Review: St Petersburg's White Nights 12-pan Watercolour Set 

Using White Nights for almost 30 yers now. Younger people like to critisize them a lot now but I find them perfect.

Nothing can beat the White Nights in terms of value for money. I have their 24 color palette. It includes 8 fully transparent colors and most of them are single pigment colors, which is rarely found in sets by other paint brands.

Coming back to this review is crazy. I bought the 36-set because of your review, and although I've had the Mijello Pure Pigment and WN Cotman sets under my belt I always come back to White Nights. Something about it is just super comfortable to use. Really appreciate your videos!

Your reviews are the best, you are always so well informed and your reviews are so thorough. Thank you very very much for all the work you put into them! I am always happy to see a new video of yours pop up in my RU-vid feed :)

I use these a lot and find them to be as bright as any expensive brand. Best advice I can give is to buy a box, use them but when replacing the colours check for the lightfastness as a few of the colours are not good in that respect. Also there are a couple of browns that dry up pretty quick. But by replacing the colours selectively you can get great quality and save a lot of money.

I got this set today, I was ready to be underwhelmed but wow was I wrong. The pigments are INTENSE, when I compared it to the cotman water colors.. The results.. Compared to white nights cotman seemed TOO faded to me now

+Yasmine S. Better not spend too much money on watercolour when you're starting out. Just learn to use your current colours. Mixing on paper will be more exciting than in the palette. Reason being the colours will not mix completely on paper so you can still search each colour showing. You can definitely mix different brands of watercolour.

Amazing video thank you. I was drawing with this brand when i was young studying at fine art school. The brand was called "Leningrad" back then. Teachers was always mention that the quality is very good for this price.

I know this an old video, but I have to say that this a very good set for those just starting out. I purchased the 36 color set and it's so much better than any of the student sets I tried at similar price points. Even if you choose not to purchase the palette case to save money, the paints (at least the set of 36) come in a palette like a package. I used it until my palette case arrived.

hello from st.petersburg!

I have been using this brand for almost 20 years. About 7 years ago I purchased 3 sets.... I'm sure the price has gone up since then

I bought this set after you made this video and just yesterday I bought their big set to add to my collection. Whenever there is a watercolor I want I first check reviews and your channel is where I go first to look for a review! Thank you for making unbiased, detailed reviews!

I really admire your work and style. I want to learn your level of restraint when choosing a palette for my pieces. I am a total beginner, and it's a difficult discipline. I am starting with a Van Gogh 20 set, and learning all I can. Thanks for your reviews, I watch them a lot.

EXCELLENT review. It answered several questions I have about these paints. Very, VERY helpful.

The 12-pan White Nights set is my go-to travel set now. Not really a fan of the Cadmium Lemon, might want to swop with another yellow eventually. But I wish to add to your review that the White Nights colours tend to be very creamy and flowy in hot weather, and need to check that they don't leak out or start mixing together in the bag.

Holy CRACK the schminke are bright!! (amazing)!! Omg cant wait to get my set now, more than ever! Its on order from Jacksons, they were running a promotion. Wooo! Thx Teoh! This color chart section blew my mind. Fantastic

Brilliant Teoh! I am so inspired and my interest in sketching have increased ever since I started following your work. Way to go!

Hi Teo! This set seems very well. it Is always a pleasure to see your videos and your mixes give me new ideas!

Thank you Teoh, this was a very thorough review and comparison 😊

These are my favourites and the bonus for me is, they tend to be cheaper than W&N here in Poland.

Loved seeing your art!

Great review, thank you for the time you put into these reviews.

another fantastic review. your reviews are full of information as are all your videos. I appreciate your lessons so much.

Yes. Will do. picked up Winsor Newton Cotman 12pan box and Khadhi paper sketchbook after seeing your videos . Carried it along with me for my trip to Italy and France. The results were amazing. Thankyou again!

Great watercolours. I have all set from White Nights. Really love it!

Thank you for the reviews. I quite like these colors. I bought 3 of them (primary) and I love it, they are so vibrant. I will definitely try some more :)

Great review! I saw another review on this set, and they didn't mention how opaque the cadmium colors are. Opaque yellow is a pet peeve of mine, so I really appreciate your astute observation and demonstration of this set. Love your channel!

