Siren_Song got their homepage at Neopets.com

Introduction

Hello! My name is Siren Song and my owner and I like to roam the help chat board. There are all sorts of questions that pop up but hardly a day goes by without someone asking about paint brushes. If users aren't wondering where paint brushes come from then they're asking how much their favorites cost or what can be bought with their budget. It wasn't too long befrore I tired of flying from the Marketplace to the Trading Post and then back the HC. Which was when it occured to me I had a little piece of cyberspace just gathering dust like my old Tombola prizes. So I made over this page with the hopes of saving us all some time and effort. Now I don't pretend to know everything but I can share with you the basics and my rough price listing may help the more ambitious among you calculate how many games of Meerca Chase & Ultimate Bullseye you'll have to play before your plain ol' neopets can turn into striking beauties like me. *Beams* Oh by the way, if you do spot a mistake or have any further questions then feel free to neomail my owner and me.

Paint Brush FAQ

What do paint brushes do?
A paint brush is what you use to change the color of your neopet. However, not every paint brush works and even those that do will only paint a select few types of neopets. So before you empty out your pockets to buy one be sure to visit the Rainbow Pool under Shops to see which colors your neopets currently come in.
How do I use my paint brush?
To use your paint brush make sure it is sitting free in your item box and not locked up in trades, auctions, your safety deposit box or the like. Go to the Rainbow Pool under shops and scroll down the page. You should see a section labeled Your Brushes which will let you choose which brush to use and which neopet to use it on. Remember that if your neopet does not come in that color you'll just get an error screen for trying. There are also a couple of paint brushes that don't work. Click here to check out which ones they are.
Can I use two or more paint brushes to get a mixed colored neopet? For instance will using a darigan paint brush and a pink paint brush get me a pink and darigan colored pet?
No, but it is possible to make it look as if you had. Let me try to explain. A neopet can only be painted in ONE color. If your neopet is currently darigan & you buy a pink paint brush and follow the steps to paint it then your pet will completely lose the old darigan look and turn pink. However, some neopet colors will bestow clothing on your pet AS WELL as an underlying color change. For example, let's pretend you make a green techo named LikesToEatBugs & paint him halloween. LikesToEatBugs' halloween look is actually made of two parts: one is underlying halloween "make up" (that is a color) & the other is a halloween "costume" (that is clothing) that together form the entire look. Both of these - the color & clothing - are granted to you the moment you painted LikesToEatBugs halloween. But let's say you later decide to paint him shadow. LikesToEatBugs will lose the halloween COLOR and turn shadow. However, he will KEEP the clothing (in this case the mummy type bandages) he got when you made him halloween. At a glance this gives the impression of a dual-painted pet - he will look shadowy black but still sport the tell-tale mummy wrappings you see on halloween painted techos. Regardless, LikesToEatBugs is only ONE color. You just lucked out and got to keep the clothing/accessories that came with his old color (you may remove the clothing if so desired). Just check out petspotlight winner Kreannen to see an example of a pet that looks as if it were painted more than one color..
If a Paint Brush is retired does that mean I can't use it?
All retired paint brushes can still be used, with the exception of two paint brushes - Glass & Stone. These had their colors completely retired from the site so they don't work at all. For the other retired paint brushes, the "retired" attribute just is meant to signify that the item will become more rare - that is fewer of that item will be entering the Neopian economy. For paint brushes such as Faerie this was accomplished easily by removing it from the list of items that could be bought at the Hidden Tower. For the other paint brushes that were never sold there to begin with, it's more difficult to figure out exactly how they become more rare but in any case this increased rarity almost always means that the price for the paint brush will increase and they will be viewed as more valuable items.
I see a lot of people use the letter k when talking about paint brush prices. What does it mean?
The k stands for thousand so when you see a number followed by a k replace it in your mind with three zeros. For instance an item valued at 4k would be worth 4,000NP; an item at 20k would be 20,000NP and one at 500k would be 500,000NP.
Why are Paint Brushes so expensive?!?!
Paint brushes or p/bs as they are often called are very popular, very rare, one-use items. This combination of low supply and high demand ends up making them super expensive. Keep in mind that as one-use items this means you can't borrow your friend's paint brush and return it to him/her when you're done. Also there is no way to get a paint brush back after you've used it so don't even think about testing the color 'just to see if it looks nice' on your pet.
So where do I get paint brushes from?
The easiest way is to buy them off of fellow users from their personal shops which you can find with the shop wizard, the trading post or the auction house. But first go to the Brushes link at the Rainbow Pool if you need to refresh your memory on what your paint brush is called and remember that because of the limitations of shops (specifically the fact that you can't sell an item in your shop for more than 99,999NP) you may have to narrow your search to the trading post and auction house to find certain brushes.
