The interior is made of Polycarbonate, "an extremely durable (30 times stronger than acrylic) lightweight material", as described in the box. It's a transparent kind of plastic.



Other than the price and the attractive clear interior, the size was interesting. It has 35 large wells (I don't like tiny wells), plenty of mixing space and it's still a manageable size, it doesn't feel bulky. I love that the wells are slanted instead of flat and I love to have a place for all the original 26 colors of the palette and still room for 9 others, if I chose so!
For now, I've chosen to add 4 convenient mixes (that i've mixed myself) and I still have room for 5 more!



Some considerations for this palette:

- I don't find the exterior of the palette particularly pretty or as sleek as some its similars, but that is a detail of lesser importance to me.

- The polycarbonate material is said to be more durable than acrylic - I could not say, but it seems sturdy enough for me.

- It is said to be "stain resistant and easy to clean" - I wouldn't count on it. Or I should say, I think it behaves just as any of my regular white plastic palettes. Staining colors will stain and I have to use a piece of magic sponge if I want to make it white again.

- The closing clasp doesn't seem very strong, so I would use an extra security item, like an elastic band, if I were to travel with it. Although this is not in my plans. I think it's too big to travel with, but it's perfect for my home studio!

- I believe you can only buy this palette in Aliexpress. I couldn't find it for sale anywhere else.



Overall, I'm completely satisfied and happy with my purchase! I would recommend this palette to anyone!

If you want to see how I set up this palette with my Mijello paints, I've uploaded a video:



I hope this mini review is useful for you! If you have any questions or just want to chat, please leave me a comment!

Happy paintings!

____________

Links:

Samina Art website: http://www.samina.net

Art Secret Official Store (Aliexpress): https://pt.aliexpress.com/store/1266879

In these swatches, I started with a heavy load of paint over the black line, to see how transparent they are, then added water as I go down. After the paint was dry, I added the lightfastness, transparency and staining properties of each paint, as provided by the manufacturer. All this info is in each paint tube, which is nice! But I don't always agree with their info. In some cases, I think the paint is more transparent than they say (for example, Permanent Rose is fully transparent over the black line) and sometimes it's more opaque than they say (Cobalt Turquoise). I hope you can see by the picture (click to see full size).

5 stars - Extremely Lightfast
4 stars - Good Lightfastness
3 stars - Lightfast

The little square informs transparency (empty - transparent; crossed - semi-transparent; full - opaque).
The triangle informs staining (empty - non-staining; half-full - semi-staining; full - staining)

I have not tested the the lightfastness (obviously, lol) or staining properties, but I can tell they are mostly more or less staining, with a few exceptions (Ultramarine, Cobalt Green Deep, etc.)
As you may know, the more transparent the pigment, the more prone it is to be staining, and vice-versa, because of the size of the particles. Also, the finer the pigments, the less granulation you get. And these paints are mostly non-granulating, transparent and staining.

In the swatches image above, I've marked the colors that are NOT in the other Pure Pigment Set. They are:

With the exception of Cobalt Turquoise, the others are all new (2017) releases.

As you can see, they included a new Burnt Sienna, as an alternative to the very critiqued Burnt Sienna No.1 (a mixture of pigments that did not mix to a neutral grey with Ultramarine). This Burnt Sienna, although still not made with the expected PBr7, but with PR102 instead, mixes to beautiful neutrals.



I still have to experiment and play a lot with these brand new babies to see how far they'll take me, but so far I'm in love! They are gorgeous!!!
I've never had so many artist grade paint in front of me before and just looking at them makes me happy!

They are far more affordable (in a set, not individually) than my other artist grade brands. They cost me US87,15, shipping included, which makes US3,63 per tube, 15ml tube! (Not counting black and white, I count them as bonus).

I hope this blog post helps you make an informed decision if you plan to invest in this brand. If you want to see how these cuties go on paper, I've put together a video of me swatching them (my first video, so I've made a few mistakes...).




If you have any questions, I'd be happy to respond to the best of my abilities, just leave a comment below ;)

Thanks for reading and happy painting!

__________

EDIT: (Additon info)
This set does not come with the 28 color mixing pamphlet like the first one. But since this set has many of the same pigments as the first one, you could try and make many of the same mixes suggested in that mixing pamphlet.

