Best paints for gems and lenses

Gems and lenses are painted back to front: dark on the side nearest the light, bright on the far side where light comes through, with a white glint opposite the bright reflection.

Fill the gem with the deepest shadow, blend up in crescents toward the far side, then add the reflected light and a single sharp glint.

Each ramp below is built the way the Ramps mode on the colour wheel builds one: we set a target colour for each step, then pick the nearest opaque paint in each brand (no metallics, washes or contrast paints, and no paint used twice). ΔE says how far each paint is from its target: close is under 6, fair under 12. Swatch colours are estimates, so test the ramp on a spare model first. On the wheel you can build the same ramp from any paint, or only from the paints you own.