Muted colors, soft and buttery petites...nice for the price!!

Fun trying out new soft pastels by Gondola that offer subtle vibrancy + nice edges in a 3/4" round stick (small).The limited color range is nice and performs with a consistency similar to Blue Earth pastels. *.*

I bought this knowing what I was getting. I have many different professional brands of pastels and this black just the darkest black I've found. I love it. Pulls the light so well. Mix in a bit of blue & it's just stunning. The biggest con for this brand is that these pieces are tiny (approximately 1/2 the mass of a Ludwig stick) so while the price is low, it's not cheap to purchase a usable amount. I own the set of 100 and would consider them medium hardness (not buttery, not brittle) but they layer nicely & the colors are good. My biggest regret when I bought the set, was not being able to buy them separately because of their size, so I am happy Dakota is carrying an individual selection. On the up side, at this price, if you want to test them to see if they fit with your style, it's totally doable.