I guess Amazon, being a small family owned company, doesn't have the money and resources to create a decent color pencil line. Thank you very much for your review to help us save money 👍.
Just thinking from a chemical standpoint... :) If the filler or binder contained some sort of emulsifier ("soap" :)), that would allow the pencil to be dissolved by both a nonpolar solvent (like OMS) or a polar solvent (like water). I would think that if you can lift the colour from the paper, that would tell me that the pigments they used in the pencil cores aren't as finely ground so that the pigment particles aren't as small and don't "settle" down into the tooth of the paper. If the pencil cores contained dye instead of pigment, you'd see less lifting as dyes will soak down into your substrate (where pigments sit on top). My best guess is cheaper, less finely-ground pigments and some sort of emulsifier in the cores. But those are only my chemistry ponderings. :) Love your channel, Lindsay!
I bought mine a while ago because of another youtubers review. They were $30 and I really like them. I even pulled mine out, and they don't act like these ones. I actually use them with my prismacolors for more detail. Very strange, I wonder if they changed the formula and lowered the price.
When Amazon first started selling these , many artist on TH-cam found them to be a cost effective alternative to Prismacolor. Not as soft but well pigmented with a smooth easy lay down. Seems as the price is not the only thing Amazon lowered.
You are not missing anything, or being too hard on them...They stink! I tried them based on the reviews. They went straight in the donation pile, along with the Artistro watercolors! Lol. I'm always confused by the good reviews on Amazon, as well. I'm not sure if I'm too picky or if people just want to like everything? I'm so glad you are saving everyone their time, as well as their money!
In the case of these I think they changed the formula. In the case of the artistro watercolors I think they were vibrant and people swatched but didn't paint with them or gave a good review because they were sent to them for free and didn't want to offend the brand.
@@thefrugalcrafter I do not consider a TH-cam review without a demonstration of use. After seeing an art supply used, sometimes I still do not consider the review.
When I look at Amazon reviews I start with the low marks (sometimes poor reviews are user error) and then the most recent. I am not surprised to find great reviews from several years back and poor recent reviews--that tells me all I need to know about the product. 😊
@@thefrugalcrafter You may be correct, and sometimes I'm worried companies change the formula after they get good reviews. I was sent the Artistro paints when they came out and they were so bad, I left TH-cam video for over 6 months. LOL I hated them, but my painting was good so people still might have still bought them. I didn't know how to handle feeling guilty for not making a review, as I promised...but also I couldn't promote bad products. Years later, I'm over being so nice with bad products...but I still find it hard to be mean when products are sent. Also, when I leave a not so good review companies just asked me to take my video down. You have helped me immensely this year personally, because I don't feel as much like I need to save people from bad products anymore. I know they will be safe with your reviews!!
These are a race to the bottom pricing and quality wise. They have definitely changed manufacturers/formula from when they originally came out a couple years ago. I originally saw a review on these by SuperRaeDizzle and she was very pleased by them at the time - I can't imagine she would've enjoyed the set you just demo'd.
Hullo Lindsay, I have never been disappointed with one or any of your reviews! I have the big set of square Brutfuner pencils for my very budget pencils and the Cezanne pencils from Jerry’s Artarama for my niece n nephews to use when they visit. I have one nephew that is very serious about his artworks and last visit he used my Prismacolor’s and his pictures rival my pencil works! He has plenty of patience, yep even more than most! I did buy him a set of 48 Prismacolor pencils for his birthday in January. He was very happy. I included a set a DaVinci watercolors for his painting exploration! I purchased the Meeden 12 well porcelain palette for that! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and always honest opinions in this review.
I'm glad you made this review, Lindsay. I think it would be the most helpful for people who might be looking for something other than Crayola but don't want to break the bank, and I could see people having an experience like yours and then being turned off from colored pencils, which is a sad thought.Your solubility tests including water tell me that something in the core formula keeps the binder from grabbing the paper the way you want a pencil to do, and it makes me wonder if even with dry layering and burnishing, the media might not even stick to itself, which is equally frustrating. I have friends who I could see being interested in these and I'll know to tell them, "If you're looking around Amazon, spend the extra 5 or 10 bucks for the next tier up."
I've seen some beautiful art bunching colours pencils up, pouring resin between them and carving a vase out of them :). Thank you for buying them so we don't have to. Much appreciated. I have to say i never knew there was anything wrong with my school coloring pencils till i tried small artist set.
Thanks for the review. I suspect they changed the formula over the years, but I don't know. I still use my Markart premium colored pencils which are the best budget pencil Ì have found thanks to you. I have a 12 count set of Prismscolors and Polychromos but I use my 72 count Markarts when I need more variety of colors.
I bought mine (72) about 2 years ago, for just under $20. I really love mine, and use them with my square Brutfuners. The ones I received are very much similar to the squares. I had actually considered getting a second set, but I already have enough as it is. I’m glad I waited, if they are now different. The one issue I had with my set is that 2 of the pencils were bent. Like, the wood isn’t straight. The cores seem fine and normal, but the bend makes them hard to use. I’ve never used Prismas before so I can’t compare. I remember on one of your videos you mentioned that you really need to check RECENT reviews when choosing a product. That advice has saved me more than once, and it looks like this is a prime example. Past product is great. Present product? Not so much…. Hopefully they will swing back eventually.
I purchased the Amazon Basics 72 colored pencils about September 2022 and I found them to be very good. I actually love my set. I think maybe you received a bad batch or maybe they are making them different factory idk but mine are great they are very pigmented and have thick leads. They lay down nicely for me. I hope you reached out to them because those don’t sound like what I have.
Thank for the review! I wonder if they changed how they're making them because I have seen lots of positive reviews for these. My 11yo daughter uses them. She likes them much better than Crayola or Staedtler.
I have bought these a while ago, and I would put it like this: Totally good for the price (15 euros for 72) but if I paid more I would not be too happy. I think they are good for coloring sketches or quickly adding a few mixed media details in a sketchbook.
I was curious about these but went with the Artisto brand after seeing your review on their colored pencils. The Artisto pencils are really nice, I ended up getting two sets!
I bought the Amazon Basics set over 2 years ago. I have dozens of Colored pencil sets and am loathe to give any of them away. I gave away the Amazon Basics set with no regrets. I don’t quite know why, it was just that I found no pleasure working with them. Your excellent and thorough review confirmed my opinion of them.
I feel exactly the same. I got 'influenced' by another TH-camr who gushed over them and said that they were an exact dupe to prismacolors. Not even remotely close. They have a horrible feel and do not later. I remember before I bought them I tried to see if you had done a review of them... I wish I had waited. My kids use them but I think they prefer their crayolas. Thank you for the video hopefully it will stop other people from being really disappointed.
I heard another reviewer compare them to prisnacolor so I had high hopes. They used to be $30 and they have good reviews so I wonder if they changed manufactures and that's why they are cheaper. Man, you can't trust any of these budget brands not to change, these are nothing like prismacolor except for the look.
I bought a set in Jan 2022 and they were on *sale* for 20$ for new years prime discount. Mine are not like yours, so I definitely think there's a formula change. Mine feel a lot like a cheaper Prisma and more similar to the Artisto pencils. I also think Markart is a pretty alright budget brand, they have a pretty nice creamy feel, or did unless they also changed.
WTG Amazon for making a bad product worse. I am suspect of anything with Amazon branding. Thank you for this review and confirming my suspicions. How frustrating to use a product that is so bad you don't even want to make art. It doesn't even come in a cute reusable container to justify spending money on and filling it with good supplies. Oh, I know, have you seen the wood workers who resin color pencils in a block to turn into some beautiful object? I used to cringe when I would see color pencils destroyed in this way, but this would be a good use for these pencils.
