How are these Colored Pencils "Best Sellers"?

thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich

March 5

Hi friends! I have a bit of a bummer of a review today. I have been asked to review the Amazon Basics colored pencils many times so when I saw them on sale during Black Friday I snapped up a set to review. All I can say is I am glad I didn't pay full price. The day I am uploading this video the Amazon Basics set of 72 colored pencils is the #1 best seller in wooden colored pencils on Amazon. Why?!? Maybe I missed the mark and got it completely wrong but these are the least enjoyable pencils I have used in years. I just looked up the price of this set of pencils on Camel Camel Camel (it is a website that tracks Amazon price history) and this product fluctuates by $20 however recently the price has been very low so I am wondering if they might have changed manufacturers to get the price down. If you have used these pencils and have a different experience than me please let me know when you bought them and how much they were in the comments. There were so many good reviews for these pencils on Amazon but I feel like I was using entirely different pencils than what was described. Here is the link to the pencils I bought so you can have a closer look but I do NOT recommend them: *affiliate link used You can see my full review in the video below.

Pros:

They look nice
They sharpen well
They were packaged nicely

Cons:

They lift with water (but not in a good way like watercolor pencils)
Weakly pigmented
They are difficult to blend or layer
The hard lead was uncomfortable to color with
They were not enjoyable to use

I am confounded, these have such good reviews on Amazon, and they are the #1 best seller in colored pencils on the website but these are the most difficult pencils I have ever used. Maybe I got a bad batch or maybe they are making them in a different factory now but I did not enjoy them at all. I would have returned them if I was still within the return window because I would feel bad giving them to someone. You are better off spending the limited funds on a 12 set of Prismacolor than the 72 set of Amazon Basics. I hope you found this review helpful and til next time happy crafting!