My box arrived intact p and protected by a nice sleeved box with a foam protector against the chalks. Okay, i am new at this- my first attempt at soft pastels so i got an inexpensive set of 64. Here is what i experienced- and PLEASE give me feedback if the results are due to my own immature attempts or possibly to the product. and maybe even paper.I used pastel paper. When i color blocked my picture ( a baby chick) and, following demonstrations on You tube, added layers of colors, the colors all smeared together, no definition at all at the edges, plus the white did not sit on top and appear bright white, the white stick ( at the top with the black stick) appeared weak and diluted, not bright at all. By the time i finished my little pee pee ( baby chickling) my pastels had crumbled into a fine powder and the chalk stubs were practically gone. I don't want this to become an advertisement venue for sales people recommending pastels that cost an arm and a leg please. I am willing to pay more for perhaps a better product, but I have seen similar sets with different brand names sell for from less than $10 to $172 !! I am willing to upgrade my rating if experienced people tell me the fault is mine :)

Got these to try pastel sticks out. They were only $7 but very short sticks, like 1", so not worth more than that. I do not have enough experience with pastel sticks, but do use pastel pencils and I really like Koo I Noor and Derwent. Have not tried Prismalolor, but probably will not unless I get a really good price to try. I also really like CarbOthello and only paid $60 for 60 pencils, which is a good deal.

Carb-Othello Pastel Pencil 60 Color Set

Also try this paper, you do not need to buy expensive sanded art paper, GO TO HOME DEPOT!!!! Spend pennies on the dollar and this pack will give you a good range for the finest grit, I paid a rediculous amount for one sheet of 800 grit sand paper at an art store. I am sure you can get larger sheets.

9 x 11 Inch, 800 to 3000 Grit Sandpaper Assortment, Dry/ Wet, 14 Pieces, for Automotive Sanding, Wood Furniture Finishing, Wood Turning Finishing

I probably shouldn't be reviewing this item, as I'm in no way an artist and certainly can't compare these pastels to any others. Having said that, maybe my input may help another novice in the art world. The reason for my order of the chalk is to shade the images on my decoupage crafts. I tried using acrylics, but had a difficult time due to various issues.

This product was inexpensive compared to others and the reviews were good. The fact that the set contains 64 colors was another factor. I'm experimenting and learning the best way to blend/shade for my purposes. I tried the pastels on one of my newly decoupaged projects and I'm very happy with the results. I was even able to blend two colors to produce exactly the shade needed and really impressed myself! (o:

I love the product. I have purchased this before but this time some of the pieces were broken. I will use the pastels because they are perfect for astronomical sketches made from digital pictures taken through the telescope. I thinking the problem was in the packaging of the product. I will purchase again but be a little more careful about accepting the broken pieces.

These are good quality chalk pastels. The colours are vivid and they go onto the paper smoothly. We used a craft knife to shave off a little and then apply using cotton pads. The pieces are small - about an inch long, and I imagine they would not work well to draw directly with, at least not for a beginner - but they worked wonderfully for making image backgrounds