This is the pamphlet that came with this set (below). It shows the 50 Pure Pigment colors by Mission:


To mix the new colors, you'll have to do your own mixing tests. Maybe start with a big mixing chart like I did, here:

I've already reviewed the White Nights watercolor tubes set. Most of what I said about the tubes applies to the pans, so if you want more of a review, check that out here. The little differences I find between tube/pan is described below.

Today I will be mostly showing my custom palette with 36 full pans. I hope it can be useful as a reference, if you're building your own custom palette. I know I needed them when I was building mine.

Instead of listing the colors, I thought it would be more practical to just show you the color chart with the pigment names, lightfastness rating (as given by the brand: *** for excellent lightfast, ** for moderate, and * for weaker) and opaqueness/transparency rating (empty box for transparent, half empty for semi-transparent and full box for opaque).


I tried, as much as I could, to stick with the single pigment and most transparent colors. As you can see form the chart, many of the colors are semi-transparent and a few are opaque, as informed by the brand. That doesn't bother me too much, but it might bother you if you do a lot of pen and ink. The only really opaque color that I'm careful to use is Cadmium Lemon, because I think it tends to muddy my mixtures. What I do is I try to use it in my favor, like using it alone for adding details on florals, for example.
As I said in the tubes review, sometimes it's even difficult to determine if the color is opaque or simply too intense. The color payoff is incredible! They're easy to rewet and pick up and a little goes a long way. Some earth colors seem to be weaker or more difficult to pick up, like Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna and Umber. I've seen a few reviews saying Ceruleum Blue was weak, but I don't think mine is weak at all. Ceruleum is a new addition to my palette and I wonder if it has been reformulated, since White Nights released new colors in 2017. So my Ceruleum Blue came in the same order as the new Ultramarine Violet, Indian Yellow and the 4 Sonnet line metallics.


As for the lightfastness rating, I haven't done any tests until today (maybe I will one of these days, and then I can update this post or make a new one), but there is controversy as for how lightfast these paints are. I talk more in detail about it in this post.

I prefer the pans over the tubes, not only for the wider options of color but also for their creamy texture. The tube paints, when squeezed on a palette, tend to dry harder than the whole pans. I'm not sure why, maybe the tubes don't have so much honey in their composition?

I really love these paints! They gave me the opportunity to work with a wide range of pigments without spending too much. I don't have many professional artist grade paints, I only have a few M Graham tubes, which are awesome, but I can buy close to 6 whole pans of White Nights for the price of a single 15ml tube of M Graham's.

I have a pan of Black that I don't keep in the palette, but I use it for sketches and studies like the one below:


Here's some swatches of the metallic paints on a black paper:


 Here's a closeup trying to catch their shiny gorgeousness:


And a sketch using the beautiful Copper:


My pictures don't do them justice, tough.


(click to enlarge)
I love the granulation of their earthy pigments!

I really, really recommend White Nights as a whole! I hope my little blog post may have been helpful if you're interested in trying White Nights or expanding your existing palette.

Happy painting!
_____________

I bought my all my White Nights from these eBay sellers:
hobbyanddecor and sahstore

I've seen a lot of reviews on the White Nights full pan sets around, but very few on the tubes.

These paints are from St Petersburg, Russia, from the company Nevskaya Palitra and they've been making paints since 1934. They use real pigments and the White Nights are defined by the brand as high quality professional grade paints.

I'd say the first attractive feature of these paints is the price, they're really inexpensive when compared to other professional grade paints. I've paid only around USD 30 for this set, shipping included, from this eBay seller. You will find approximately the same price tag at Amazon.

They come in a very simple and unpretentious cardboard box. Not a problem for me at all, I just think the box doesn't do justice to the richness of the colors. But if it keeps the price accessible, I'm all for it!

