There are times you just need a hard edge soft pastel that creates dramatic lines and is deeply saturated. Blue Earths do the trick! I wanted a selection of all the colors in one box, permitting me to create a painting that poised warm and cool greens next to each other. This was the perfect match.

Absolutely the best deep and vibrant pastel

I'm new to pastels but my teacher brings in tons of her own, and I fell in love with Blue Earth, after using Senneliers (also good) for a couple months. So I bought a big set--126 in a travel box--and have ordered individual colors that didn't come in the set as I wanted. I LOVE working and playing with these pastels! Very creamy on the page, deep true colors, helpful gradation from dark to hue to light.

After trying most of the pastels out there, I believe Blue Earth pastels will become my main pastel. I love the way they glide across Uart 320 with the lightest of pressure and great coverage. I love the size ( so I dont have to break them in half) and I love the way they are organized by hues and values! I currently only have a few of the light colors I'm going to test a few more in the mids and darks. After that, if they win me over, I'm eyeing up the studio or field box next

Blue Earth Pastels are a beautiful material to work with. They are so smooth, always soft and the color is superb. They sit nicely on previous work. I use them in all stages of a pastel drawing.

This my second order for these pastels. In addition to their beautiful color and texture, I like the form of these pastels. The block form allows one to make sharp edges as well as covering larger areas.

Blue pastel are my overall favorite pastels! This very dark green pastel is beautiful.

Love these soft pastels great for finishing marks !

The pastels are wonderful to work with but it was very difficult to make the correct color selections online ~ I wanted to try the neutral cools and warms, and picked out a sequence of staggered values from the color chart and photo of the pastels in the box. My resulting selection is neutral gray, hardly any noticeable change between warm and cool temperature ~ almost like duplicate colors.

After purchasing the complete set several years ago, these pastels are an integral part of my studio. The ability to purchase individual pastels that compliment my color palette, creates seamless workflow necessary for me to work uninterrupted. When one or more pastels is getting heavy use, it is a simple process to replace any pastel thanks to Dakota and Blue Earth.

Nice and soft. Really enjoyable.

The folks I have spoken to at Dakota always prover to be helpful and well informed. Their pastel products are top notch for sure.

I have been using Blue Earth pastels for about 9 years and I love them. Pure pigment, consistent color with a great color range and just the right softness.

Very happy with the individual sticks I ordered. I needed some bright grass greens, and these are exactly what I had hoped. The colors on line looked a bit dull, but they are much more vibrant in person. can't wait to use them.

These are so soft and velvety when applied that I can't believe it. I've tried Senneliers and Schminkes and they are great, but I really love the Blue Earth pastels They are made in the USA and they are fantastic. I really love the way they are organized in the box when you buy a set. From now on, these are my "go to" pastels.

These little pastels are amazing. Loaded with beautiful pigments and creamy like butter. I am really in love with the way they are arranged according to hue, value and intensity. It really makes grabbing the right color a breeze.

These pastels are fabulous. The arrangement of the colors and tonal values is wonderful and makes it so easy to find the perfect color and shade that I need. I also have to thank the wonderful people at Dakota for their attention to detail in packaging and shipping these fragile items. I have had not once received a broken pastel. Thanks Dakota.

I love these pastels. They are buttery and the pigments are gorgeous. My favorite thing about BE pastels is the way they are arranged. The pure colors with their tints and shades make color selection easier for me because I sometimes have trouble with my vision. I will continue to use these pastels for as long as they make them.

The Blue Earth Pastels have beautiful crisp pure color. The softness and concentration of Pigment is phenomenal. NO CHALK I primarily use Sennelier Soft Pastels and Blue Earth Pastels pairs well with them to have access to a full range of choices when working

BEXBB Blue Dark B This is NOT a dark blue, this is a medium Blue o the dark side. I was looking for a really dark Blue and this definitely is not it. Also, the size of all the BE pastels is so tiny, the price is not a bargain.

colors, going from lightest to darkest: R1A, R2A, XRA and XPA look about the same XRB and XPB look about the same All are dark, they are on the brownish side of red, but dark enough to be useful' I really wanted it a cooler dark red.

