When I decided to get back to painting with watercolors several years ago, Yarka St. Petersburg Professional Watercolor Pan Expanded Set of 24 was the first watercolor pan set I bought, and I absolutely loved them. So when I heard that White Nights is similar to Yarka (same manufacturer), I naturally had to buy them.
White Nights are professional artists’ quality watercolor paints, produced by the St. Petersburg Company in Russia. The set contains 36 full pans of the following colors:
- 100 Zinc White
- 203 Cadmium Lemon
- 201 Cadmium Yellow Medium
- 218 Yellow Ochre
- 216 Golden
- 217 Golden Deep
- 215 Hanza Yellow
- 323 Ruby
- 302 Cadmium Red Light
- 320 Orange Lake
- 321 English Red
- 324 Quinocridone Rose
- 319 Carmine (hue)
- 313 Madder Lake Red Light
- 609 Quinocridone Lilac
- 607 Violet
- 507 Turquoise Blue
- 511 Ultramarine
- 513 Blue
- 508 Cobalt Blue
- 502 Cobalt Blue Spectral
- 516 Indigo
- 503 Ceruleum Blue
- 718 Yellow – Green
- 713 Emerald Green
- 725 Green (Russian)
- 727 Olive Green
- 704 Oxide of Chromium
- 405 Raw Sienna
- 406 Burnt Sienna
- 418 Umber
- 408 Burnt Umber
- 412 Mars Brown
- 413 Sepia
- 805 Neutral Tint
- 812 Paynes Grey
PRODUCT:
The paints re-wet easily and produce rich, vibrant colors that are smooth and creamy (no grittiness or chalkiness).
A few of the colors are opaque, but most of them are transparent. Because they are loaded with pigment, a little bit goes a long way, so they can be watered down and appear much more transparent.
Most of the colors do not granulate aside from some of the earthy browns. This could be a good or bad thing, depending on your preference.
26 of the colors are single pigment colors, so they mix well without getting muddy. Only 10 colors are made of 2 or 3 pigments.
27 of the colors have excellent lightfast ratings. Only 8 colors are less lightfast. Violet, which is made of PV3, is very fugitive.
VALUE:
This set usually retails for $69.99, but you can probably find one at a cheaper price on Amazon. (I’ve seen it as low as $51.99.) At this price point, each full pan (2.5 ml) costs around $1.44 – 1.94. It is a real bargain for the price!
PACKAGING:
I love that the company included their own blank swatch card that fits perfectly in the case. I plan to laminate this, so I can keep it in the case for easy reference.
Each pan was individually wrapped with their pigment information, but the pans themselves were not labeled, so the first thing I did was label the pans. That way, I can easily identify them if they fall out or if I have to refill them.
The sturdy plastic case appears to be of high quality. It provides two large mixing areas, one of which is removable for convenience.
The only con about the case is that the pans don’t always stay in their spot, so you may have to glue them down if you want to travel with them. I used removable glue dots to keep them in place.
OVERALL:
These paints are fantastic! I highly recommend this set for the range and intensity of colors. If you’re looking for professional artist’s quality watercolors on a budget, you can’t ask for a better set.
Jen de Leon 
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