I thought this was more of a cream based color set when I purchased. It seems to me that its more of a watercolor style paint. Which is fine, if you know how to use that style paint. Im not very good with it yet. The colors appear bright when applied to skin and the size of the color blocks means I should be able to get the hang of it before I run out of paint. It would be great if there was a guide on how to apply it.