White Nights Professional Watercolor Set – 12 Full Pans of Extra Fine Artist-Grade Pigments, Vibrant Lightfast Colors, Portable Durable Plastic Box by Nevskaya Palitra

First order of business:White Nights= Yarka=St. Petersburg= Sonnet=Leningrad=Nevskaya Palitra. They are all made in the same place with the same formulations and the same pans with the same Russian branding lettering on the bottom. You can count on all these brands to be so identical, that comparing, say one pan of ultramarine of each of these side by side ... even swatching them out ... You'd never be able to parse out which pan is which 'brand'. Really. I tried it. Identical. Sometimes the color names are a little different but not the pigment mixes.It's a nice field set.I also agree with another 2 reviewers on two other points.That green is fantastic. I haven't got it in my other st Petersburg and sonnet watercolors.The little holder things to keep the full pans in place *are* kind of weird and annoying. But to me, this annoyance is not insurrmountable.I have a Swatch comparison to Winsor Newton cotman pocket Sketcher set of 12: Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colour Paint Sketchers' Pocket Box, Half Pans, 14-Pieces https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004THXI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_eRA9Cb5RR6RX1In the photos included. Those are 12 half pans for about 12-13$. This box is full pans for about 23$.This box has trouble handling a travel brush. The brush has to be 4" or less folded up to fit. The cotman kit came with a tiny folding brush but it's not much to write home about, it's like a size 2-4 round. Not big enough to do a wash.The cotmans don't perform very well. They are clearly student grade. These St. Pete's paints do lay down better.So to the point of the complaint about the weird plastic framework holding in these full pans... The thing is, you still get better access than trying to get a big brush into a half pan, right?These give you a good amount of paint for your money. The box configuration is sort of meh, IMO. But so too is the cotman box, to me. I tend to like the folding metal boxes more, but I do wish for more variety and portability and haven't found one that makes my heart sing just yet.Side by side, cotman swatches are in the left, white nights (yarka) on the right.I don't find white terribly helpful- which is included I. The Cotman set. I also don't use black much, but paynes or Davy's grey. The St.P paints have included a neutral black which is not as severe as an ivory black, so I guess there's that. The yellow ochre and umber in this set are more transparent than Cotman. But lots of the cadmium colors are more opaque than other pigment choices can be in any brand.I think the biggest difference is in how much more challenging it was to get the same pigment density in the cotman as the yarka. I had to really work the brush around in the Win-ton paint, and pre spray the pans and go back more times with those than these white nights paints, which are semi-moist. But even so, these St. Peterburg paint pans dry more quickly after you're done than the cotman do. Those cotman paints are extruded and have a lot more... something... that isn't pigment, than the St.Pete's paints. These take a wet brush and you're off to the races. Cotman you have to work at and use a lot of water to get them going and then it gets down into the pans, and takes forever to dry out.I definitely prefer these.Look at the triangles in the swatches. Wht. Nites/st Pete's is the right triangle on top. Cotman is the equalateral tringle on the bottom. Yarkas blended naturally wet in wet. Like a dream hardly any work from me except to wet the page and ease them toward each other. Cotman I had to put brushload upon brushload to get to equally dense colors, moving into each other and even then, they didn't really want to blend and flow on the page even with an amount of assistance. And the secondary colors were muddier and harder to obtain.Pros on the cotman: smaller kit, sap green is a nice green. Half the price for half the paint and a sort of decently passable brush. Cotman series paints have an array of pallette varieties and styles worth trying out.Yarka pros: bigger pans. A neutral dark instead of a white. Fantastic deep green. Semi moist poured pans Instead of extruded paints.I'd go with these paints again in a heartbeat over cotman.

I got this set about 4 years ago, and ever since it’s been my favorite. The colors are bright and very pigmented, and just absolutely gorgeous. I don’t love the browns in the set but i do like the rest of the colors. I did swap the yellow ochre out for a more pigmented yellow though (indian yellow). I have used them a ton and the pans are still barely emptied. You don’t need a lot of paint and it goes a long way. The size of it is convenient for travel, i find the spacing a little too close but otherwise it’s not a big deal. Color mixing with them can be a little tricky but i got the hang of it eventually. If you’re not careful the colors can become muddy.

I have a lot to say about this product. There are things I like about it and things I don't like, which I will get into soon. If you're only interested in who I think might be interested in this product, skip to the end.So, this was definitely an impulse buy. I have owned the larger 24 set of White Nights full pans for about a year now, as well as a few more colors I've collected here and there. There is only one color in this set of 12 that I didn't already have (azure), so I didn't buy this for the paints themselves. Mainly, I was interested in the box, which is what I'll talk about first.The box:It has some issues, but overall I like it. I have been on the hunt for a compact travel box or tin that can still hold a decent amount of half pans. It's much easier to find a travel watercolor set that accommodates half pans, but until now I haven't come across a travel-friendly palette for full pans. The old design of the White Nights 12 pan plastic box had so many negative reviews that I hesitated to buy it, so when I saw the updated design I impulsively smashed that "Buy Now" button.The main annoyance I have with the box is that the space it has to hold a brush is tiny. Even the smallest collapsible brush I have (a size 4) didn't fit. The only brush I own that fit in that space was a tiny size 4 brush with a super short handle. Even then, it's hard to get the brush back out without flipping the whole box upside down to let the brush fall out. In my opinion the brush space is pretty useless and could have been removed from the entire design to make the box a bit smaller.Other than that the box is fine, it's a good si,e considering how much paint it holds. When you turn the palette upside down none of the pans fall out, even if you shake it. The plastic is sturdy and a slightly off-white color, with plenty of wells for mixing. The thing that surprised me about it is that paint doesn't bead or pool up when you mix colors. There is some beading but it is very minimal, and with more that should reduce even more.The paints:I have mixed feelings about the selection of colors in this set. I should start by saying that for the price, White Nights watercolors are excellent quality. They are creamy and easy to activate (with the exception of some of the earth tones, like yellow ochre), and very pigmented. This set basically has a split primary set (2 each of yellow, blue, and red), plus two greens, 3 earth tones, and one neutral. This is normally a great selection for beginners learning how to mix colors, or people looking for their first set of watercolors.However, I absolutely hate mixing with the colors included in this set. On their own, the colors are beautiful and vibrant. But but because many of them are quite opaque, mixing even two of the colors together can easily result in muddy or dull colors. The colors included in the set work best on their own without mixing, which is not how I prefer to use watercolors.So, who would I recommend this set to? If you're like me and you've been looking high and low for a travel palette that can hold more than 6 full pans, maybe this is for you. It is a little expensive with the paints, so I wish they would sell the box on its own, but them's the breaks I guess.If your painting style involves using bright colors straight from the pan, with minimal mixing, I think this would be a nice set for you.For those who enjoy transparency in watercolors I wouldn't recommend this set at all.Overall, definitely consider what your needs are in a watercolor set before choosing this one.

I wanted to try a different watercolor paint, but not buy tubes right off the bat. The fact that these come in full pans is what drew me to these. I do not like the tiny half-pans. I have not seen any other pan paints that come as full pans, so that is why I tried these. I will probably get the tubes and make my own pallet after I have used these for a while. I have been using W&N Cotman and I have a few Daniel Smith, so these are a good addition to my watercolors. I would recommend anyone new to watercolor to try these.

The colors are vivid and the case is very easy to use.

This is my first watercolor set and I love it! The quality is great and there is just enough colors for beginners. Definitely worth the price.