Diplomat - Lilac

Diplomat Lilac - Ink drop

Diplomat Lilac is one of the more attractive violets, that I’ve tried. I like both violet and purple inks, so I’ve been looking forward to this one. Of the fifteen inks Diplomat offers by the bottle, three fall in the magenta to violet range, and Lilac is the darkest.

Diplomat Lilac fountain pen ink color range

Wet on the page, it has red elements that make it a purple, but as it dries, they fade and leave you a nice, cool, medium violet. On uncoated papers, there’s some variation, but it isn’t significant. On coated papers, you’ll find more satisfying stroke shading. Light areas reveal subtle hints of blue. It reminds me a bit of Kobe 57, but Lilac is much darker and there’s far less blue.

Ink Swatches on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River

Writing performance was very good on many papers. Stroke profiles were generally clean and well defined. However, there was consistent feathering on Oasis (not common on that brand of coated paper), and a bit on the swatch card, as well. On uncoated papers (including cheap office copy paper), it was fine, overall. Show-through and bleeding weren’t a real problem.

Good Definition on Cosmo Air Snow paper

This is a wet ink in flow, and the writing experience was very smooth and comfortable. Drying times were always better than average, too. I really enjoy this as a writing ink.

Diplomat Lilac ink writing samples

If you stay away from Oasis paper, I think you’ll really like Diplomat Lilac. Overall, it’s reliable and a real pleasure to use. You’ll find 30 ml bottles for around US$13-14 at many online retailers.

Diplomat Lilac - Swatch Card

Diplomat Lilac - Comparisons

Diplomat Lilac - 30 ml Ink Bottle