I really like the pencils, and this boxed set has been great to use. The box is a high quality, wears well and looks quite attractive on my drawing table. The assortment of colors is pretty thorough. The pencils are medium, abit on the hard side, which I very much prefer to soft, soft pastels. The hardness allows for control on details. The pencils are a good compliment to the Caran d’Ache stick soft pastels, also not that soft. Top quality materials, they make for great pastel drawing.