Kuretake GANSAI TAMBI GEM COLORS, 6 Colors Set, Watercolor Paint for Illustrations, Drawing, Lettering Review (2026)

What is actually in this set

This set contains six solid watercolor pans from Kuretake's Gansai Tambi Gem Colors line, generally listed as Gem Red, Gem Pink, Yellow Gold, Gem Green, Gem Blue and Gem Violet. Gansai is a traditional Japanese opaque watercolor style, and Kuretake's Gem line adds a sparkly, glitter-flecked finish to that base rather than a flat wash, distinguishing it from the brand's separate Pearl line, which instead gives a smoother, satin-like sheen. The pans are non-toxic and water-based, and Kuretake markets the wider Gansai Tambi range toward professional artists and crafters working in sketching, illustration, sumi-e and card making.

How the gem finish behaves in practice

Because these are solid pans rather than liquid paint, a wet brush is worked directly into the cake to lift pigment, and adding more or less water controls how concentrated the color and its glitter appear on the page. The sparkle in the Gem line is most visible when the paint is applied with less dilution, so a thicker wash on darker paper shows off the glittery texture far more clearly than a thin, heavily watered wash on white paper, where the shimmer can nearly disappear. For hand lettering, the pans mix up to an ink-like consistency that works with a dip nib or fine brush, letting a letterer add sparkly accents or full glitter-toned words to invitations, cards and illustrated pieces.

Why six colors is a starting point, not a full palette

A six-pan set is enough to sample the Gem finish and cover a handful of accent colors, but it will not provide the range needed for a large illustrated piece or a full alphabet of varied colored lettering. Kuretake sells a larger 24-color glittery and metallic set that covers a much wider spread of hues for anyone who finds they want more variety after trying this smaller set. Treat this six-color pack as a way to test whether the Gem finish suits your work before committing to a bigger, pricier set, rather than as a complete standalone palette.

How it compares with other lettering watercolors

Schmincke's Aqua Drop liquid set offers a different approach entirely, twelve highly lightfast liquid colors rather than solid glitter pans, aimed more at flat, saturated washes than sparkle. Kuretake's own 24-color Gansai Tambi glittery and metallic set is the natural upgrade path within the same brand and finish family. Sketchmarker's Aqua brush pen set and handmade metallic pearlescent pan sets both lean toward a similar shimmer effect through different formats, brush pens versus loose pans, while Coliro's Finetec mica set focuses on a smoother metallic sheen closer to Kuretake's separate Pearl line than to this Gem set's glitter texture.

Verdict and who should size up

At our score of 7.8 out of 10, this is a fun, well-made introduction to Kuretake's glittery Gansai Tambi Gem finish, and it works nicely for accents on cards, envelopes and small illustrated lettering pieces. Choose it if you want an affordable way to try a genuine glitter watercolor before committing to a larger set of pans. Look elsewhere, toward Kuretake's 24-color set or another larger palette, if your projects need a wider color range than six shades can cover, and note that the shimmer reads far more strongly on dark paper or in a thicker wash than in a light, watery one.

Frequently asked questions