I just ordered three of each color in green to refill my box! Doing 18x24" Plein Air Pastels really uses up my green sticks. I love the color selection, especially for the desaturated greens necessary for atmospheric prospective; my distant tree lines are what I am seeing and want to capture. The square stick allows a wide range of marks, and the soft touch gives the perfect impressionistic touch on trees, fields, and meadows. And while the green purchase is fresh in my mind, I have a full range of colors. The blues are a critical tool for my lakes, streams, rivers, and skies. The warm and cool neutral set makes my roads, shadows, timber, and rocks better. I use about six brands, from hard to soft. Each stick has its place for the marks it can make. But based on the sticks I need to reorder, Blue Earth pastels are a solid and essential base to my box when I paint.

I love the buttery texture and square shape of Blue Earth sticks. I can do so much with them!

Excellent

This is my first experience with Blue Earth Pastels. Very happy. Very Soft - Not Chalky

The colors have so much depth and the texture give a smooth, silky, satisfying application like butter!

Soft, pure colors. Square, which is a plus. My only caveat is that they were a bit smaller than I expected. Not so small that I would not order them again. Good value. And Dakota Pastels shipped them to me quickly!

Blue Earth pastels are comparable to Terry Ludwig & Great American pastels, but less expensive. Their square shape, softness & vibrant colors make them a favorite with me.

I love Blue Earth!

I am new to pastel painting and needed a few square pastel sticks, so I tried Blue Earth pastels. These were recommended by my teacher/artist, Barb Benstein at Mainstreet Art Center. I’m glad I took her advice! These pastels are so soft and buttery. The colors are rich and full of pigment.

Received pastel all whole and in ready to use packaging.

Love all Blue Earth pastels! They're very soft and require a gentle touch. Beautiful colors available. These are my go to pastels.

I love these beauties. Arrived perfectly packed and I’m already using them. My favorites!

I received a Dakota gift certificate and thought I'd add a few more Blue Earth pastels to my collection. I have several favorite soft pastel brands, but I have a limited number of Blue Earths and I like their size, that they're square and their softness level.

I just like them a lot. soft and goes on without a hitch.

I’ve used most of the pastels available to me and have found that the touch and feel of this pastel is best for all of the applications needed in creating a successful pastel painting.

I am only a few years into my exploration of pastels, and I have tried to purchase a variety of brands. Once I discovered Blue Earth, I keep coming back for more. The square profile, buttery texture, and color range seem to suit my developing style, and the fact that they can be purchased as individual sticks makes sense not only for my budget but also for the purely practical reasons of replenishment when a painting requires a lot of a certain color.

Top notch and will put together for your working needs

Love these pastels but I mostly appreciated the help from Amy picking out the right colors.

What gorgeous pastels! They are soft like Schminke and I adore them. They go on smooth and blend well. They're about half stick size but they are extremely high quality!

Dakota takes such care to insure safe delivery of these soft pastels. Some other companies take no precautions at all.

Has not failed to deliver all that a top notch pastel can offer!

They’re soft, cover nicely, like the sharp edges

Product all arrived whole. Couldn’t ask for better packaging and pastels. I use all the other brands and each have a strong and week identity. The Blue Earth checks in at the top of all of my desired needs for my paintings.

I was floored at how vastly different the color of the pastels were from Dakota‘s chart on line and I looked from several different computers.

I had previously done oil and acrylic paintings, and am new to pastels. I tried samples of just about all of the pastel vendors until I tried Blue Earth. The combination of the somewhat lower cost per stick, the very high pigment intensity and texture of the pastels, and particularly the way they are sold (and even stamped on each stick) in very organized color schemes make them the best value for me.

