WHSmith colouring pencils - a review

A few days ago I started swatching my 36 count WHSMith colouring pencils. I was pleasantly surprised! Here's a review of these pencils.

- The pencils come in a glossy cardboard box with a plastic holder. I can see myself discarding this in the future as I tend to keep smaller sets of pens/pencils in clear containers. The design is lovely, with a dark grey pencil and colour indicators on the top. The hexagonal pencils are comfortable to hold and have a matt finish.

- The colour selection is really nice. You get all your usual primaries and secondaries that you usually see in a set of this size, and there are also some lovely and unique shades with a surprisingly good neutral palette. For example the dark teal one (last one in the third row) is one I see myself using a lot. The magenta and the brick colour are my other favourites in the set. The only shades I'm not crazy about are the two brightest yellows. They are not really pigmented and the next two yellow shades would be fully enough. But I've never been a fan of light, cool yellows, I'm more of a saffron yellow kind of person.

- The pigmentation is a pleasant surprise. These pencils are more affordable than the Staedtler Noris Club ones (at least in our currency that is the case) but lay down such a nicer pigment. You can get a vibrant colour almost instantly with very little pressure. The pencils are layerable and blend very well with each other. Compared to the Polychromos they lay down a bit more streaky colour and feel a bit more scratchy against the paper, but this can be corrected using a bit of layering. 

- The pencils came in the mail and although they were very well wrapped, it's not unusual for the leads to be damaged during transport. I haven't notice any broken leads and the pencils sharpen easily to a very fine point which they keep for a reasonable amount of time. As they are rather soft, I expect they will spend a fair amount of time in the sharpener, but this is the price for soft, pigmented pencils that lay down a creamy colour.

- I tried blending using two tools: a paper stump and a blender pencil. The paper stump easily gave the best result with these pencils. The gradient came out smoky and perfect, whereas the blender pencil mostly made a streaky, blotchy mess of the swatch. I can see myself using the blender pencil on very small areas but for anything of even the size of these swatches, a fine paper stump would be the more ideal blending tool of the two.

Conclusion: If you can get your hands on these pencils, go for it! If you already have a selection of pencils these will be great for a smaller set to take with you on the road or to add some new shades to your palette. If you're new to colouring, you may use these for a long time before feeling the need to graduate to a larger set or more prestigious brand. 

PS. When I started Lost Ocean a few days ago, I was going to use the 24-count Noris Club pencils for the whole book. But shortly after finishing the title page my hands started aching from the pressure I had to use and I was frustrated by the weak pigmentation. So I'm switching to this set of WHSmith pencils for the whole of Lost Ocean. Wish me luck!

Swatching in progress!

Swatching my WHSmith pencils. So far they're lovely! Will post a review once I'm finished. I'm making rather large squares because half of them I'll blend with blender pencil to display that effect as well. The white paper is laid over the finished squares to avoid smudging from my hand (I'm a leftie).

A wonderful encounter!

I have mentioned how much I like belonging to my colouring communities on Facebook. Interestingly, it's the smaller of the two groups that I prefer, it has such a nice atmosphere (so does the other one but that one's a bit too large and therefore perhaps a bit less personal).

Anyway, since haul/supply posts are fortunately allowed in these groups ;), I've had the opportunity to see a lot of people praising the WHSmith colouring pencils. To be honest, I first fell for their very handsome design. They are just so pretty on the outside! And the quote, The spectrum sings, it's just so sublime. I know I'm being silly! :) but anyhow, the other day I posted in my fave group a small complaint about how I'd love to try these pencils but WHSmith doesn't deliver to Sweden. And lo and behold, a great number of members volunteered to mail me a set!! In the end we agreed with a fellow member to swap items: I would send her the postcard book Vinterdrömmar by Hanna Karlzon (the Dagdrömmar lady!) and she would send me the pencils. 

It was of course a small leap of faith, giving out your address to a virtual stranger and everything... but it felt right! Needless to say Samantha, as her name is, got my parcel first, shame on you again and again Postnord... but today the beautiful pencils arrived! As an added bonus the parcel even fit into our mailbox so we didn't have to drive all the way to the grocery store (since we no longer have any post offices in Sweden anymore)

Upon opening the parcel there was another surprise. I thought I'd get the24 set, instead there was a 36 set of pencils in the package! I yelled out so my fiancé came running in from the car. He thought we'd been burgled as I stood in the doorway, shoes and coat still on, screaming. Lol! Then he realized it was pencils... then he was no longer surprised!

This wonderful gift came with very good timing. I've been pining after the 72 set Inktense pencils. I have the 24 set but would really love to upgrade and they are crazy expensive. Recently we talked about treating ourselves to something nice as we moved into our new house just five weeks ago and we have hardly rested, spent each waking our after work unpacking and fixing around the house. The fiancé, or S. as we can call him, was going to buy a nice pair of gaming headphones and I was going to get the Inktense. But after some calculations we agreeed to not spend anything on luxury items as there are so many expenses around the house these coming months. We agreed on this this morning so to get these gorgeous pencils, together with a new friendship, was really great for me today. Thank you, Samantha :)