Honsell Gallery Artists' 4400015 Handmade Soft Pastel, Set of 15, Hand-Rolled Pastels in Artist Quality, Soft Consistency

I am surprised these are not more widely carried in art supply stores. They are a great value and the manufacturer offers a broad palette of colors from which to choose. I often use these in combination with the "extra fine", "soft" and "semi-hard" lines of pastels from the same manufacturer ... layering up to these butter soft handmade pastels. While I'm sure pastel artists can use these throughout, I'm an amateur (and, even that's a stretch characterization) and appreciate the ability to draw and layer color underneath with the rest of the Mungyo line before going to these babies. I have a more expensive brand too, but these seem to work just as well for less. And, I understand the lightfastness of the colors is at par with the more expensive brand too. Several sets have been given to friends with more skill than I possess and they've echoed my appreciation. This particular set has a useful assortment of colors. Don't hesitate, you'll be very pleased.

I mainly use Mount Vision Pastel Company pastels but I have to buy them from an art store in the UK so I saw these on Amazon and said what the heck I’ll try them. The packaging for this set is superb. Each stick arrived unbroken. I think the binder used to make the pigments into sticks is on the creamy, waxy side rather than the powdery side, like Mount Vision tend to be. I haven’t decided yet if that’s a plus or minus for my work but they’re less messy at any rate. They still blend well enough. This is a good set to get as a gift for a beginner but more advanced artists will appreciate having them as well. The colors included are basic but there is enough of a range to produce a good picture from them. Just make sure you get some good paper with a decent tooth. 75% of the battle with pastel is using the right paper.

Nice range of colors in the set. Soft and smooth, good down well on the pavement that spread and blend well with each other as well as with other brands and different types of pastels/chalks when street painting.

Good valueSoft pastelsNice color selection

When you get an immaculate product like this for an outstanding price=value.

I’m a professional artist. Nice pastels to try. Nice color selection, the green is to dye for! But not comparable to Sennelier- harder and gritty, not to Rembrandt’s - not creamy, not to Nupastels- crumble. I will use them for the back ground. They are just ok, Faber Castell’s Creative Studio 72 minis are cheaper and better worked for me.

I have bought these pastels before as single open-stock but not as a set. Either way you decide to buy, these pastels are great. The set is very well balanced and glows in the box, which itself is nice and protects the pastels well. The colours are bright and luscious and go on paper really nicely. They are quite soft. They blend well. No pastels were broken when shipped by Amazon. Very happy with this purchase.

These are unique and useful for fine detail and broad strokes.