DANIEL SMITH Original Oil Color 37ml Paint Tube, Graphite Gray

It's exactly what I expected.

Ordered alazerin crimson got permanent red.....very unhappy

This less expensive Daniel Smith brand of genuine ultramarine (lapis lazuli) is not from Afghanistan (which has the more expensive, purer and bluer form). This one is a dark ash blue which is still very useful for glazing and knocking down colors for shadows. I'm using it quite a bit. Remember that the pigment dispersion in genuine ultramarine blue is uneven (and variant in size) thus giving more refraction of light in a glaze than synthetic ultramarine blue (whose pigments are very even and thus less refractive). My big problem with this brand is that the lapis lazuli ash blue is ground in safflower oil which has a less binding and strong paint film ( safflower is generally consider less archival as it has only been in use since the mid-twentieth century). Because Lapis Lazuli has properties like no other color, your best bet is to spend the big bucks (about $100) on a tube of paint from Afghan mines. Michael Harding and Natural Pigments are two great companies and their ultramarine genuine is ground in linseed oil. Also, I bought the Daniel Smith 'Malachite Genuine' (out of curiosity) because it was a favorite of Titian (and nobody else makes it). It's a beautiful light cool green ground in linseed and that one gets a five star rating. I'll just end here and say that I'm still giving the Daniel Smith (Ultramarine ash blue) (Lapis Lazuli genuine) four stars because I find myself using it quite a lot in my figure paintings.

It can be VERY confusing that Amazon lumps in reviews for all the Daniel Smith paint products together, which is why you'll see reviews for lots of different colors, oils, acrylics, and watercolors, all on the same list. For example, I am writing this review for the 37ml Minnesota Pipestone oil paint, but you will see this among reviews for all the other Daniel smith products, too, resulting in a limp 3-star aggregate that doesn't really help.So for what it's worth, this oil paint is GOOD. The pipestone color is a deep rich red, almost an iron oxide red, that is very opaque. It mixes well, but is especially good for when you need a bold, deep red that can overlay the paints beneath it. It's also excellent as a signature paint, since the rich color isn't garish, so signing your paintings with Pipestone oil is attractive and clear.

It is simply a gorgeous oil paint color made from genuine ground Amazonite stone. No other company has this. And the genuine Sleeping Beauty Turquoise is also stunning. These are extremely lightfast since they are ground up rocks made into pigments the same way Lapis Lazuli is made, but much cheaper. Love these paints! If you go to the Daniel Smith website you can find their color charts and descriptions.