Review: Green Stuff World Opaque Colors

Do you remember the Foundation paints from Citadel in the 2000s or the Heavy Opaque paints from Vallejo? Here comes Green Stuff World’s answer: 24 new Opaque Colors with extra high coverage. In this review, I answer the question of whether the Opaque Colors reinvent the wheel or not.

Green Stuff World’s Opaque Colors are a subrange featuring 24 new colours with extra high covering power. The acrylic paints come in 17ml dropper bottles with agitators and are available either individually or in four sets, each containing 6 colours.

Please note: In the past, there have been some (justified) shitstorms around Green Stuff World. For example, they recently used a paint job for product packaging without the approval of the artist. Since I try to maintain an unbiased and journalistic approach, I feel the need to point this out, but ultimately leave it up to you to judge.

GSW Opaque acrylic paints review

The quality of the paints is high. In my tests, the consistency of the 24 colours, with a few exceptions, was on the thinner side, similar to Citadel Layer paints. Only the white, yellow, and light blue were a bit too thick for my taste. The paints apply very well and streak-free, are self-levelling, and dry to a very matte finish (except for a few colours). The working time is slightly above average.

The covering power is very high; the darker colours indeed cover in one coat, but for the lighter colours, you’ll need two to three coats. For Gypsum White and Blazing Yellow, even four. This is good but does not significantly differ from modern paint ranges like Vallejo Game Color and Model Color, Warpaints Fanatic, or Two Thin Coats, which also have very good coverage nowadays. Overall, I would describe the colour palette as rather muted, with the lighter shades being somewhat pastel, which is due to the high proportion of opaque white pigments.

A look at the warm & flesh colours sets

In the 6-colour Warm Colours set, there are two lovely, muted red tones, as well as a brownish orange. Orange Peel, the second orange shade, is more of an intense salmon or coral colour, unlike the colour in the graphic. It’s not a typical orange, but a beautiful shade for my collection. The two purple tones are also appealing; the lighter one is somewhat greyer, while Nightmare Purple is a warm, rich purple.

The Flesh Colours set might be my favourite. There is a nice bone colour that is not too yellowish. Light Tan is, in my opinion, a perfect mid-tone for Caucasian skin that is not too pink. Dark Rose Tan is a bit more desaturated than shown on the graphic above and is very good for mixing and shading lighter skin tones. Additionally, the set includes Dead Flesh and Granite Grey, which are a reddish and a warm grey tone, along with an intense dark brown.

The cool & green tones sets reviewed

I find all three blue tones in the Cool Colours Set very appealing. They are all somewhat desaturated and tend towards a blue-grey shade, which I find quite useful. Dark Concrete is a dark neutral grey. I was less impressed with Donkey Grey; in reality, it is somewhat yellowish and not as neutral as depicted in the graphic. Gypsum White is also more of an ivory white, and I found its consistency to be a bit too thick.

In the Green Colours set, Blazing Yellow and Dark Evergreen stand out for me. The yellow is somewhat thick and has a high white content, nevertheless, Blazing Yellow performed well in my ranking of 21 yellow shades from 14 manufacturers (check it out here). Dark Evergreen is a lovely, rich dark green, noticeably warmer and brighter than Caliban Green. The other green tones and the ochre are okay but are already available in similar forms in many other paint ranges.

Patreon bonus content: You can find one of my hand-painted swatches of the 24 colours in Green Stuff World’s Opaque Colors range here.

Value

As usual with Green Stuff World, you can find the sets and individual colours (almost) permanently discounted on Green Stuff World’s website. The recommended retail price (RRP) is €17.40 for the sets and €2.88 for the individual colours. With a 10% discount, they are priced at €15.66 and €2.59 respectively, which is very affordable for 17 ml of paint these days.

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I hope you found this review helpful, feel free to leave a reaction or comment below, or post your questions here or discuss on our Discord channel.