I bought the 24 set of Amazon pencils for $8 in March of 2023, and was surprised that they fell far short of expectation based on reviews. I have some Blick colored pencils that I purchased open stock more or less when they first came out a number of years ago. I’ve found that even though they feel drier, the pigmentation is very good, and because they were open stock, I could choose colors that supplemented my higher end pencils very nicely. So I’m still using Blick pencils, but the Amazon pencils sit on a shelf. Irojiten pencils are hard but smooth; if you use the right paper, they are beautiful, nothing at all like Amazon or even Blick in feel.
Great review, as usual. Thank you for your honesty, and thorough testing, which is is all the more important for low-priced art supplies. For if the product is not good for the money, people will end up spending more (lost amount on bad supplies + extra amount to get something better/usable).
I bought the 24-count set back in August, for $5.00. I didn't need/want more pencils, but I sure was jonesing for the tin. The pencils were great to give away to the little girl next door, and the tin is fabulous. I just have to buy the appliance epoxy white paint you'd mentioned in another video. It feels like Amazon wants to have their hands in all the pies -- it would be great if they had superior products for a competitive price, but there haven't been too many of those finds.
Yes. I agree. I have a 72 set that I got about a year ago. I tried to work with them. I agree they have a very frustrating feel. Mine now sit unused. They are just no fun at all.
@Patti5d Even ignoring the fact this isn't a Class Pack with multiple duplicate colors so children won't fight over them, if an adult gets exhausted and frustrated while working with these pencils, then a child who has LESS physical strength and typically less patience will become angry trying to use these. They may think colored pencils as a medium are just awful. Children deserve decent quality, not something that makes them believe art isn't worth the effort or that they could never, ever become an artist because they don't know the secrets and they can't make it work. Please never give a child something that you can't stand unless it's clearly a personal preference situation, especially in a scenario where they "should" be grateful to be given anything at all. That's what inspires mistrust and resentment.
@@DoveJS most likely a7 or 8 year old will not be working as an adult would such as using a blending pen or water. And not selling their work. Schools do not purchase professional grade materials and art supplies. I am not ignoring a fact. I know they are single colors. Tell that to Amazon not me. Thanks
@@DoveJS As a retired teacher, you would not put out the set as purchased but divide it into the already made table sets for each group. It would blend in with the pencils already available to the class. The schools do not purchase professional art supplies. Young children do not blend their colored pencils in the same manner as Lindsay does or a professional artist does. But good try. Your kids are lucky if you start them out with professional art supplies. I just made a palette of professional watercolor paints for my 3 year old granddaughter. I am sure it will be used like all kids her age use watercolors. But I have a surplus of supplies so it made her day. Not everyone can do that.
@@Patti5d Fair point about just mixing them in with everything else but I'm not advocating for professional supplies, I'm simply advocating for better kid-grade and student-grade supplies. Someone in the comments talked about the chemistry and suggested these don't stick to the paper or themselves which means even if you're doing a single layer for a block of color it's physically painful and takes a lot of force to get the pigment out. That's why Lindsey felt frustrated. She had to put all of her force behind every stroke to see basic results and she's not the only adult in the comments who said these left her exhausted. She's by far stronger than a child in elementary school or middle school. The children will struggle to use these. If you give kids bad supplies, they will either ignore them, so they never get used (and Lindsey said they smelled funny too so I'd be mildly suspicious of their safety anyway) or they may think that medium is awful. I'd donate a different brand over these and it just needs to be better quality; it doesn't have to be professional by any means. Professional usually means Lightfast confirmation and no child truly needs that. But there are different levels of quality among kid and student supplies as well. Blick frequently puts them in both categories so it's harder for me to differentiate between those two tiers but anything with giant class packs makes me think it's kid grade or beginner grade at least. For example, Faber Castell makes multiple budget friendly pencils, there is still Crayola if that hasn't also gone downhill, she said Prang's pencils used to be good (which I believe, as I understand it Prang's watercolor palettes are still great but they have to be properly cared for and the brushes took a quality hit in recent years.) There are so many budget offerings from so many brands that no one needs to donate this exact set. I'm advocating for better than truly awful and that's all. Children don't deserve complete garbage just because they're children. They're still human beings. If the pencils take extreme effort from an adult to lay down pigment, they're not good for children either.
They may have changed or you got a bad set. I purchased multiple sets two years ago and they were fantastic, very similar to Prismacolor. If the recent reviews have been high, I’d ask for a replacement set. If the recent reviews have been tanking then they changed something in the manufacturing and the high ratings were high because the older pencils were great.
I like that you tried to find something that you liked about these pencils, but in the end you were honest about your opinion. Seems like they got a lot of good reviews back when they were more expensive, and then they dropped the price and the quality at the same time. It's sad when a company drops the quality of their products after receiving good feedback from the consumer.
My favourite cheap pencils are Crayola and a set which WH Smith do in the UK - (though it has been a while since I bought the WH Smith ones, so they might have gone down in quality.) They are the only non-professional ones that I've bought which don't break all the way through as a matter of course (though occasionally with the Crayola's you might get a bad pencil, and sometimes their neon and light colours are too washed out) and they all (mostly) leave a good mark on the paper. The vast majority of coloured pencils I have bought that aren't professional quality have been bad - most either break, aren't very pigmented or have awful wooden barrels that splinter when you sharpen them. It put me off trying better pencils because I didn't want to spend a lot of money on them only to lose most of a pencil on a single drawing.
I would never even consider ordering these. I'm an open stock availability only, gal! The tin would be useful. I always appreciate your honest reviews, Lindsay.
I liked the Amazon pencil tin, too, and I am the same way about open stock pencils. My Prismacolor Premiers are in a tin in my desk, the Scholars and Verithins are in cups on display. 😂
Haha these were the first ones I purchased. They are now in two jars set aside for my granddaughter to use. Even she isn’t the biggest fan. She often grabs my (still inexpensive) better ones 😂
Your results are strange. I guess they did change manufacture/formula. I bought the Amazon colored pencils about 3 years ago. And I really enjoy them. To me mine do feel a lot like Prismacolor. I don’t have to press too hard and I get a lot of pigment. So I guess the suggestion is to buy an old set second hand lol. I also dislike the Blick colored pencils. I have to press too hard on them and it still isn’t smooth.
Thank You so much for taking one for the team. I have been so tempted by the price, but I have given away a couple of sets that hurt my hand to use & I sure don't need another one.
I was given a set of these pencils and a coloring book a few years ago. I didn't really enjoy using them either. They are probably fine for casual use but don't compare to better brands IMHO.
I have to wonder if the price drop came with a formula change. These do not sound like the same pencils as the ones people were buying and reviewing at the $30ish price point.
So I made a mistake .. it was not ten years ago, it was 7 years ago. So 7 years ago I ordered Amazon colored pencils that still suck today .. that’s my honest opinion from my experience.. glad some of us all got the sets that were prototypes :)
Wonderful truthful review. Why would someone buy pencils for $15 if like me I got cheep local pencils (came from Aussie made there too were good pencils and Prisma colour weren’t in our NZ stores at this time) black widow these were great not long after Monarch came out aw so butterie aahhh. Then I finally got a few Prisma’s and since then been Prisma girl. I picked on cheapness this was a big factor for me, when I started if saw some pencils at this price so many read a few good reviews I would have brought. Thank goodness the newbie pencil person has you. Lindsay you should have a five star rating for reviews it’s always honest, always informative yep you tell us how things are. Thanks for the fun review, um sorry Prisma girl here. Would have to be an exceptional pencil to pull me away from a Prisma.
Thank you for the review. I have two black and two white Prisma Color colored pencils. I use them with my budget pencils. I have an old set of Faber Eberhardt pencils beside the budget pencils. I will upgrade as I use them up. I would feel the same way you do about these pencils-frustrated. I am glad to know what you found.
