Prismacolor Premier NuPastel Firm Pastel Color Sticks, 96 Pack

Purchased these for our granddaughter who is starting her first art class. She enjoys using them. The quality is superb.

I just added Nupastels to Pastel Art and totally love them! They go down good and blend very well. I also use Sennelier, Union, Rembrandt, and Diane Townsend Pastels. All very good on PastelMat paper.

Crisp edges.. the way I remember them. Lovely!

Better Overall Performance:- Superior to Rembrandt, Caran d'Ache, Faber-Castell, and Koh-i-Noor.- More affordable and a top choice for harder soft pastels.Multimodal and Versatility:- Ideal for underpainting.- Compatible with water and other mediums.- Can be broken into 1/4 or 1/2 sticks without losing stability.- Excellent for details due to breakability, consistency, and hardness.Impressive Color Range:- Especially good for skin tones.**Overview:**The Prismacolor Premier NuPastel Firm Pastel Sticks provide an affordable, high-quality option for artists. Their versatility suits various techniques, from underpainting to detailed work. With a rich color palette and durable design, these pastels are perfect for both beginners and experienced artists.

I had never tried a hard pastel. I don't like the hardness, but that's just my opinion and does not reflect on the quality of this product. I have trouble blending these. But, you get a good assortment of rich colors. They were packaged well and shipped without damage.

These pastels have beautiful color and richness, and a very pleasing texture to work with, with lots of great use out of them. A very small number (3?) didn't draw as smoothly or with even color, but overall a great package that was fun to work with.

I love (and use) this product. Hard pastels provide options that soft pastels do not, so mixing them gives the best of both worlds. 96 is Prismacolor's full color set, and for work that combines soft and hard pastels that should be plenty. Over 20 of the 96 pastels arrived broken. Pastel powder had leaked out between the box and the wrapping, so the box was smudged with pastel powder. I purchased a set of these a year ago in an art store, and the situation was the same. So I don't know if it's Amazon or Prismacolor that's to blame for the product arriving in less than perfect condition. The bottom line is; broken pastels don't bother me, and I remove them from the box for inclusion with my other pastels immeadeatly anyway. So the price of this product is great for what you get: beautiful pigments, and nice square edges for both blocking in big shapes, and small detail work. If you have been working in pastel for any length of time, you know it's a seriously messy business, and the centuries-old european manufacturers of soft pastels have the same breakage issues. It's really no big deal. Go on YouTube and look at the palettes of professional pastel artists. The first thing they do with a new pastel stick before adding it to their palette box is: break it!

I read the reviews and decided to take a chance on these because the price was right at the time. My order arrived in tact and none of my sticks was broken. Each stick was wrapped in spongy foam. Each stick is stamped with a number, so I downloaded the color chart from Blick to get the color names. I swatched these dry, then did some wet tests in a coloring book with good paper. I wetted a paint brush, swirled it on the stick to pick up color and painted some flowers. The color was amazing. The pigment was strong and rich. It really popped out and it dried fast. The color rivaled most of the watercolor pencils I own. When I wanted to clean up the color like when I color outside the lines, it lifts easily with an eraser. I used the Faber-Castell pencil eraser with brush. I wish there was some way to carry these around when I travel, but this box of 96 is too large and bulky. Overall, I love these!