HIMI Gouache Paint Set, 24 Colors (30ml/Pc)

This is my first experience using gouache so I don’t have anything else to compare it to but I think I’m a fan! This is a really nice little set and you get a lot for the price. The paints have a nice texture to them, blend easily and cover well. They can also be thinned with water and then act more like watercolors. I also like the way everything fits in the box, nice and neat and ready to go. It’s worth mentioning tho that the way the lid snaps on may not be 100% secure. I wouldn’t trust this as a travel set that might get tipped over inside a bag but for at home use its perfect.

I was skeptical of this paint set at first but it is really great! it is very opaque and dilutes with water. The gouache very nicely creates a jelly-like film on top, it does harden but doesn't dry out and crack. The cover snaps onto it very well and has a good seal. The quality of the paint is nice and thick! It shows up well on black paper too. Overall: TOTALLY WORTH IT. Give it a try, I think that you may really enjoy it. It is aesthetically pleasing and also functional. I know some reviews say that it would not be ideal to travel, but if you let the jelly dry a little and keep the case flat it would work! I also received some brushes, which are great! I totally love them. (sidenote: if HIMI/MIYA is reading this send me some more to review lol.)

This is a really nice set of paints and i am so happy i bought it. I wanted to give gouache painting a try.

This product has gained significant popularity in recent years, and I was eager to try it out myself. Its strongest feature is the cost-to-quantity ratio. It offers a much larger quantity of product compared to other brands, allowing for ample practice without the worry of depleting your supply and not achieving the desired results. In contrast, more expensive brands often make you hesitant to use them, which can lead to less practice and fewer results. Please note that this is a student-grade gouache rather than a professional-quality one. In terms of presentation, the product comes in a user-friendly box. However, it's not airtight, so you should be aware that it tends to dry out quickly. Given the hot climate where I live (average daily temperature of 35°C), I need to hydrate the product by spraying water on it every two days to prevent it from drying out. An alternative is to use a few drops of watercolor blending medium (such as W&N blending medium) to extend the drying time. The box also includes a 21cm x 17cm plastic palette, providing ample space for mixing, and three brushes: flat, round, and filbert. These are standard brushes with soft synthetic bristles. However, I found that the bristles on the filbert brush tended to spread out more easily compared to the others. While not the highest quality, the brushes are decent and get the job done. One area for improvement is that the brand does not provide information on the pigments used in each color. Despite searching on their official website, I was unable to find this information.

This the second time I ordered this gouache set it’s amazing love it

Mi hija está encantada con ellas. Ideales para lo que ella buscaba.

These gouache paints are amazing. I've used watercolor and acrylic for years, and this is a true combination of them. I tried another gouache set from another retailer before, but these are much more pigmented and vibrant. When they dry out, they reactivate quickly with water too. Worth the money.

