This is my portrait painting palette. It’s a nice neat tal grey colour, kind of on the dark side, and I set it up in the same way, time after time, topping up my six main colours in the same spot each time - why? 
Well firstly because I’m a bit of a creature of habit, but more than that it means I don’t have to think as much about what I’m doing. 
I know that “this” mixed with a little of “this one” and a dab of “that” is going to give me pretty much the colour/tone I’m after. 

I try not to leave too much paint unused (more to do with me not wanting to waste paint) but if paint dries on the palette, I only scrape off the piles so I have a smother surface to mix on, but other than that I like to see past colour mixes and love how pretty the palette looks. One of these days I might just frame one! 

My Go to Palette Colours

French Ultramarine Blue

Payne’s Grey

Yellow Ochre

Cadmium Yellow

Cadmium Red

Cadmium Red Deep

Burnt Umber

Titanium White