The Hidden Tower also stocks a handful but unless your neopets account is a certain age (last I heard you needed to be at least 4 months) you won't be able to get inside. Don't feel too bad if you can't though. Brushes found here (which are just the Baby, Royal & Darigan colors) tend to set a sort of "ceiling" on the price other users will ask for them. Since it's known that most of your pool of potential customers can generally just go to the Tower if you charge them extra (not many "young" accounts have the kind of resources to grab these brushes) users tend to ask for either exactly what the Tower does or a little cheaper to encourage users to come to their trading post lot instead.
Random events - Sometimes, if you are very lucky, while you are wandering the site you'll come across a random event that gives you a paint brush. Usually, these make some mention of a mysterious character named Jacko but regardless these events are extremely rare. There's not much you can do to encourage them to come your way although playing games like Cliffhanger or NeoQuest (I or II) that make you refresh the page often helps. Also, signing up for Neopets Premium increases your odds of having random events although it should be noted that it will still be very rare for you to find a paint brush in this fashion.
Fruit Machine - Tucked away in a corner of Sakhmet, this unassuming kiosk usually doesn't give away much worth mentioning. However, on rare occasion some lucky users do report getting a paint brush from here. So give it a shot, you just might get lucky!
World Challenges - Word has been spreading that completeing any of the various maps for this latest addition to the site might get you a paint brush. Just check out the petpage of _Knight_Dog_ which records the prizes of dozens of users who have managed to complete the maps.
Wheel of Montonoy - wow, is this the most boring game ever or WHAT? But I'm sure more than a few of you have noticed that there is a paint brush pictured on the wheel. And while odds are you and your pet will be abducted by rogue alien aishas before you win one off here it is still a slim possibility. So go on, give it a whirl...
Contests - winning some of the site's contests sometimes means getting a rare, random item that for some turns out to be a paint brush. Look the list over, it never hurts to try and even if you don't get a p/b at least you'll have a cool trophy in your lookup
Test Your Strength is one of the terrible trio of games in the Haunted Woods that are rigged so that the odds are stacked terribly against you. However, I have heard from a rather seasoned neopian that winning a paint brush is occasionally possible from here so if you're feeling extremely lucky give it a try. You never know, you might just beat the odds...
The Wishing Well is tucked away at the top of the Neopian Plaza. It's magical waters promise to grant the wishes of a handful of lucky users who toss coins into it's depths. Unfortunately so many users visit the wishing well in hopes of getting expensive items for a handful of NPs that the odds of you getting any of your wishes granted are slim to none. Still, it is possible. Just make sure you type in the exact name of your item as it would absolutely stink to have your wish for a paint brush granted only to find it to be one of the unusable paint brushes I have listed in my FAQ below.
Tarla the owner of the Mystery Shop on Terror Island also spends part of her time giving occasional freebies to users who download the Neopets Toolbar. Although her prizes are usually small, miscellaneous items she does on rare occasion give out some pretty nice stuff including paint brushes. For more info on Tarla I recommend hopping over to Tronbonne's petpage.
KeyQuest is one of the relatively newer additions to the site & there have been reports that a handful of luck users have managed to get paint brushes from the gold keys they took to the prize vault. Keep in mind however that this is not an assured thing - I have heard of players who claim to have redeemed many, many, MANY gold keys and not received a single paint brush for their effort. Still the game can be very fun and the prize list is fairly impressive nevertheless - just take a look at KeyQuestHelp's Petpage to see what some of your potential rewards are. So if you haven't already started playing give the excellent petpage of Little_Mini_Moehog a look over and jump right in. You may just be one of the lucky users the KeyQuest Faerie decides to smile upon!
Alien Aisha Vending Machine - Odds are you will just get some gross food and a handful of neopoints but some super lucky users have reported getting a paint brush from here. There are no specific nerkmids that guarantee your getting a paint brush but the odds are said to increase the rarer the nerkmid you use. Personally I would just save my money and buy a paint brush off of fellow users though...
But isn't there a store that sells them? I heard there was!
No main shop stocks paint brushes. The only non-user owned store that has them is the Hidden Tower tucked away in Faeriecity. Run by none other than Queen Fyora nothing in this tower comes cheap! Moreover the inventory is very limited showing only those items that her majesty deems worthy and only users whose accounts are at least a certain age (last I heard it was 4 months) are allowed to enter. At the moment only three paint brushes are sold there with the cheapest running at over half a million neopoints!
What is the Rainbow Fountain and why does it never seem to be working?
The Rainbow Foutain is something quite different from the Rainbow Pool. For one, it doesn't use any paint brushes and secondly to be able to use it you have to get something called a Fountain Quest which only appear as rare random events. There's a great petpage dedicated to unlocking the mysteries of the Rainbow Fountain why don't you check it out? Just go here.

