I had the rolled kit, it came nicely packed and arrived quite promptly from what I remember. I ordered in November but didn't start to work on it until last month. Couple of things I have exchanged the white and the black painting with my own acrylics. White was quite translucent and it was a bit grainy (couple of the other light blue colours had similar issues, but those are harder to exchange). I didn't like how the black felt why I was painting, but honestly it would have been fine with the one that was included. Mine just laid down smoother and easier. I would wager that this canvas didn't need a gesso, I think in some places it worked against me. I also used my own brushes (a 3/0 Detail brush 1 Round, 3 Round and a 3/8 Flat brush) so I cannot really say anything about ones that came with the kit. All of the paints were more then enough, and most of them had a good texture and covered the canvas decently. I mean yellow will be always translucent in acrylics, even the high end ones are transparent (Golden Primary Yellow for instance). Canvas comes with redlines and an slightly pre colored which was nice, several of the smaller areas doesn't have a number on them so the under colour gives you a hint which direction you should go. I also changed the lips a little bit at the end because I wanted a little bit more realistic ones. Otherwise, the design works really well with the paint by numbers approach so you end up with a really smooth finished art. If you cannot commit to finishing it within a two weeks or so, I would advise against tape mounting even the washi tape was a nightmare to get off once I was done with painting. I also didn't use the varnish that was provided because I couldn't find an information on what kind it was so I used the one I had. But that's because I'm picky and I prefer satin finish over matt or gloss. I had a stretcher frame at home, but my hands couldn't handle (same reason why I had to wait with the painting) the stretching so I have spray mounted on a board and put it into an IKEA 40X50 frame. This is a bit cheaper if you have several projects but if you only have one I would go with the framed kit. Overall happy with the experience, and the end product.