Pastel Lilac is opaque. That determines how you should use it. An opaque colour covers what is beneath it in one or two coats and is what you want for blocking in and correcting. A semi-transparent or transparent colour lets the layer underneath influence the result, which makes it ideal for glazing and shadow work but frustrating if you are trying to cover something. Check the swatch on the jar against a black bar to see it for yourself.

All Amsterdam acrylics are intermixable, and Pastel Lilac behaves predictably in mixes given it is opaque. Start by mixing it with titanium white for tints and with a small amount of its complementary colour to knock back the intensity rather than reaching for black, which tends to deaden a mix. Keep a swatch card of your mixes with the ratios written on it, because you will want to repeat one later.

Pastel Lilac is rated +++ on Royal Talens' scale. Three pluses means the colour is rated to last at least 100 years under museum conditions, two pluses at least 25 years. Museum conditions means indoors and out of direct sunlight. That rating is why work painted in Amsterdam Standard Series is safe to sell, provided the buyer is not hanging it in a north-facing window.

Yes. The question that matters for selling work is permanence, and Amsterdam Standard Series is rated ++ or +++ for lightfastness with a 100% acrylic resin binder that cures water resistant. Where professionals tend to reach for a higher grade is when they need maximum pigment strength in a small area, or very specific single-pigment mixing behaviour. For large canvases, underpainting, murals and blocking in, Standard Series is a sensible professional choice.

Tell us within 7 business days of receiving it. Email customerservice@artshedonline.com.au with your order number and photos of the damage and the packaging, and our team will sort it out. Paint jars are packed to survive the trip, but couriers are couriers. Reporting it quickly with photos is what lets us make a claim and get a replacement moving.

Yes. All artist acrylics share the same acrylic resin chemistry, so Amsterdam mixes freely with Liquitex, Golden, Matisse, Atelier and any other acrylic, and with acrylic mediums and gesso. What will differ between brands is viscosity and pigment load, so a stiff heavy body colour mixed into Amsterdam will thicken the mix, and a very high-pigment colour will dominate a mix faster than you expect. Mix a test swatch before you commit a large batch.

Yes, it is a common mural choice, and the alkali resistance is the reason. It adheres to stone, plaster, concrete and render without a specialist masonry primer, provided the wall is clean, sound and slightly porous. For an exterior mural, finish with a UV resistant exterior varnish. The paint's lightfastness rating assumes indoor museum conditions, and an Australian north-facing wall is a very different ask.

Act while it is wet if you possibly can, because soap and cold water lifts wet acrylic easily. Once it has cured it is a plastic film bonded into the fibres and there is no reliable removal. People have some success softening it with isopropyl alcohol or a dedicated paint remover and working at it with a brush, but the fabric usually shows the damage. The real answer is an apron and old clothes.

It cures water resistant and permanent, which is enough for an indoor painting and enough to survive being wiped. It is not the same as a waterproof coating, so for anything living outdoors, getting scrubbed, or holding water, seal it with an exterior or hard-wearing clear varnish. Note also that it needs to be fully cured, not just touch dry, before it reaches that water resistance, which means days rather than minutes.