You are amazing! Your reviews are so helpful. Thank you for sharing. :)

can i just say i love your channel i have just discovered it and have already learnt so much. I am new to watercolor and would like to start sketching and using it with that. With the detain you go into and the amount of videos you have made and do make i am sure to get the hang of it. Thank you.

Thanks so much! What a thorough review and comparison

Good review. Thanks for showing the warm and cool colour wheels

you have a wide collection of watercolor pan! thanks for all the review it's really helpful!!

The mixing tips are very helpful! Thank you! :)

I purchased these today and I must say that for students this is good value. I only have my Holbeins to compare them to and there is simply no comparison, Holbein wins hands down (but much more expensive 😬) I found the White Nights to be almost very saturated, however they became visibly spotty if diluted too much, unlike the ever evenness of Holbeins. But I guess I'm just spoiled by Holbein. The White Nights are still a good value and more than capable for most applications, but I personally wouldn't use them in a commission.

Thanks for another great review. I heard some good opinions about White Nights. I'll definitely buy one of those huge palettes, when I need them; they're very cheap in Poland.

Nice! I hope I can like it a million times!

brilliant video. lots of info and practical examples. thanks

The burnt umber looks more like burnt sienna. Umber in my Schmincke and van Gogh is a more greeny brown. The green also looks a little like Hookers green. The Pthalo blue looks nice and the Carmine looks good too. I like that Carmine and Pthalo blue mix - lovely purple. Thanks for this excellent review. I enjoyed it.

I've bought a set for my urban sketching, I love the colors and the box has a nice size. I know you have done another video about the box not being good for mixing colors cause while using if you don't dry the wells water will drip out form the box. Bu that is not a problem for me cause I've always make sure my wells are dry before I leave a site. Anyway I've started using Windsor and Newton and change to Kuretake Gansai Tambi, but after while got Daniel Smith which I love...I wanted a alternative and I think this one is great, not to mention that I've change my sketch book as well for water color paper and it makes a huge difference, my sketches are always kind of wash out cause the type of book I was using which I want to finish by the way. Bottom line is I've seen you use this set when you have done your sketches and they are beautiful...thanks for all your advise and videos is been a fun ride for me when it comes to Urban Sketching!!!

I watch this great review in 2019! So where I am actually 😆 who's with me? It make me wish to purchase this white nights watercolor set

Incredible ideas 💡

These are professional paints, so you shouldn’t compare them to cotman watercolors!! But thank you for the video review

I had this set for free. So I wanted to see a review on them and wow.

This was very on point Teoh I was waiting for you to review these(: thank you for sharing! If you ever get a chance to play with that set of 24 I think you would love their English red, its a very unique reddish brown and it blends beautifully with their pthalo blue and makes a very interesting greys! Would love to know what you think about it and if you have anything similar to it in your collection (: Also waiting for your review on your new Daniel smith paints! Would love to hear your opinion on all the tubes you have😜 Thanks again and have a good week (-:

I'm just starting out with watercolour (my lukas studio set hasn't even arrived yet lol) but I'm thinking of buying a white nights set once I'm more experienced and familiar with the medium! Thanks for the review/demo!! I've been binge-watching reviews, tips, recommendations for the past couple days so this is really good!! 💛 ((I was thinking of splurging on cotman but white nights is actually cheaper here in Sweden and according to a lot of people seem to be better!))

thank you very much for the information. I love your videos. and one advise from me - you can get out the pens set from the box and wash the box under runing water. this is the easiest way to clean every part of it. :)

Great review! Have you tried the Corem Sonnet watercolors? They are also made in Russia, 24 full pans, vivid rich colors for US$20 ( not including S&H) on Amazon. Not sure how many are pure single pigments, but many are transparent and flow well. They have become my new BBF while painting, over my WN Cotman and Daniel Smith. The set's downside is it comes in a cardboard box with no mixing surface available.;-( Love your sketches and paintings shown. Thank you!

Another great review. This looks like a good set. I have a lemon yellow that I want to replace for a transparent yellow instead since I'm not a big fan of the mixes I get with it.