The colors are:
(name - pigment(s) - lightfastness - transparency)

• Lemon - P.Y.3 - *** - transparent
• Yellow - P.Y.1 - * - transparent
• Yellow Ochre - P.Y.43, P.Y.1 - ** - semi-transparent
• Red Ochre - P.R.102 - *** - semi-transparent
• Scarlet Light - P.R.2, P.R.4 - * - transparent
• Ultramarine - P.B.29 - *** - semi-transparent
• Azure (or Blue) - P.B.15 - *** - transparent
• Emerald Green - P.G.7 - *** - transparent
• Green - P.G.8 - ** - transparent
• Umber - P.Y.43, P.Br.7, P.Bk.7 - *** - semi-transparent
• Neutral Black - P.R.187, P.B.15, P.Br.7 - *** - semi-transparent

[The lightfastness rate, as provided by the manufacturers, goes from * (weakest) to *** (strongest)]

Here is a color wheel using the primary triad: Yellow (PY3), Ultramarine (PB29) and Scarlet Light (PR2 + PR4).
On the right page, I made 2 mixing charts, trying to see the difference between warm and cool triads, but the red is the same Scarlet Light in both. In the 4th color I used Red Ochre (PR102) for the earthy warm colors and Umber (PY43, PBr7, PBk7) for the cools (I miswrote it as Sepia).


Below, on the left page, you can see 11 colors and some more mixture tests: Scarlet Light + Yellow gives a vibrant orange; Scarlet Light + Ultramarine gives a nice purple color and Ultramarine + Umber gives a nice grey. Ultramarine and Red Ochre will also give you a nice grey (not shown above).
On the right page, you can see the 12th color, Neutral Black, and mixes with the other colors (except for Umber and Sepia, witch already contain black pigment in their compositions).


You can get a pretty huge range of colors altogether, but I really miss having a cooler red for mixing more vivid purples and violets, though. And it's not like you can get it separately, these are all the tube colors they have, so I'll have to use another brand or from the pans. I still have to make a post about the pans I have from this brand. (EDIT: I did! If you want to see color swatches for my White Nights custom 36 full pans palette, go here.)

Here's the mixing chart I made with all the colors, excluding Neutral Black:


Most of the colors are incredibly pigmented and intense, almost too intense, it's sometimes hard to control how much color you pick. The exceptions are the earthy Yellow Ochre and Umber. Yellow Ochre is the weakest of the set and it has a strange grainy texture. As you can see in the chart, all Yellow Ochre mixtures have this strange, sort of chalky, look to it. I normally appreciate granulation, but this is different, it's like actual little grains that you move around with the brush, they don't spread and flow quite as nicely. Maybe that's because they use the natural PY43 pigment instead of the synthetic PY42. Maybe this particular pigment was not as finely milled as the others. Or, it could be due to my lack of knowledge and experience with the medium, or even the paper I'm using, which is not 100% cotton. (I'm using Strathmore 400 journal in this chart).

When put in a palette, they don't dry out completely (much like the White Nights full pans). If you touch them with your fingers, they're always a bit sticky (not as much as M. Graham's though).  I'm pretty sure they use honey in their composition. Even if you don't use them for a long time, they are very easy to re-wet.


All colors, as far as I could tell, have a very nice flow and dispersion when you work wet-on-wet, most like the only other professional grade paints I have, M. Graham.

I've seen a lot of reviewers saying these paints are more opaque than most, but I don't notice that with this set (they do have some pan colors that are more opaque). For me, it's rather a matter of intensity than opacity. You can go really, really strong with most colors, but I can still see the faint pencil mark underneath. There is some getting used to the intensity of the colors, you have to get acquainted with them, know which ones you have to work the brush on more intensely and which ones you hardly need to touch, to get the amount of color you need. But I guess that's true for any brand. Pigments behave differently from each other.

Another issue many artists seem to have with this brand is the lightfastness. I haven't tested that, so I can't say. But if you're concerned about that, check out this blog post and this Youtube video.

As for a rough comparative reference, I think they are far superior to any student grade paint I own (namely, Cotman half pans, Lukas Studio, Sennelier La Petite Aquarelle, Shinhan). Don't get me wrong, I love those too and they certainly have their own little perks.

The only other professional grade paints I've tried are M Graham's. I'd say my M Graham are slightly easier to use, but they are also more difficult ($$) to buy, so I only have a few tubes.