Help! I've looked everywhere for my paintbrush but I can't find it! Why is it missing?
Odds are that you made the common mistake of spelling paint brush as ONE word instead of two. The site's search engines can be rather particular at times so be sure you have the item's name spelled out exactly the same way as the site does. I've listed each of the paint brushes' names exactly as they should be spelled on my price guide; feel free to take advantage of it & your computer's copy/paste features. There are also several colors that there is simply no paint brush for. Double check the listing of paint brushes at the rainbow pool to be sure that a paint brush truly exists for your desired color.

What about the Flask of Rainbow Fountain Water? What does that do?
The flask of rainbow fountain water is a rather expensive item that can be pulled out on rare occasion by neopets very skilled in fishing at the Underwater Fishing Pool.
This lucky find will turn any neopet that drinks it into a random color. Like paint brushes, this item will vanish after only one use. To find out what colors you have a shot at getting with this item take a moment to visit Bae's petpage for an excellent guide dedicated to this item.

Well what about this lab ray I've heard about? How does that work?
The lab ray is the prize for collecting and turning in all 9 pieces of the secret laboratory map. You find the map pieces off of rare random events or buy them off of other users. Once you have them all click here or go to games, puzzles, treasure map, laboratory. You'll lose all your map pieces but in return gain permanent access to the lab ray. The ray is run by a mad scorchio scientist who will let you use it once a day on one of your neopets. The ray is still rather unstable so the results are unpredictable but there is a chance your neopet will change to a cool color. To find out more about what the lab ray does I highly recommend the petpage of JustToClearThingsUp.

What about neggs?
A few clever collectors have pointed out that certain neggs - those rare Neopian delicacies - have magical powers that can affect your neopet's color. Thanks to some help from the Help chat board here are the few that you may want to look out (or watch out!) for:
Kaleideonegg - Eating one is like getting a shot from the lab ray. See my section on the lab ray for more info on what that can be like...
Plaid Negg - Rumored to either boost a faerie ability level (which is a bit pointless since leveled up abilities aren't any stronger) or to randomly change up your pet's color (not much info on possible outcomes though...)
Vortex Negg - Will paint your neopet red, blue, yellow or green (You don't seem to get to choose...)

What about clothing?
Although a cool way to add a bit of extra dazzle to your neopets, clothing is beyond the scope of my page here. However, I can point you towards the petpage of Echoh who has coordinated a superb list of references you can use to make the best of this fun site feature.
What about Ice Bori? How can I get one of those?
I'm sorry but it would seem that it is no longer possible to get an ice bori. Ice bori were made avaliable a long time ago when the staff asked users to download a special toolbar. Those that did were allowed to create bori early (this was about a month before the species was released to the general public) as well as given the option to create their bori in an ice hue if they so desired. The staff made a comment at that time stating that this limited time offer would be the one and only way to get an ice colored bori. As far as I know they have not yet to changed their minds on this issue. The staff has even gone so far as to make it so that any ice bori abandoned in the pound will automatically change to blue. Although there have been some rumors floating around that an extremely lucky zap from the lab ray can turn your neopet into an ice bori. I haven't been able to confirm this rumor though...
What does the Lutari Paint Brush do?
Nothing. The Lutari Paint Brush does not (nor did it ever) work on any neopet. It was quietly slipped into the site back in 2004 during the promotion that surrounded Neopets Mobile. Back when it was released most veteran users believed that it was a precursor to a Lutari color that would eventually be added to the site. This lutari tonu plushie, in fact, may be a clue as to just what that lutari color would have looked like:
However the color was never added to the site & the site has significantly down played the Lutari World since. It's doubtful that we'll ever get to see a lutari color at this point...

