Hi Lily, thanks for including me in your research! To clarify your query, my factory-sharpened Prismacolors shown in the video were part of a set purchased in the US in 2015 from a reputable art store (Blick's) - and the rest in the video are open stock from Emma at the Coloured Pencil Shop here in the UK. Thanks for a great video, I enjoyed everything you've covered!
@@sherrikent6628 I'm not concerned about lightfastness as I'm only using them in my colouring books. If I was concerned I likely wouldn't use Prismacolor Pencils, instead I'd choose Caran d'ache Luminance or Derwent Lightfast
@@ArtJourneyUKcan I ask why? Side note: I just went and dug up some of my prismas because I'd never looked at them this way ...I barely smell anything, I purchased them in Canada most likely from Michael's. I have no white at all and they are very creamy. 😊 thanks for the very interesting video...I've subscribed 🎉🎉🎉
The problem with counterfeit products is that if they're lying about the branding, what else are they lying about? Usage of forbidden chemicals? Health safety? Lightfastness? Some chemicals can be very dangerous.
Good point! My thoughts were (I have the 24, 48, 72 and actually 2x24) that if any of these I have are fakes I can't tell the difference so? EXCEPT FOR the fraud, stealing from Prismacolor etc. which in my opinion is/was the worst. I don't know much about law but it sure seems there is some kind of a trademark law. Anyhow thank you for waking me up about the chemicals etc.
@@LAWandCoach China make fakes and copy everything. Not everything has a Worldwide copyright / trademark so pursuing the copyright might not be relevant.
Oh my goodness Lily. I think you have gone “above and beyond” to try and find the answers to the “Fake/Not Fake” question, so, thank you 😊 and, yes!! I DID watch all the way to the end 👍
I love my original Prisma color pencils from 20 years ago, I look for older manufactured pencils. When they moved to Mexico from Germany the quality crashed. My opinion is if you find something that works comparably and maybe better, then it doesn't matter if they are "real" don't bomb the quality and loyal customers will stick with you
Prismacolor moved to Germany? Then the quality went downhill? That’s strange because Prismacolors are not permitted for open sale in Germany because there are substances in some colours that do not conform to the German standard. They are available through Amazon and individuals can purchase through Temu, just guessing here, but for selling in an art supplies shop, no not permitted. Also, I should think if they were manufactured in Germany then the quality wouldn’t still be shabby, on the contrary.
You should hang the swatch pages in a window to see how they vary in lightfastness. It might take awhile but it would be interesting to see how both sets hold up. ~ Great video. Very informative and interesting. I also noticed in the real pencil of the blue shade, that you were testing, the core was broken inside a bit. For the price they charge, that shouldn’t be and they should be using real wood. So tired of companies cutting corners but still charging full price. Sad. 😢
If I didn't have Prismas I would totally buy the Temu ones. Considering how overpriced Prismas are for their poor quality, half price for very similar pencils is a great deal. Thank you for your relentless research, that was fun to watch!
Idk where you live but in the US they're actually really cheap for an "artist quality" pencil. Yes, there are some defects and some do come out not as nice but I rarely have big issues with Prismas and I've been buying them for over a decade. It depends on where you purchase them. I would never buy them from Walmart and I'd be super careful about purchasing them on amazon. If you're getting them for very cheap, you're probably going to get more factory defects from what I've seen (example: i bought a 48 set for much cheaper that the usual price years ago, so long ago I can't remember how much I paid for them now, and they had many with off-center cores, many of them had broken cores and some had split casings. My 150 set I bought from Amazon that was not on a sale is in almost perfect condition other than some off-center cores on a few pencils. Buying them from more reputable art stores is more likely to give you hugher quality ones). I will admit that their quality control is rather poor since their move to Mexico though, I really really wish Prismacolor would spend more money on their quality control and making higher quality cores and casings for their pencils to solve some of their breakage issues. More people would probably feel better about purchasing them if that was the case, and I'm sure many people would be willing to pay more since plenty of people purchase pencils much more expensive than these such as Caran D'Ache, Derwent, Holbein or Faber-Castell. It really honestly frustrates me that they don't bother to do so and actually compete with their competitors on that field. If you live in the UK completely disregard what I said tho bc I know they're definitely over priced there, I wish they wouldn't do that, it's simply ridiculous. If you want to buy knock offs tho, by all means, go for it, nobody is stopping you. I haven't finished this video but it seems like they're really not that much far off from the original, which is honestly sad tbh. Prismacolor needs to step up their game.
@@ReverieOfThorns In Spain a 24 set is 54€. They are actually way more expensive than polychromos. It's absurd. And they are only sold in amazon. There's no retail stores that sell them
@@ReverieOfThorns I'm in fact not in the US :) There is only one online seller with the full range of open stock Prismas (and once they're out, they may be out for months) in my country at 2,09€ (2,20USD) per pencil. I can get Polychromos for 1,77€ (possibly cheaper, just checked one seller for them) and they are way better quality. Problem is, I prefer squishy pencils because I have no patience for lots of layering 🥲 The price for Prismas simply isn't justified for their shoddy quality. I really hope that some serious competition makes them reevaluate their quality control.
I think i can certainly say by now that I'm binge watching your videos 😆 and I came to the conclusion that i love them so much because you tickle juuust right into my adhd hyperfocus and sharing the tiny details in what subject you are presenting that i just can't stop, and feel a sense of "knowledge fulfillment" very few craft/artsy youtubers do. You feel curious, get right to the bottom of the question and present to us so many possibilities and that is just pure passion. Very well done, Lily!! I became a certified fan of your content. Hope this gives me motivation to start putting my ideas into the world too 😍
WOW Lily! You went above and beyond to find answers to the fake/not fake question. Thank you so much for your diligence in this matter, even though you did not receive any concrete answers. I really appreciate the time and commitment you put into this! I, though, will take your word that they are fakes. Thank you so much! I always enjoy your thoughts and impressions!
Thanks for doing so much investigative work and sharing the results with us. (I hope you get your pink pencil back!) There are two things that make me doubt the authenticity of Temu pencils: the differently shaped pre-shapened points and the way the white pencil performed. I have only been on the adult coloring journey since January of this year (2023), but one of the things that I have heard over and over again is how impressed everyone is with how well white Prismacolor pencils perform vs. pretty much everyone else's white (with the exception of Caran D'ache, etc.) That aside, at the end of the day, no matter what brand name is on those pencils and no matter who made them, as you said, they're lovely to worth with and cost far less than what is sold via Amazon and other US based outlets. It's kind of ironic, really: the fear about unknowingly getting a knock off is paying a lot of money for something that isn't nearly as good in quality. Clearly it's just the opposite with the Temu pencils (assuming of course that they are knock-offs). I this case, the quality is just as good if not better, but at a much lower price. All this to say, enjoy them! Didn't you say quite a while back that they sold out? Let's hope they bring them back (same pencils, same price) so that other people can enjoy them, too.
Yes, they did sell out about a week after I got mine. I'm happy to have them as they're nice pencils! If nothing else, they'll always be a talking piece! 🥰
Great deep dive. I have a number of sets of prismas bought over the last 20 years. I did buy a set in the “cheap” time frame from Amazon, and they were a perfect match to my 5 year older ones (I now think I was lucky and they cost me the equivalent of £45). From what I see of your Temu pencils, my red flags are 1. wrong coloured printing on some pencils (white should be black printing always). 2. Different print quality and subtle font difference in foil printing. 3. Change in sharpening point style. 4. Core colour difference and sheen on broken core of the Temu… denotes different pigment/binder ratio. If they were a discarded test run of genuine prisma, they are still not the real deal… Prisma did not release them to their distributors as genuine prismas. The white ring could be, as you say, a test for a different wood… which I am guessing failed to meet their “standards”. I wholeheartedly agree with what you said that if they are Chinese made, they should just slap their own brand on them… but I think they already have in Arrtx (which I really enjoy using). I wait for the 150 Arrtx. Bit like Kalour now expanding to 520 (cough, cough…. Brutfuner). At the end of the day, if they perform nicely and you are happy, for the price they are close enough. I collect pencils and cycle through using the 18 sets I currently have, prisma are not a standout just in the rotation dependent on paper or if I want to relax in a colour along.
Totally agree, Prisma are not a standout pencil for me either, and the build quality is just so poor! I'm pleased I got the 126 Arrtx... to complement my 150 Prrismas 😆
Excellent video, I ordered a 48 set from Amazon several months ago. They arrived in an old-style tin ,but they had white paint showing underneath the normal colour. Also there was something not quite right with the cores, some colours totally different, colour order in tin was totally muddled up. But the was slightly better quality, lovely smooth paint, There was no splits. The writing was very clear and shiny. They actually look better than my genuine ones I bought years before. I returned for a refund and complained about the sellers, they were immediately withdrawn from sale. Thanks so much for bringing this to light, I got fed up of hearing there was no Prisma fakes.
I think the Amazon are fake too. I have same 150 set I recently purchased from Prismacolor on Amazon July 24. Its the same as your set. . My Bruntfuner set of 120, I got from Temu dose have the white underpaint.. fyi I was disappointed of my Amazon 150 set, quality is terrible, I'm going to do some comparison to the Bruntfuner to see how they rank.. 😮 Great work Lilly!
Here's my thoughts. It's easier with mass production to replicate and mimic name brands. Prismacolor has DEFINITELY reduced their quality control. Older pencils didn't break as often and very few were off center. Newer sets I've bought at art shops/open stock have broken much easier and are more commonly off center. It's truly a lack of quality control from Prisma (and many other brands) when they change factories or simply care less to check.
Wow, what a journey! I ended up buying some Arrtx….and I think I’m going to stick with those 😂 I buy Prismacolor open stock at my local art store in the more “unusual” colours ( that I can’t get in any other set ) so that I can check the core is centred and the barrels aren’t split. Otherwise I just can’t justify the price of Prisma here in Australia for the quality of the pencils 😉
Definitely worth getting the Arrtx. And I agree, over here Prismacolor pencils are not worth £200! The Polychromos are only around the £150 mark and they're fabulous build quality...and made of Cedar! 🥰
This was SO thorough, Lily! I will share with my stream. Did you try to layer/blend to see any differences, and also, were all the cores “centered” correctly? (I always check open stocks to see if the cores are centered). I might have missed the ‘core/centered” question. Thanks so much for all the research!
Hey Dede, lovely to hear from you! I did a colouring test in the first video, they were nice to use, smooth, not obvious fakes. The build quality of the pencils was good (dare I say better than 'real' Prismacolors!) including the cores being centered.
Thank You for your video. Didn't know Temu where selling these. When it comes to pencils, I love finding old stock, the pencils were just made better. Many of my sets and open-stock pencils (esp. Prisma) are from over 25 years ago. Truly my favorite pencil is Spectra color, which has been discontinued.