Thanks for the review Lindsay! I like to gift pencils to a young friend of mine and I’m glad to know these would not be a set that would be enjoyable for her. I would hate to give art supplies that would make it frustrating.
I enjoyed this review. I purchased these a couple of months ago and had the same feelings as you experienced with them. I intended to use them for coloring books but don't enjoy them at all. The grands might enjoy them though.
I wonder if they've changed their formula? I bought these a few years ago, and I loved them so much I bought a set for my aunt and another set for my best friend. They all love them. Mine are really creamy and have lots of color. To be fair, I haven't tried the more expensive pencil crayons so maybe I just don't know what I'm missing?
These remind me of a big set of pencils I got for my birthday as a child. The artwork on the box was gorgeous and implied the pencils gave those results but they went down like cheap kids' crayons. Maybe they're popular with parents as affordable pencils for kids?
they are best sellers because amazon rigs their best seller/amazon's choice lists, at least when it comes to their own private label (but I'm pretty sure other products as well). they literally track what people buy, create their own inferior, sometimes but not always cheaper versions and then promote the hell out of them while suppressing originals.
That’s such a shame! They are pretty. They might look nice encased in resin! Or used to make frames for kids artwork! Thank you for your always honest and thorough reviews!
I bought them a few years ago because I heard they were a good dupe for prismas. I think they're better suited for just basic coloring. They do have pretty good color matches to the Prismacolors from what I can remember, but I never use them. They were only $11 last week. They did just come out with another set of pencils i like better called Amz Aware but only have a small set of colors
I just bought these last week as the 72 ct. went down to $10.70 which is the lowest i've ever seen which surprised me. Mine also said made in Vietnam and I wonder if they were always made there. I've swatched them briefly but not fully tried them. First quick impressions to me is that they lay down kind of waxy but dry at the same time, I will have to try them out. I think $10 is about right, I remember these being expensive for Amazon basics brand.
Thanks for the review Lindsay. I want to get pencil colors for my 7 year old grandson as he's drawing quite a bit. I don't think this will work as it sounds like a lot of pressure is needed and that's probably not ideal for his first color pencil set.
I highly recommend the 24 set.......for the tin. 😂I shopped around when I decided to put all my watercolor pans into containers by color family, and they were by far the best deal for the tin size and thickness. At $8 or less each time I bought one (gradually as I reorganized), it was way cheaper than buying similar empty tins for the purpose. The pencils are sitting in their plastic trays on a shelf, waiting for me to give away or donate them.
That IS odd Lindsay, it does look like the solvents were just lifting the pencil as you said, and although I don't have your level of experience I have been using colored pencils for many years and have many sets from cheap ones all the way up to Caran D'Ache, Derwent, Faber Castello etc. and have never seen pencils behave like that!
Oh, it is not you. They are terrible. LOL I did a video on them recently and i hated using them really. It surprised me as well because at first they seem so nice. And I will probably be getting rid of them. But they do shade over marker nicely. But not worth keeping them just for that. Thanks for showing these.
I tried out a couple of Blick studio pencils and I found them dry and a tad "dusty." I use colored pencils for adult coloring and for tinting/coloring stamped images (cardmaking, etc.). Obviously, do not have a budget beyond Prismacolor Premiers (on special, ha ha). I have a 72 set of Premiers, a 48 of Scholars, and a set of Verithins. In our experience, Amazon tends to have good reviews for crappy products that might sell in bulk on the strength of good reviews. 😂
Re how they feel - wonder if they are most similar to Irojiten? I have the same pain issues using them that you did with the Amazon pencils. I love the hues in the colour library, but I find the pencils really tiring to use - like I cannot get enough pigment down (and I have issue.with my arms so it can get really painful). Thankfully I didn't pay a fortune for mine (I got a good deal) but I keep debating with myself whether to keep them or get rid of them! I do love the box and I love the colours. Maybe it's ok too keep them just because they are beautiful and that makes me happy? It's not a firm versus softer pencil issue either - I prefer Polychromos/Holbein to the "softer" Prismas and I prefer to build up layers slowly by applying several light layers. But Irojiten feel physically exhausting to me to use. I also have the same issue with the Koh-i-Noor Magic woodless pencils, but not as much and I prefer those, even though they tire my arm. Wonder if I should try them on some gritty pastel paper...! I think hardness/softness are not actually indicative of how a pencil will behave and can be quite confusing when people mention them in reviews. e.g. Holbein are "hard", but they are... smooth. Same with pastels/crayons... e.g. Neocolors are firm, but they are smooth, they glide, so they are actually more pleasant to use than what seems to apparently be "softer" stuff like Pentel oil pastels (and don't get my started on my very fave oil pastels, Neopastels, which keep getting described as "harder pastels, like Pentels" - NO they are not! They are firm but smooooooth and I love them so much, more than Sennelier, in fact). That's one of the things that annoyed me about the Irojiten - lots of reviewers said they were hard like "a Polychromo or Holbein" and that lovers of both would consequently enjoy Irojiten, so I thought "GREAT!"... but they are nothing like those two other pencils!
I not tempted by creating color pencil art, but even if I were that scritchy scratchy sound would put me right off! Another benefit to listening to your review.😅
Side note, not about Amazon-specific pencils: I bought one of those Prismacolor Techniques sets and the white seems to be super soft. It was great for my use, but the pencil wore down fast. We should always test out pencils, no matter what the historical reviews say -- even with the well-known brands. They tend to change over time. That said, I wouldn't trust Amazon at all on anything, honestly.
Wow, it's absolutely stunning how people are coming to the defense of small indie brand -checks notes- Amazon Basics! Real talk though, I can't tell if these pencils have too much wax, not enough pigment, or what... Eeesh. At least the tin they came in looks nice. And I guess these pencils might work nicely in a resin and wood turning project.
You clearly tried so hard to find something good about these pencils... after going through the comments it's starting to seem like they just dropped the quality after having such good credit from other reviewers.
My husband gave me these for gift. I swatched them out and was surprised with how they layered down color but I have not done any projects with them. I wanted a set of color pencils to take traveling and am hoping these fill that need. Thanks for your review. I wonder if you got your heated mat out and used with these if that would make any difference. Maybe the folks that had higher reviews on amazon are using different paper than you. Paper can make all the difference as you have stated many times.
I'm pretty familiar with the papers I used, especially for the small drawings (stonehenge) but I think they might have changed the manufacturer of the pencils so maybe they are worse now.
I rally like my set of Amazon Basics and I own lots of fancy, expensive pencils. Even bought a set for my mom. I often travel with this set and find they work well in Amazon print books.
More thoughts about these "pretenders" to the throne of Prismacolor after watching all the way to the end: You said there was an unpleasant smell? (made you a bit nauseous?,) and that they're just not behaving like any other budget pencils you've used before? For that reason, I'm not sure I'd let young children use them if there might be a chance of some harmful ingredients? I thought they were made in China...but yours were made in Vietnam? I don't think I even gave my 24 color set a swatch try out. I'll give them a whirl sometime soon and let you know. Thanks!
My mom bought a 24 set of these, and being curious I wanted to try them out. It isn’t just you Lindsay, they were awful to work with. I tried cheaper paper, and Bristol vellum paper, and…yuck. They seemed to be a bit better on Amazon’s paper that is used in self published coloring books. Hmm.
glad i watched this. I have been considering these since I cant actually get prismacolor here without extra fees. I will avoid and look further for alternative options.
