SCHPIRERR FARBEN - Premium Colored Pencils, Oil-Based Coloring Pencils, Soft-Core Color Pencil Set for Adults & Children, Non-Toxic Colored Pencil for Coloring, Sketching, & Doodling, 96 Colors

I purchased this set (which cost me NZ$103.01 including postage) here at Amazon because of all the rave reviews from people who say they have Prismacolor and other brands that (for me anyway) cost a King’s Ransom. Prismacolor, for instance, is listed at NZ$399 on TradeMe and at Gordon Harrris the price is NZ$499! That latter price is a little over three-quarters of our total weekly household income.I don’t know how long this brand of pencils has been on the market (maybe since March 2018, because that is when the trademark was registered) but it seems to me that, with the resurgent interest in colouring for adults and therefore the creation of a wider market for colouring materials, the Chinese are taking on the big boys in the colour pencil range of products and doing a mighty fine job of it.I first saw the Schpirerr Farben 96 pencil set on TradeMe, where it is listed at NZ$192. I figured it should be pretty good for that sort of money so went investigating, and I’m so glad I did. The pencils glide smoothly over even the cheap paper that is used for adult colouring books (the less expensive books anyway). I haven’t done colouring for over half a century so my review is strictly that of a novice. Unlike one of the reviewers here, I have no trouble with shading and blending, though no doubt a special pencil for this purpose would create a better effect, and I’m sure a professional artist would find my shading very amateurish.As I read somewhere, what you are paying for in a coloured pencil set is the pigment. Compared to pigment, presentation is relatively cheap. But the Schpirerr Farben pencils are certainly well presented, and having them in a tin is making it very easy for me to keep them nicely sorted. However, I am used to hexagonal shaped pencils and the round shape of these ones can be a nuisance inasmuch as they can easily roll into inaccessible places if knocked to the floor. Because the bottoms of the pencils are covered with a deep layer of paint, it isn’t easy to judge how thick the core is (or, indeed, if it goes right to the end of the pencil) but squinting at the pointed end of one of the pencils had me judging that the core looks considerably thinner than that in Prismacolor pencils (and possibly other brands). Prismacolor claim their cores are 4mm and this set claims to have 3.3mm cores.A reviewer here stated that even famous artists use Schpirerr Farben pencils, and I personally think they would be stupid not to once they have tried them. It doesn’t mean they need to stop using whatever their favourites now are, but why use expensive pencils in a situation where a cheaper one would do just as good a job?One thing Schpirerr Farben need to do if they want professional artists to use their pencils for serious artwork (art for which somebody will be paying them) is to make the pigments light-fast. They might actually be light-fast, but no information on this aspect is included in the pencil set—only that it conforms to EN71-3 and ASTM D-4236, which are safety standards.I am having no trouble sharpening these pencils and so far I have had no breakage—oh, except when I accidentally leaned heavily on the pointed end of one; any pencil point would have given way under that sort of pressure.Thank you to the reviewer who wrote that there is a free colour swatch chart we can download on Schpirerr Farben’s web site. I have printed it out and look forward to filling it in with colour samples. To the reviewer who says the colour names always make him/her chuckle, I must say I agree. For instance, who would think of calling a colour “There’s No Place Like Home”? And how about “Blooming Bouquet”? Or what about “Golf Course”? We could have a good guess at what colour “Pickle” might be, but how about “Bumblebee”? Then there’s a pink that is “Sassy”. And “Point Shoe” brings up an image of a ballerina.

These are a fabulous set of pencils. A lovely array of vibrant, luscious colors that lay smoothly on the page and blend effortlessly. Burnishing seems unnecessary. For a supposedly mid-range line, I’m very impressed and very pleased

Like many of my friends, I started coloring when Covid hit. Unlike many of my friends, I continued the hobby long after the pandemic because I fell in love with the whole world of coloring, specifically, grayscale coloring. Nearly four years later I’m still a novice, but I know a thing or two about the utensils used for the process.Without really knowing what I was doing at the time, I selected Schpirerr Farben pencils. I had read some positive reviews extolling them, but mostly I wanted an affordable oil based pencil. ( Generally, oil based pencils are more expensive than wax ones.)In this instance, my relative ignorance paid off. My pencils arrived beautifully packaged. No breakage on any tips, and they were housed in a lovely tin. But the real surprise was the quality of the set. The colors lay down easily and richly, some might describe the application as creamy. The pencils keep their points, with little need to sharpen every few minutes and the variation of colors is really pretty impressive.I have paid much more for other oil based pencils, but these are my favorite. In September, I ordered my third set. They are even affordable enough for me to have gifted them to a cousin who also got hooked on coloring.If you’re interested in a good quality oil based pencil, save yourself some money and try these. Being a novice, I’m not sure professionals would agree that they are “ simply the best,” but I’m almost sure they could not summarily dismiss them. They’re that good.Hope this helps. Happy creativity!

Very nice set, mostly highly pigmented and creamy. Very similar feeling to my Prismacolor premiers.

These are very nice pencils. I have several pencil sets like holbein and luminance and these pencils are very similar to those two brands. They are supposed to be an oil pencil but I think they are waxy more than oil. They are fully pigmented and have a generous size core. The pencils themselves are a nice size not a skinny pencil. The lay down is a pleasure and they blend beautifully. It's so absurd that you can get a 40 dollar pencil set that behaves like a 200 dollar set. I highly recommend them and I say that because I tried them with expensive pencils and they behaved like an expensive pencil. What an exciting find! It just goes to show you that you don't need a ton of money to get good pencils.I only gave them 4 stars because they don't sell open stock and that's going to be a problem since these pencils are my new obsession