Excellent video, what a great detective you are ! Since I'm in Europe I had to pay $198 pounds + shipping at Amazon UK, but I would buy Temu's Prismas if they were available at that time. My Prismas bough this year don't have the white under coat and they perform perfectly. Thank you for sharing the deepest of the rabbit hole !
Maybe this will help a little in all your research. I live in the US and purchased all my Prismas open stock from Blick and Michaels. It took about two years to get the complete set. The are about 4 years old now. They all had the very stubby sharp point and no white undercoat. In recent months I have been purchasing replacements for the future from Blick and all have the same stubby ended point and no white undercoat. I keep them in a tightly closed plastic container and when opened you still get a slight cedar smell. They are not my favorite pencil but of all I have, Holbein, Luminance, Lightfast, Polychromos, Castle Arts, I can blindfolded pick them out by lay down feel. I admire your tenacity and always enjoy your videos.
Oh I agree with you, these are different from all the Prismacolor pencils I've had in the past, but not the same as the blatant obvious fakes shown in other videos... that along with the Prismacolor CS ambiguous replies... is why its a more confusing situation!
My question is, how do you know the Amazon set are Prismacolors? My Prismacolor set that I bought here in the US at Michael’s don’t have the white undercoat but my Chinese Brutfuner pencils do.
@junbug1029 The Amazon Set included a second white pencil and a blender, that was a very specific set released by Prismacolor when they discontinued the Lavender and Lilac. The people who fake pencils don't bother faking limited run sets
Amazon frequently has imitation products, even from Amazon directly. That's why I never buy anything where I'm concerned about origin from Amazon, or certainly not Temu or any other mass marketplace. I have had Prismacolors since I was a kid and even have 3 sets of their far superior predecessors, Spectracolors, from my dad. If you want real, current Prismacolors of best quality, you really need to get the ones made and sold in Japan. The others are barely better than rip off versions, unfortunately.
@@Art_by_Nicole Not a stupid question at all. So, they're technically currently called "Karismacolors" (or sometimes Karisuma-colors), but they are manufactured in Japan by the same company that used to own Prismacolors (Sanford). They color match to the original Prismacolors and and are better quality than the pencils that currently bear the name "Prismacolor". The Prismacolor name had been sold, which is why they aren't made under that name by Sanford in Japan, but they match the original quality and have the same color codes/names as well as performance. It is confusing, though. Especially since one of the companies that was involved in the manufacture history of Prismacolors (Faber Castell), that also manufactured Spectracolors, has now released "Black Edition" soft core coloring pencils that are supposedly like the original Spectracolors that were later manufactured under the Prismacolor line. LOL So, in short, just remember that Spectracolors, Prismacolor and Karismacolors overlap at various times but essentially are the same "line" of pencils. The main difference between them is quality control and who owns the rights to what name at the time of manufacture.
@@therealdonnawagner my gosh, why do they make it confusing 😵😂 Sometimes I see Karismacolour being sold second hand and that they are so (!) expensive. But like I said in a earlier comment: if ‘the fake’ perform (a bit) better; the wood is better and they are cheaper…Why would you not buy them? 🤷♀️
@@therealdonnawagnerwhere do you purchase the Karisma Colors from? I lived in Japan for sometime many years ago and they do strive to take something that is a utility item/ art items and they try to make them better to increase their efficiency and or beauty. I would love to think that have rescued a pencil I liked would make me happy.
Great follow-up! Did Prismacolor ever say what wood they are currently using? Who knew colored pencils could take us all down such a mysterious & interesting rabbit hole!
No they didn't. I'll be honest, after a month of emailing and chasing for replies, I kinda gave up hope of getting a straight answer. I do think that for Newell Rubbermaid the Prismacolor arm is not one they pay much attention to. Thanks for watching! 🥰
Hi.. I did some comparison from my Amazon 150 Prismacolor set (purchased from USA Amazon Official Prismacolor seller) to Bruntfuner 120 Temu set, and the Bruntfuner were a very very close match and more smooth. The BF pigment load was not 100%, IMO. but very close. I think it's a worthy contender for the price.
@@mystictailsfarmga the Brutfuner are decent pencils! Especially for the price. Here in the UK, Prismcolor Pencils are way overpriced at £199 for the 150 set.
The ballet community has known sellers in China for counterfeit ribbon and elastic. Essentially labeling items as Bloch or sansha brand toe shoe ribbons and elastic, when in reality what you're getting is ribbon and elastic for childrens crafts, and definitely not wearable on clothing. It wouldn't be difficult for them to apply a label on each pencil.
You have done a awesome job of investigating all of this ! I know if I ever need anything found out for me in the future, I know who I’ll come to!! Thanks for all your hard work, your awesome! 😊
Something to consider with products made for different countries markets is that the materials may be of different composition. For instance the uk market pencils may be lead free in the paint on the outside of the pencil, and they may in some cases may have different pigments. Lead is easy to test for with an at home swab. If you leave those test sheets in the sun for a week or two, cheaper dyes and pigments may bleach out considerably. So the temu may be real, just different…❤
The lightfast quality is not something that worries me as I only use them in colouring books. With regard to lead paint; if these were made in a Chinese factory they'll be made with the same paint/pigments as the others that are made there (like Brutfuner, Kalour and Arrtx) all of which conform to ASTM D-4236 safety standards (the standard of art supply safety for toxicity)
What a hero - thank you for a riveting and informative journey - what webs the manufacturers weave eh? Far more entertaining than a TV consumer programme and I if I ever find myself in trouble I'll be calling on you as my defence lawyer 🤣
my man brought me the full set of Prisma Color 150 from USA and they are coming tomorrow . we got charged £49.98 fees by parcel force ....meh . i will be getting them from Amazon in future.had to watch this again, thank you for your rabbit hole deep dive xxxxxx . hope the croma's are working out for you xxxxxxxx🥰
I think the colors are fine, it's how well the pencil colors and blends. Is the 'lead' hard or soft. What is the price per pencil compared to the products quality. Thanks for all the work you did on this. My opinion is if you get a good quality product at a low price, buy it. You can always buy some individual white Prisma pencils later.
As I showed in the video and the last, the core is soft on these, that's why it's so difficult to ascertain if they real or not. For money I paid, they're definitely better value than Prismacolor pencils! 🥰
I bought Prismacolor Premier for the first time. I bought a set of 150 Pencils at Temu for about 125€. The box arrived 4 weeks later. It included the lilac and lavendel pencils. All the Pencils are in perfect condition with no cracks and well centered. The quality seems good, I cannot compare as I have no other Prismacolor. I have Caran d Ache and Polychromos, they perform just as well. After watching your video’s I think these are genuine Prismacolor, but an older Edition. It was not a bargain and I would have It much sooner at Amazon Europe. But overall I am happy with the amount of beautiful colors, which are too expensive in Caran d Ache or Faber-Castell. What do you think? Thank you for your work!
Lily, u have done a fabulous job trying to get too the bottom of this quest, u have a wicked sense of humour and I love your videos, also always cheer me up so I was delighted for u that u went viral on your ‘are they fake’ video! Well done u!!🎉🎉🎉 p.s I got to the end 😂xx
The only pencils that seem to have the white undercoat is the pink and orange neon, i have several and they are the only colors that seem to have this. It may be a quirk of the red neon pigment that needs to have a special handling. My green neon that is no longer made do not have the white undercoating. Maybe a safety issue with some of the neon pigment.... This also might explain their careful non answer to you using the proprietary fallback language.
It sounds like your guy in China is correct. I remember in 2018 when the production in Mexico was expanded the wood and cores were quite a bit inferior and many friends in the USA said to look at the box and make sure it said made in USA because the Mexican versions were so much worse. I think they have since improved some and found more stable wood that doesn't disintegrate so fast when sharpening the pencils. I think you got real Mexican Prismacolor pencils that were probably made a bit after the disastrous ones, as the wood looks pretty decent. I was thrilled that the Temu ones are not Cedar as I have a Cedar allergy and have to wear gloves when touching the USA made ones, which is not fun. The Temu ones look decent and I might try to get them if I ever finish the fish game and get a 40% off coupon. Thanks for doing all that research too!
A couple of points I'd like to make here, one, I have been using prismacolors since aprox 1988-1989 and I have had more than one set plus open stock pencils which I know are real, and there are color differences and texture differences occasionally even in 2 of the same color. As to the white coating on your pencils, Staedtler puts a coating like that on their ergo pencils and it's done to protect the pencil in some way, it's supposed to keep the core from breaking I believe so it may be that with the breakage issues in prismacolors due to the soft core that they are now doing something similar. If the colors and texture is as close as those are I would suggest that those are real prismacolors and not a fake brand. The fakes are usually far more obvious.
The white coating is not on the core (like with Staedtler pencils), it's on the wood, under the coloured paint. And yes, I agree, the other fakes I've seen in videos are way more obvious
I so appreciate all your hard work with research and investigation, especially since the end result was not as conclusive as you would have liked. You do a fantastic job with all of your posts. Ultimately, my thoughts and opinions would be.... unless I was worried about authentic colorfast qualities for each pencil respectively, I would focus on the other characteristics of the pencils to make my decision to keep or return. How well they blend, the amount of layers that can be achieved, the durability of the pencil itself, etc. If all of these are acceptable, and taking into consideration the value in relation to how much you spent, the Temu pencils are a really good purchase and will add nicely to your collection. And dare I say, a repeat purchase? Cheers!
Absolutely David! I'm not worried about lightfastness (if I was I'd be using Caran D'ache Luminance or Derwent Lightfast if I'm honest 😄) so I'm happy to keep these as decent colouring pencils. Either way, they'll always be a talking point! 🥰
@@ArtJourneyUK That’s for sure. I recently bought a 150 set from Amazon here in the US as they were only around $85. When I got them, I was missing the Lavender and Lilac and substituted an extra white and a colorless blender. Also, the Indigo was sharpened on the opposite end. I was immediately suspicious. I had seen Sarah’s video before but came across your original video at the time. I contacted Newell and they apologized and sent me out a new Amethyst and Orchid pencil immediately. It just seems odd that they would continue to create sets without the replacement pencils without a disclaimer. Doing a comparison with my other two sets of Prismas, it’s not a simple cut and dried indication whether they are fake or not. New batch, old batch, rejects…. Too damn confusing for what we pay for these. Anyway, I’m training my own advice and just enjoying the fact that I got a god deal. If I wanna pay double, I’ll buy them from Blicks. Thanks for responding and keep up the great work.
This year, I bought a full set of "Polychromo"s through Amazon, which failed to match a set I already owned. White primed undercoatings, mismatched hues, letter stamping misprints, and wax blooms. As I prepared to return them to Amazon, I saw they had been sent to me through China.
