In 1898, the Philippine Navy was founded and then decimated by American forces in 1899.  When WWII started the Philippines had no navy and was very exposed by the withdrawal of the US Asiatic fleet after Pearl Harbour.  The Philippines had to rely on offshore patrol boats  (OSP) of which they had five to ward off Japanese attacks from the sea. 

Lucia was the mother of Dyesbel, (background to Dyesbel in my review of Mermaid Green).  She is the women who spent too much time looking at pictures of mermaids whilst pregnant and gacve birth to one.

Armada is a fleet of ships, this is mentioned on the Vinta web site as is the Battle of Leyte in 1944.  This was the amphibious invasion of Leyte that started the liberation of the Philippines in the second world war.

It has been a while since a post, hopefully work etc will settle down now.  Anyway here is the review....
Mars Ravelo (1916-1988) was a famous Filipino cartoonist and graphic novelist.  He wrote many famous stories but the one that has remained popular through the years in Filipino culture is the story of Dyesebel.  A Mermaid born to human parents.   

After a break I have come back to Vinta inks as I recently got my hands on some of the pastel shades and thought I would complete reviewing all I had.   The first of the pastel inks I tried was Violet (Maskara 1890) and though I find it pale seeing it in the flesh so to speak I can understand why this ink is so popular.

Dugong Bughaw is a term denoting ancient Filipinos who were part of the royal family.  It is a calque of the Spanish sangre azul  (blue blood).  As a noun it means noble or aristocrat, as an adjective it means aristocratic or blue-blooded.

Miguel López de Legazpi ( c. 1502 – August 20, 1572), was a Spanish navigator and governor who established the first Spanish settlement in the East Indies (Islands of Southeast Asia, mainly the Philippine and Indonesian archipelagos).  He crossed the Pacific from Mexico to land in the Philippines in 1565.   

The Manila observatory was founded by the Jesuits in 1865, it is housed in the grounds of the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City. 

I discovered Vinta inks through an IG friend.  They are based in the Philippines and until recently could only be bought from there.  The inks are handmade and through the Vinta website the inks range from US$8.50 to $10.50 for the 30ml bottles.  They seem to be completely sold out of 45ml bottles at the time of writing this so I have no idea of the price.  Postage is not cheap but if you are buying 3 or more inks it makes it worthwhile and service is fantastic. 
An important thing to mention is that for every bottle of ink sold Vinta donate money to Teach for the Philippines Inc.  the goal is to provide access to quality ediucation for all Filipino children.
Recently Vinta inks became available through Strine and Co in Australia, AUD$2 for a sample and AUD$18 for 30ml of the regular inks, AUD$2.20 and $20 for the shimmer inks.  Vinta make some pretty pastel coloured inks which seem to have been a huge hit with instagrammers, I found the colours too pale, I ended up buying two shimmer inks and two sheening inks.