Your care with packaging is truly appreciated.

Very happy with the color. Needed a bright Turquoise and a pure white, and these are perfect. I like the soft velvety texture. I wish there was a set of whites.

The pigment is rich in color and half sticks are nice for my smaller hands.

The color is so rich and lovely you want to put it on every piece of art you are working on.

I love these pastels. They are so buttery & the colors are fabulous. The colors in this set of 336 cover the entire spectrum and have a purity because they use complementary colors to desaturate them. They also take the guesswork out of finding the right values needed for a cohesive painting. They’re slightly softer than Terry Ludwigs but don’t crumble as much as Sennelier & Schmincke. Thanks Dakota for your excellent packaging because these little gems made it all the way to Texas without a single broken stick. I am making Dakota my primary source for pastels from now on.

Previous to ordering these, I had only used Rembrandt and Sennelier soft pastels. The fairly fat but short sticks seemed awkward to hold and use. Once I got the knack of using them, though, I like them. They will probably never be my favorite brand, but I will continue to order and use them.

Blue Earth pastels are really lovely, soft and creamy versatile. I especially love the Portrait sampler and Drifter sets.

Unison does not work well with multi layering of soft pastels. Sennelier is perfected for plein air layering, but is round. Blue Earth is wonderfully saturated like Sennelier, but in small cubes. However, this size is perfect for transport to and from outdoor locations, storage, and the angularity of each Blue Earth Pastel ensures the use of a variety of strokes. Highly recommended.

Love these buttery pastels - wonderful for those finishing strokes!

Buttery soft pastels with excellent pigment concentration. I will continue to build my sets with these pastels! Seriously, if you haven't tried these I highly suggest you grab a few!

I love Blue Earth Pastels and wish I could afford an entire set.

I love Blue Earth Pastels for several reasons. 1. The smaller square size is perfect for holding and creating strokes in flowers. 2. With smaller size comes smaller price! 3. Rich color. 4. A dream to use on Pastelmat since the super softness layers so well.

Nice and buttery

Order four Blue Earth greens to use in some potted geranium studies -- great choice. They provided the shades and colors I needed. I really like Blue Earth pastels.

I have not used all products in this order but Dakota Art Pastels delivered order well protected and timely. I would order from you again. Thank you.

Soft and very pleased with value range

Very nice soft consistency

I love Blue Earth Pastels. I love the consistency; they go on so easily. The colors are rich. And I love how they are arranged by tones, especially after April explained the A, B, C and D designations and how the tones go lighter as the numbers go up. I also appreciate the fact that the colors are named what they are, such as "violet gray" instead of some meaningless designation like "Nina." And they are reasonably priced. 😊

I love the buttery, creamy consistency of these pastels. They always come well packaged and I’ve never had one broken.

These sticks are just what I wanted, and I will be back for more. They arrived quickly and impressively packaged. No wrappers to remove. They are smooth and buttery to use.

First time using these...they're buttery and the pigment is great. Love that they're square and small. The price helps with adding to my limited pallette color which are needed. I will be getting more soon.

I am gradually replacing most of my other pastels with Blue Earth ones. I love the way they feel. The way they cover my paper. And the colors. I never understood using your fingers to put your color on until I tried it with these.

I have tried many brands of soft pastels and I like Blue Earth and Great American best. They have a broad range of colors and perform very well. They are also more affordable than some others. I will not buy Senneleir again; they are too soft and tend to crumble easily. Also I commend your staff on very good customer service. I made a mistake on an order and they resolved my issue easily and quickly. Good job! Thank you.

I love blue earth pastels to begin with, but this white was just what I was looking for. Bright white for highlights. Soft enough to put small dots for water spray etc, crisp lines. Also these pastels can float over other colors. I like them a lot!!!