Polychromos is a brand name of Faber Castell, always made in Germany. I've seen those green cardboard boxes of Chinese pencils on Amazon described as Polychromos in the description but not marked as such anywhere else. That's clear cut. They're not Polychromos. I wish my Prismacolor saga would have been so obvious. 🥰
I know this video is 10 months old, but wanted to add, I have the 132 set I purchased from an estate sale in 2019. My set is the tin with the girl in the white dress. Mine do not have a white undercoat on the barrel paint. And they do have the telltale "cracks".
Wow, this is an amazing video! I have no idea what to think. Who would have thought there would be so many twist and turns in investigating colored pencils. :D
I commend you for spending so much time and researching this as much as humanly possible. The only thing I can say about Prismacolor is that they are inconsistent, but I still love them. I’m in the US, so they are easy to get. I have bought so many over the years, and have never seen a white undercoat on any of them. From the tests that you done what you have shown, I would say that the Temu set are indeed fake. But they seem to be very good fakes. So at the end of the day, if you enjoy them I say celebrate another good set of pencils for your collection. 😅
Lovely review, very detailed thank you! I have been in love with Prismacolors for a long long time, I still have a few of my original set that are the Eagle Berol pencils. They are still my favorites and of course I don't use very much!
Always buy from your local art supplier. I never buy professional items from cheap websites & never from overseas in case of scamming counterfeiters. I’ve used Prismas for years from my local suppliers & have never had a problem. Cheaper prices are the first giveaway to encourage more customers. Plus ordering by mail risks your pencil leads breaking inside whilst the parcel is being “thrown” around in the post, causing constant lead breakages whilst sharpening wasting half your pencils before you even start. Your pencils are an investment, so be careful they are not counterfeit items as there is with most brand name products. Pay a bit more for the real deal from the real dealers so you are getting the real deal yourself!
There are no "real suppliers" in the UK because Prismcolor do not sell to the UK. The only way we can buy them is via a third-party who has bought them from Prismcolor first to distribute elsewhere (like Amazon). I've purchased pretty much all my pencils online, even my Luminance, Lightfast and Pablos (all of which are substantially more expensive than Prismcolors!), which I guess means they've all been "thrown around" in the post...and I've never had one that's been broken throughout. Enjoy your supplies!
This video blew my mind. You have gone above and beyond and I really, really appreciate your efforts. Thank you. I am now away to Temu for some prisma pencils. 😊
Are all the real prismacolor made in one factory in Mexico, could the variation be explained by different factories? And being as how real prismacolor are so terrible at quality control it wouldn’t surprise me if different batches had colour variations. It seems odd to me that prismacolor couldn’t give you a straight answer about whether they have a white undercoat or not, that hardly seems like the secret pencil recipe. Thanks for these interesting videos.
I felt like I was asking KFC what went into their chicken coating! I believe there is only 1 Prismacolor colour factory now. There used to be one in America and one in Canada but both those were closed when the Mexico one opened. Thanks for watching! 🥰
Wowzers!! I LOVED this! My only complaint is that my tea has gone cold 🤣 Thanks So much for doing all the hard work and investigation. In the end, you got a bargain in my eyes bcos they are lovely pencils. Also, I cheered when you brought out the 126 set of Arrtx. I'm really glad you got them- I love mine. Thanks again for a great investigation- it was really interesting to learn so much.
I purchased the 150 set of Prismacolor from Amazon a few months ago for $ 149. Almost 85% of the pencils had severe off center cores. I contacted Newell and they sent a new set which I haven't even opened yet. Nobody knows which sets are authentic -real or fakes. My opinion is that if I'm happy with the results of the brand of pencils I'm using it doesn't really matter who made them. It seems that paying a high price does not mean you're getting a pencil worthy of that high price. Happy coloring everyone.
Thnx so much for doing this video, tbh if it were me and I had paid £198 for the 'Genuine' Prisma pencils and they are under performing in various ways I would be returning them to Amazon, this is the only way that Amazon will bring it's ridiculous prices down to actually match what could potentially be substandard rejects sold as Genuine. In no way am I saying that Amazon know they are not genuine, that is in the hands of the seller, not the buyer. In fact you have now confirmed to me that I would not be being duped if I bought the Temu pencils, because there is no way as a pensioner I can afford and warrant to myself the use of Prismascolours from Amazon at the scandalous price of £198.00. TFS
Great video It was worth the wait. You said it at the end, "If you want my opinion i think theyre fakes" lol. I agree but i the temu version doesnt seem to be a bad pencil.. i would have kept them too, specially with lilac & lavender set. Thank you for your extensive research and time 💜💜💜
Exactly Claire, they are not a bad pencil! I thought, seeing the other videos about fakes, that if they weren't real they'd be awful and I'd return them... and they wasn't awful at all! 🥰
I also think that if ppl in Australia & in the UK who have never experienced the prisma pencil would not be unhappy with the fake pencils as you conclusively proved to me that they were a good soft pencil. Also they didn't appear to have ALOT of breakages like prisma's generally do. I had to open stock dark green after getting my 150 set & I went into my Jackson's and asked for dark green 903 & they said that colour was 908, lol. As I said in a comment to the first video the printing on my set is terrible. Your temu prisma's had readable writing which the Mexican version is awful. Thank you Lily for doing this and letting colourists know about it. Enjoy your prisma's and happy colouring 💜💜💜
Just got a Temu set & swatched it. The grays are all mixed up betwern warm & cold, 2 light greens have off white & beige barrels, a light...peach? , is a raw umber/beige that almost matches another similar something or other. I also find many colors garrish compared to my Polychromos and Pablos like, closer to food coloring than pigments). Was mostly interested in the set to match step by step exercises in books I like & was interested in grayed/muted colors. Compared to the handful of light or muted greens I bought in a Paris shop years ago, the recent ones are more yellowish, less subtle. So, I am returning the box & I'll buy open stock the 10-15 colors I like after testing them. It sounds like there are fakes around or Prisma is just letting the brand go down the drain since there seems to be huge new amateur market & professional artists maybe just a niche market. These days, I would recommand Lyra or Koh-i-Noor sets as good quality medium priced options to be completed by a handful of less common colors bought as needed.
Yes there's definitely lots of fakes floating around. The seller I bought from on Temu doesn't have them anymore but someone else popped up with stock and I've no idea if they're the same as the ones I got back in August or totally different. Compared to "real Prismas" the ones I had weren't bad. I agree about the colours being garish, they always seem like a cheap pencil to me. Happy New Year! 🥰
Well done Inspector Morse! I'd be surprised if anyone admitted to making fake pencils but one question I have is, why isn't the market flooded with these big fat fakes? x
I think the answer to that has more to do with the integrity of the marketplace than the availability of the counterfeit items. A few item slip through but in general it's a big "no" to sell straight out copies of other companies products in most markets.
All the prismacolor colored pencils I own DON'T have any white lining underneath the color the pencils show. And many of mine are near stubs and never saw the white
Maybe a combo of hands and face. Hands when actually speaking to something you’re demoing, then back to your face when you’re not. Just an idea. I love your channel:)
Random artist viewer here, your vid got recommended and I was curious. Here in Latin america we only have resellers and amazon sometimes is as expensive as the resellers. Between 2016-2018 was the debacle of drop down in quality from prismacolor (and I have some crooked leds in my pencils that makes them hard to sharpen without breakage) but since they changed the lid design is even harder to find big sets (130-150 are an impossible sight). Taking the info you got and comparing what I saw on the market here, theres a huge probability that cheaping the manufacturing cost had more casualties, lowering the stock available in their retail, but giving tons of recycled products. Temu prismas could be "oficial" prismas that didn't match the standard by a new factory they were contacting. Also, Im sure the boxes are made in china, I don't have evidence, neither doubts, is the cheapest place worldwide for paper and cardboard printing. The access to a oficial box is at reach
Know this video is a year old. I just rececently purchasesd the" fake" Temu set of Prismas. My observation is that they are ok . They also dont have a white undercoat as some mentioned. I however have the 120 set of Brutfuner pencils that have black barrels and coloured tipped ends as well as the name and number in English. I love them. No white undercoat. Here in South Africa you can also not get the Prismas directly from the Usa unless you have a postal delivery service in the Usa that will forward it to you. Pricewise Prismas is exorbitant.
Wow! You did quality research. Kudos! I live in Washington State, US. My oldest Prismas date from 2017 or so. I have bought other open stock Prismas over time through various art/craft retailers, and in small sets from Amazon and Walmart relatively recently. None of my Prismas show a white undercoat. If I do spot one, I’ll post back. By the way, American basswood is a deciduous, tall growing tree which is often grown in parks and lawns. Mature trees bloom late in summer, with yellow, tulip shaped blooms. Liriodendron tulipfera. I appreciate your in depth look at Prismas.
Fab video and well done you for all the research. It’s so unfair and annoying that in the UK the price for Prismas is so inflated. I love your bit at the end, ‘…think they’re big fat fakes’ ha ha you’re so funny Lily xx
Hey K! Yes, I agree about the unfair pricing, although now I understand why as we're buying from a 3rd party who has to take their cut of the pie too! 🥰
The difference that pops out to me, which you may have mentioned in the other video, is the white underneathe the color paint at the sharpened line/edge. Like the Holbeins have, and also the cheaper pencil brands have.
