Cad Yellow Light PY35: If I used true yellow in portrait painting, I'd choose a transparent pigment like PY151, but let's chalk this up to personal preference.

Cadmium Orange PO20, PY35: Fine I guess, but again I wouldn't choose the opaque cadmiums.
vs
Golden Yellow PY110: Much better than Cadmium Orange since it's transparent and nontoxic, but supposedly just as lightfast.

Bright Red PO73, PR254: I prefer both the pyrrole orange and red on their own, but some people might disagree.

Carmine PR170:1: Lovely shade of red, but sadly comes with lightfastness issues. There aren't convincing carmine alternatives that aren't fugitive, too pink, or too brown. I chose PR264, but a mix of a lightfast maroon and a quin. violet some brands offer would work too.

Opera Rose PR122, fluo: Easily the most fugitive modern paint. Do not use in works you want to preserve. The glowing fluo dye will disappear, and you'll be left with good ol PR122, so why not just get that one instead?

Violet PV23: Actually a good one! I use this one (by Rosa) in like... all of my paintings. Great shadow color, and for mixing chocolate-brown skin.

Ultramarine PB29: A popular choice, so it's fine. I prefer the much more intense PB60 (also by Rosa, leans very violet like Ultramarine).

Indigo PB15:1, PV19, PBk7: I'll allow it. I'm a recent convert to Van Gogh indigo, it doesn't look as ashy as Payne's gray.

Yellow Ochre PY43, PY42: A classic portrait palette starter in any medium, no notes.

Mars Brown PY42, PR101, PBk7: Here is where the two swatches diverge, I don't know which one is more recent. I don't like this one.
vs.
Burnt Sienna PR101: Good, stronger than genuine PBr7 so beginners won't have a hard time mixing up a rich, dark color.

Sepia PBr7, PBk7, PR177: Contains the fugitive PR177 (fades when diluted) which will throw off the color balance.

Neutral Black PB15:1, PBk7, PR177: Same as above, it will NOT remain neutral if exposed to natural light.

To sum up:
👉🏻 4 paints contain ingredients that fade.
👉🏻 2 paints contain white + a pigment that is already present in the set.
👉🏻 3-4 paints contain black, which I think is at least 2 too many.

Don't waste your money. You don't need 14 different paints to paint portraits in watercolor, and you definitely don't need *these* 14 paints.

The Rosa Gallery range has some wonderful color choices, and you'd be better off choosing individual tubes or pans.

If you're wondering which colors to start painting #watercolor portraits with, you could do worse than the classic palette:

1. Yellow ochre (PY42/PY43) is a good base & will dull the other colors.

2. Crimson/maroon red like pyrrole (PR264) or perylene (PR179). More useful than rose/magenta in a limited palette because these can get a lot darker.

3. Violet-blue ultramarine (PB29) or indanthrone (PB60).

(cont.)

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4. Deep brown like burnt sienna (PR101 or PBr7) OR transparent brown (PBr23) OR benzimida brown (PBr25). Does a lot of heavy lifting in portraits. You can complete an entire nude figure study with just brown and blue, and it will look pretty decent.

5. Add white gouache (PW6) for highlights. Preserving tiny specks of white paper during painting is totally not worth the hassle, and only the strictest of purists even care about it.

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