[REVIEW] Two Thin Coats' Emperor's Purple - A Metallic Purple Paint

[PerfectChocolateMadeleine]

Hello everyone!

 

I thought I'd share my thoughts on this paint from Duncan's brand!! I ordered it as well as GSW's Persian Violet (which I have not yet received) to test out purples for my 30k Emperor's Children, and I tried it today!!! TL;DR: It's great!!

 

Just a quick disclaimer: I'm by no means an accomplished or experienced painter: I have about 1k points of Necrons painted up, and that's about it!! But still wanted to give my opinion in case anyone else was considering this paint :))).

 

So, to test it out, I used some unassembled parts I had lying around: these are the back and front bits of the Skorpekh Lord's body, I believe. I primed them with Abaddon Black (two thin coats of which, of course), then applied the paint as I would any other metallic (thinned down with some water):

 

(Apologies for the picture quality)

 

One somewhat thinned-down coat of Emperor's Purple basically covered all of it immediately, tho the big smooth "panels" on the back bit needed an additional coat (which seems pretty standard as far as metallic paints go, with a similar coverage to that of Leadbelcher, in my experience painting Necrons). Overall, very happy with the paint's coverage!

 

It's such a pretty purple!!, and basically exactly what I wanted: a nice, metallic royal purple but with pink undertones, rather than blue. Of course, up close like this, you can kinda see the mica flakes, but irl it's a very smooth paint.

 

Then, I wanted to see what it looked like shaded. On the front bit (in the above image, the bit that's to the right) I shaded with Reikland Fleshshade, and on the back bit (left) I used Nuln Oil. It's pretty hard to see on pictures, but the difference is *kinda* visible, so just in case, here's what I got!!:

 

Shaded with Reikland Fleshshade ^

 

Shaded with Nuln Oil ^

 

The difference is really quite subtle, and even more so on the pictures, but you can still kinda see it: as expected, the Reikland Fleshshade made the tone a bit more redish, while the Nuln Oil darkened it slightly, and both do a reasonably-ish good job of highlighting recesses - tho perhaps I was didn't apply enough shade. The effect the Nuln Oil had is the most difficult to see on the pictures, but it really did darken it up, almost making the color a bit colder; and it feels like the Reikland Fleshshade matted the paint considerable more than its black counterpart, tho it's still visibly metallic and reflective.

 

Definitely try this for yourself, as the difference isn't super apparent on camera, and is especially subtle with the amount of shade I used!!

 

I think I will do more tests, applying more Nuln Oil but to just the recesses, as I love the bright color it has prior to the Nuln Oil treatment; if you want a darker metallic purple, try shading it completely!!! :D

 

For more variation, I might see what applying a thin coat of Doomfire Magneta does, and could try Ardcoat to make it shinier/glossier!! But the purpose of this review is mainly to show the effect of the paint itself, which you can see in the first two pics!!

 

I hope this was helpful to some!!!! Honestly, Emperor's Purple just feels like a purple Leadbelcher (as someone who uses that one a lot to paint my crons), which is definitely a compliment!! Great coverage, awesome color, what a great purple!! Definitely recommend!! :D

[Evil Eye]

That's a really nice looking purple, will definitely have to try some of these coloured metallics out- I haven't dipped my toe into Two Thin Coats just yet, but I've heard good things!

[Grotsmasha]

I also have this purple, and can recommend a recess shade of Druchii Violet for this one.

[PerfectChocolateMadeleine]

On 4/7/2025 at 2:04 PM, Grotsmasha said:

I also have this purple, and can recommend a recess shade of Druchii Violet for this one.

will definitely try that, thanks!! :D

[sitnam]

I'm super interested in these paints now, thanks for the review. I'm curious how you'd highlight these colored mettalics

[PerfectChocolateMadeleine]

3 hours ago, sitnam said:

I'm super interested in these paints now, thanks for the review. I'm curious how you'd highlight these colored mettalics

I recently did some more purple tests on some cheap plastic 40k terminators that i got online specifically for this!! I put down the Emperor's Purple over a black base coat, then a very thinned down layer of Persian Violet (which is a darker, bluer metallic purple from GSW, you want it basically like a contrast or a wash, something like a 2:1 water:paint mixture, but definitely experiment), and then a heavy dry brush of Emperor's Purple again. I found this gives the purple some nice depth, plus the Persian Violet wash does the shading job!!

 

Now, this wasn't rlly your question but I thought I'd just explain fully, for reference!!

 

To actually answer, for the highlighting: I did a light drybrushing of a 1:1 mix of Emperor's Purple and Stormhost Silver, just catching those raised areas and such. This mix gives a nice bright shiny purple. Then, I edge highlighted with pure Stormhost Silver. The pure silver edges really make it seem like it's VERY shiny!!!

 

Here's some photos of the test scheme for reference!! :D (ignore my closet in the background lol, was trying to get good lighting from the sun)

The above photo gives you the best look at the edge-highlighting, especially on the tippy top of the back thingy: to me at least, it looks like the armor is very shiny, but i suppose it can seem like the purple paint chipped away a little at the edges (but both effects work for me so!!)

The paint really is quite smooth and have fantastic coverage, as you can see from the shoulderpad

 

Now, it's no expert work or anything, but I'm quite satisfied with this purple!! I'm practicing my weathering as well so I hope to give it just a little bit of battle damage :)) Then, I'll be doing actual 30k minis instead of tests :D

 

Hope this was helpful