Five mediums from Daler-Rowney's Simply range, sold individually rather than as a set. The Acrylic Gesso comes in a squat bottle with an orange band; the other four are tall white tubes under the black Simply and ACRYLIC headings — Texture Paste Medium, Gloss Medium, Matt Medium, and Mother of Pearl Structure Gel. Tell us which one you want on WhatsApp when you order.

The swatch photograph in our set is the most useful thing here, because it shows all five materials laid out beneath their own tubes. The texture paste sits up in a thick white ridge. The gloss reads as a wet translucent smear. The matt is a flatter opaque white. The mother of pearl catches light across its whole swatch with a visible shimmer, and the gesso next to them is plain flat white. Five products photographed together tell you more about what to buy than five separate listings ever will.

Mother of Pearl Structure Gel at Rs. 2,875 is the one worth pointing at. It is the only material on our entire mediums shelf that does two jobs at once — it builds body like a structure gel and finishes with an iridescent shimmer, where every other product here either adds texture or adds sheen. If you want a raised surface that also catches light, nothing else we stock replaces it.

The prices are worth setting against the Mont Marte range on the same shelf, because the answer is not uniform. Daler-Rowney's Texture Paste at Rs. 1,695 for 250 ml is Rs. 6.78 per millilitre and undercuts Mont Marte's Light Moulding Paste at Rs. 8.38. Their Gloss Medium at Rs. 1,835 is Rs. 7.34, above Mont Marte's Rs. 6.64. Their 500 ml Acrylic Gesso at Rs. 4,625 is Rs. 9.25 per millilitre against Rs. 5.10 for Mont Marte's 500 ml Black Gesso — though one is white and one is black, so that is a comparison of price, not of a like-for-like product.

The Matt Medium is the gap-filler in the range: mixed into acrylic it takes sheen out of the paint itself, which is a different thing from varnishing a finished piece. If your problem is a canvas that dried glossier than you wanted rather than a finished work that needs protecting, that is the tube to order.

These suit acrylic painters from about 12 years up. The Safencia price starts at Rs. 1,695 with Cash on Delivery across Pakistan. Stock, which medium you want, your city, and delivery charges are confirmed on WhatsApp before dispatch.

Why this product is worth considering