Ink Review: Caran d’Ache Divine Pink

Most of the time, I tend to think Caran d’Ache can do no wrong. Their $5 pencils? Totally worth it. Their colored pencils and watercolor pencils? Epic. Their watercolor crayons? The holy grail of art materials.

But when it comes to their fountain pen ink, I find it a wee bit overpriced. Its pretty and the bottles are unique but $30 per 50ml bottle is pretty steep. But I’ve bought some so I definitely drink their brand of Kool-Aid. Then I got a sample of Divine Pink and I had to start wondering if Caran d’Ache was having a bad day. You call this pink? I’ll give you warm red. Coral Rose? Maybe even Magenta? But pink, it is not. It’s pretty but it is not pink.

In an effort to prove to myself that I wasn’t crazy to think that Divine Pink was not really pink, I pulled out some of my Prismacolor Premier colored pencils to see what colors appeared similar. Carmine Red was probably the closest in hue. That’s not to say that I don’t like the color. I just think the name is terribly misleading.

The color is bright and vivid. Divine Pink dried fairly quickly on the Rhodia paper, even with my stub Estie nib and I didn’t smudge once. There’s a little bit of shading in the writing as well.

Like most red and pink inks, it is not the least bit water resistant. It activates easily with water but it also means its unlikely to stain or clog a pen.

In comparing Divine Pink to other colors in my swab stash, it falls between Kaweco Ruby Red and J. Herbin Rouge Opera. Ruby Red being slightly more red and Rouge Opera being slightly more pink. I included Pilot Iroshizuku Tsutsuji as an ink I consider to be pink for a clear visual comparison.

This sample was part of a Goulet Pens Ink Drop.