Review on Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections Decadent by Kelly Caballes

Like others I bought this just in case as metal cans like this are in the $30 range. I figured if the watercolors weren't very good I'd leave the cuvettes for other colors. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the brightness and palette choices. All the primary colors are there, but all very subdued, so not neon bright. They are earthier in tone and the chosen color palette harmonizes very well with itself, which I rarely see with pre-selected palettes. So I'm in - and decided to keep the colors and pack them into smaller Altoid tinplate palettes. They're a little opaque, so getting them to work more transparently is a little harder. But it doesn't take much effort to get a lot of paint on the brush, which I really like. Metallica is another story that I'll talk about below. They don't have names, they're just numbered, and the pots themselves don't have labels so I had to come in with a felt tip pen to write them down. Not a big problem, but something to be aware of. The thing is - yes. I took out the metal grate because it didn't fit all of my Grumbacher pans, I was able to fit 19 pans, in half pan, medium pan and full pan variations. I had to sacrifice eight colors from my original setup which was in the Altoids jar as they didn't fit in that jar, but that was fine as I was able to make two different palettes with the new Prima and Grumbacher colors. (19 pans is quite a lot too.) The glass itself is very similar to an enamelled metal, but it appears to be much lighter. For example, at first glance you don't see that it's cheaper, but once you hold it in your hand it definitely feels lighter. It's perfect for those who don't like being overweight when travelling, but the more I used this set the more it frustrated me. The metal lid and trays warp and bend much more easily than, say, a Schminke or Sennellier jar, and I often have to reshape them. When wiping paint off palettes I have to be very careful not to press too hard or they will flex under pressure, which the more expensive cans don't. Also, the bottom flap tends to get caught under the folded edges of the pan, especially when bent. It's pretty uncomfortable sometimes. Although for the price I can't complain. Just don't expect a professional quality $20 can. Think of it like the "students" version of the glass, while the more expensive ones are the "artists". I've used primary colors a few times for less bright, autumnal work and it works great. I particularly like skin tones - I don't have to mix them myself anymore haha. Ok, finally metallics. The colors impressed me, but the metallics didn't impress me. It's just a personal preference. What I noticed is; They aren't as shimmery compared to my homemade metallics. It looks like it's a 50/50 mix of glitter and pigment. While I mostly have straight glitter with very little pigment. As a result, let's say if I want to overlay black, I get a yellow pigment underneath and then a subtle gold shimmer, rather than a black base with gold glitter on top. Again, this is just my preference as I want to overlay metallics without changing the base color. You can also tell that my gloss tends to clump while Prima spreads more evenly. I like these properties in my paints, so naturally prims seem a lot less manageable to me. But that's just me - maybe that's what you're looking for. In general, for an amateur watercolorist or a person who does needlework, this is an ideal set. The metallics aren't bad, and the colors don't need much picking up. This may not be ideal for a professional artist. Colors are harder to manipulate when layered in my opinion, but I really like the harmony in this palette. It's a nice refreshing palette as most art quality palettes have brighter, more vibrant colors. Edit: Amazon removed my photos for some reason so I'm editing my review to omit this.