I wonder how comparable they are to the Crayola colored pencils, I think Crayola manufactures some of their pencils in Vietnam. Crayola colored pencils are also very vibrant in colors just not as pigmented
Interesting thoughts! Now I'm curious too. I bought the 24 pack Colors of the World Crayola pencils a few years ago, around when they first came out, and it says Made in Brazil on the package. I'd be curious to hear a comparison between those (which are nice IMHO and it doesn't hurt to have extra budget friendly skin tones which also serve as nice neutrals), any Crayola pencils that are Made in Vietnam, and these Amazon Basics. Having an outlier by the same company but a different factory (if those are still made in Brazil) could maybe provide some additional information. But I will say, I don't remember having to press that hard though most of my Crayolas are older and I no longer have the package for them so who even knows how relevant my memories are lol. In my slightly more recent experience they don't really blend so probably are one of the closest candidates. I confess I haven't used my 24 pack much haha. I kept dropping them and now I keep hesitating between trying the gentle oven bake trick to guarantee I don't lose them to broken cores or if I should just use them and deal with that when I get there. I also have simply been lazy and not using the coloring books I got as planned though might use them in some casual art if I ever finish a WIP where they'd be most relevant. I also noticed recently Crayola came out with some Tempera paint for the Colors of the World line which is really nice (I haven't tried them but one set had a color code for mixing different degrees and the versatility combined with the convenience would just be nice in conjunction with another basic primary and secondary set.) Obviously that's not as important as with pencils and markers and crayons where mixing is a little more limited or non-existent but still. I like this trend a lot of art supply companies have been jumping on.
I think you’ve answered this before but I can’t remember what you said, but if price *weren’t* a factor when you were choosing pencils, what would be your top pick?
Derwent lightfast or caran dasche Luminance for quality and longevity. That said, I use good old primacolor a lot because they are soft and work well in mixed media.
That's sweet to give her a gift, especially if you bought one of the older sets which sound like they were better quality, but if it was a set like this well... if this child thinks "artist" pencils are horrible to work with, she might be so disheartened by the experience that she doesn't try any other "artist" pencil brands, especially if she has to struggle so hard to get them onto the paper (consider that she would have to press down as hard as an adult trying very, very hard to get results and young children aren't that strong.) Children deserve decent quality too. There's nothing wrong with going cheaper if the quality is good but giving a child bad budget supplies could ruin their expectations and hinder their creativity. She might assume she's just not good enough and blame herself. Lindsey uses LOTS of different supplies and even SHE was second-guessing if it was her or the pencils (based on the reviews) so a child with limited experience may assume that she is the problem and believe she isn't capable of becoming an artist. Or this child may assume the pencils are just bad and simply move on but unless you talk to her about it, you'd have no way of knowing. Children appreciate quality as much as anyone, they simply tend to have different preferences (they're more concerned with bright single layers than realistic shading for example) and tend to have limited experience and limited understanding because they haven't been here that long, they're still learning a lot of the basics that we've already grasped, although they are soaking up information at a rapid pace because you know, they're children. But even adults can become discouraged so of course children can be as well.
I wonder what happened to them ?! I bought them in mid 2022 and they are pretty creamy hence the older buyers comparing them to prismas. I guess they decided to either cheat with formula and make it cheap or thought oil pencils are more popular now and made them drier but did a worst job at it..
I bought them for 12.00 only to clean up the edges of oil pastel work in my sketchbooks so I won’t need to use my artist grade pencils to do that kind of minimal work.
They look like the Zenacolors, I but some Zenacolors last year, because I wanted the zip map, they were in, and they had the same issue with water, so I gave them to a kindergarten. And it is not a secret, that rezensions can be faked, you can even buy them.
Even though I buy quite a bit from them, I avoid any "Amazon Basics" like the plague. They understandably sell well b/c of the low price. Even though I am very careful with my monies, I want to spend it wisely. The most expensive item of any type is not necessarily the best quality, but the least expensive is NEVER the best quality.
I can no longer see all the videos where all the colored pencils are held up to the camera and how boxes with the individual colors are colored in at preschool. Hey, draw But let's take a picture with the respective pens advertised 😉 and describe how they do while drawing. and when I hear the eternal comparison with Prismacolor 🥳😂... There should actually be other pens, honestly! And either way, every pen gets a good rating, Magic 💫
I’m afraid a large number of good reviews on Amazon sometimes means nothing. Even for solidly 5 star review items, first check the number,of reviews. A high rating can be because of either too few reviews or too many.i Read the negative reviews first, starting with the one star or whatever is the lowest number of stars up through the 3 star reviews.
These are one of the worst budget pencils I've bought. I gave them away, to a school art program, as my hands couldn't take trying to color with them. I figure kids won't have the same problem as they usually press too hard when coloring.
There are some surprisingly good sets for that price, the markart set of 72, for instance. They have so much more pigment and layer beautifully. The competition in the budget pencil area is fierce. You can do much better for your money.
I guess Amazon, being a small family owned company, doesn't have the money and resources to create a decent color pencil line. Thank you very much for your review to help us save money 👍.
😂
😆 🤣 😂 you crack me up! Amazon is the company that came up with the race to the bottom mentality!
😂
@@thefrugalcrafter And they're winning the race. Thank you very much for all the videos you post. I've been a fan for many years 👍👍👍👍
So funny:D. Well said. Thank you for the laugh.
One of the reasons why I appreciate your reviews are that you are honest. You aren't a bummer.
Thank you!
Just thinking from a chemical standpoint... :) If the filler or binder contained some sort of emulsifier ("soap" :)), that would allow the pencil to be dissolved by both a nonpolar solvent (like OMS) or a polar solvent (like water). I would think that if you can lift the colour from the paper, that would tell me that the pigments they used in the pencil cores aren't as finely ground so that the pigment particles aren't as small and don't "settle" down into the tooth of the paper. If the pencil cores contained dye instead of pigment, you'd see less lifting as dyes will soak down into your substrate (where pigments sit on top). My best guess is cheaper, less finely-ground pigments and some sort of emulsifier in the cores. But those are only my chemistry ponderings. :) Love your channel, Lindsay!
Thanks 😊
Wow as a scientist I love the pure chemistry in this comment!
I love the chemistry and science component in art, so thank you for your insight!
What an interesting reply from a chemist! Thanks for that contribution.
More chemisty ponderings about art supplies, please.
Lindsay your reviews are 100% TOP NOTCH. And don't you forget it!! Thank you for all that you do for this community, really really
Wow, thank you!
@@thefrugalcrafter of course!! I wouldn't just s a y t h a t to anyone either! ❤️
I bought mine a while ago because of another youtubers review. They were $30 and I really like them. I even pulled mine out, and they don't act like these ones. I actually use them with my prismacolors for more detail. Very strange, I wonder if they changed the formula and lowered the price.
I think that's exactly what they did.
Same here. The pencils I bought in 2018 are very different and a lot better than the set reviewed in this video. I guess nothing stays the same.
When Amazon first started selling these , many artist on TH-cam found them to be a cost effective alternative to Prismacolor. Not as soft but well pigmented with a smooth easy lay down. Seems as the price is not the only thing Amazon lowered.
I was thinking the same thing! I am sitting and coloring with my old set and I really like them. Maybe that's why they cost so much less now.
I also bought mine over 2 years ago now and they seem a lot nicer than the ones in the video
You are not missing anything, or being too hard on them...They stink! I tried them based on the reviews. They went straight in the donation pile, along with the Artistro watercolors! Lol. I'm always confused by the good reviews on Amazon, as well. I'm not sure if I'm too picky or if people just want to like everything? I'm so glad you are saving everyone their time, as well as their money!
In the case of these I think they changed the formula. In the case of the artistro watercolors I think they were vibrant and people swatched but didn't paint with them or gave a good review because they were sent to them for free and didn't want to offend the brand.
@@thefrugalcrafter I do not consider a TH-cam review without a demonstration of use. After seeing an art supply used, sometimes I still do not consider the review.
When I look at Amazon reviews I start with the low marks (sometimes poor reviews are user error) and then the most recent. I am not surprised to find great reviews from several years back and poor recent reviews--that tells me all I need to know about the product. 😊
I returned mine to Amazon!