Holaaa¡¡¡ yo soy de México y me gustaria compartirte mi experiencia en cuanto a esta maravillosa y sobrevalodara marca. Prismacolor es una marca de lujo aqui en México, a pesar de que tienen su gama escolar, son pocos los niños de nivel escolar básico que pueden acceder a ellos, ya que existen muchas otras marcas económicas. Aún así, existe un gran sector de dibujantes mexicanos que utilizan prismacolor premier y escolar solamente por el precio, a pesar de no ser resistentes a la luz mucha gente piensa que son de gama profesional, y aunque sí, son colores geniales no llegan a ser profesionales... en México podemos comprar una caja de 150 colores de 80 a 115 libras, comparado con los precios de los faber castell policromos o carandache si es muy conveniente para los dibujantes mexicanos, una caja de policromos esta en 300 libras aproximadamente y una de carandache en 400... y yo sé que pensaran que es una bendición poder comprar los primacolor a ese precio y si, lo es... pero hay una cosa curiosa, en México no encontramos lapices sueltos en tiendas, hace algunos años si los había, pero después dejaron de surtirlos, aveces los encontraba por amazon y en una ocasión me di a la tarea de buscarlos sueltos por todo México y resulta ser que no encontre, igual me comunique a prismacolor y su respuesta fue que no era conveniente para los establecimientos comprar suministros sueltos. Entonces aunque prismacolor se hace en México no es aqui en donde más se vende. Porque aunque podamos comprar una caja a la mitad de precio de lo que ustedes la compran aún asi es mucho dinero para nosotros los mexicanos. Por esos tiempos me di cuenta de que en Aliexpress habia una cantidad enorme de marcas de colores a precios muy económicos, al mismo tiempo enconcontre varios videos de RUclips en donde hablaban de prismacolor falsos y colores chinos excelentes, etc, etc.... asi que hice mi propia investigación, compre varias cajas de marcas chinas: Nyoni, frutffuner, entre otras y me decidí por comprar colores sueltos de prismacolor en Aliexpress, especificamente blancos y negros.... despues de hacer pruebas descubri cosas interesantes: las marcas chinas son buenas? Si, pero no al grado de los prismacolor, aun les falta algo en su formula para poder considerarse similares. Considerando una situación que aveces nos crea confusión, en China todo lo que se fabrica es falso???... no, China maquila a miles de marcas de todo el mundo y también China fabrica cosas de increible calidad, pero por lo general lo que se fabrica falso es de empresas que no cumplen con varios requisitos de calidad, es decir, si en China se fabrican prismacolor falsos son de muy baja calidad, como es el caso de las cajas de 72 que han aparecido por ahí, en donde es muy notorio que son falsos, ya que los lápices son delgados, los colores nisiquiera coinciden, etc... a México entra una gama escolar falsa china de 24 piezas y es muy notorio que es falso, igual pasa con los faber castell escolares y cada año nuevo escolar podemos ver a muchos vendedores vendiendo esos colores que con solo ver las cajas te das cuenta de que son falsos.... entonces, los prismacolor que vende Temu o Aliexpress son falsos??... no, como dijiste en tu investigación prismacolor no puede vender directamente en ciertos países, pero los intermediarios si, y muchas marcas por medio de estos revendedores es como logran entrar a diferentes mercados, eso significa que amazon no puede comprar los prismacolor directamente a la fabrica para venderlos en tu país, le compra a un revendedor y por eso es que el precio que ustedes pagan es muy elevado. Ya que aunque Amazon es una gran empresa funciona por regiones, lo que vende barato por ejemplo en Mexico solo es para México, si alguien de Perú o Ecuador quiere comprar al mismo precio que en México no es posible, no tiene ese libre tratado entre países, por eso es que los prismacolor los tiene que comprar a revendedores, es decir, practicamente Amazon es una tienda que te revende productos de cualquier vendedor y tiene una gran logistica. Por alguna razón Aliexpress y Temu han podido romper esa barrera que existe entre países y de manera muy conveniente han hecho tratos directos con fabricantes de todo el mundo y utilizar su red de dustribucion y logistica gigantesca que tienen para surtir productos a todas partes, muy probablemente tu caja de prismacolor de 150 colores se hizo en éxito y luego no fue a China y luego a tu pais, no, muy probablemente tu caja salio directamente de México a tu país y eso explicaria lo mal que te llego y con la poca protección, porque después de que estuve investigando todo esto y que me convencí de que lo que vendian no era falso hice varias compras de Aliexpress, algunas cosas fabricadas ahí y otras que decian ser de Alemania por ejemplo y los paquetes venian asi: los colores chinos venían muy bien protegidos, con hule de burbujas y notoriamente traian un embalaje Chino, compre unos lapices sueltos de la marca steadler que es una marca alemana y venian super bien cuidados, con bolsas de aire y en empaques elegantes y los prismacolor venian en una bolsita de prastico, sin ninguna especificación ni cuidado de nada... no te parece curioso? .... en fin, después de probar varias cosas llegue a la conclusión de que son originales. Para mi aún es más conveniente comprar los prismacolor en mi pais, cajas de 72 o 36 que en Aliexpress, pero si compro varias cosas de otras marcas en Aliexpress. Finalmente, aunque amo los prismacolor porque fue con los que me inicie en mi arte del dibujo es muy decepcionante la calidad, me gusta usarlos pero me enoja que se rompan... en fin, espero no haberte aburrido con mi historia, saludos¡¡¡
OK I have managed to copy and paste your comment into Google translate and understand what you are saying, which is very interesting, especially about Prismacolor pencils being overrated and not professional. I agree! Here in Europe Faber-Castell Polychromos are less expensive and much better quality and I agree that the bulk of the extra cost of Prismacolors is due to having to buy from a third-party reseller. Gracias por tomarse el tiempo de publicar un comentario tan interesante. ¡Feliz año nuevo!
Wow you have done a lot of work to try and figure it out. Have you tried the prismacolor scholar pencils? I got some years ago and i can't tell the difference in quality to the premier. Some of the colours are slightly off and others totally different. I've added them to my premiers to extend my colours even more. I have about 185 prismacolor colours.
I bought my 150 from Amazon and it came with the lilac and lavender. I am in the States. I wonder if they gave me one leftover from before. It didn't have the white sticker on the back.
Could be the seller still had stock of the older sets. If you're in the States you can contact Prismacolor directly if you're unsure of their authenticity 🥰
Thank you so much for all this effort!!!! You really put a lot of work into this. Sounds like if you like the colors you might as well get Arrtx. I have avoided using Prismacolors, and any pencils saying they are wax based, because I don't like my paper feeling like I coated it with a candle. Do the Arrtx leave the paper feeling like it has a heavy coating? Maybe it's just how I color though....
One of the things the ‘fake’ and the ‘real’ have different on the boxes… the giant butterfly is all the way on the TOP of the box for the real set, and the ‘fake’ set has the butterfly just barely off the edge of the top.
Wow this video was incredibly in depth and they basically still gave you the runaround lol! The Temu pencils seem really good, I don't have the Artxx pencils but they seem the same to the Temu ones. It's a fact that Prisma quality control has gone down the drain over the years. Still though... Prismacolor where exactly are you "recycling" your factory rejects? because I wouldn't mind taking them. 😂
Amazing job! I personally would love to see the swatch comparisons of your original set from years ago, as those are presumably the realest of the real.
What a fabulously interesting set of videos. I do have a set of Prismas but I bought them on Ebay second hand, so who knows about those! I have also purchased some open stock on Ebay and noticed that the paint on the barrels don’t match! Hey ho a real can of worms. I heard a couple of years back that there are lots of quality control issues with these pencils and at one point they were being made in the USA and Mexico but no longer. Some of my pencils have Mexico printed on them and some don’t. I’m happy with what I’ve got but probably won’t buy any more as they are not my go to pencils! Shock! Horror! Thank you for all your hard work on this one. It felt just like Panorama. Many congratulations on having such an awesome channel.
Great deep dive! I almost thought my cheaper Amazon set were fake because of the splintery look wood quality and poor printing on the outside. Thanks to your video I now don’t think they are. I did the white comparison against my years old original set and colour comparison tests and the pigment looks and feels exactly the same. I do think Prismacolor have used cheaper wood and printing methods than years ago (a bit like how biscuits feel smaller than they used to 😃) but the pigments are just as nice as always. Mine don’t seem to have that white undercoat though.
The pencils came in a polythene bag, I show that in the first video. In this second, follow-up video I bought a set of 150 pencils *from Amazon* to compare to the 150 set *from Temu*
Thank you so much for sharing this extremely interesting video. Really appreciate how very thorough you always are with all the comparisons that you do. Always enjoy your videos and huge thank you for all your hard work and time you spend on making us these videos. Give Robbie a cuddle from me too lol ❤️
Thank you so much for these videos. While you haven't answered the main question to your own satisfaction, you've answered it enough for my purposes: That these pencils are a decent quality on a par with the official item at a far cheaper cost. Thats fine by me 🙂
Herculean effort!! Fakes, probably, but what a bargain for a pretty close to the real thing, Prisma. If I needed them I would buy them. You are right. Whoever is making them needs to market as their own brand. Did you feel the Arrtx were a good alternative to Prismas as a budget option? TIA😊
Yes, absolutely. I felt like the Arrtx were very similar and definitely a good budget option. I'd say they are the softest of the Chinese pencils. In fact, I'm going to start calling my Temu pencils... Prrismas 😉
I can't seem to find the Prismacolours on Temu so maybe they've either been removed (because of the number of videos currently on RUclips about them?) or everyones bought them up and they've run out? My thoughts are that both the Amazon set and Temu set are real Prisma Colours but are 'seconds' that somehow have found themselves on the market. I'm guessing Prismacolours cagyness when questioned is because they are now using cheaper materials and don't want to be called out for it.
@@ArtJourneyUK yes, got it as I watched. Very informative video. Had to laugh at them admitting to producing the 72 set of Prisma. What’s stopping them from moving on to the 150 because the 72 isn’t so lucrative. At least they seem to care more about the quality of their dupes than Prismacolors does.
Hola le hablo de chile y tengo una duda que no entendi, lo primero es, si es normal que pongan esa etiqueta pegada con la paleta de colores, segundo por que falta un color en la paleta de colores, por que falan el lila y el labanda si son originales?, si compro la caja y trae esa etiqueta oegada con la paleta de colores son originales entonces? Agradeceria que me pudieras aclarar estas dudas ya que es el unico video que e visto explicando todo esto.
@J.V.C-2708 Lavender and Lilac colours were discontinued and, for a while, the boxes contained an extra white pencil and a blender. Once they had replacement colours for the Lavender and Lilac, the colour palette sticker on the box changed to include the new colours (Amethyst and Orchid) Hope that answers your question
@@ArtJourneyUK actualmente aún no traen los colores nuevos creo que la etiqueta pegada atrás al menos no los menciona o ya tendrían que venir incluidos actualmente? Ya que no trae ni el lavanda ni el lila ni los 2 colores nuevos que usted menciona
@@ArtJourneyUK biene un blanco adicional y un blender en lugar de ambos colores creo! . Es tienda pero como no sabía nada al respecto quede con la desconfianza y no compre!!
Very interesting video. I would still be interested in seeing a swatch comparison of your 20 year old Prismas compared to the new "real set" to see how much variance there is there. I have Laurentian pencil sets manufactured over several decades starting in the 1960s in different countries as the company moved their manufacturing, and there are significant differences in some of the actual colours of pencilsthat are coded with the same names and numbers. By the way, I am in Canada and none of my Laurentians, Berols or Prismacolors have the white undercoating including a 72 set of Prismacolors I bought in the last couple of years on Amazon. Thanks for the video. I really enjoyed watching it.
Thanks! I did swatch my original pencils after filming and they were pretty much identical to the 150 set, no marked difference. Thanks for watching! 🥰
Thank you for creating this video! Initially I had bought my Prismacolor open stock from a reputable art store here in AUS and due to my impatience I decided to buy from FB Marketplace as I saw a deal where the seller was offering it up to $60 for a 150 set and the catch was that some of the pencils were missing. I thought since this is my first set it should be fine I can purchase the missing ones in store. But it never occurred to me that there would be counterfeit Prismacolors. The only thing thats bothering me now is the smell that continues to linger but aside from that I don’t really mind. It was a steal of course 😂 Lesson learnt though and I won’t do it again. 😅
Mine don’t have a white wrap on them and the wood is rougher than most of my other generalized colored pencils. Like they are wood and the rest may be some sort of composite. I have an older set and newer set and the colors even now can be different pencil to pencil.
