Vinta - Malayan Apple

Vinta Inks - Malayan Apple - Ink Drop

Today’s ink is a chroma superstar, but it’s also a pleasure for writing! Malayan Apple [Makopa 1938] is a worthy member of Vinta’s sheening collection. The name has several origins. Malayan apple (Makopa in Tagalog, but I know it as a rose apple) is a tropical fruit with pinkish-red skin and white flesh. It looks like a cross between an apple and a western pear. The taste is quite underwhelming, mildly both sweet and astringent. On fruit day in my office, it was always the last to get picked. 1938 is the year that the scientific name was first published.

Visually, Malayan Apple is a beautiful, highly saturated magenta-purple with an almost electric glow. Within its depths, there’s an otherworldly internal brightness, a mesmerizing shine from within. As the splatter shows, a cosmic green-gold sheen floods areas of pooling, and amply decorates written strokes. This ink is glorious!

Vinta Inks - Malayan Apple - Ink Swatch Card

Don’t let the sheen in Malayan Apple scare you. This ink is a real treasure in the pen. It’s a luxuriously smooth writing ink that confidently kept up on all papers tested. Strokes were sharp and pure. It isn’t a shader, and there’s no halo, but the color is magnificent, and the sheen adds that special extra. Coated premiums showed the most sheen, but I prefer it on uncoated papers and office copy. It’s less aggressive and allowed the beautiful magenta-purple to take the spotlight. Drying was an impressive 10-15 seconds on premium papers, and 5 seconds on office copy.

This ink is “Wow!!” in a bottle! I’ve had enormous fun using it over the past several days. It brings a smile every time, but don’t let its playful face fool you, this is a seriously good writing ink. If you’re unsure about sheening inks, or already a big fan, I recommend it.