I've never tried Blue Earth pastels before and these pinks were perfect for my needs. I also liked the fact that they are square with nice, clean edges and points. Again, perfect for my immediate need. They're also soft enough. Not the softest on the market, but soft enough for most of my work.

Always enjoy getting my pastels from Dakota’s.

Small sticks but fabulous to work with So soft and expressive

Soft, go on smoothly. Good prices. There was very little crumble lost when I break them in half…not as dry as some other brands.

I know I can trust Blue Earth pastels to be consistent, soft, and representative of the color image provided. The sticks go a long way considering how soft they are. Accompanied by Dakota Pastels remarkable customer service and swift order fulfillment, why would I buy anywhere else? Thank you for supporting artists everywhere!

These were velvety and very pigmented. A small rectangular jewel in your hands.

Blue Earth pastels are equivalent to Terry Ludwig or Great American pastels, but less expensive. I especially like that they come in a full range of colors and can be purchased individually or in sets.

These pastels are like butter! Strong pigments keep your work looking fresh without using a lot.

Smooth, creamy, rich color- a wonderful addition to my pastel collection

These Blue Earth pastels are quite similar to the consistency of Terry Ludwig. REALLY NICE AND SMOOTH !

Needed a bright white. Love them!

This was my third purchase of Blue Earth pastels. While they are less expensive than some of the other brands of soft pastels, the quality is excellent. All the colors are vivid and the texture is creamy. The sticks are smaller than they appear on photos. Therefore, I’d suggest that Dakota consider making a larger stick as another option.

Remember when you felt the joy of getting a fresh box of Crayola's? That is the same joy I felt getting the Blue Earth Pastels. The colors a luscious. They are soft but not too soft. They may become my "go to" set.

I've only been using these pastels for a short time, but I find the quality outstanding. The richness and vibrancy is beautiful. I will be buying more of these fantastic pastels!

The pastel is small and almost 1/2 stick size to some brand. I calculated volume of each stick on each brand, so it seems inexpensive but its not, because the size is small. But the quality is amazing. I bought couple sticks each brand to try, this is my favorite in terms of quality. And I like being a square stick( rectangular prism). And its made in US. Love it.

The Blue Earth pastels are a good choice. Love the organization of colors tints and concentration. They are rich with pigment and very soft. A light touch is needed as they can crumble easily if pressed too hard. It is one of the most expensive pastels you can buy if you look at dollars per cubic inc of stick. So for me it’s not necessarily a great value.

First time using Blue Earth and I love it. Very soft and smooth. I only wish it was a bigger stick.

I have just started using Blue Earth pastels and I'm loving them. They are so soft, and I love the size and shape of the sticks. The color ranges are so helpful.

smooth easy flow esp on Premier paper

Creamy, rich, perfect size and shape, and intense color

Great color and great pastels!

Smooth and creamy

As one new to pastel art, I've only purchased several soft pastel brands, primarily Great American, Sennelier, and Diane Townsend. Compared with these three brands, I found the Blue Earth to be quite vivid and 'more creamy' with application. However, they are softer and seem to 'wear down' more quickly. Finally, the half-sticks are about 1/2" shorter than the Great American, which I really like. So, the overall price is less, the size is smaller, the overall color selection is large, and the application is creamier than the other 3 brands. I will probably purchase Blue Earth again.

These greens had just the right subtleness for plein air in that short time before Autumn really kicks off its colors!

Nice colors but the sticks are crumbly and too soft for a fine line. Good for laying large swaths of color.

I am not a professional artist. i am just a beginner, but I love the way these pastels feel and look on the page. I am a professional residential and commercial painter, and I think the colors look right to me. The pastels crumble when i apply them to my favorite surface, drawing paper, and I use the crumbs to add texture and dimension.

I love my Blue Earth pastels. They are truly buttery and less brittle than others.

Great pastels that lay down so nicely with little effort.

For the price these soft pastels are comparable to higher priced soft pastels & perform just as well.

I love the neutral colors and the way they work with the different papers.