Excuse me but why are some Paint Brushes missing from your price guide?
A few sharp eyed users have asked me why certain brushes - particularly Glass & Stone & Lutari - are missing from my paint brush price guide below. When I put together my price guide, I did it mainly with the kind of user in mind who has a certain amount of NP they want to spend on a paint brush to beautify their neopet. I hoped my price guide would give them an idea of what they could afford & if they aren't happy with their current options how much others would cost. Because Glass & Stone don't work on any neopet but are affordable brushes I avoid listing them on my guide to keep users from accidentally buying them up and then sending me irate neomails when they discover they can't do anything with them. Likewise the Lutari Paint Brush does not work on any neopet and seemingly never will so I have removed it from my guide as well. There are also several colors that there is simply no paint brush for. To the best of my knowledge these are: Chocolate, Custard, Fruity Colors, Garlic, Ice, MSP, Robot, & Snot. If you are hoping to get a neopet of one of these hues then jump to the section of my FAQ that deals with the lab ray. However if you are thinking of a usable Neopet brush and don't find it listed please, please send me a neomail to let me know - odds are it got accidentally deleted when I redid the coding to update my prices.
When did you last update the price guide?
I last updated all the prices on October 25, 2009. If you're reading this quite sometime thereafter please don't hesitate to send me a neomail reminding me to review current p/b prices. Of course, updates are subject to delays depending on how busy my schedule gets.

Paint Brushes that do NOT paint Neopets

Glass& Stone Paint Brushes - Long ago the Neopet staff completely removed these colors from the site and replaced them with Tyrannia and Island respectively. The paint brushes remain as relics from the days when those shades were possible but now neither one of these paint any species. You CAN NOT use a stone p/b to get an island colored neopet nor a glass p/b to get a tyrannian one. Only neopets that had already been painted glass turned tyrannian and likewise neopets that were already stone when the staff made the change were turned into island. So unless you're an avid collector don't bother buying them!

Lutari Paint Brushes have been around the site for quite some time but are not active items - meaning that they don't do anything at all. These were added to the site quite some time ago to accompany the Luatri World that Neopets was then promoting. However, Neopet Mobile seems to have since more or less died down. The links for both phone companies that carried the game are now dead & the staff has not given us any hint that they intend to continue/expand on the Lutari World that went with it. I would not recommend buying this brush unless you happen to be a very dedicated (and VERY rich) collector.

If you ever come across a paint brush that has the word "plushie" in it as well as any other color in its name then don't be fooled. There is no such thing as a starry & plushie colored neopet. Rather these are TOY versions of the real things. They will not paint your neopet and they will certainly not paint any plushies your neopet may own. All you can do with these is play with them just like you would with a deck of cards. Unless you're a collector of plushies/toys then please stay away from these imposters!
Sparkly Blue & Sparkly Green Paint can not be used to paint neopets or petpets. They are part of the school supplies set of items which were added to the site a long time ago in anticipation of neoschools. Ultimately the staff decided not do neoschools which means school supplies merely serve as collectors items now or on rare occasion are requested for the completion of a quest.

It probably goes without saying but any paint brush that has "petpet" in its name will only work on petpets. My sister Aledamdis has a petpage that deals with these if you want to stop on by.

Paint Brushes Under 100k

Starter Paint Brushes can not be sold, auctioned or traded away. They come in newbie packs so technically they're free but as you're unable to move them from the account they came in it's not worth creating multiple accounts to get one.

