Our Luminescent Oil Colors are all about playing with light—reflecting it, refracting it, bouncing it around. Lustrous and visually exciting, they're the best selection of special-effects, lightfast oil paints available.

Lightfastness Rated I — Excellent,
(Metallic Copper and Iridescent Violet are rated Lightfastness II — Very Good).

Choose from 4 Luminescent Oil types:

Interference Colors

DANIEL SMITH Interference colors consist of transparent mica particles coated with highly refractive titanium dioxide. The combination results in the interference of the light wave.  Differing thickness of the titanium layer causes different colors of the spectrum to become manifest.  The best way to use interference paints is mixed with your favorite colors from your regular palette. Interference Blue, for instance, when mixed with Cobalt Blue yields a beautiful blue color.  The combination of Interference Blue with a color other than blue will give you two colors — a dual-effect when viewed straight on and at an angle. For instance Quinacridone Magenta and Interference Blue is seen as a pastel magenta or a sparkling bluish violet.

Iridescent Colors

DANIEL SMITH Iridescent paints—of which there are two types—have both color and a similar colored interference sparkle.

The first type, the copper and gold iridescent pigments, consists of transparent mica particles coated with highly refractive red and yellow iron oxide pigments (rather than the colorless titanium dioxide of the “interference” paints). The difference between the Interference and Iridescent paints is readily apparent when you compare Interference Gold with Iridescent Gold. Only the iridescent paint has color when not viewed at an angle.  When applied reasonably heavily these iridescent paints are opaque and replicate copper and gold. In a wet on wet application they create a wonderful textural effect.  In the case of Iridescent Scarab Red, the layer of iron oxide pigment is of such thickness that the interference sparkle is green!

The second type of Iridescent colors are convenient paints consisting of regular pigment colors together with an interference color of the same or similar hue. An example in the chart is Iridescent Electric Blue.

Iridescent Colors - Metallics

A subset of the Iridescent family, metallics come in a range of hues, all with a convincing metallic gleam. Daniel Smith Metallic Colors are so convincing because they're made from genuine metal powders — microscopically flaked particles of copper, zinc and aluminum. They add dimension and brilliance to your paintings and are available in a spectrum of metallic colors.

Duochrome Colors

DANIEL SMITH Duochrome dual effect colors are now offered conveniently mixed in one tube. You can check this out by comparing, a combination of Phthalo Green blue shade and Interference Gold with — Duochrome Oceanic. The colors Duochrome Hibiscus and Quinacridone Magenta mixed with Interference Red appear similar to one another when viewed straight on but the duochrome paint is quite different—a blue violet when viewed at an angle.

Pearlescent Colors

Pearlescent Black, White and Shimmer have a versatile mother-of-pearl glow. They resemble the Interference colors, minus the light-shifting quality.

Beautiful straight from the tube, each Luminescent color has the potential to transform other colors into new, more exotic mutations. Add a few to your palette today and see for yourself!