Thank you Teoh, im enjoying your videos, it seems that theres no paint that hasnt got. at least one flaw but the white night set seems very good, so thats the one ill probably buy ,

Hi Teoh, thank you for sharing this video and all the other interesting videos that I continuously watch them when I need a reminder for reviews. I would like to ask your opinion about mixing different watercolours brands either on your pallet or in the same illustration. I've been using the professional watercolours as long as I remember since collage, and lately I buy individual colours from different brands, for example I totally love the green PG 8 of the White Nights but more the yellow tones of Rembrandt. Do you think this might effect the painting on the long term?. I mean on the colour value. xx

White-Nights sind sehr gute Farben zu sehr fairem Preis. Male sehr gern mit Ihnen. Interessante Skizzen....

Thanks !

Good review, thank you. Just to rectify something you said, these are not introductory/student grade watercolor paints.These are artist grade with a lightfast rating and single pigments with honey and Arabic gum. These are comparable with M. Graham and Daniel Smith. If you'd do a comparaison chart, you'd see that many colors are actually more vibrant in White Lights than any other expensive artist grade paints. However, just wanted to clarify that these are not student grades - you may want to modify on your blog.

Hey Teoh. What brand/product of watercolor is at the top of your list... The most pleasurable to work with?

Hi! thank you for sharing an in depth review for this! I would like to know if you prefer the White Nights over the W&N Cotman Sketchers box of 12 because I heard the Cotmans are better than White Nights?? Thank you in advance :)

Great review! I have been wanting some of them. I got the Payne's grey to try it out and think it's really nice. I have it in my Schmincke Akademie set. Talking of which, do you have an opinion on the difference between Akademie and the more expensive Schmincke watercolours? I love my Akademie set :)

I really find the color comparison videos very helpful. I am wondering if you have any insight into the pure pigment line by Mijello Gold compared to their Mijello Gold regular watercolors. Thank you for sharing. I make sure to watch the commercials for you :-)

hi hun. Carmine is PR 187, PR 170:1 is their Madder Lake Red Light :)

Thank you so much for the video! It help me so much especially the color swatch. I want to buy a new watercolor set and I am more interested in pastel colored rather than vibrant one. Aside from Qor and St. Petersburg, do you have any other reccomendation?

Thank you so much for doing these informative videos. I just bought a set of 12 ½ Winsor & Newton Cotman and I think I regret it as I can get 1 whole St. Peterburg's pane for about 40 cent more than what 1 half pane Winsor & Newton Cotman cost. I guess it is better for mixing to get pure pigmented colours? And should I get a white colour? (Still in progress in watching all your videos, so I don't know if those questions have be answered)

Thanks for this review. I find I need to watch them more than once to understand pigments and opaque vs transparency, so thank you! I am curious about these palettes and WN - are the paints that come with them from tubes or are they cakes?

hi teoh do you live in bedok in singapore? and is the watercolor available in one km at popular?

Thanks for sharing

Hi Teoh, thank you for this review! I have a question. Where did you get the pigment numbers? This would be interesting for me and the art shop I got the colors from does only tell me if it is a onepigment colour or not. I don´t realy understand why your mixing chart is less intense then that fron Schmincke or the other brands. I find, that I can get very bright colours and have to take care that I´m not getting to dark with them.

Teoh, great review! Can you recommend a good non-fountain pen to use that is waterproof? I tried some of my uniball pens, but some of them still smudge when I layer with watercolor.

I just bought them, and this really helped! Also what is the name of the sketchbook?

Hello. So how would you compare this one to the vangogh watercolors? I deciding between the twos

Have you done a review on the Polish equivalent that is now out everywhere Szmal?

thanks for rewiev =)

Holbein and M graham are my current favorites but the schmicke looks good too from your color chart. Do you like them?

Thankyou for the review! I can't choose between white night 12 pans set and van Gogh 12 tubes set, which one do you think is better?

Hi, it's been a while since you posted this but thank you very much for the review! May I ask if these feel chalky when you touch them after they've dried? Also, between these and the Talens Van Gogh Pocket Box (the 12 colors in plastic case), which would you recommend? The White Nights are about US$9 more expensive than the Van Gogh where I can get them. Thank you for any advice you can give!

Thanks for the review! Any plans to try out their metallic watercolors?

