brush, Stabilo Boss ink highlighter, and Monami Essenti Dry gel highlighter. Rhodia paper is very smooth and non-absorbent, allowing inks to smear more easily on it than on other, toothier papers. Because of this, you may experience better results than those below if you use a toothier, more absorbent paper.

Ink	Water (Soak)	Water (Brush)	Highlighter (Ink)	Highlighter (Gel)

Check out our guide to Waterproof Fountain Pen Inks for more information on waterproof and water-resistant fountain pen inks.

Conclusion

Purple fountain pen inks are a great way to add character and energy to your writing. Do you have a favorite purple fountain pen ink? Let us know in the comments below! And if you enjoyed this article, click here to see all of our fountain pen ink comparisons.

Ink	Color Group	Drying Time	Water Resistance	Ink Highlighter	Gel Highighter
	Dusky Purple	Average	Good	Good	Excellent
	True Purple	Average	Poor	Good	Excellent
	Blue Violet	Average	Poor	Poor	Average
	Magenta	Average	Poor	Average	Good
	Dusky Purple	Average	Poor	Poor	Poor
	Magenta	Average	Poor	Poor	Poor
	Dusky Purple	Average	Poor	Poor	Poor
	True Purple	Average	Moderate	Excellent	Excellent
	Red Violet	Average	Poor	Average	Average
	Red Violet	Average	Poor	Average	Average
	Red Violet	Average	Poor	Poor	Average
	Magenta	Average	Moderate	Average	Good
	Blue Violet	Fast	Poor	Good	Good
	Magenta	Fast	Poor	Excellent	Excellent
	Dusky Purple	Average	Poor	Average	Average
	Magenta	Average	Poor	Good	Good
	True Purple	Very Fast	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
	True Purple	Fast	Poor	Excellent	Excellent
	Dusky Purple	Average	Good	Good	Excellent
	Magenta	Slow	Poor	Good	Excellent
	True Purple	Fast	Very Good	Good	Good
	Blue Violet	Extremely Fast	Excellent	Good	Good
	Magenta	Very Slow	Poor	Poor	Average
	True Purple	Very Slow	Poor	Poor	Good
	True Purple	Very Fast	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
	Blue Violet	Average	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
	Red Violet	Very Slow	Moderate	Average	Good
	Dusky Purple	Very Slow	Good	Good	Excellent
	Dusky Purple	Average	Good	Poor	Good
	Magenta	Very Slow	Poor	Poor	Poor
	True Purple	Fast	Excellent	Good	Good
	Red Violet	Very Slow	Poor	Average	Poor
	Red Violet	Very Fast	Poor	Average	Poor
	True Purple	Average	Moderate	Average	Good
	Magenta	Average	Moderate	Poor	Average
	Blue Violet	Fast	Good	Poor	Excellent
	Blue Violet	Fast	Good	Poor	Excellent
	True Purple	Average	Very Good	Excellent	Excellent
	Red Violet	Very Fast	Moderate	Poor	Poor

---

SOURCE:https://www.jetpens.com/blog/purple-fountain-pen-ink-comparison/pt/895