Maybe knowing who makes Arrtx is the path? It seems to me that if Prisma recycles bad pencils they would be loose and probably damaged too. Most companies purposely damage their items if they have no intention of consumers getting their hands on them.
Such a great video Lily , blimey well done 👏! I think you’re right , I think they’re fakes ( good ones ) they seemed a lot closer in colour to the Arrtx , but there’s really not a huge amount in it !!! Thanks for jumping into all this , I found all the info you got back from the different manufacturers so interesting! Xx
Thank you for both of your videos on the "are they, aren't they" question. I can't justify buying Prismacolor at my level of art, but I do aspire to own a set one day. In my opinion, Prismacolor haven't helped themselves by being so cagey and ambiguous in their replies. Maybe that's deliberate. Maybe they need to protect their 'official' premier brand by not revealing they also benefit from third parties making 'unofficial' versions, maybe under licence, especially when the (let's call them) 'alternative Prismacolors' are not at all bad to use. There will always be actual fakes, of course. Who knows the answer? The research you did was really interesting and I like your clear explanations too. You have a new subscriber 🙂
I waited forever before I was able to buy my first set of prismacolor and then read and article that they were discontinuing my two favorite colors so I rushed out to finally buy my set and am so heartbroken over the lilac. You can’t find the color anywhere! I read that they can’t get some of the ingredients for those colors is why they were discontinued so if you have a set laying around and you don’t use the lilac or the lavender, I will happily take them off your hands!!! 😂❤
@Lucy just add colour. This youtuber uses these pencils and I'm sure if you made contact with her she you also test the set from temu as she does a budget pencil series xx
Yes Lucy just adds colour is her RUclips channel she is also does colour alongs and tests budget pencils as well as the brand your showing and she might test the ones from temu as well as she knows the real ones like yourself xxx
@@learningthroughplaywithkay3597 ah I see. Yes I'm aware of Lucy but I don't think there's any need for me to send her my pencils to test, I've been using Prismacolor pencils for over 20 years so know how they feel. Thanks for watching though! If you like colouring, in the first video I tried these pencils in 4 different colouring books, that was interesting! 🥰
Very interesting video! And the amount of work, impressive. 👏 Personally, I don't trust Prismacolors *at all*. I'm in Europe so the only time I've seen Prismas in person was over 20 years ago. However, having been in the coloured pencil space for a good number of years, I've seen so many inconsistencies reported with 'real' (bought from reputable companies in the US, including DB, JA) Prismas that I can't believe people rebuy them! And not only external things, but actual core colours & compositions even in pencils bought in multiples at the same time. I wouldn't trust that pencils bought from Amazon are real either, especially when it comes to Prismas. The white coating thing is intriguing. It could be that they're actually sourcing whatever wood they can get rather than be committed to a certain type. Or that there's something in their process that makes the casings unpredictable (like poor material management). It would explain why some 'real' pencils have it and some don't. There's also a rumour/theory I've heard that the pencil cores are made in a limited number of factories (mostly in China) and then shipped to where the pencils are assembled. This is not a Prismacolor specific rumour, but if they did this, it would explain why very similar cores can be found in different pencil brands and why there are periodic changes in colours/compositions. All in all, who knows. There's too much chatter about fake Prismas being sold everywhere and too much inconsistency in the 'real' product that everything is possible.
That's so interesting! Until I got the "can of worms" set from Temu I really only had one set and never used them much (just a bit too soft and a bit too expensive for the quality). The China rumour is intriguing and would make sense to how the "secret sauce recipe" for softness seems to be in other Chinese pencils now. 'Made in Mexico'... could just mean 'assembled in Mexico'. Who knows? Especially with such cagey answers from Prismacolor's customer service! Thanks for the interesting comment 🥰
Did you purchase your Amazon’s Prismacolor set directly from Amazon or from a third-party seller? I've been looking for a while to buy the Prismacolor 150 set in the UK but haven't seen any options directly from Amazon.
![Are CHROMAFLOW Better Than PRISMACOLOR? [Derwent Chromaflow Pencils Deep Dive]](/img/1.gif)
Hi Lily, thanks for including me in your research! To clarify your query, my factory-sharpened Prismacolors shown in the video were part of a set purchased in the US in 2015 from a reputable art store (Blick's) - and the rest in the video are open stock from Emma at the Coloured Pencil Shop here in the UK. Thanks for a great video, I enjoyed everything you've covered!
Thanks Gem! I enjoyed your video too. Your "fakes" are so different to mine... and therein lies the problem 😆
I would wonder if the lightfastness was the same. Maybe another test. 😂
@@sherrikent6628 I'm not concerned about lightfastness as I'm only using them in my colouring books. If I was concerned I likely wouldn't use Prismacolor Pencils, instead I'd choose Caran d'ache Luminance or Derwent Lightfast
@@sherrikent6628 yes, brilliant!!
@@ArtJourneyUKcan I ask why? Side note: I just went and dug up some of my prismas because I'd never looked at them this way ...I barely smell anything, I purchased them in Canada most likely from Michael's. I have no white at all and they are very creamy. 😊 thanks for the very interesting video...I've subscribed 🎉🎉🎉
The problem with counterfeit products is that if they're lying about the branding, what else are they lying about? Usage of forbidden chemicals? Health safety? Lightfastness? Some chemicals can be very dangerous.
It's true, but these are likely made by the same Chinese manufacturer that sell other pencils which conform to safety standards.
Good point! My thoughts were (I have the 24, 48, 72 and actually 2x24) that if any of these I have are fakes I can't tell the difference so? EXCEPT FOR the fraud, stealing from Prismacolor etc. which in my opinion is/was the worst.
I don't know much about law but it sure seems there is some kind of a trademark law. Anyhow thank you for waking me up about the chemicals etc.
@@LAWandCoach China make fakes and copy everything. Not everything has a Worldwide copyright / trademark so pursuing the copyright might not be relevant.
There's only ever been 1 box of fake prismacolor found ever. Why are people so caught up on fake prismacolor?
Oh my goodness Lily. I think you have gone “above and beyond” to try and find the answers to the “Fake/Not Fake” question, so, thank you 😊 and, yes!! I DID watch all the way to the end 👍
Yeah, got to draw a line under it now. I've made up my mind... 😉
I love my original Prisma color pencils from 20 years ago, I look for older manufactured pencils. When they moved to Mexico from Germany the quality crashed. My opinion is if you find something that works comparably and maybe better, then it doesn't matter if they are "real" don't bomb the quality and loyal customers will stick with you
Prismacolor moved to Germany? Then the quality went downhill?
That’s strange because Prismacolors are not permitted for open sale in Germany because there are substances in some colours that do not conform to the German standard. They are available through Amazon and individuals can purchase through Temu, just guessing here, but for selling in an art supplies shop, no not permitted.
Also, I should think if they were manufactured in Germany then the quality wouldn’t still be shabby, on the contrary.
The manufacture of Prismacolor Pencils moved from the USA to Mexico in 2011. They've never been manufactured in Germany.
Faber castell polycromos are made in germany
@@kerrysmith7598 ...along with Staedtler and Lyra 🥰
I've got a 60 set from 1984. Berol Prismacolor was the name. I don't use those. They are one of the few things I have from my younger days.
You should hang the swatch pages in a window to see how they vary in lightfastness. It might take awhile but it would be interesting to see how both sets hold up. ~ Great video. Very informative and interesting. I also noticed in the real pencil of the blue shade, that you were testing, the core was broken inside a bit. For the price they charge, that shouldn’t be and they should be using real wood. So tired of companies cutting corners but still charging full price. Sad. 😢
Yeah, to be honest the Temu pencils are a better build quality than the real Prismacolors Premier penciks! Thanks for watching! 🥰
If I didn't have Prismas I would totally buy the Temu ones. Considering how overpriced Prismas are for their poor quality, half price for very similar pencils is a great deal.
Thank you for your relentless research, that was fun to watch!
Thanks Bombus! 🥰
Idk where you live but in the US they're actually really cheap for an "artist quality" pencil. Yes, there are some defects and some do come out not as nice but I rarely have big issues with Prismas and I've been buying them for over a decade. It depends on where you purchase them. I would never buy them from Walmart and I'd be super careful about purchasing them on amazon. If you're getting them for very cheap, you're probably going to get more factory defects from what I've seen (example: i bought a 48 set for much cheaper that the usual price years ago, so long ago I can't remember how much I paid for them now, and they had many with off-center cores, many of them had broken cores and some had split casings. My 150 set I bought from Amazon that was not on a sale is in almost perfect condition other than some off-center cores on a few pencils. Buying them from more reputable art stores is more likely to give you hugher quality ones). I will admit that their quality control is rather poor since their move to Mexico though, I really really wish Prismacolor would spend more money on their quality control and making higher quality cores and casings for their pencils to solve some of their breakage issues. More people would probably feel better about purchasing them if that was the case, and I'm sure many people would be willing to pay more since plenty of people purchase pencils much more expensive than these such as Caran D'Ache, Derwent, Holbein or Faber-Castell. It really honestly frustrates me that they don't bother to do so and actually compete with their competitors on that field.
If you live in the UK completely disregard what I said tho bc I know they're definitely over priced there, I wish they wouldn't do that, it's simply ridiculous. If you want to buy knock offs tho, by all means, go for it, nobody is stopping you. I haven't finished this video but it seems like they're really not that much far off from the original, which is honestly sad tbh. Prismacolor needs to step up their game.
@@ReverieOfThorns In Spain a 24 set is 54€. They are actually way more expensive than polychromos. It's absurd. And they are only sold in amazon. There's no retail stores that sell them
@@ReverieOfThorns I'm in fact not in the US :) There is only one online seller with the full range of open stock Prismas (and once they're out, they may be out for months) in my country at 2,09€ (2,20USD) per pencil. I can get Polychromos for 1,77€ (possibly cheaper, just checked one seller for them) and they are way better quality. Problem is, I prefer squishy pencils because I have no patience for lots of layering 🥲 The price for Prismas simply isn't justified for their shoddy quality. I really hope that some serious competition makes them reevaluate their quality control.
