For me, that was Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses. It looked so cool and full of shading in the swatches I looked at - especially when it got dark, nearly black where it pooled.

Maybe I got another, worse batch of it or something, but for me it's just a really uniform magenta, even on TR and wet pens. I don't get what the hype is about, but maybe I was just unlucky.

Funnily, for me, skull and roses sheens red pretty heavily on nearly all papers. Maybe you got a bad batch, as well?

I do not know the particular ink, but what paper have you tried it on? I see very big difference depending on paper :)

It's fun with inks - sometimes I'm really sure I'm gonna enjoy it - but I don't. But just as often it's the other way around.

Robert Oster Smoke Screen - the pictures look great but it's been boring in every test. It was frustrating because I usually stick with Diamine and felt like wasted money.

Diamine Syrah. People were raving about it and Diamine makes one of the few inks in my permanent rotation, so I was really disappointed to find that Syrah was poorly behaved and ultimately a shade that didn't do much for me either.

Noodler’s 54th Massachusetts. I love the color and the permanence characteristics. But it is waaaay too much of a gusher. I’ve read that there is some inconsistency between batches, so I periodically order a sample just to see if it’s changed. It never has for me. I even get some bleed through on really nice papers like Tomoe River.

I’ve turned to Sailor Souboku as an alternative permanent dark gray-blue.

My very first ink I brought was this. The noodlers polar green ink. It feathered like nothing else even on good paper sometimes... But the color is still gorgeous to me. But as it stands I'm unable to use it

Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-Ro - it is basically a teal. I received it as a gift sample when buying from a reputable seller (arlepo) and it looks and behaves totally average for me. i've never owned any Pilot Iroshizuku or other premium series like Pelikan Edelstein and was super hyped about it. But eventually my expectations were not met. Honestly.

... I mean, it looks good. But not 21€ good.

I just picked up a bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku Ajisai. It seemed so pretty in swatches, but in the pen it's just a flat, pale blue with no purple in it at all.