@@thefrugalcrafter You may be correct, and sometimes I'm worried companies change the formula after they get good reviews. I was sent the Artistro paints when they came out and they were so bad, I left TH-cam video for over 6 months. LOL I hated them, but my painting was good so people still might have still bought them. I didn't know how to handle feeling guilty for not making a review, as I promised...but also I couldn't promote bad products. Years later, I'm over being so nice with bad products...but I still find it hard to be mean when products are sent. Also, when I leave a not so good review companies just asked me to take my video down. You have helped me immensely this year personally, because I don't feel as much like I need to save people from bad products anymore. I know they will be safe with your reviews!!
These are a race to the bottom pricing and quality wise. They have definitely changed manufacturers/formula from when they originally came out a couple years ago. I originally saw a review on these by SuperRaeDizzle and she was very pleased by them at the time - I can't imagine she would've enjoyed the set you just demo'd.
I wondered about that. These are awful.
Hullo Lindsay, I have never been disappointed with one or any of your reviews! I have the big set of square Brutfuner pencils for my very budget pencils and the Cezanne pencils from Jerry’s Artarama for my niece n nephews to use when they visit. I have one nephew that is very serious about his artworks and last visit he used my Prismacolor’s and his pictures rival my pencil works! He has plenty of patience, yep even more than most! I did buy him a set of 48 Prismacolor pencils for his birthday in January. He was very happy. I included a set a DaVinci watercolors for his painting exploration! I purchased the Meeden 12 well porcelain palette for that! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and always honest opinions in this review.
Great gift ideas!
I bought my 72 set a couple of years ago and really enjoy using them, have had no problems with them.
I wonder if they are the same formula…? Are yours water soluble too?
I'm glad you made this review, Lindsay. I think it would be the most helpful for people who might be looking for something other than Crayola but don't want to break the bank, and I could see people having an experience like yours and then being turned off from colored pencils, which is a sad thought.Your solubility tests including water tell me that something in the core formula keeps the binder from grabbing the paper the way you want a pencil to do, and it makes me wonder if even with dry layering and burnishing, the media might not even stick to itself, which is equally frustrating. I have friends who I could see being interested in these and I'll know to tell them, "If you're looking around Amazon, spend the extra 5 or 10 bucks for the next tier up."
Yes! Artisto is great and just a bit more.
I've seen some beautiful art bunching colours pencils up, pouring resin between them and carving a vase out of them :). Thank you for buying them so we don't have to. Much appreciated. I have to say i never knew there was anything wrong with my school coloring pencils till i tried small artist set.
My pleasure 😊
Bobby Duke Art? 😜 send him these crappy pencils for the next project lol
Thanks for the review. I suspect they changed the formula over the years, but I don't know. I still use my Markart premium colored pencils which are the best budget pencil Ì have found thanks to you. I have a 12 count set of Prismscolors and Polychromos but I use my 72 count Markarts when I need more variety of colors.
Those are a steal!
I bought mine (72) about 2 years ago, for just under $20. I really love mine, and use them with my square Brutfuners. The ones I received are very much similar to the squares. I had actually considered getting a second set, but I already have enough as it is. I’m glad I waited, if they are now different. The one issue I had with my set is that 2 of the pencils were bent. Like, the wood isn’t straight. The cores seem fine and normal, but the bend makes them hard to use. I’ve never used Prismas before so I can’t compare.
I remember on one of your videos you mentioned that you really need to check RECENT reviews when choosing a product. That advice has saved me more than once, and it looks like this is a prime example. Past product is great. Present product? Not so much…. Hopefully they will swing back eventually.
I wish these were like the brutfuner squares! 😆
I purchased the Amazon Basics 72 colored pencils about September 2022 and I found them to be very good. I actually love my set. I think maybe you received a bad batch or maybe they are making them different factory idk but mine are great they are very pigmented and have thick leads. They lay down nicely for me.
I hope you reached out to them because those don’t sound like what I have.
I had the same experience. I bought mine a long time ago and they were more expensive. I actually use them with my prismacolors for more detail.
@@linsey1729
I use them with other sets too.
Same here, I love mine and they work well with prismas
Thanks for sharing! I definitely think they changed
@linsey1729 were they like mine or better quality?
Thank for the review! I wonder if they changed how they're making them because I have seen lots of positive reviews for these. My 11yo daughter uses them. She likes them much better than Crayola or Staedtler.
I think they must have.
I have bought these a while ago, and I would put it like this: Totally good for the price (15 euros for 72) but if I paid more I would not be too happy. I think they are good for coloring sketches or quickly adding a few mixed media details in a sketchbook.
I was curious about these but went with the Artisto brand after seeing your review on their colored pencils. The Artisto pencils are really nice, I ended up getting two sets!
Those steps way better!
I bought the Amazon Basics set over 2 years ago. I have dozens of Colored pencil sets and am loathe to give any of them away. I gave away the Amazon Basics set with no regrets. I don’t quite know why, it was just that I found no pleasure working with them. Your excellent and thorough review confirmed my opinion of them.
I feel exactly the same. I got 'influenced' by another TH-camr who gushed over them and said that they were an exact dupe to prismacolors. Not even remotely close. They have a horrible feel and do not later. I remember before I bought them I tried to see if you had done a review of them... I wish I had waited. My kids use them but I think they prefer their crayolas. Thank you for the video hopefully it will stop other people from being really disappointed.
I heard another reviewer compare them to prisnacolor so I had high hopes. They used to be $30 and they have good reviews so I wonder if they changed manufactures and that's why they are cheaper. Man, you can't trust any of these budget brands not to change, these are nothing like prismacolor except for the look.
I bought a set in Jan 2022 and they were on *sale* for 20$ for new years prime discount.
Mine are not like yours, so I definitely think there's a formula change. Mine feel a lot like a cheaper Prisma and more similar to the Artisto pencils.
I also think Markart is a pretty alright budget brand, they have a pretty nice creamy feel, or did unless they also changed.
I love your reviews, its fantastic to here people be genuine ☺☺☺
WTG Amazon for making a bad product worse. I am suspect of anything with Amazon branding. Thank you for this review and confirming my suspicions. How frustrating to use a product that is so bad you don't even want to make art. It doesn't even come in a cute reusable container to justify spending money on and filling it with good supplies. Oh, I know, have you seen the wood workers who resin color pencils in a block to turn into some beautiful object? I used to cringe when I would see color pencils destroyed in this way, but this would be a good use for these pencils.
I was thinking of gluing them over a can to make cute storage 😆
@@thefrugalcrafter There you go! No waste crafts! lol
I bought the 24 set of Amazon pencils for $8 in March of 2023, and was surprised that they fell far short of expectation based on reviews. I have some Blick colored pencils that I purchased open stock more or less when they first came out a number of years ago. I’ve found that even though they feel drier, the pigmentation is very good, and because they were open stock, I could choose colors that supplemented my higher end pencils very nicely. So I’m still using Blick pencils, but the Amazon pencils sit on a shelf. Irojiten pencils are hard but smooth; if you use the right paper, they are beautiful, nothing at all like Amazon or even Blick in feel.
Good to know. I have some irojitin pencils, they are not my favorite but the quality is nice.
Great review, as usual. Thank you for your honesty, and thorough testing, which is is all the more important for low-priced art supplies. For if the product is not good for the money, people will end up spending more (lost amount on bad supplies + extra amount to get something better/usable).
Great point!
I bought the 24-count set back in August, for $5.00. I didn't need/want more pencils, but I sure was jonesing for the tin. The pencils were great to give away to the little girl next door, and the tin is fabulous. I just have to buy the appliance epoxy white paint you'd mentioned in another video. It feels like Amazon wants to have their hands in all the pies -- it would be great if they had superior products for a competitive price, but there haven't been too many of those finds.
