Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This paint set is really unusual, but I’m beginning to really like it. I am a college educated (with a painting degree) professional artist. I have been recently getting into surface design and most of my work ends up getting scanned. I’ve taken color theory classes and this review is for those who are looking for a professional quality gouache set. I love the value presented here. This set comes out to have approximately each color for about a dollar at the time of my writing. That’s a crazy deal! I mainly have used Windsor and Newton gouache in the past, which runs about $20 a tube. Not only that, but each of these compartments has more paint than one W&N tube. So this set really ran me a tiny bit more than a single tube of paint. I’m really happy about that. Is it the same quality as Windsor and Newton? No. The mixing is not as consistent and predictable, and the pigments are weaker. But honestly, to me these are a great trade off. It’s still absolutely possible to make beautiful and vibrant paintings with this paint, it’s just important to keep in mind which colors are more opaque and which are more sheer or transparent. I went on ahead and swatched each color for this review. I have black bars on each to give you an idea how transparent or opaque each color is- whether the paint can overpower the black. I also added water to thin it down, so you can see how the colors look with more of a watercolor feel. The main colors I noted for having the worst opacity are the oranges. However if you add a little white to them, it helps a ton to thicken it up and make it more opaque. This set also builds on itself beautifully, so if I have to do a second coat on four colors, I’m okay with that. Most of the time I’ll be mixing more opaque colors in with them anyway- I expect most artists will feel similarly. This paint is thirsty!! It loves water, and I’ve been pretty impressed at how much water it can take while staying opaque. I personally would not use this paint to simulate watercolors, because a big factor with watercolors is spread, and this paint stays put. That’s perfectly fine, it’s a feature and not a bug for gouache. Expect to use a lot of water with this set! I heard someone on YouTube say that they put a spray bottle with distilled water with this set, and they spray it down before sealing it up. I think it’s a fantastic idea, but I haven’t done this yet and just sealing this set with the palette included gets a tight enough seal that it hasn’t dried out once. I’m pretty impressed and have never encountered a paint set that reacts this way. I would compare the lid to a Tupperware lid- it snaps shut. Be sure to also put the white mixing palette in for a good tight seal. I thought maybe the palette would get tons of paint on it when I closed the lid, but actually that has somehow never happened. It’s a feat of engineering for sure. Compared to other sets of this goache on Amazon I picked this one specifically for the white mixing palette. I’d rather mix exclusively on white or grey. And the mint green case is really cute, with a beautiful velvet texture on the box that makes me excited to use it every time. I also included a few pictures of a painting I made with this set. I was frustrated to not know how this set looks close up from other reviews, so I hope this helps. One picture is of a light table with the paint, then the others are close ups to get an idea of the thickness and surface texture, and finally a scan. It’s really important to me that a paint dries flat enough to be scanned well. So I’ve also included a scan of a painting with these pictures so you can get a good idea of how it looks. I’m a perfectionist and I’m happy with it. I recommend that you use hot press watercolor paper or Bristol with this paint. I hope this helps anyone considering this set. I’m psyched to keep using it for my work.