I tried a set that I bought for a reasonable price "second hand"
I think i can certainly say by now that I'm binge watching your videos 😆 and I came to the conclusion that i love them so much because you tickle juuust right into my adhd hyperfocus and sharing the tiny details in what subject you are presenting that i just can't stop, and feel a sense of "knowledge fulfillment" very few craft/artsy youtubers do. You feel curious, get right to the bottom of the question and present to us so many possibilities and that is just pure passion. Very well done, Lily!! I became a certified fan of your content. Hope this gives me motivation to start putting my ideas into the world too 😍
Aww thank you! 🥰
WOW Lily! You went above and beyond to find answers to the fake/not fake question. Thank you so much for your diligence in this matter, even though you did not receive any concrete answers. I really appreciate the time and commitment you put into this! I, though, will take your word that they are fakes. Thank you so much! I always enjoy your thoughts and impressions!
Thanks Debra 🥰
You're absolutely precious! And the ending of the video was just way too adorable! Thank you a million times for the work that you put in!
You are so welcome!
Thanks for doing so much investigative work and sharing the results with us. (I hope you get your pink pencil back!)
There are two things that make me doubt the authenticity of Temu pencils: the differently shaped pre-shapened points and the way the white pencil performed. I have only been on the adult coloring journey since January of this year (2023), but one of the things that I have heard over and over again is how impressed everyone is with how well white Prismacolor pencils perform vs. pretty much everyone else's white (with the exception of Caran D'ache, etc.)
That aside, at the end of the day, no matter what brand name is on those pencils and no matter who made them, as you said, they're lovely to worth with and cost far less than what is sold via Amazon and other US based outlets. It's kind of ironic, really: the fear about unknowingly getting a knock off is paying a lot of money for something that isn't nearly as good in quality. Clearly it's just the opposite with the Temu pencils (assuming of course that they are knock-offs). I this case, the quality is just as good if not better, but at a much lower price.
All this to say, enjoy them! Didn't you say quite a while back that they sold out? Let's hope they bring them back (same pencils, same price) so that other people can enjoy them, too.
Yes, they did sell out about a week after I got mine. I'm happy to have them as they're nice pencils! If nothing else, they'll always be a talking piece! 🥰
Great deep dive. I have a number of sets of prismas bought over the last 20 years. I did buy a set in the “cheap” time frame from Amazon, and they were a perfect match to my 5 year older ones (I now think I was lucky and they cost me the equivalent of £45). From what I see of your Temu pencils, my red flags are 1. wrong coloured printing on some pencils (white should be black printing always). 2. Different print quality and subtle font difference in foil printing. 3. Change in sharpening point style. 4. Core colour difference and sheen on broken core of the Temu… denotes different pigment/binder ratio. If they were a discarded test run of genuine prisma, they are still not the real deal… Prisma did not release them to their distributors as genuine prismas. The white ring could be, as you say, a test for a different wood… which I am guessing failed to meet their “standards”. I wholeheartedly agree with what you said that if they are Chinese made, they should just slap their own brand on them… but I think they already have in Arrtx (which I really enjoy using). I wait for the 150 Arrtx. Bit like Kalour now expanding to 520 (cough, cough…. Brutfuner). At the end of the day, if they perform nicely and you are happy, for the price they are close enough. I collect pencils and cycle through using the 18 sets I currently have, prisma are not a standout just in the rotation dependent on paper or if I want to relax in a colour along.
Totally agree, Prisma are not a standout pencil for me either, and the build quality is just so poor!
I'm pleased I got the 126 Arrtx... to complement my 150 Prrismas 😆
Excellent video, I ordered a 48 set from Amazon several months ago. They arrived in an old-style tin ,but they had white paint showing underneath the normal colour. Also there was something not quite right with the cores, some colours totally different, colour order in tin was totally muddled up.
But the was slightly better quality, lovely smooth paint, There was no splits. The writing was very clear and shiny. They actually look better than my genuine ones I bought years before.
I returned for a refund and complained about the sellers, they were immediately withdrawn from sale. Thanks so much for bringing this to light, I got fed up of hearing there was no Prisma fakes.
@@helendelman Yes, they definitely sound similar to the fakes that Sarah and Gem show in their videos. 🥰
I think the Amazon are fake too. I have same 150 set I recently purchased from Prismacolor on Amazon July 24. Its the same as your set. . My Bruntfuner set of 120, I got from Temu dose have the white underpaint.. fyi I was disappointed of my Amazon 150 set, quality is terrible, I'm going to do some comparison to the Bruntfuner to see how they rank.. 😮 Great work Lilly!
The 150 set you got from Prismacolor, is it the same as my Temu set or my Amazon set? Have fun comparing! 🥰
Yes, I have been waiting for this! Thank you for taking so much time to make this video!
Here's my thoughts. It's easier with mass production to replicate and mimic name brands. Prismacolor has DEFINITELY reduced their quality control. Older pencils didn't break as often and very few were off center. Newer sets I've bought at art shops/open stock have broken much easier and are more commonly off center. It's truly a lack of quality control from Prisma (and many other brands) when they change factories or simply care less to check.
Wow, what a journey! I ended up buying some Arrtx….and I think I’m going to stick with those 😂 I buy Prismacolor open stock at my local art store in the more “unusual” colours ( that I can’t get in any other set ) so that I can check the core is centred and the barrels aren’t split. Otherwise I just can’t justify the price of Prisma here in Australia for the quality of the pencils 😉
Definitely worth getting the Arrtx. And I agree, over here Prismacolor pencils are not worth £200! The Polychromos are only around the £150 mark and they're fabulous build quality...and made of Cedar! 🥰
@@UsGal65 The Arrtx are good buy! Enjoy!
@@ArtJourneyUK thank you, I will! :)
I love my Prismacolors, which include those made by Berol, Sanford and newer ones.
Great video, love your tenacity!! New sub. 💛
Thanks 🥰
I have a 60 set of Berol from the 80s. In the folding tin.
@@TravisBrady-wn8fr That’s great! Enjoy. 😊
This was SO thorough, Lily! I will share with my stream. Did you try to layer/blend to see any differences, and also, were all the cores “centered” correctly? (I always check open stocks to see if the cores are centered). I might have missed the ‘core/centered” question. Thanks so much for all the research!
Hey Dede, lovely to hear from you! I did a colouring test in the first video, they were nice to use, smooth, not obvious fakes.
The build quality of the pencils was good (dare I say better than 'real' Prismacolors!) including the cores being centered.
Thanks!
Thank You for your video. Didn't know Temu where selling these. When it comes to pencils, I love finding old stock, the pencils were just made better. Many of my sets and open-stock pencils (esp. Prisma) are from over 25 years ago. Truly my favorite pencil is Spectra color, which has been discontinued.
Excellent video, what a great detective you are ! Since I'm in Europe I had to pay $198 pounds + shipping at Amazon UK, but I would buy Temu's Prismas if they were available at that time. My Prismas bough this year don't have the white under coat and they perform perfectly. Thank you for sharing the deepest of the rabbit hole !
Thank you! 🥰
Maybe this will help a little in all your research. I live in the US and purchased all my Prismas open stock from Blick and Michaels. It took about two years to get the complete set. The are about 4 years old now. They all had the very stubby sharp point and no white undercoat. In recent months I have been purchasing replacements for the future from Blick and all have the same stubby ended point and no white undercoat. I keep them in a tightly closed plastic container and when opened you still get a slight cedar smell. They are not my favorite pencil but of all I have, Holbein, Luminance, Lightfast, Polychromos, Castle Arts, I can blindfolded pick them out by lay down feel. I admire your tenacity and always enjoy your videos.
Oh I agree with you, these are different from all the Prismacolor pencils I've had in the past, but not the same as the blatant obvious fakes shown in other videos... that along with the Prismacolor CS ambiguous replies... is why its a more confusing situation!
My question is, how do you know the Amazon set are Prismacolors? My Prismacolor set that I bought here in the US at Michael’s don’t have the white undercoat but my Chinese Brutfuner pencils do.
@junbug1029 The Amazon Set included a second white pencil and a blender, that was a very specific set released by Prismacolor when they discontinued the Lavender and Lilac. The people who fake pencils don't bother faking limited run sets
I didn’t think I was going to be able to watch this whole video. But here I am at the end. You did a great job lol
Thank you! 🥰
Amazon frequently has imitation products, even from Amazon directly. That's why I never buy anything where I'm concerned about origin from Amazon, or certainly not Temu or any other mass marketplace. I have had Prismacolors since I was a kid and even have 3 sets of their far superior predecessors, Spectracolors, from my dad. If you want real, current Prismacolors of best quality, you really need to get the ones made and sold in Japan. The others are barely better than rip off versions, unfortunately.
I’m sorry if I ask a stupid question but Prisma’s are made in US (now Mexico) right? Now I’m a bit confused about the Japan-thing 😵💫😂
@@Art_by_Nicole Not a stupid question at all. So, they're technically currently called "Karismacolors" (or sometimes Karisuma-colors), but they are manufactured in Japan by the same company that used to own Prismacolors (Sanford). They color match to the original Prismacolors and and are better quality than the pencils that currently bear the name "Prismacolor". The Prismacolor name had been sold, which is why they aren't made under that name by Sanford in Japan, but they match the original quality and have the same color codes/names as well as performance.
It is confusing, though. Especially since one of the companies that was involved in the manufacture history of Prismacolors (Faber Castell), that also manufactured Spectracolors, has now released "Black Edition" soft core coloring pencils that are supposedly like the original Spectracolors that were later manufactured under the Prismacolor line. LOL
So, in short, just remember that Spectracolors, Prismacolor and Karismacolors overlap at various times but essentially are the same "line" of pencils. The main difference between them is quality control and who owns the rights to what name at the time of manufacture.
@@therealdonnawagner my gosh, why do they make it confusing 😵😂
Sometimes I see Karismacolour being sold second hand and that they are so (!) expensive.
But like I said in a earlier comment: if ‘the fake’ perform (a bit) better; the wood is better and they are cheaper…Why would you not buy them? 🤷♀️
Japan does make gorgeous stuff.
@@therealdonnawagnerwhere do you purchase the Karisma Colors from? I lived in Japan for sometime many years ago and they do strive to take something that is a utility item/ art items and they try to make them better to increase their efficiency and or beauty. I would love to think that have rescued a pencil I liked would make me happy.
Great follow-up! Did Prismacolor ever say what wood they are currently using? Who knew colored pencils could take us all down such a mysterious & interesting rabbit hole!
No they didn't. I'll be honest, after a month of emailing and chasing for replies, I kinda gave up hope of getting a straight answer. I do think that for Newell Rubbermaid the Prismacolor arm is not one they pay much attention to. Thanks for watching! 🥰
They are, and always have been, made of cedar.
Great work Lily! Thanks for doing such a thorough job! ❤
Thanks Deb 🥰
Hi.. I did some comparison from my Amazon 150 Prismacolor set (purchased from USA Amazon Official Prismacolor seller) to Bruntfuner 120 Temu set, and the Bruntfuner were a very very close match and more smooth. The BF pigment load was not 100%, IMO. but very close. I think it's a worthy contender for the price.
