Hey everyone, today I’m swatching out a new watercolor set! I purchased the MozArt Komorebi palette on Amazon and I was eager to give it a try. First impressions? The tin is pretty cool and has a nice swatch sheet inside, but kind of a bummer that it’s attached to the lid. Makes it tough to use for mixing colors because I like using my palette to mix so I don’t have to use a separate mixing well.
The paints themselves look awesome – super glossy and the colors seem really pigmented. The pans are slightly larger than full size, but not by much. I started swatching with a bigger brush, but it felt clunky so I grabbed a smaller one instead.
For each color, I tried to do a gradient swatch, going from really saturated to a light wash. I gotta say, I’m really loving the variety of colors in this palette. There are 40 in total, including 6 neons and 8 metallics. And let me tell you, these colors are seriously pigmented! Just a little dab on the brush goes a long way.
One thing to note is that once they got moistened up, they loaded nicely onto the brush. Another cool thing is how they dry – they don’t get all chalky like some other inexpensive watercolors do. They stay pretty bright, which is awesome.
Now, there were a couple of things that weren’t quite perfect. The burnt umber and burnt sienna colors seemed to have some separation of the pigment, with some lighter brown color settling on top. It didn’t seem to affect painting, but it is something to note. Also, the neon blue and green colors weren’t quite as impressive as the other neons. They were a bit duller, but still beautiful colors.
But the metallic colors? Those were awesome! Maybe not quite as good as a metallic marker or pen, but still really fun to use. I can definitely see myself incorporating them into my paintings. If you wet them enough, it is easy to increase the opacity, which is lovely for certain projects.
Overall, I’m super impressed with this watercolor set, especially for the price. There’s a great selection of colors, it’s portable, and the paints are very pigmented. If you’re looking for something a step up from basic $5 watercolors but aren’t ready to invest in a pro set, this would be a great option! I can’t wait to keep playing around with these and see how they perform in a real painting. Stay tuned for a couple of videos coming up soon where I’ll put them to the test! Until next time, keep creating!