Nice demo.How do you know if which is warm or cool colour to begin with?

between this and Mijello mission gold which one would u recommend ?

Have you ever tried lukas? If so do you think they're comparable to van gogh or white nights?

Hi Teoh, I know this is an older video but just wondering if an escoda versatil size 6 travel brush would fit in this palette or is the brush too long when closed?

have you ever tried the daler rowney aquafine travel set? i love the box and it's very cheap. And what about the sennelier 8 half pans metal box? in Italy it's lower than 30 us dollars. (daler rowney is about 12 dollars)

hi im wondering if this or the prima watercolor set wld be better for a beginner who wants to paint on the go/travel? i rlly need a compact pallet, so im a little unsure abt the size on this. Which would u recommend? thank you very much, and i love ur reviews!

Then are the pigments in the Cotman watercolour set transparent? I know you also recommend Prima sets but not a fan of the palette colours...

Hi Teoh! I have purchased this palette and I think your review is on point! I wonder if the same brand would have alternatives for these opaque-ish colors, in individual pan or in tubes. Would you know?

White Nights have a lot of pigments and they are good value. It seems the pigments are grounded a little coarsely, thus sometimes it looks kinda "dirty", specially in large areas. You can tell better in the color chart.

Hello Teoh, I'm stuck in choosing between white nights, holbein and van gogh may i know which one you prefer?

this palette have now a better useful box ... I like these colors choice because I can mix a lot of colors from the color wheel that I want and have a lot of fun. If you know how to - realistic pictures are possible, or any other art. I think that is a avesome 12 full pan palette for this price in this very good finest artist quality. :)

Love your reviews! I’ve been watching them for a while! I’m a beginner, but I really want to buy some nice stuff to get better results... I’ve tried Koh-I-Knoor paints, that really helped me to try some watercolor’s technique! I got good results - even considering that Koh-I-Knoor is a student paint, not bad at all but too limited. I couldn’t choose a better one, tho. I’m watching a lot of reviews. Between Van Goghs and White Nights paints, which one can be more interesting to study watercolor and to get more like professional results? I need heelpppp ehehe thanks

Di you that Holbein artist watercolor set of 12 x 5ml is worth getting instead of this? Because in my country Holbein is only 10$ more expensive.

Hi, nice test. How are you sketching? With a pen or fine liner? It looks very „fluent“. Thanks!

Hi, did any of you find a few of the White Nights a bit sticky when you unwrapped it? It's strange to me. Plus their glue to hold their paper wrapper seemed like flaky light color toffee particles. Violet also looks super metallic.

Also I'm wondering abot the weight of paint in pans. Nevskaya Palitra has 2,5 ml, what about others even half pans? These are like dried pressed chopped sausages, maybe it contains more paints even in half pans?

Would you reccomend the 36 set of White Nights or Cotman 45 half pans, as an upgrade for Sakura Koi? Please answer! ^^

Hi Teoh, looking at your color charts, does Sennelier have stronger colors than Schmincke?

hey u should check out the uni a-gel mechanical pencil...i think its called.... a gel...its a shaker pencil..very comfortable and comes in nice colors..i know you use pens a lot but i think you would interview it well.

I’m deciding whether to buy their full pans open stock. How long do you think the pans will last? The colors I’m looking for are their scarlet and ultramarine.

Сan you review and compare all Nevskaya Palitra ( White Nights, Sonet...)watercolor sets?

u r best

What were you waiting for? Cadmium is always opaque in all brands. It's a cadmium! Very expensive pigment and it is opaque. Anyway, this set is not so good although the neutral black is incomparable there because solo it looks deep. You can tried their colors from the last 5 years. They are great. Quinacrdones, cobalts, aureolin, Venetian red. It's perfect. Really love it for its price.

Never worked with water colours before and I hoped this video would help me decide what brand to buy. But I still can't make up my mind whether I should by White Nights or Sennelier La Petite Aquarelle (similar price in my country).... Anyone any advice? :)

I watched a review where the artist said they were the .most saturated colours she had used compared with any other watercolours ?

I have a weird problem with my set. In one of the blues and most of the browns the colors clump up and don’t cover the white of the paper. Is that normal for these? Or is mine different?

better white nights 12 color pan or winsor and cotman 12 half pan?? please answer thankyouu