Christmas Paint Brush - 36,000NP
Speckled Paint Brush - 45,000NP
Glowing Paint Brush - 50,000NP
Biscuit Paint Brush - 50,000NP
Cloud Paint Brush - 55,000NP
Scritchy Sketchy Paint Brush - 69,000NP
Green Paint Brush - 70,000NP
Invisible Paint Brush - 72,000NP
Yellow Paint Brush - 79,000NP
Red Paint Brush - 90,000NP
Camouflage Paint Brush - 92,000NP
Blue Paint Brush - 94,000NP
Snow Paint Brush - 94,000NP
Starry Paint Brush - 95,000NP
Striped Paint Brush - 99,999NP

Paint Brushes Over 100k
Okay, first of all you should know that any item whose value is 100,000NP or more is sometimes called an unbuyable. This is because there is a restriction in shops that prevents users from pricing their items at anything higher than 99,999NP so very expensive items are 'unbuyable' from user owned stores. So the prices you see below have been gleaned off the Trading Post although you can also try hunting for these more expensive brushes in the Auction House. I have listed the average asking price I found users on the trading post would accept, which means you should be able to find a few prices below and above what I mention. Regardless, this should give you a good ballpark figure of what you'll be spending to get the precious paint brushes below...

Ghost Paint Brush - 105,000NP
Split Paint Brush - 105,000NP
Tyrannian Paint Brush - 130,000NP
Silver Paint Brush - 145,000NP
Checkered Paint Brush - 215,000NP
Golden Paint Brush - 300,000NP
Purple Paint Brush - 350,000NP
Strawberry Fields Forever Paint Brush - 380,000NP
Electric Blue Paint Brush - 390,000NP
Disco Fever Paint Brush - 480,000NP
Skunk Paint Brush - 510,000NP
Rainbow Paint Brush - 550,000NP
Baby Paint Brush - 595,000NP
White Paint Brush - 690,000NP
Shadow Paint Brush - 700,000NP
Orange Paint Brush - 750,000NP
Spotted Paint Brush - 840,000NP
Brown Paint Brush - 900,000NP
Fire, Fire, Your Pants On Fire Paint Brush - 1,000,000NP
Halloween Paint Brush - 1,400,000NP
Darigan Paint Brush - 1,400,000NP
Usuki Paint Brush - 1,500,000NP
Royal Paint Brush - 1,750,000NP
Lost Desert Paint Brush - 2,000,000NP
Pink Paint Brush - 3,000,000NP
Faerie Paint Brush - 3,000,000NP
Mystery Island Paint Brush - 4,500,000NP
Zombie Paint Brush - 5,000,000NP
Grey Paint Brush - 6,000,000NP
Plushie Paint Brush - 8,000,000NP
Maraquan Paint Brush - 9,000,000NP
Pirate Paint Brush - 12,000,000NP

Acknowledgments

A great big thank you to LeiaLissa whose petpage proved to be an invaluable resource for remaking my own.
A sincere thank you is also due to Gwillewyn who made the lovely banner that allows users to link back to me!
I can't forget to acknowledge the very talented and generous Scifi_crazy for creating an animated, alternative button visitors can now also use to link back to my humble petpage.
I'm excited to announce that user Number_too has seen my little petpage fit to be included in his ever-so-useful petpage directory. If you're looking for a collection of helpful petpages please take a peek:

I can't let another day go by without expressing my gratitude to Dragon__master54082 for taking the time to give this handsome, personally crafted award to brighten up my petpage. Thank you!!

Wow! Thank you so much Gerber1229 for bestowing my humble page with an award.

Thanks too to Emmettfinneren for gracing my guide with an award!

I'm very grateful too to the thoughtful Keit915 who has seen fit to add my petpage to her directory:
And a big thank you to djalexutz for letting me sport this new, shiny and blue award on my page!
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And I can't forget to send a thank you to Girls_818 for this cool award! It's so cool to be noticed.

Thank you ever so much Happy123326 for deeming my little page worthy of your wonderful award!

And I can't forgot to send a gleeful thank you to AJ otherwise known as 1122aj1122 for this simply stunning addition to my trophy cabinet.
Just when I thought my little corner of the web was sinking into obscurity Mikepaulperetz surprised me with this colorful treat. Thank you!

Link to Me!

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