Thanks for sharing!!
Yes. I agree. I have a 72 set that I got about a year ago. I tried to work with them. I agree they have a very frustrating feel. Mine now sit unused. They are just no fun at all.
Your public library or elementary school would love them.
@Patti5d Even ignoring the fact this isn't a Class Pack with multiple duplicate colors so children won't fight over them, if an adult gets exhausted and frustrated while working with these pencils, then a child who has LESS physical strength and typically less patience will become angry trying to use these. They may think colored pencils as a medium are just awful. Children deserve decent quality, not something that makes them believe art isn't worth the effort or that they could never, ever become an artist because they don't know the secrets and they can't make it work. Please never give a child something that you can't stand unless it's clearly a personal preference situation, especially in a scenario where they "should" be grateful to be given anything at all. That's what inspires mistrust and resentment.
@@DoveJS most likely a7 or 8 year old will not be working as an adult would such as using a blending pen or water. And not selling their work. Schools do not purchase professional grade materials and art supplies. I am not ignoring a fact. I know they are single colors. Tell that to Amazon not me. Thanks
@@DoveJS As a retired teacher, you would not put out the set as purchased but divide it into the already made table sets for each group. It would blend in with the pencils already available to the class. The schools do not purchase professional art supplies. Young children do not blend their colored pencils in the same manner as Lindsay does or a professional artist does. But good try. Your kids are lucky if you start them out with professional art supplies. I just made a palette of professional watercolor paints for my 3 year old granddaughter. I am sure it will be used like all kids her age use watercolors. But I have a surplus of supplies so it made her day. Not everyone can do that.
@@Patti5d Fair point about just mixing them in with everything else but I'm not advocating for professional supplies, I'm simply advocating for better kid-grade and student-grade supplies. Someone in the comments talked about the chemistry and suggested these don't stick to the paper or themselves which means even if you're doing a single layer for a block of color it's physically painful and takes a lot of force to get the pigment out. That's why Lindsey felt frustrated. She had to put all of her force behind every stroke to see basic results and she's not the only adult in the comments who said these left her exhausted. She's by far stronger than a child in elementary school or middle school.
The children will struggle to use these. If you give kids bad supplies, they will either ignore them, so they never get used (and Lindsey said they smelled funny too so I'd be mildly suspicious of their safety anyway) or they may think that medium is awful. I'd donate a different brand over these and it just needs to be better quality; it doesn't have to be professional by any means. Professional usually means Lightfast confirmation and no child truly needs that. But there are different levels of quality among kid and student supplies as well.
Blick frequently puts them in both categories so it's harder for me to differentiate between those two tiers but anything with giant class packs makes me think it's kid grade or beginner grade at least. For example, Faber Castell makes multiple budget friendly pencils, there is still Crayola if that hasn't also gone downhill, she said Prang's pencils used to be good (which I believe, as I understand it Prang's watercolor palettes are still great but they have to be properly cared for and the brushes took a quality hit in recent years.) There are so many budget offerings from so many brands that no one needs to donate this exact set.
I'm advocating for better than truly awful and that's all. Children don't deserve complete garbage just because they're children. They're still human beings. If the pencils take extreme effort from an adult to lay down pigment, they're not good for children either.
They may have changed or you got a bad set. I purchased multiple sets two years ago and they were fantastic, very similar to Prismacolor. If the recent reviews have been high, I’d ask for a replacement set. If the recent reviews have been tanking then they changed something in the manufacturing and the high ratings were high because the older pencils were great.
I think they changes, these do not match the old reviews!
I like that you tried to find something that you liked about these pencils, but in the end you were honest about your opinion. Seems like they got a lot of good reviews back when they were more expensive, and then they dropped the price and the quality at the same time. It's sad when a company drops the quality of their products after receiving good feedback from the consumer.
It sure is!
My favourite cheap pencils are Crayola and a set which WH Smith do in the UK - (though it has been a while since I bought the WH Smith ones, so they might have gone down in quality.) They are the only non-professional ones that I've bought which don't break all the way through as a matter of course (though occasionally with the Crayola's you might get a bad pencil, and sometimes their neon and light colours are too washed out) and they all (mostly) leave a good mark on the paper. The vast majority of coloured pencils I have bought that aren't professional quality have been bad - most either break, aren't very pigmented or have awful wooden barrels that splinter when you sharpen them. It put me off trying better pencils because I didn't want to spend a lot of money on them only to lose most of a pencil on a single drawing.
❤ Crayola!
I hear they were different and better a few years ago! Good to know they are bad now so I’ll avoid them.
Good plan
Thank you for the honest review. Was going to get these for car travels and then not worry about breakage. So, going to get something else.
Glad I could help!
I would never even consider ordering these. I'm an open stock availability only, gal!
The tin would be useful.
I always appreciate your honest reviews, Lindsay.
You are so welcome!
I liked the Amazon pencil tin, too, and I am the same way about open stock pencils. My Prismacolor Premiers are in a tin in my desk, the Scholars and Verithins are in cups on display. 😂
These are very weird pencils, I think I'll stick with my Prismas and Derwents, they're a lot more reliable. You do get what you pay for.
Haha these were the first ones I purchased. They are now in two jars set aside for my granddaughter to use. Even she isn’t the biggest fan. She often grabs my (still inexpensive) better ones 😂
😆
Your results are strange. I guess they did change manufacture/formula. I bought the Amazon colored pencils about 3 years ago. And I really enjoy them. To me mine do feel a lot like Prismacolor. I don’t have to press too hard and I get a lot of pigment.
So I guess the suggestion is to buy an old set second hand lol.
I also dislike the Blick colored pencils. I have to press too hard on them and it still isn’t smooth.
I really think they changed. Always look at most recent reviews.
Thank You so much for taking one for the team. I have been so tempted by the price, but I have given away a couple of sets that hurt my hand to use & I sure don't need another one.
You dodged a bullet!
Thanks for you honest review Lindsay. Your reviews can always be trusted!
You are so welcome!
Probably just highly rated by parents buying school supplies…
😆
I was given a set of these pencils and a coloring book a few years ago. I didn't really enjoy using them either. They are probably fine for casual use but don't compare to better brands IMHO.
I have to wonder if the price drop came with a formula change. These do not sound like the same pencils as the ones people were buying and reviewing at the $30ish price point.
I think so.
I bought mine about ten years ago and they fall off the paper if you touch them with water.. I still have them but I don’t use them ..
Oh wow, maybe they were always like this. I thought they must have changed!
So I made a mistake .. it was not ten years ago, it was 7 years ago. So 7 years ago I ordered Amazon colored pencils that still suck today .. that’s my honest opinion from my experience.. glad some of us all got the sets that were prototypes :)
Wonderful truthful review. Why would someone buy pencils for $15 if like me I got cheep local pencils (came from Aussie made there too were good pencils and Prisma colour weren’t in our NZ stores at this time) black widow these were great not long after Monarch came out aw so butterie aahhh. Then I finally got a few Prisma’s and since then been Prisma girl. I picked on cheapness this was a big factor for me, when I started if saw some pencils at this price so many read a few good reviews I would have brought. Thank goodness the newbie pencil person has you. Lindsay you should have a five star rating for reviews it’s always honest, always informative yep you tell us how things are. Thanks for the fun review, um sorry Prisma girl here. Would have to be an exceptional pencil to pull me away from a Prisma.
Thank you for the review. I have two black and two white Prisma Color colored pencils. I use them with my budget pencils. I have an old set of Faber Eberhardt pencils beside the budget pencils. I will upgrade as I use them up. I would feel the same way you do about these pencils-frustrated. I am glad to know what you found.
Thanks for the review Lindsay! I like to gift pencils to a young friend of mine and I’m glad to know these would not be a set that would be enjoyable for her. I would hate to give art supplies that would make it frustrating.
