168 Colored Pencils - 168 Count Including 12 Metallic 8 Fluorescence Vibrant Colors No Duplicates Art Drawing Colored Pencils Set for Coloring Books, Sketching, Painting

I'm going to address the BAD first, and then go on to say why I think these are STILL worthy of 5 stars even with the flaws.. (hint..part of the title)1. About 10 pencils are bowed slightly, however they sharpen fine2. Barrel colors is all over the map. You'll need to sort these by a scratch test, and you WILL NEED A COLOR CHART.3. About 6 pencils have a slight split in the "manufacturer" sharpened point. I was able to sharpen them out.4. Packaging is a nightmare. The trays pop pencils out, the carryall is flimsy, You're going to need a better case.5. A *few* lighter pencils are very dry and scratchy. Most are a very nicely pigmented medium/soft texture.6. VERY skimpy on the light blue shades, and solid orange shades.Okay. With that out of the way, let me tell you why these are still worth 5 stars, in my opinion.THE COLOR SELECTION IS THROUGH THE ROOF! With the exception of the above mentioned, the yellows, browns, greens, purples, pinks, reds - are insane! There are at least 3 pencils that can be used as a true red shade. Those of you that color lots of nature, scenery, caricature, and leafy pages are going to be in HEAVEN!FIFTEEN CENTS A PENCIL PEOPLE. I mean come on. You aren't going to get perfection when you are paying 15-20 cents a pencil. I wouldn't even expect that. HOWEVER. The quality of the COLOR, the smooth pigmented texture of the cores..for the most part far exceeds anything I have seen from Crayola, Arteza, and Feela, and that's actually pretty good for bargain pencils. No, you're not getting Prisma's or Poly's here. Yes, you are going to have a few flaws, maybe a few that will need a couple extra trips to the sharpener. But, what you have left after that, is still a HUGE AMOUNT of really nice QUALITY pencils!! If you can look past the flaws, and still recognise what a huge value these are, then BUY THEM! YOU WON'T BE SORRY!!P.S. To all the reviewers who complain about sharpening, and anyone considering these or other mid range/bargain pencils: Please buy an electric or battery operated sharpener. Bargain pencils WON'T BREAK if you use a quality motorized sharpener.

Great pencils that layer and blend beautifully with a couple of problems.First the pencils aren't organized. There's maybe a group of red then some blue and then some green. Move to the next tray and find another grouping of reds, blues, and greens. I've never had to organize my own pencils before.Second you have a white, but no off whites.Third, out of 168 colors there are only 3 yellows. Lots of reds, greens, blues, etc., but only 3 yellows. One of these is a nice deep yellow that you will use a lot. Will I need to buy a whole new set once a month to replace this color? With the other colors their are choices that are so close that it won't matter if one is used up.Fourth, most of the barrel colors don't match the pencil color. The darkest green, blue, brown, and two of the grays have black barrels.If you get these dump them all out on the table, organize them, then do the color chart. You will definitely be referring to this chart a lot.BUT even with these problems the pencils are well worth it.

These pencils are basically an inexpensive no name off brand and I was very surprised to find that the quality and manner in which they glide on the paper and are consistent in the coverage outshines so many of the expensive brands that I and so many others that I know use! The colors are vibrant and the texture is smooth. They do not jump and skip around on the paper and you don't have fading in areas that you are covering a larger area. What is awesome about that is that you can use a much lighter hand and get better results and coverage which in turn greatly extends the life of these pencils because you are not sharpening them every single use like many others. In a nutshell I LOVE THESE PENCILS! I AM SURPRISED AND IMPRESSED WITH THE QUALITY AND I WOULD BUY THEM TIME AND TIME AGAIN!!!!

I love how many colors this set has! They blend easily and can be used with a light hand for the gentlest of color application. I wish that it had a few more orange, but with so many colors, who can complain? Each color truly is distinct.A few of the leads broke, which I found very disappointing. I am uncertain if this is an ongoing problem, or if it was simply my package. Overall a minimal issue.I would definitely purchase this set of colored pencils again!