Papier Plume Mardi Gras Ink Set: Three Shimmering Inks Plus One Festive Green Worth a Closer Look

Introduction

New Orleans stationery shop Papier Plume, based in the French Quarter, has released a themed ink set just in time for Mardi Gras. The celebration runs over several weeks between late February and early March, with parades passing right by the shop’s location, so the theme is a natural fit for a company so rooted in the city.

The set contains three shimmering inks: Doubloon, a yellow with gold shimmer; Masquerade, a deep purple with purple shimmer; and Neutral Ground, a green with purple shimmer. Inks are sold individually at $15 each, and the full set costs $40, which works out to a modest discount compared with buying the bottles separately.

One charming detail: the shop ran a contest where one of the sets contained a hidden King baby, with the finder winning $150. That prize has already been claimed, but the shop has hinted that similar future prizes may appear in later sets.

The Shimmer Lineup: Doubloon, Masquerade, and Neutral Ground

All three inks carry shimmer, and each uses it differently. Doubloon pairs its yellow base with a gold shimmer, Masquerade layers purple shimmer over a deep purple body, and Neutral Ground hides a purple shimmer inside a green ink. That last combination is the most surprising of the three: in heavy applications so much purple comes through that the ink almost reads as purple, while up close you can still see the green beneath it.

The packaging is a festive box holding all three bottles. It is worth noting that the box is not particularly sturdy, so it is more of a seasonal presentation piece than something you will keep long term.

How the Inks Behave on Paper

On 52gsm Tomoe River paper, tested with Q-tip swatches, thick smears, and droplets, the differences between light and heavy application become very clear. With Neutral Ground, heavier application brings out more shading and much more of the purple shimmer, to the point where a heavy smear looks almost like a purple ink. Doubloon and Masquerade show their gold and purple shimmer most prominently in those same heavy applications.

Neutral Ground tested on Rhodia 80gsm paper showed low ghosting and bleed, even with a heavy application. Shading sits at medium, sheen is low, and the shimmer is best described as medium: on normal writing applications it is not overly glittery, but it adds a pleasant accent rather than dominating the page.

Flow is medium, and drying time falls between 15 and 30 seconds, which is reasonable for a shimmer ink.

The Pens Used for Testing

For a green ink, three green pens made a fitting test bench. A Sailor 1911 Large in the Sea Glass colorway, with a hard fine nib, handled the detail work. A Launchers Collido in marbled green and blue, with a medium nib, filled the mid-size role, and a Diplomat Elox Matrix with a broad nib covered the wide strokes. A Pilot Parallel in 3.8mm handled the largest writing samples at the top of the page.

The variety of nib sizes gave a good read on how Neutral Ground behaves from fine to broad. Broad and parallel nibs exposed the most shimmer and shading, while the fine nib kept the green reading cleanly with a subtler sparkle.

The Story Behind Neutral Ground

The name is a New Orleans geography lesson. Neutral ground refers to the strip of land running through the middle of a two-way street: the grassy median historically used for streetcars. During the festivities, there is a hotly contested debate among parade attendees over which is better, the sidewalk side or the neutral ground, with some preferring to watch from the pavement and others from the middle. During the celebration period, more than one million people visit New Orleans to take part.

Doubloon: Gold on Yellow

Doubloon is the brightest of the three, a yellow ink with a gold shimmer that shows best in heavier applications. In chromatography, it broke down essentially into yellow and gold, with the shimmer settling at the bottom of the strip. It is a straightforward, festive color that makes sense as the sunniest member of the set.

Masquerade: Purple With Depth

Masquerade is a deeper purple with a matching purple shimmer. Its chromatography revealed a lot of grays and purples in the breakdown, again with the shimmer settling at the bottom. For anyone who enjoys dark, moody inks with a bit of sparkle, this is likely the most versatile of the three for year-round use.

Water Resistance and Chromatography

None of these inks claim to be waterproof, and the water test confirmed it: a drop of water left sitting on the writing sample did not handle being underwater well, and the sample broke down noticeably. Plan on these for correspondence and journaling rather than documents that need to survive spills.

The chromatography results were interesting in their own right. Neutral Ground broke down into more of a yellowish green than expected, with little blue coming out, which was a surprise given the ink’s appearance. All three shimmers settled at the bottom of their strips, confirming that the sparkle is a separate particulate rather than part of the dye itself.

Buying Advice

If you want the whole Mardi Gras experience, the set at $40 is the better value over three individual $15 bottles. If you only want one, Neutral Ground is the most distinctive: the green-to-purple shimmer shift in heavy applications is unusual and gives it character beyond a standard green. Doubloon and Masquerade are more conventional choices for their color families, though both carry shimmer well.

Conclusion

Papier Plume’s Mardi Gras set is a festive, well-executed tribute to New Orleans, with Neutral Ground as the clear standout thanks to its surprising purple shimmer. Low bleed on Rhodia, medium flow, and reasonable drying times make it easy to live with, just keep it away from anything that needs to survive water.