Holbein pastel set colored pencils - Test and comparison to Brutfuner and Arrtx colored pencils

[@mzebony]

Nice review, Holbein pencils are more expensive outside Japan because the retailers add shipping costs from Japan, the customs cost and if you got them from a store, the cost of their rent and profits. Better to get them directly from Japan, where they will be much cheaper. I’ll say they are up there with Luminance, Derwent Lightfast and Polychromous. Keep creating 💛💜💙

[@color-dive]

Do you have them? And if yes do you like them ^^? Thank you for the info....I will check for other sellers and see if I can buy them direcktly ♥️

[@mzebony]

@@color-dive yes I have about 60, that I bought open stock since they are $3.99 CAD (Canadian dollars). When I get the urge, I buy 30 at a time, so it doesn’t make me think of the overall cost. They are nice as you mentioned, but with Prismacolors and all their issues, they are still king (or queen) of soft butteriness lol. One day I’ll have them all, even though I don’t need them lol. As for the Neocolor 1, I bought them all, even the pearlescent set.

[@addie7043]

Agree 100%, I bought a used full set (in wooden case) on Japanese auction similar to eBay and paid less than set of 50 on Amazon. Yes my set was auctioned as used but only 3 pencils were sharpened and not much used.

[@moxellex]

Holbein have a 50 pcs set of pastel colours, too . and if you look @ a picture of it you'll see that the Brutfuners 50 looks identical to that, right down to the strange olivy greens ... also, i've heard people buy directly from Amazon Japan, maybe look if that may be an option ?

[@jjsmakeupobsession323]

We can buy holbeins here in the US from blick art

[@moxellex]

@@jjsmakeupobsession323 but getting stuff from the US is expensive, too, @ least for us living in the EU. also, base prices for japanese brands are cheaper in Japan, it all depends if you can find cheap shipping to make it worthwhile.

[@Doodlebirds1]

Buying it direct from Japan even with postage is still cheaper than ordering from the US. This is someone who has done so from Australia

[@clairewalters8238]

Great and non biased review, thank you so much. I appreciate your opinion. Much love & *Virtual hugs* xxx

[@jjsmakeupobsession323]

I love my holbeins but I also love my brutfuner macaroons.

[@twingytwango6971]

Have you tried the Astra Pastellowe ? Thanks for your reviews, they are very thorough and very useful.

[@color-dive]

Thank you :). No I did not try those ones. I was thinking about it but from what I understood from all the other reviews is that they are worse than castle art and brutfunner pastel pencils so I decided not to try them

[@jojosaylor8996]

Holy grail color pencils

[@lujordis6612]

In terms of softness, which of these do you recomend, Brutfuner or Kalour?

[@color-dive]

I only tried the Pastel colored pencils from Kalour and for me the Pastel colored pencils from Kalour feel the same as the Pastel colored pencils from Brutfuner

[@leslieladyhawke]

Thank you

[@chevgage6210]

Theyre not even expensive IN japan its just outside of japan. Also yes, theres a huge collection of pastels.

[@PursuingHeaven]

Yes they are very much like oil pastels in a pencil and it is probably why I love them so much. No they are not the most expensive pencil in the world. I paid 215 US dollars for mine imported from Amazon Japan, and shipping was 30 dollars. I paid more for my Luminance, Lightfast, and Poly Chromos. But Holbein has 150 pencils (30 more than Poly Chromos and 50 more than Lightfast and Luminance). I understand that they are not lightfast tested in the big art association lightfast tests but they do inhouse testing by chemists and others artist in Japan have tested them privately and they consistently beat out Poly Chromos. Nothing beats Luminance and Lightfast (and I spent about a hundred dollars more each for them and got less pencils). Holbein are excellent pencils IF you know how to use the properly AND you use their recommended blending solution Meltz which works better than Gamsol and makes them almost like watercolors. A lot of people dis on these pencils and they just do not know enough about them. No they are not Luminance, but they are excellent pencils and no one beats their color range in professional sets. I use a lot of pencils, but after Luminance, Holbein are my favs

[@fuzzydragons]

i really want to try them, but so much money...and now im broke after buying a SSD for my computer lol

[@color-dive]

:/ oh sorry to hear that...But you know it always go like that. You are planning to buy something and then something else breaks so you have to buy that other thing instead XD... Do you maybe have Posca pencils or can you buy them cheap?

[@fuzzydragons]

Posca pencils here are not cheap sadly :( not horribly expensive, but out of my price range for pencils

[@oraweetaphianthong877]

It seems you have fallen in love with Holbein coloured pencils. That is one of my worst fears, falling in love with expensive stuff... 😂😂😂

[@color-dive]

Hahahaha well I do find them nice but the price will stop me from buying the big set XD ...Maybe when they are on sale at Jacksons I could buy couple of more colors ^^ but I definitively now want to have more of the Neocolor 1 XD

[@oraweetaphianthong877]

@@color-dive I have seen someone selling second hand Holbein pencils(full set) in great condition for about 350 NZD, which I think was quite a good deal. Look around for second hand ones, you never know what you might find.