MijelloAirtight Watercolor 18-Well Pink Palette

I own several plastic and metal watercolor travel palettes and this is definitely my favorite out of them all. Here is a list of pros and cons for this palette:Pros:. Affordable! It's one of the more affordable travel watercolor palettes I've seen on Amazon.. Generous amount of mixing space.There is a removable clear insert on the lid that is very easy to clean, you can also take this out and use the surface underneath if you need more space for mixing.. Lightweight but durable. I wouldn't want to drop it on the ground to test it, but I've carried it around in my bag and don't have to worry about it breaking or the hinge getting loose.. Leak proof... I think? There is a rubber gasket around the upper lid piece that i assume keeps it sealed while closed.. It's cute! I don't care much for what something looks like as long as it functions. That said, I appreciate the color and minimalist design of this palette.Cons:. It is quite large for travel.. The wells are fixed, so I once you put paint into it it's a hassle to move the colors around, unlike in palettes that use removable pans.. The plastic stains (but so do most other plastic and metal palettes). It doesn't bother me at all but I thought I would mention it.. Paint beads/pools up. Although it gets slightly better over time, it takes time to break in the surface to reduce the beading.Note: this could be a pro or con depending on the way you look at it. Because this palette is quite big you have a lot of space for mixing (two wells, plus the lid). However the trade-off is that the palette could be considered too large for travel, depending on your needs. I would not really recommend it for urban sketching, but if you plan to carry it in a large purse, backpack, or even luggage or duffel bag this would be a good option.If you're looking for a lightweight palette with plenty of mixing space, but don't care too much about the size, you should definitely go with his palette.

(this review is with gouache paint)*To get it out of the way, the fushia color is NOT the purple palette shown in product image.Although the actual color is accurate to its name, the image was misleading.OverallIt's lightweight, feels durable and has a lot of mixing space.Palette is slim and easy to balance on the hand as well, although I usually leave it on the desk.Airtightness / LeakproofnessI have not tested this, as I'm using the medium dried & I generally would not close the palette anyway if there were significant wet puddles in it still.TrayThe extra tray is very nice & easy to clean.It's a little difficult to take out at first, especially if your finger is even slightly oily.Not a major con- I would prefer this over a loose tray.LidThe lid closure closes neatly, but I found mind is a bit on the weaker side.If it got snagged by something in the bag, I can see it accidentally opening.StainingStaining has been minimum on all the surfaces so far and I rarely clean off my palette.It's a bit of yellows, purples/blues and reds that are left behind.BeadingA lot of beading at first, but gradually improves into minimal to no beading.This is with gouache though; I have not tested with watercolors.Paint WellsNot a fan of the corner wells, the shape is a bit awkward to use for me.Otherwise, each holds a decent amount of paint, and 18 is a perfect number of wells.Enough for the core colors and a few extras for misc/pre-mixed colors.Space for Utensils(attached in one of the photos) There's space to fit in short-handled brushes and pencils- and the lid closes just fine. They will rattle inside, but a good option to have if I'm too lazy to carry a separate pencil case.

I recently loaned mine to a friend for a workshop experience that we went on together and I used one of my other palettes. She fell in love with it and I missed it. I bought this one for her. It’s light weight, has lots of mixing spaces, airtight. The 18 wells are just enough and not too many (but of course you don’t have to fill each one and you can add others by filling a half or full pan & sticking it in with museum putty). Soooo reasonably priced that one could have several palettes going for different adventures. This palette travels well flat or not - very easy to pack. Can’t say enough good things about it. I’ve even seen well known artists using it! I’m almost ashamed that I’ve spent hundreds $$$ on different travel palettes :(

Good product overall… nice big wells and plenty of room to add more full or half pans in the bottom mixing area if wanted with magnetic tape or whatever. I was hoping to also add some half pans to the top lid area but it’s not deep enough, even if you take out the clear mixing tray (pic is what I intended, not what is possible, along with some additional Winsor Newton individual colors I wanted to add). Not a design flaw since it wasn’t made for that originally.Had to take a star off for color not being purple as advertised — it’s a fairly bright medium fuchsia pink, which is a lot more loud and tacky in person, especially since it’s plastic. Seller should really update the product images. Might not matter to some people but color and tactile feeling stand out to me… this case is lightweight but doesn’t feel like very high quality compared to other cases I’ve used. Wish they sold this in more muted or pastel colors.It’s a fairly large size too, especially when unfolded, which I knew by the measurements before purchasing, but I found it to be a bit too big to fit on my lap desk. Didn’t have a chance to test the waterproof claim.I decided to just stick with the nice white palette case that came with my Sennelier La Petite set of 24 watercolors… a bit more compact but much better tactile feel/visual quality and it has room in the top to add some pans, while also fitting 12 half pans into the area originally for paint brushes.