The Kiwi Inks website is chock full of completely insane inks. It's shimmer and sheen galore, and I do love inks that look absolutely crazy, so I was very happy when Izumi Pens sent me a sample of Quetzalcoatl.
This unpronounceable ink is a combination of red, green sheen, and blue shimmer. It certainly looks striking in the product listing, and I was curious to see is I would get the same results in my swatches. Note that sheening inks vary greatly between papers, so depending on what you are writing on, you will get different results.
For example, I can't see much sheen in my new Kunisawa review notebook. A bit of sheen around the edges, some shimmer and that's about it (though this is an older notebook than the ones I reviewed in my articles, so the newer ones may show it better).
If you swatch it on Tomoe River, you'll find that you get much more interesting results.
It turns into a sheen monster!
If you look straight at the writing and swatches, it looks just like an ordinary ink. Turn it sideways slightly, and you are immediately blinded by a dazzling green sheen!
I would have liked to see a bit more blue shimmer. While visible in the swatches, you can't really see it at all in the writing samples. This is a shame, but the sheen is so strong that I can survive without it.
Apart from this, it's a great ink! No feathering, just a bit of showthrough in my notebook which could be due to the paper rather than the ink, because it behaved perfectly on Tomoe River. It has an average dry time so you won't smudge all your writing, and it lends a bit of glamour to your written words!
Disclaimer: Izumi Pens sent me this ink for review purposes. All opinions expressed in this article are my own.