Sailor Jentle Four Seasons Nioi-Sumire - 4ml Fountain Pen Ink Sample

Hue: Sold as Sweet Violet, officially a purple that leans blue. In my swatches the written line reads more blue than purple: a bright, saturated blue-violet. The violet only comes forward where the ink pools. It is also more vivid than the "soft violet" some retailers describe.

Shading: Moderate. You can see it in the swab bar and in wider strokes. The pooled swabs go down to a deep indigo-violet.

Sheen: Heavy rose-gold to copper-red sheen. It is striking wherever the ink pools, and it shows along the edges of the swab bar and in the loops of the writing sample.

Shimmer: None.

Flow: Wet.

The interesting bit: Nioi-sumire (匂菫) translates as "fragrant violet". Nioi means scent and sumire is the Japanese violet, a spring flower. It is one of the spring colours in Sailor's Four Seasons (Shikisai) series, which was inspired by Japan's seasons. This sample comes from the earlier 50ml Jentle Four Seasons bottle with Sailor's internal inkwell. The same colour has since been sold in 20ml bottles under the Shikiori name.

This is a hand-decanted 4ml sample vial from my own bottle. Photos are my own swatches on Tomoe River Paper. I'm a collector and I'm always happy to talk ink, so please message me if you have any questions.