I read the negative reviews about some people getting broken pencils, incomplete sets, no black/white pencils, and possible fakes, and was worried about what I would receive, but I am relieved to say I received what I was supposed to receive.
Detail:
1) The Prismacolor box: Inside the brown Amazon delivery box was a colorful shrink-wrapped Prismacolor cardboard storage box with the pencils inside on removable plastic trays. The Prismacolor storage box that the pencils come in is much nicer than I expected. It has a magnet closure. It makes this set a VERY presentable gift for an artist. The storage box I received looked new. The storage box is pretty sturdy (but not sturdy enough/secure enough to travel with – I’d recommend a different box for that). One downside is the plastic trays inside the box – they are a bit flimsy, so you have to use two hands and flat surfaces or you could accidentally dump the pencils out of their plastic trays when using.
2) The pencils: Mine look new. I didn’t lift/inspect every pencil other than read its name, but I didn’t see any broken points or cracked pencils or used pencils. ( I took the time to read every name & there were no duplicates which some negative reviews mentioned). There was a black pencil and a white pencil (at least one negative review mentioned those being missing). I didn’t see anything visually that would make me think these were fakes. When I bought these on Amazon, the seller was listed as Amazon, so maybe the negative reviews with suspected fakes were from a different seller. All I know is that I’m grateful to not have experienced those problems.
3) Quality: Some of the negative reviews said these not as good as the old Prismacolor pencils. I have Prismacolors from waaaay back when it was owned by Berol and from the 90’s when it was Sanford. I’m including a photo of a few of the new ones from this set and a few of the old ones from the 90s (thirty years ago!). The new ones and the old ones all sharpened with a hand crank AFMAT pencil sharpener specifically for color pencils. You can see both old and new got super sharp long points. Nothing broke on the new ones. No Prismacolor pencils, old or new, should be sharpened with a regular pencil sharpener- that thrashes them and you get breaks. That’s because Prismacolor pencils are SOFTER so they blend better. I’ve included a photo of my hand crank AFMAT colored pencil sharpener with this review (I bought that pencil sharpener on Amazon also, works great). When you use Prismacolor you need to use whisper-gentle pencil strokes in many many layers to build up colors or pencil tips can break. Goes with the territory, no big deal, expect it. Save your broken tips for those times you press too hard, there’s uses for them 🙂
4) I did a few quick tests in addition to the sharpening test, and included a photo for that as well. I randomly picked some ‘dull’ colors from the new set, plus Lilac that I had handy from my old Prismacolor set, and created a quick color recipe sheet that I included a photo of with this review. Looking at the sheet you can see these sorts of tests:
– how intense the colors are in a few light layers verses many layers, super light pressure verses a little harder pressure;
– how the colors work blended in different combinations;
– how the colors look blended with the white Prismacolor pencil that came with the set
– how the colors look blended with a Prismacolor colorless Blender (purchased separately on Amazon see photo);
– how the colors look blended with a COPIC colorless marker Blender (purchased separately on Amazon see photo);
– how the colors look blended with off the shelf mineral oil;
– how the colors erase with an AFMAT battery operated eraser (purchased separately on Amazon see photo);
– how the old lilac Prismacolor pencil blends with the new ones
I hope the ‘color recipe’ sheet helps you see that even ‘dull’ colors can be pretty exciting! The recipe sheet was done on cheap standard printer paper, but ideally for these pencils you’d use better paper – I included a photo of the Bristol paper I’ve bought on Amazon.

5) Cost Effective: My old Prismacolor sets are up to 120 colors. I was replacing them and supplementing them buying one or two new ones at a time – you pay more per pencil that way. It just made sense to get the 150 pencil set.

6) Prismacolor vs Faber Castell Polychromos: I have them both, love them both. You can combine them but technically they have a different ‘base’ and Polychromos lets you know how light-fast their colors are right on each pencil. Price wise it’s hard to beat the 150 Prismacolor set. Either way you can create some awesome art, building up one light layer after another, and don’t be shy about creating your own ‘color recipe’ pages and experimenting how one light layer of one color looks on top of a light layer of another color. Write down the colors you used like I did on the photo – even a muddy color can be useful someday! Enjoy!