February 27, 2014

Memento Luxe Ink Review

Hello! Leah from Paper Blossoms here today. I thought it may be helpful to share a review of the newer Memento Luxe pigment inks that I recently purchased. I know that I am always looking for reviews and personal experience with a product before I decide to try it out, so hopefully this will help someone!

There are great explanations out there on the difference between dye ink and pigment ink but for a quick re-cap, dye ink dyes the paper which means it absorbs into it very quickly so that it is basically  dry the moment you stamp it. The colors in general are going to be more translucent as well since the color sinks into the paper. Pigment ink is a much heavier, wetter ink that sits on top of the paper and is more highly pigmented so get you a much more opaque look which can equal more vibrancy of color. The Memento Luxe inks are a pigment ink.

One bit of caution using pigment inks is that because they stay wet quite a bit longer than dye ink unless you are going to not touch your project for several hours after completing it, I'd recommend heat setting it so that you don't accidentally smudge the ink. You can also very easily use embossing powder to seal it, which you would also heat set.

 Here is a card I did using all Memento Luxe Inks. They give vibrant, rich color and cover clear stamps super, super well! Dye ink can have challenges with good coverage and non splotchy images. I was very pleased with the amount of detail the Luxe inks captured as well and I really like the layering of colors (the bit of overlap in my sentiment) they provide. I personally think that for general stamping they are a fabulous ink that give rich color and great coverage!
If you read about what the Luxe inks were designed for it says Mixed Media. I haven't had mine very long yet, so I am still trying techniques out, but one I did try is watercoloring with them. For this card I stamped the image onto watercolor paper and immediately swiped a water brush across my still wet image. It moved the color around to give a watercolor wash but didn't obliterate the outline of the image. I then picked up other colors directly from my ink pad with a dry brush and brushed on the ink to my damp paper adding more water to blend. These inks allow you to do some watercolor techniques using just the ink itself. Once the ink is dry or heat set it is no longer reactive with water.

These are just a couple of my findings so far about these inks! I am super happy with them and look forward to trying them on other mediums such as fabric, wood and ribbon. I hope this has been informative and I would highly recommend the Memento Luxe inks. Thanks for letting me share! Have a blessed day :)

Memento Luxe ink colors used:
*Rhubarb Stalk
*Rose Bud
*Teal Zeal
*Pear Tart
*Gray Flannel
*Dandelion

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for explaining these inks! I may have to give some of them a try, now. Good review. BethAnn M.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have one color of Luxe that I love and can't wait to get more. Thanks for all the info. Your cards are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The watercolor technique is fascinating; thanks for explaining the technique. both the cards turned out to be SO vibrant!

    ReplyDelete
  4. BEAUTIFUL!!! I love this card! the colors are sooo vibrant! and thanks for the info on the differences on the inks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. WOW - thanks for this! What gorgeous cards - love the vibrancy of the colours! TFS

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your sweet sweet words of encouragement.