If there’s one thing that’s most addictive it’s buying new alcohol inks, isn’t it?
When I saw Pixiss Mythical and Gemstone inks I instantly was obsessed and needed to try it for myself. Since it can be difficult knowing which inks are good to use for what techniques, I will provide you with some insights on what I would (not) use these inks for. Hint: scroll all the way down for the 10% discount code.
Disclaimer: These inks were gifted to me by Pixiss. However, this review is 100% my own opinion, and I give you my honest opinion on which inks in their line I recommend and not recommend!
Mythical Ink Swatches
What is the difference between Mythical and Gemstone alcohol inks?
Both inks give a beautiful shimmering look to the inks. However, Mythical inks differ from Gemstone inks in three ways:
- Mythical inks will only show its colors on black surface, while Gemstone inks are visible on both white and black surface.
- Mythical inks have a soft, shimmering look, while Gemstone inks are much more saturated and give a brighter, shimmering look.
- Mythical inks are unique because of its color shifting properties (and why I was so excited to try these). Depending on the light, they will shift colors. Gemstone inks do not have this property.
Gemstone Ink Swatches
Which kind of techniques can I use Mythical and Gemstone alcohol inks for?
The inks are much thicker compared to normal alcohol inks, so they behave more similar to opaque or white inks and you need quite a lot of the ink for it to show up. Therefore, if you’re a fan of very delicate heat tool techniques like ripples or roses, these inks are difficult to work with. I would mainly advise these for working with an ink blower. I would recommend using these inks for creating floral artworks and backgrounds, as well as abstract work with beautiful gradients. They look beautiful together with gold inks!
Mythical or Gemstone inks?
I love both, but I prefer the Mythical inks because of their color shifting hues and softer tones. However, if you also want to be able to use these on white surface or you prefer the brighter tones, I recommend getting the Gemstone inks. Or, if budget allows, get both 😉
What about their other inks?
Metallics
From their Metallicline, I can really recommend the gold metallic, it creates beautiful gold lines and works very well together with the mythical and gemstone inks as well (it may even outperform Pinata Brass honestly). Their other metallic inks (copper, silver, pearl and gunmetal) give a pretty shimmer but do NOT give those perfect nice lines we like so much when working with inks.
Metallic Ink Swatches
Colored inks
I honestly have mixed experiences with their colored inks. Some of the inks give really nice ripples or gradients when using them in a background. Others did NOT perform so well and produced residue or had extreme undertones and stained when reactivating the inks. So there’s specific inks I would and would not recommend from this line.
Since we’re creating florals, I obviously tested these inks for some floral artwork with backgrounds. I loved the look of these inks for creating backgrounds, as they produce many undertones and also some texture in the inks (which is a personal preference).
I did manage to create nice florals (see examples above), BUT reactivating is more difficult with these inks and some of them stain quite a lot, so I had a difficult time creating these florals.
In conclusion, I would mainly advise using their colored inks for creating beautiful gradients in backgrounds when working with an ink blower (as you can tell from the pictures), but I would not use them so much for the florals itself.
Here’s another pretty example where I combined Pixiss Petal and Cherry with masking fluid:
Coloured inks top 10:
- Petal
- Cherry
- Cranberry
- Mum
- Sunflower
- Lemon
- Lilac
- Ocean
- Sky
- Pine
Which inks I do not recommend:
Cacao, Candy, Bubblegum, Turf
Other tools
I really love their blending tools to manipulate the flower petals! I can also recommend their miniature brushes. They do not activate the backgrounds as much as some of my other brushes, plus they cannot roll of your table (or over your artwork) because of the brush handle.
Final verdict
When purchasing at Pixiss, I would personally go for the Mythical and/or Gemstone line because of their unique properties, together with the metallic (mainly for their gold). For the colored inks, they can provide nice colors for your backgrounds, but there are better alternatives out there (e.g., Ranger Ink, Pinata, Nara).
Availability
Pixiss Alcohol Inks ship worldwide, but shipping outside North America is very expensive.
10% discount
Use “ANNE10” at checkout to receive a 10% discount upon anything you buy at Pixiss.
Don’t forget to also check out my free tool guide with more links and discounts for my favourite alcohol ink supplies!
*All links in this article are affiliate links. This means I receive a small compensation when you buy something at Pixiss, and you will receive a discount in return, so a benefit to both 🙂
