INKTASTIC: SAILOR JENTLE OKU-YAMA INK REVIEW

Certain brands are known for their very high quality inks, but Sailor is often forgotten in that regard. In the last few months, I've been quite on a Sailor ink craze. I bought three bottles of the current Jentle ink collection (I write 'current' because a new collection is supposed to be released soon, and I don't know if the current inks will continue to be available. I sure hope they'll stick!) Sailor has earned a spot on top of my favourites list without a doubt. 

If only I would've noticed a little earlier on... To think that I almost passed up on this ink when I was visiting La Couronne du Comte is just ridiculous! Of all the awesome Sailor inks, Oku-Yama is one of the best (who am I kidding, they are all great!).

I'd call the color bordeaux red, but I'm not a wine drinker myself, so don't take my word for it I guess... It's remarkably similar to Diamine Oxblood and Diamine Red Dragon when used in finer nibs (I've confused myself more than once when I had both this and Diamine Red Dragon inked up). 

What I do know is that Oku-Yama, as well as most other Sailor Jentle inks I've used so far, is a well-saturated color with noticeable lubrication and a fairly wet flow. Writing with them feels as if these inks are a bit more viscous (a slight oily texture). Put this in a smooth broad nib, and it's pure bliss!

There's some good shading going on, but it's not really pronounced on the page because the base color is already very saturated. Without a doubt, one of the best properties of this ink is its' sheen! It has a pretty strong gold sheen when you hold it at the right angle towards the light. In my experience most -if not all- Sailor inks have a good deal of sheen, especially for those that like to use Tomoe River paper that's a very nice extra to an already amazing ink!

Behaviour is good, dry times seem especially decent for an ink that 'feels' quite wet and lubricated. I've read up on some articles that mention Sailor inks are a bit more 'agressive' chemically, which basically means you should exert a slight amount of care and caution when you use one of these inks. So far however, I haven't had any issues with any of the Sailor inks I have, and I've been using multiple ones in various pens for the last couple months. 

Price is my only concern, but only because I know I'll want them all eventually! They are not the cheapest, at 18 EUR/ 20 USD for a bottle of 50ml. But I definitely think Oku-Yama and the other beautiful colors are worth a try.

Note: La Couronne Du Comte is a sponsor of this blog, I received a discount on this purchase, so I could write this review. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared here are completely my own! This review does not contain any affilate links.