@@mystictailsfarmga the Brutfuner are decent pencils! Especially for the price. Here in the UK, Prismcolor Pencils are way overpriced at £199 for the 150 set.
The ballet community has known sellers in China for counterfeit ribbon and elastic. Essentially labeling items as Bloch or sansha brand toe shoe ribbons and elastic, when in reality what you're getting is ribbon and elastic for childrens crafts, and definitely not wearable on clothing.
It wouldn't be difficult for them to apply a label on each pencil.
The difference here being the pencils are really good, comparable quality.
You have done a awesome job of investigating all of this ! I know if I ever need anything found out for me in the future, I know who I’ll come to!! Thanks for all your hard work, your awesome! 😊
Haha thank you! 🥰
Something to consider with products made for different countries markets is that the materials may be of different composition. For instance the uk market pencils may be lead free in the paint on the outside of the pencil, and they may in some cases may have different pigments. Lead is easy to test for with an at home swab. If you leave those test sheets in the sun for a week or two, cheaper dyes and pigments may bleach out considerably. So the temu may be real, just different…❤
The lightfast quality is not something that worries me as I only use them in colouring books. With regard to lead paint; if these were made in a Chinese factory they'll be made with the same paint/pigments as the others that are made there (like Brutfuner, Kalour and Arrtx) all of which conform to ASTM D-4236 safety standards (the standard of art supply safety for toxicity)
What a hero - thank you for a riveting and informative journey - what webs the manufacturers weave eh? Far more entertaining than a TV consumer programme and I if I ever find myself in trouble I'll be calling on you as my defence lawyer 🤣
Haha thanks Simon! 🥰
You are to be commended for being such a great detective, Lily ! Thanks and enjoy your bargain as it seems, no matter the source , that they are 🎉❤
my man brought me the full set of Prisma Color 150 from USA and they are coming tomorrow . we got charged £49.98 fees by parcel force ....meh . i will be getting them from Amazon in future.had to watch this again, thank you for your rabbit hole deep dive xxxxxx . hope the croma's are working out for you xxxxxxxx🥰
@bethmegansmith4642 ooo customs are a pain! Did they still work out cheaper though?
@@ArtJourneyUK Nope they cost more meh becuse of the inport tax meh....I just hope I like them. 🤔
I think the colors are fine, it's how well the pencil colors and blends. Is the 'lead' hard or soft. What is the price per pencil compared to the products quality. Thanks for all the work you did on this. My opinion is if you get a good quality product at a low price, buy it. You can always buy some individual white Prisma pencils later.
As I showed in the video and the last, the core is soft on these, that's why it's so difficult to ascertain if they real or not. For money I paid, they're definitely better value than Prismacolor pencils! 🥰
You deserve an Oscar for this video!❤
I bought Prismacolor Premier for the first time. I bought a set of 150 Pencils at Temu for about 125€. The box arrived 4 weeks later. It included the lilac and lavendel pencils. All the Pencils are in perfect condition with no cracks and well centered. The quality seems good, I cannot compare as I have no other Prismacolor. I have Caran d Ache and Polychromos, they perform just as well. After watching your video’s I think these are genuine Prismacolor, but an older Edition. It was not a bargain and I would have It much sooner at Amazon Europe. But overall I am happy with the amount of beautiful colors, which are too expensive in Caran d Ache or Faber-Castell. What do you think? Thank you for your work!
I love mine. I kept them and use them more than my "original Prismacolors". Enjoy them!
Lily, u have done a fabulous job trying to get too the bottom of this quest, u have a wicked sense of humour and I love your videos, also always cheer me up so I was delighted for u that u went viral on your ‘are they fake’ video! Well done u!!🎉🎉🎉 p.s I got to the end 😂xx
Hehe thanks Nikki 🥰
The only pencils that seem to have the white undercoat is the pink and orange neon, i have several and they are the only colors that seem to have this. It may be a quirk of the red neon pigment that needs to have a special handling. My green neon that is no longer made do not have the white undercoating. Maybe a safety issue with some of the neon pigment.... This also might explain their careful non answer to you using the proprietary fallback language.
thank you for spending so much time doing this. That was a lot of time and work.
Thanks Belinda! 🥰
Great video, thanks!!!
I would like to have seen how they blend. Sometimes colors are close but their blend ability and build up lack severely.
@SpiritsDancer thanks! I think I showed them blending in the first video (this was a follow-up)... but its been a year now so can't remember exactly 🥰
@@ArtJourneyUKThanks! I’ll look it up!
It sounds like your guy in China is correct. I remember in 2018 when the production in Mexico was expanded the wood and cores were quite a bit inferior and many friends in the USA said to look at the box and make sure it said made in USA because the Mexican versions were so much worse. I think they have since improved some and found more stable wood that doesn't disintegrate so fast when sharpening the pencils. I think you got real Mexican Prismacolor pencils that were probably made a bit after the disastrous ones, as the wood looks pretty decent. I was thrilled that the Temu ones are not Cedar as I have a Cedar allergy and have to wear gloves when touching the USA made ones, which is not fun. The Temu ones look decent and I might try to get them if I ever finish the fish game and get a 40% off coupon. Thanks for doing all that research too!
A couple of points I'd like to make here, one, I have been using prismacolors since aprox 1988-1989 and I have had more than one set plus open stock pencils which I know are real, and there are color differences and texture differences occasionally even in 2 of the same color. As to the white coating on your pencils, Staedtler puts a coating like that on their ergo pencils and it's done to protect the pencil in some way, it's supposed to keep the core from breaking I believe so it may be that with the breakage issues in prismacolors due to the soft core that they are now doing something similar. If the colors and texture is as close as those are I would suggest that those are real prismacolors and not a fake brand. The fakes are usually far more obvious.
The white coating is not on the core (like with Staedtler pencils), it's on the wood, under the coloured paint.
And yes, I agree, the other fakes I've seen in videos are way more obvious
I so appreciate all your hard work with research and investigation, especially since the end result was not as conclusive as you would have liked. You do a fantastic job with all of your posts. Ultimately, my thoughts and opinions would be.... unless I was worried about authentic colorfast qualities for each pencil respectively, I would focus on the other characteristics of the pencils to make my decision to keep or return. How well they blend, the amount of layers that can be achieved, the durability of the pencil itself, etc. If all of these are acceptable, and taking into consideration the value in relation to how much you spent, the Temu pencils are a really good purchase and will add nicely to your collection. And dare I say, a repeat purchase? Cheers!
Absolutely David! I'm not worried about lightfastness (if I was I'd be using Caran D'ache Luminance or Derwent Lightfast if I'm honest 😄) so I'm happy to keep these as decent colouring pencils. Either way, they'll always be a talking point! 🥰
@@ArtJourneyUK That’s for sure. I recently bought a 150 set from Amazon here in the US as they were only around $85. When I got them, I was missing the Lavender and Lilac and substituted an extra white and a colorless blender. Also, the Indigo was sharpened on the opposite end. I was immediately suspicious. I had seen Sarah’s video before but came across your original video at the time. I contacted Newell and they apologized and sent me out a new Amethyst and Orchid pencil immediately. It just seems odd that they would continue to create sets without the replacement pencils without a disclaimer. Doing a comparison with my other two sets of Prismas, it’s not a simple cut and dried indication whether they are fake or not. New batch, old batch, rejects…. Too damn confusing for what we pay for these. Anyway, I’m training my own advice and just enjoying the fact that I got a god deal. If I wanna pay double, I’ll buy them from Blicks. Thanks for responding and keep up the great work.
@@davidchapman2213 Sounds like you got a great deal David! Enjoy! 🥰
This year, I bought a full set of "Polychromo"s through Amazon, which failed to match a set I already owned. White primed undercoatings, mismatched hues, letter stamping misprints, and wax blooms. As I prepared to return them to Amazon, I saw they had been sent to me through China.
Polychromos is a brand name of Faber Castell, always made in Germany. I've seen those green cardboard boxes of Chinese pencils on Amazon described as Polychromos in the description but not marked as such anywhere else. That's clear cut. They're not Polychromos. I wish my Prismacolor saga would have been so obvious. 🥰
I know this video is 10 months old, but wanted to add, I have the 132 set I purchased from an estate sale in 2019. My set is the tin with the girl in the white dress. Mine do not have a white undercoat on the barrel paint. And they do have the telltale "cracks".
@@kachinadesigns I remember that 132 set. I think that was before the days the fakers were out there! 🥰
@@ArtJourneyUK Yes, I believe so.
Wow, this is an amazing video! I have no idea what to think. Who would have thought there would be so many twist and turns in investigating colored pencils. :D
@Amy4000 I know! I still don't know 100% to this day! 😄
I commend you for spending so much time and researching this as much as humanly possible. The only thing I can say about Prismacolor is that they are inconsistent, but I still love them. I’m in the US, so they are easy to get. I have bought so many over the years, and have never seen a white undercoat on any of them. From the tests that you done what you have shown, I would say that the Temu set are indeed fake. But they seem to be very good fakes. So at the end of the day, if you enjoy them I say celebrate another good set of pencils for your collection. 😅
That's my conclusion too, good pencils but not made by Prismacolor. I just wish their Customer Service would have been more understandable! 🥰
Lovely review, very detailed thank you! I have been in love with Prismacolors for a long long time, I still have a few of my original set that are the Eagle Berol pencils. They are still my favorites and of course I don't use very much!
Thank you 🥰
Always buy from your local art supplier. I never buy professional items from cheap websites & never from overseas in case of scamming counterfeiters. I’ve used Prismas for years from my local suppliers & have never had a problem. Cheaper prices are the first giveaway to encourage more customers. Plus ordering by mail risks your pencil leads breaking inside whilst the parcel is being “thrown” around in the post, causing constant lead breakages whilst sharpening wasting half your pencils before you even start. Your pencils are an investment, so be careful they are not counterfeit items as there is with most brand name products. Pay a bit more for the real deal from the real dealers so you are getting the real deal yourself!
There are no "real suppliers" in the UK because Prismcolor do not sell to the UK. The only way we can buy them is via a third-party who has bought them from Prismcolor first to distribute elsewhere (like Amazon).
I've purchased pretty much all my pencils online, even my Luminance, Lightfast and Pablos (all of which are substantially more expensive than Prismcolors!), which I guess means they've all been "thrown around" in the post...and I've never had one that's been broken throughout.
Enjoy your supplies!
Sherlock Holmes would be proud of you!!! Great video. Xx
Thanks Watson! 🥰
This video blew my mind. You have gone above and beyond and I really, really appreciate your efforts. Thank you.