ABOUT REFILLS: hey as an update you can indeed buy refills, it's just that no seller has a listing. Aliexpress (worldwide) and some other websites specifically for Pacific residents have sellers offering refills. I was able to get Turquoise (a color not found in the 18/24 sets) elsewhere. With that, here's my review. __________ I love MIYA Himi gouache. This paint got really popular around 2019? for a multitude of reasons. One reason being its jelly cup design, another being the cute packaging the cups come in. A major reason for its popularity is that the gouache sets are rather inexpensive compared to other gouache paints/sets in the artist range. For this student grade gouache paint, you get 30ml per cup. That is twice the amount you get for a standard tube of gouache from many artist grade gouache paints like Winsor & Newton, Holbein, or M. Graham, for a much lower price. ACCESSORIES: This set includes three synthetic brushes and and a white plastic palette. The palette is gonna stain and become less white over time, but its still easier to color with compared with the colored or transparent palettes found in the other Himi sets. Also, the round brush seemd promising, but I used the flat brush and found it too stiff for my comfort, and it lifted dried gouache off my paper, I did not like that. I haven't tried the other brushes yet. CONSISTENCY AND SMELL: Himi gouache is slippery, unlike any other gouache I've tried that is in tubes or as dried pans, student grade or artist/professional grade. I read from Sarah Burns' website that a MIYAArts relayed to her that Himi gouache is petroleum-based. I also read in the comment section from a speedpaint using this gouache that Himi gouache has 'oil in it". I think the oil/petroleum in the gouache makes its consistency slippery and "gel-like". It also has a smell to it that, while noticeable to me, it's not overbearing. However, be wary if you have a strong sense of smell, it's not toxic but it does smell bad. Cool thing is, if you paint opaquely and with barely any water in your mix, you may end up with a slight impasto effect. This can happen when you build up layers also. I think the petroleum makes it like that, when I first painted with Himi gouache I thought "ok it feels kinda like oils" so that's cool. EXTRA COLORS: I had the 18 set before, but I *really* wanted to get this here 24 set. The 24 set includes an Orange, a Cobalt, a Yellow Green, and four pastel colors (Nude, Purple, Pale Violet, and Sky Blue). NOTE: I bought Turquoise not found in this set and replaced the Black with it. It is very easy to mix these extra colors with just the 18 set, but I thought "wouldn't it be easier to produce lighter colors with the pastels rather than just white?" And when mixing, let's say, Ponceau & Deep red with Nude, it produces a good reddish skin tone! I find it easier to get a good tint that isn't so pale when mixing just white. OPACITY/COLOR MIXING: *Swatches are above, next to a piece I did with it. NOTE: I did not swatch the Black, I replaced it with Turquoise, this color being sampled* The individual colors look very vibrant, but sadly it's easier to get muddy mixes when mixing colors together. I estimated that this Himi set has at least 15 colors made with more than one pigment. There are 10 colors in both the 18 + 24 set that have 1+ pigment, and the pastel colors, Yellow Green, Cobalt blue, and maybe Orange, are probably made with 1+ pigment. Stuff like this contributes to muddiness in paintings. Also the color mixes tend to get less opaque, most of the colors are transparent, so layering is a must if you want to compensate. The thick, slippery consistency may also fool you into thinking that loading your brush with more gouache and less water will provide more opaque results, but time and time again I will end up seeing pencil marks underneath :/ Layering is a constant when using this paint I compensate with using colors closer to each other via the hue circle. In order from yellow to violet red: Lemon Yellow, Mid Yellow, Orange, Ponceau, Deep Red, and Rose, are colors I stick with for a variety of reds and oranges. In order from blue violet to blue green: Ultramarine, Cobalt blue, Prussian blue, Acid blue, Jade green, are colors i use to get a variety of blues and turquoises. Both groups of colors will mute or muddy each other out, but can help create a variety of purples, browns, lemon greens, and chromatic blacks. PRUSSIAN BLUE ODDITY: Something odd I've noticed is that the Prussian blue in this set, like the third 18 set I owned, isn't as saturated as in the first and second 18 set I owned way back. I bought this here 24 set Apr 2023 (fourth set), and my third 18 set in Sep 2022. My second 18 set was purchased in Aug 2020, and the 2020 Prussian Blue was way more saturated and darker than the color in the 2022/2023 version. I included a swatch picture to show the differences. I also made a swatch of Prussian Blue from Paul Rubens Pro Watercolor 24 set, and it looks identical to the 2020 version. You see, Prussian Blue is made with PB27 Iron/Prussian/Berlin Blue, and MIYA lists that their Prussian Blue is made with PB27 on their 18 set pigment info. This 2022/2023 color does not look like it's made with only PB27, so I think it's made mixing PB27 with another pigment, or it's entirely a hue color. A "hue" is a color that mimics a certain original color by using pigments not used in the OG color. For example Cobalt Blue is made with PB28 Cobalt Aluminum Oxide, but a Cobalt Blue (Hue) is made with anything but (the Cobalt Blue in this set is a hue, it does not behave like genuine Cobalt). CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATIONS: I do NOT recommend this for gouache beginners, Himi gouache is unlike your typical gouache in terms of consistency, but shares opacity and color mixing issues that plague many other student gouache like it. This slippery consistency is not easy to handle, its thickness often leads me to believe that I put too much on my brush, but watering it down decreases its opacity. Mixing colors is a problem when the colors end up muddy, and beginners often hear about how vibrant and saturated gouache can be, so when they mix Himi colors and end up with muddy colors, it can be frustrating. I'm only able to paint easily with it because, while my first gouache was Reeves (student grade), I shortly picked up artist grade gouache, so my early exposure to artist grade gouache has helped me. And while many beginners worked well with Himi as their first gouache, many others 1) are fine with it until they try an artist grade gouache and ditch Himi or 2) they have trouble with Himi and dismiss gouache until they try a much better pro grade product. I personally recommend this gouache if you work with better gouache already and want to try it and maybe see it as potential sketchbook/practice paint. This paint isn't made for selling original pieces, it's practice paint used by art students taking exams in China. Zaccura, Jess Chung and Sarah Burns have lightfastness tests for the Himi gouache on YouTube and there are fading colors, its worse when mixed with white. And if you don't like the gouache in the end, you can always give it away to a kid family member or a thrift store. I think buying this, regardless of your like/dislike in the end, will expose you to something that is popular and you get to decide yourself if it was worth it!

Great value

Amazing product

I haven’t tried the rest yet, I was disappointed by the lack of a brush. This is customer misinformation!

Love this product. Compact and easy to pack away.

It was a lot bigger than expected so it’s pretty good value, my only issue is that it says it includes brushes but mine didn’t :/