Some of these sets are just like the other…

Hi friends! I totally have that Sesame Street song going through my head now LOL! Have you ever been tempted by the latest watercolor palette on Amazon? Have you ever bought a palette and realized that it is identical to another paint you own? I have! And today I am going to show you what paints I think are exactly the same as others.

*I am not throwing shade at any of these companies, nor are they doing anything wrong. In the budget art supply market company’s private label products as it is cheaper than having their own factories, staff and R&D. These factories make the paint according to the color palette requested and label it for the brand just like store-brand cereal in grocery stores. It is helpful to know what brands are what tho because you might pay 3x more for the same paint depending on who is selling it.

** These are my opinions, I do not work for any of these companies or have any inside information. I have just extensively compared these paints and this is what I think.

Please note: Often companies switch factories of factories change their recipes if ingredients become scarce or too expensive so the paint I have may not be what is sold now under these brands. A good idea when shopping on Amazon in particular is the look at the most recent reviews of a products to see if it still matches up. The information I have presented is my opinion and accurate to the products I have on hand.

A Recap of Brands and Alleged Dupes

Mungyo Watercolors: You can get a set of 48 that will contain most of the colors as the 12 sets from the following brands: Prima-Watercolor confections line, American Crafts-Jane Davenport sets, American Crafts: Paper Fashion, and Sargent Art. *Many Sargent Art Products seems to be made by Mungyo **For what it’s worth I like this paint, it does not layer well because it is a bit opaque and tends to lift but it has wonderful flow and movement.

Pheonix 24 round cake watercolor is allegedly the same as the round cake sets from Arteza and Lukas. If you live near an Ocean State Job Lot these sets are $5 and I recommend them for PreK-8 projects.

Pheonix Halfpan sets are allegedly the same as Winsor & Newton Cotman half pans and (I think) the Miya Rombus palette. I like all of these sets!

Sonnet Studio is allegedly the same as Paul Rubens Student full pan set (These are very vibrant and transparent, much like White Nights but contains some fugitive colors, good paint for the price tho and I appreciate the full pans)

Superior makes a lot of cheap, good quality Watercolors such as: Art Whale 48 half pan set, Artsy, Novelty fan sets, Altenew, and Doodlehog 36. Possibly Etcher and Dugat watercolor but I do not own them so can’t say for certain. I enjoy these sets too for the 48 set contains a lot of colors I’ll probably never use making the smaller sets a better choice in my opinion.

Masters touch and Doodlehog 48 are the same. I do not like these as much as the others I have listed here and they smell bad.

Palettes that seem unique:

• Top Pick! Meilang Pretty Excellent by Paul Rubens (Out of the lot mentioned here, these are the best)

• Arteza half pans (off palette, not my favorite)

• Meeden (You can get better quality for the price but their tins are cute)

If you know of any dupes that I missed please let me know! Again I want to reiterate that this is my opinion, I do not work for any of these companies. This info is presented in good faith based on my research and painting tests and experiments. I have no ill will to any of the above brands, I just want to help my viewers find the paint to meet their needs, preferences and budget. Happy crafting!