I'd avoid these.
I enjoyed this review. I purchased these a couple of months ago and had the same feelings as you experienced with them. I intended to use them for coloring books but don't enjoy them at all. The grands might enjoy them though.
Thanks for sharing!
I wonder if they've changed their formula? I bought these a few years ago, and I loved them so much I bought a set for my aunt and another set for my best friend. They all love them. Mine are really creamy and have lots of color. To be fair, I haven't tried the more expensive pencil crayons so maybe I just don't know what I'm missing?
I think they changed, the old reviews sound like much better pencils.
Yes! I got the DT Prang. I almost bought 2 packs. Regret not getting them. My childhood was Prang - based. I loved my Sepia….
Just goes to show that you can't really trust reviews, ratings, stats etc. on face value I suppose :/
Yeah, I always read the 2 and 3 star reviews, they tend to be more accurate in my experience. I don't trust 5 star or 1 star reviews.
Yep
Sorry to hear these aren’t any good. Thank you for your detailed honest review!
Thanks for watching!
These remind me of a big set of pencils I got for my birthday as a child. The artwork on the box was gorgeous and implied the pencils gave those results but they went down like cheap kids' crayons.
Maybe they're popular with parents as affordable pencils for kids?
they are best sellers because amazon rigs their best seller/amazon's choice lists, at least when it comes to their own private label (but I'm pretty sure other products as well). they literally track what people buy, create their own inferior, sometimes but not always cheaper versions and then promote the hell out of them while suppressing originals.
They'd be good for making a clock out of! A wall clock made out of pencil crayons would look so cute in a studio 😊
Good idea!
That’s such a shame! They are pretty. They might look nice encased in resin! Or used to make frames for kids artwork! Thank you for your always honest and thorough reviews!
I totally agree!
Thank you for the review Lindsay!!
You are so welcome!
I bought them a few years ago because I heard they were a good dupe for prismas. I think they're better suited for just basic coloring. They do have pretty good color matches to the Prismacolors from what I can remember, but I never use them. They were only $11 last week. They did just come out with another set of pencils i like better called Amz Aware but only have a small set of colors
Good to know!
I just bought these last week as the 72 ct. went down to $10.70 which is the lowest i've ever seen which surprised me.
Mine also said made in Vietnam and I wonder if they were always made there.
I've swatched them briefly but not fully tried them. First quick impressions to me is that they lay down kind of waxy but dry at the same time, I will have to try them out. I think $10 is about right, I remember these being expensive for Amazon basics brand.
At least you only spent $10
@@thefrugalcraftermy amazon basics pencils were made in viet nam too. They color great I have had them since 2021. They must have change the formula.
Thanks for the review Lindsay. I want to get pencil colors for my 7 year old grandson as he's drawing quite a bit. I don't think this will work as it sounds like a lot of pressure is needed and that's probably not ideal for his first color pencil set.
I highly recommend the 24 set.......for the tin. 😂I shopped around when I decided to put all my watercolor pans into containers by color family, and they were by far the best deal for the tin size and thickness. At $8 or less each time I bought one (gradually as I reorganized), it was way cheaper than buying similar empty tins for the purpose. The pencils are sitting in their plastic trays on a shelf, waiting for me to give away or donate them.
Great tip!
That IS odd Lindsay, it does look like the solvents were just lifting the pencil as you said, and although I don't have your level of experience I have been using colored pencils for many years and have many sets from cheap ones all the way up to Caran D'Ache, Derwent, Faber Castello etc. and have never seen pencils behave like that!
Oh, it is not you. They are terrible. LOL I did a video on them recently and i hated using them really. It surprised me as well because at first they seem so nice. And I will probably be getting rid of them. But they do shade over marker nicely. But not worth keeping them just for that. Thanks for showing these.
Good to know about using them on marker
I tried out a couple of Blick studio pencils and I found them dry and a tad "dusty." I use colored pencils for adult coloring and for tinting/coloring stamped images (cardmaking, etc.). Obviously, do not have a budget beyond Prismacolor Premiers (on special, ha ha). I have a 72 set of Premiers, a 48 of Scholars, and a set of Verithins.
In our experience, Amazon tends to have good reviews for crappy products that might sell in bulk on the strength of good reviews. 😂
I noticed the same issues and thought it was just me. I feel better knowing it wasn't me.
Re how they feel - wonder if they are most similar to Irojiten? I have the same pain issues using them that you did with the Amazon pencils. I love the hues in the colour library, but I find the pencils really tiring to use - like I cannot get enough pigment down (and I have issue.with my arms so it can get really painful).
Thankfully I didn't pay a fortune for mine (I got a good deal) but I keep debating with myself whether to keep them or get rid of them! I do love the box and I love the colours. Maybe it's ok too keep them just because they are beautiful and that makes me happy?
It's not a firm versus softer pencil issue either - I prefer Polychromos/Holbein to the "softer" Prismas and I prefer to build up layers slowly by applying several light layers. But Irojiten feel physically exhausting to me to use.
I also have the same issue with the Koh-i-Noor Magic woodless pencils, but not as much and I prefer those, even though they tire my arm. Wonder if I should try them on some gritty pastel paper...!
I think hardness/softness are not actually indicative of how a pencil will behave and can be quite confusing when people mention them in reviews. e.g. Holbein are "hard", but they are... smooth. Same with pastels/crayons... e.g. Neocolors are firm, but they are smooth, they glide, so they are actually more pleasant to use than what seems to apparently be "softer" stuff like Pentel oil pastels (and don't get my started on my very fave oil pastels, Neopastels, which keep getting described as "harder pastels, like Pentels" - NO they are not! They are firm but smooooooth and I love them so much, more than Sennelier, in fact). That's one of the things that annoyed me about the Irojiten - lots of reviewers said they were hard like "a Polychromo or Holbein" and that lovers of both would consequently enjoy Irojiten, so I thought "GREAT!"... but they are nothing like those two other pencils!
There is a lot of nuance for sure.
I not tempted by creating color pencil art, but even if I were that scritchy scratchy sound would put me right off! Another benefit to listening to your review.😅
Good point!
Side note, not about Amazon-specific pencils: I bought one of those Prismacolor Techniques sets and the white seems to be super soft. It was great for my use, but the pencil wore down fast. We should always test out pencils, no matter what the historical reviews say -- even with the well-known brands. They tend to change over time.
That said, I wouldn't trust Amazon at all on anything, honestly.
Great tip! I buy my prisma white by the dozen!
That's too bad about the colored pencils. I'm still looking for a good set. Thanks for your honest opinion Lindsay. 🙂
You’re welcome 😊
Wow, it's absolutely stunning how people are coming to the defense of small indie brand -checks notes- Amazon Basics!
Real talk though, I can't tell if these pencils have too much wax, not enough pigment, or what... Eeesh. At least the tin they came in looks nice. And I guess these pencils might work nicely in a resin and wood turning project.
😆
The tin is lovely...
You clearly tried so hard to find something good about these pencils... after going through the comments it's starting to seem like they just dropped the quality after having such good credit from other reviewers.
It's so frustrating when brands do that.
The Amazon Basics remind me of the Arrtx colored pencils. I actually like the Blick colored pencils.
I liked the arrtx colored pencils and had a very easy time with them. These amazon were nothing like my arrtx.
My husband gave me these for gift. I swatched them out and was surprised with how they layered down color but I have not done any projects with them. I wanted a set of color pencils to take traveling and am hoping these fill that need. Thanks for your review. I wonder if you got your heated mat out and used with these if that would make any difference. Maybe the folks that had higher reviews on amazon are using different paper than you. Paper can make all the difference as you have stated many times.
I'm pretty familiar with the papers I used, especially for the small drawings (stonehenge) but I think they might have changed the manufacturer of the pencils so maybe they are worse now.