There is a little bit of a controversy as for the "professional" quality of White Nights, however. Handprint, a website that serves as a reference for a lot of artists, wrote a less than ravishing review of these paints, mostly for their lightfastness (or lack thereof). You can read their review here.

All in all, I really love my White Nights paints, tubes and pans. If you're starting out, as I am, or if you're a crafter or hobbyist and wants to try some real pigment colors without breaking the bank, I highly recommend you try White Nights! If you intend to sell your original pieces or do commission work, maybe use these with caution or make your own lightfastness tests. If you intend to make prints of your work, lightfastness is not an issue. These are very rich, intense colors, overall great to work with and I don't feel I have to be so precious about "wasting" them on daily practice.

Here is little feathers study I made using these paints:

Today, I want to share the best online course I ever enrolled to! Teela Cunningham's Learn Font Making course is what made all my hand-lettered fonts possible. Now, she is opening for enrollment again!

Have you ever wanted to make your own font? Did you make your Google searches for tutorials and felt like there's not much info out there and/or felt overwhelmed with the technicalities? I sure did!

When I made Fredoka a few years ago, Glyphs wasn't even around. We used FontLab, a great robust software for creating fonts, but honestly, really hard to learn. I had lots of help from font experts at the time, especially with the technical bits, which I never fully understood how to use in FontLab. In fact, I had such a hard time figuring it out, that eventually my font making dreams were put in the freezer.

Then Glyphs came along and I heard everyone was starting to use it. It was supposedly a lot more simple and straight forward than Fontlab, etc, but I was a Windows user and unfortunately had no access to a Mac on a regular basis.

I had been following and enjoying Teela's tutorials on Youtube, then Skillshare, and as soon as she mentioned Glyphs in one of her classes, I left her a comment suggesting a Glyphs class. She nicely replied saying this was actually in her future plans. Meanwhile, I saved to buy my first mac. Coincidently, I got my Mac around the same time Teela released Learn Font making. I didn't hesitate for one second, as soon as I received that email, I jumped right in!

It was the best thing I did for myself and my business this year. Teela is a natural teacher. She takes you by the hand and breaks down the tricky bits until they become easy. I'd say Teela has the 3 most essential characteristics of a good teacher:
1- a contagious positive attitude that makes the learning process light and enjoyable;
2- the ability to synthesize, while still being thorough;
and, most importantly,
3- generosity. She genuinely shares her knowledge without sparing and she genuinely cheers on her students. It's the real deal!

The course is introduced and presented in a very accurate way, what you read is what you get. I had high expectations and they were all fulfilled. The Facebook group was a nice plus! It had and still has a very nice camaraderie and supportive atmosphere.

Other than learning how to use Glyphs and actually feeling confident with a software that I've grown to love, I have finally started my shop on Creative Market, which is another thing I've wanted to do for quite some time. I probably would have procrastinated for a few more years if it wasn't for this course, lo. Now I'm making some passive income out of something I'm very passionate about!

I cannot recommend this course enough. I cannot recommend Teela as a teacher enough. If hand-lettered fonts are something you want to learn how to make, this is the course for you! I don't know of any other and the price point is quite good, too.

Head over to her page and check all the info! You'll also see a sample of many other beautiful fonts made by my fellow students. But hurry up! I think enrollment is open for only one week!!

My only warning is: Be careful! Font making can be highly addictive!

#Showmeyourflorals week challenge - days 1 to 6:



And here are the previews for the Freebie printables pack I'm releasing:






If you fancy them, go grab'em HERE!

I’ve recently travelled to the US and so I had the chance to get my hands on some art materials that are hard to get and/or are too expensive to get in Brazil.
I’ve got some M. Graham watercolor paints, which I was very excited to try! I might show them in more detail on the blog later on.
But since I knew I was getting them, I planned to get also a few empty half pans and some metal tin cases to make a nice gift for an artist friend of mine.
I enjoyed the process of makinh these mini travel palettes so much that I decided to make the same with a small selection of my not-so-high-end Shinhan paints, and that’s what I’m going to share today.

This is how my little cuties turned out:

The Altoids mini tin couldn’t hold more than 4 half pans, so I filled the empty space with a piece of kitchen sponge, for  cleaning the brush.