I rally like my set of Amazon Basics and I own lots of fancy, expensive pencils. Even bought a set for my mom. I often travel with this set and find they work well in Amazon print books.
Thanks for sharing!!
More thoughts about these "pretenders" to the throne of Prismacolor after watching all the way to the end: You said there was an unpleasant smell? (made you a bit nauseous?,) and that they're just not behaving like any other budget pencils you've used before? For that reason, I'm not sure I'd let young children use them if there might be a chance of some harmful ingredients? I thought they were made in China...but yours were made in Vietnam? I don't think I even gave my 24 color set a swatch try out. I'll give them a whirl sometime soon and let you know. Thanks!
I'd appreciate that!
It's like pastels... the cheaper pastels are hard and less pigmented. A good pastel is soft, and it lays the color down rich and solidly.
Hi, Lindsay. Thank you for your video.🎉.❤. Have a great week.
Thank you! You too!
Prismacolor is my favorite ❤️
My mom bought a 24 set of these, and being curious I wanted to try them out. It isn’t just you Lindsay, they were awful to work with. I tried cheaper paper, and Bristol vellum paper, and…yuck. They seemed to be a bit better on Amazon’s paper that is used in self published coloring books. Hmm.
Good to know!
glad i watched this. I have been considering these since I cant actually get prismacolor here without extra fees. I will avoid and look further for alternative options.
Try arrtx or derwent chromaflow
@@thefrugalcrafter i have the artxx, I think I may have a tiny bit of a hoarder problem. I kinda want them all. Lol
I wonder how comparable they are to the Crayola colored pencils, I think Crayola manufactures some of their pencils in Vietnam. Crayola colored pencils are also very vibrant in colors just not as pigmented
Interesting thoughts! Now I'm curious too. I bought the 24 pack Colors of the World Crayola pencils a few years ago, around when they first came out, and it says Made in Brazil on the package. I'd be curious to hear a comparison between those (which are nice IMHO and it doesn't hurt to have extra budget friendly skin tones which also serve as nice neutrals), any Crayola pencils that are Made in Vietnam, and these Amazon Basics. Having an outlier by the same company but a different factory (if those are still made in Brazil) could maybe provide some additional information.
But I will say, I don't remember having to press that hard though most of my Crayolas are older and I no longer have the package for them so who even knows how relevant my memories are lol. In my slightly more recent experience they don't really blend so probably are one of the closest candidates. I confess I haven't used my 24 pack much haha. I kept dropping them and now I keep hesitating between trying the gentle oven bake trick to guarantee I don't lose them to broken cores or if I should just use them and deal with that when I get there. I also have simply been lazy and not using the coloring books I got as planned though might use them in some casual art if I ever finish a WIP where they'd be most relevant.
I also noticed recently Crayola came out with some Tempera paint for the Colors of the World line which is really nice (I haven't tried them but one set had a color code for mixing different degrees and the versatility combined with the convenience would just be nice in conjunction with another basic primary and secondary set.) Obviously that's not as important as with pencils and markers and crayons where mixing is a little more limited or non-existent but still. I like this trend a lot of art supply companies have been jumping on.
I think you’ve answered this before but I can’t remember what you said, but if price *weren’t* a factor when you were choosing pencils, what would be your top pick?
Derwent lightfast or caran dasche Luminance for quality and longevity. That said, I use good old primacolor a lot because they are soft and work well in mixed media.
I bought these and gave mine to a young lady in elementary school. Probably best for the young ones.
That's sweet to give her a gift, especially if you bought one of the older sets which sound like they were better quality, but if it was a set like this well... if this child thinks "artist" pencils are horrible to work with, she might be so disheartened by the experience that she doesn't try any other "artist" pencil brands, especially if she has to struggle so hard to get them onto the paper (consider that she would have to press down as hard as an adult trying very, very hard to get results and young children aren't that strong.) Children deserve decent quality too. There's nothing wrong with going cheaper if the quality is good but giving a child bad budget supplies could ruin their expectations and hinder their creativity. She might assume she's just not good enough and blame herself. Lindsey uses LOTS of different supplies and even SHE was second-guessing if it was her or the pencils (based on the reviews) so a child with limited experience may assume that she is the problem and believe she isn't capable of becoming an artist.
Or this child may assume the pencils are just bad and simply move on but unless you talk to her about it, you'd have no way of knowing. Children appreciate quality as much as anyone, they simply tend to have different preferences (they're more concerned with bright single layers than realistic shading for example) and tend to have limited experience and limited understanding because they haven't been here that long, they're still learning a lot of the basics that we've already grasped, although they are soaking up information at a rapid pace because you know, they're children. But even adults can become discouraged so of course children can be as well.
thanks for the review. What pencil sharpener do you use?
amzn.to/4a00JZy this one:)
I wonder what happened to them ?! I bought them in mid 2022 and they are pretty creamy hence the older buyers comparing them to prismas. I guess they decided to either cheat with formula and make it cheap or thought oil pencils are more popular now and made them drier but did a worst job at it..
I bought them for 12.00 only to clean up the edges of oil pastel work in my sketchbooks so I won’t need to use my artist grade pencils to do that kind of minimal work.
I bought Amazon Basics In August for $17.99 😊
I am working with low income seniors. What brand would be recommended.
I'd go with something soft. If prismacolor is out of your budget try artisto: amzn.to/3TmFeMW or arrtx amzn.to/3TwGrBD
I just checked on Amazon, and that set of Artisto pencils that Lindsay suggested has a 30% off coupon.
I have these and have enjoyed them. I bought mine a couple years ago now though so idk if the formula has changed
I think it did, glad uou get a good set!
I bought mine when they first came out in 2018. Loved them so much I bought another set. I would wonder about buying more now.
They look like the Zenacolors, I but some Zenacolors last year, because I wanted the zip map, they were in, and they had the same issue with water, so I gave them to a kindergarten. And it is not a secret, that rezensions can be faked, you can even buy them.
Even though I buy quite a bit from them, I avoid any "Amazon Basics" like the plague. They understandably sell well b/c of the low price. Even though I am very careful with my monies, I want to spend it wisely. The most expensive item of any type is not necessarily the best quality, but the least expensive is NEVER the best quality.
True
I can no longer see all the videos where all the colored pencils are held up to the camera and how boxes with the individual colors are colored in at preschool. Hey, draw But let's take a picture with the respective pens advertised 😉 and describe how they do while drawing. and when I hear the eternal comparison with Prismacolor 🥳😂... There should actually be other pens, honestly! And either way, every pen gets a good rating, Magic 💫
What are you talking about?
I’m afraid a large number of good reviews on Amazon sometimes means nothing. Even for solidly 5 star review items, first check the number,of reviews. A high rating can be because of either too few reviews or too many.i Read the negative reviews first, starting with the one star or whatever is the lowest number of stars up through the 3 star reviews.
Good idea!
I bought these last summer for about £17 . They were awful! 💖🤗💖
Sorry to hear that
These are one of the worst budget pencils I've bought. I gave them away, to a school art program, as my hands couldn't take trying to color with them. I figure kids won't have the same problem as they usually press too hard when coloring.
Glad to know I'm not alone!
Is it me or do these look like the Nicole brand that AC Moore had that they couldn’t sell even when on sale?
I never tried them, but anything is possible with white labeling.
😊
So Amazon packages their own products well, but otherwise they trash the stuff they ship for other companies.
You are so cute..They are so pretty.....just put them in a jar. I love your comments.
😊 thank you
I thought it was just me. I really hate the Amazon Basics Colored pencils.
Not just you lol:)
What does a person want for under $20 for 72 pencils.?
There are some surprisingly good sets for that price, the markart set of 72, for instance. They have so much more pigment and layer beautifully. The competition in the budget pencil area is fierce. You can do much better for your money.