I am now away to Temu for some prisma pencils. 😊
I can’t find them on Temu. They must have been removed 😮
@melody_tune991simms They pop-up and go out of stock fairly often. I'm sure they'll be back! 🥰
@@melody_tune991simms Thank you! 🥰
@@ArtJourneyUK no…… thank you. I am a very happy beginner colourist finding your channel. Extremely helpful 😘
Are all the real prismacolor made in one factory in Mexico, could the variation be explained by different factories? And being as how real prismacolor are so terrible at quality control it wouldn’t surprise me if different batches had colour variations. It seems odd to me that prismacolor couldn’t give you a straight answer about whether they have a white undercoat or not, that hardly seems like the secret pencil recipe. Thanks for these interesting videos.
I felt like I was asking KFC what went into their chicken coating!
I believe there is only 1 Prismacolor colour factory now. There used to be one in America and one in Canada but both those were closed when the Mexico one opened.
Thanks for watching! 🥰
Wowzers!! I LOVED this! My only complaint is that my tea has gone cold 🤣 Thanks So much for doing all the hard work and investigation. In the end, you got a bargain in my eyes bcos they are lovely pencils. Also, I cheered when you brought out the 126 set of Arrtx. I'm really glad you got them- I love mine. Thanks again for a great investigation- it was really interesting to learn so much.
Thanks Abi! My tea went cold too! 😆
Got mine from Temu and fake or real I am happy with them since I do not have the real I can not compare but I like how they color
@martinedaelemans293 same Martine! They're comparable quality (well in some ways better quality) so if they're not real, they're good pencils! 🥰
I purchased the 150 set of Prismacolor from Amazon a few months ago for $ 149. Almost 85% of the pencils had severe off center cores. I contacted Newell and they sent a new set which I haven't even opened yet. Nobody knows which sets are authentic -real or fakes. My opinion is that if I'm happy with the results of the brand of pencils I'm using it doesn't really matter who made them. It seems that paying a high price does not mean you're getting a pencil worthy of that high price. Happy coloring everyone.
IMO Prismacolor are the most overrated pencils
Thnx so much for doing this video, tbh if it were me and I had paid £198 for the 'Genuine' Prisma pencils and they are under performing in various ways I would be returning them to Amazon, this is the only way that Amazon will bring it's ridiculous prices down to actually match what could potentially be substandard rejects sold as Genuine. In no way am I saying that Amazon know they are not genuine, that is in the hands of the seller, not the buyer. In fact you have now confirmed to me that I would not be being duped if I bought the Temu pencils, because there is no way as a pensioner I can afford and warrant to myself the use of Prismascolours from Amazon at the scandalous price of £198.00. TFS
Exactly Elizabeth. £198 for 'real' Prismacolor Pencils is a ridiculous price to be honest!
I’m falling out of love with Amazon myself lately. We’re suing in a class action suit in America for the, not treating their vendors fairly.
@@annamarielewis7078 Wishing you good luck
Great video
It was worth the wait.
You said it at the end, "If you want my opinion i think theyre fakes" lol. I agree but i the temu version doesnt seem to be a bad pencil.. i would have kept them too, specially with lilac & lavender set.
Thank you for your extensive research and time 💜💜💜
Exactly Claire, they are not a bad pencil! I thought, seeing the other videos about fakes, that if they weren't real they'd be awful and I'd return them... and they wasn't awful at all! 🥰
I also think that if ppl in Australia & in the UK who have never experienced the prisma pencil would not be unhappy with the fake pencils as you conclusively proved to me that they were a good soft pencil. Also they didn't appear to have ALOT of breakages like prisma's generally do. I had to open stock dark green after getting my 150 set & I went into my Jackson's and asked for dark green 903 & they said that colour was 908, lol. As I said in a comment to the first video the printing on my set is terrible. Your temu prisma's had readable writing which the Mexican version is awful.
Thank you Lily for doing this and letting colourists know about it. Enjoy your prisma's and happy colouring 💜💜💜
Just got a Temu set & swatched it. The grays are all mixed up betwern warm & cold, 2 light greens have off white & beige barrels, a light...peach? , is a raw umber/beige that almost matches another similar something or other. I also find many colors garrish compared to my Polychromos and Pablos like, closer to food coloring than pigments). Was mostly interested in the set to match step by step exercises in books I like & was interested in grayed/muted colors. Compared to the handful of light or muted greens I bought in a Paris shop years ago, the recent ones are more yellowish, less subtle. So, I am returning the box & I'll buy open stock the 10-15 colors I like after testing them.
It sounds like there are fakes around or Prisma is just letting the brand go down the drain since there seems to be huge new amateur market & professional artists maybe just a niche market.
These days, I would recommand Lyra or Koh-i-Noor sets as good quality medium priced options to be completed by a handful of less common colors bought as needed.
Yes there's definitely lots of fakes floating around. The seller I bought from on Temu doesn't have them anymore but someone else popped up with stock and I've no idea if they're the same as the ones I got back in August or totally different. Compared to "real Prismas" the ones I had weren't bad.
I agree about the colours being garish, they always seem like a cheap pencil to me.
Happy New Year! 🥰
@@ArtJourneyUK Happy New Year to you too !
Well done Inspector Morse! I'd be surprised if anyone admitted to making fake pencils but one question I have is, why isn't the market flooded with these big fat fakes? x
Oooo ooooo yes, well done Watson, that's definitely an interesting question! This points more to them being a test run! Dun dun... dah! 🫢
I think the answer to that has more to do with the integrity of the marketplace than the availability of the counterfeit items. A few item slip through but in general it's a big "no" to sell straight out copies of other companies products in most markets.
All the prismacolor colored pencils I own DON'T have any white lining underneath the color the pencils show. And many of mine are near stubs and never saw the white
I wish Prismacolor would have been clearer with their answer! 😄
Maybe a combo of hands and face. Hands when actually speaking to something you’re demoing, then back to your face when you’re not. Just an idea. I love your channel:)
Some videos have my face on them, others.. just hands! Thanks 🥰
Random artist viewer here, your vid got recommended and I was curious. Here in Latin america we only have resellers and amazon sometimes is as expensive as the resellers. Between 2016-2018 was the debacle of drop down in quality from prismacolor (and I have some crooked leds in my pencils that makes them hard to sharpen without breakage) but since they changed the lid design is even harder to find big sets (130-150 are an impossible sight).
Taking the info you got and comparing what I saw on the market here, theres a huge probability that cheaping the manufacturing cost had more casualties, lowering the stock available in their retail, but giving tons of recycled products. Temu prismas could be "oficial" prismas that didn't match the standard by a new factory they were contacting. Also, Im sure the boxes are made in china, I don't have evidence, neither doubts, is the cheapest place worldwide for paper and cardboard printing. The access to a oficial box is at reach
Know this video is a year old. I just rececently purchasesd the" fake" Temu set of Prismas. My observation is that they are ok . They also dont have a white undercoat as some mentioned. I however have the 120 set of Brutfuner pencils that have black barrels and coloured tipped ends as well as the name and number in English. I love them. No white undercoat. Here in South Africa you can also not get the Prismas directly from the Usa unless you have a postal delivery service in the Usa that will forward it to you. Pricewise Prismas is exorbitant.
So at the moment where can I buy real Prismacolor colored pencils from Italy?
Wow! You did quality research. Kudos! I live in Washington State, US. My oldest Prismas date from 2017 or so. I have bought other open stock Prismas over time through various art/craft retailers, and in small sets from Amazon and Walmart relatively recently. None of my Prismas show a white undercoat. If I do spot one, I’ll post back. By the way, American basswood is a deciduous, tall growing tree which is often grown in parks and lawns. Mature trees bloom late in summer, with yellow, tulip shaped blooms. Liriodendron tulipfera. I appreciate your in depth look at Prismas.
Fab video and well done you for all the research. It’s so unfair and annoying that in the UK the price for Prismas is so inflated. I love your bit at the end, ‘…think they’re big fat fakes’ ha ha you’re so funny Lily xx
Hey K! Yes, I agree about the unfair pricing, although now I understand why as we're buying from a 3rd party who has to take their cut of the pie too! 🥰
The difference that pops out to me, which you may have mentioned in the other video, is the white underneathe the color paint at the sharpened line/edge. Like the Holbeins have, and also the cheaper pencil brands have.
I mention it in this video too. When I talk about the video by Jem at the Colour Cave.
Holaaa¡¡¡ yo soy de México y me gustaria compartirte mi experiencia en cuanto a esta maravillosa y sobrevalodara marca. Prismacolor es una marca de lujo aqui en México, a pesar de que tienen su gama escolar, son pocos los niños de nivel escolar básico que pueden acceder a ellos, ya que existen muchas otras marcas económicas. Aún así, existe un gran sector de dibujantes mexicanos que utilizan prismacolor premier y escolar solamente por el precio, a pesar de no ser resistentes a la luz mucha gente piensa que son de gama profesional, y aunque sí, son colores geniales no llegan a ser profesionales... en México podemos comprar una caja de 150 colores de 80 a 115 libras, comparado con los precios de los faber castell policromos o carandache si es muy conveniente para los dibujantes mexicanos, una caja de policromos esta en 300 libras aproximadamente y una de carandache en 400... y yo sé que pensaran que es una bendición poder comprar los primacolor a ese precio y si, lo es... pero hay una cosa curiosa, en México no encontramos lapices sueltos en tiendas, hace algunos años si los había, pero después dejaron de surtirlos, aveces los encontraba por amazon y en una ocasión me di a la tarea de buscarlos sueltos por todo México y resulta ser que no encontre, igual me comunique a prismacolor y su respuesta fue que no era conveniente para los establecimientos comprar suministros sueltos. Entonces aunque prismacolor se hace en México no es aqui en donde más se vende. Porque aunque podamos comprar una caja a la mitad de precio de lo que ustedes la compran aún asi es mucho dinero para nosotros los mexicanos. Por esos tiempos me di cuenta de que en Aliexpress habia una cantidad enorme de marcas de colores a precios muy económicos, al mismo tiempo enconcontre varios videos de RUclips en donde hablaban de prismacolor falsos y colores chinos excelentes, etc, etc.... asi que hice mi propia investigación, compre varias cajas de marcas chinas: Nyoni, frutffuner, entre otras y me decidí por comprar colores sueltos de prismacolor en Aliexpress, especificamente blancos y negros.... despues de hacer pruebas descubri cosas interesantes: las marcas chinas son buenas? Si, pero no al grado de los prismacolor, aun les falta algo en su formula para poder considerarse similares. Considerando una situación que aveces nos crea confusión, en China todo lo que se fabrica es falso???... no, China maquila a miles de marcas de todo el mundo y también China fabrica cosas de increible calidad, pero por lo general lo que se fabrica falso es de empresas que no cumplen con varios requisitos de calidad, es decir, si en China se fabrican prismacolor falsos son de muy baja calidad, como es el caso de las cajas de 72 que han aparecido por ahí, en donde es muy notorio que son falsos, ya que los lápices son delgados, los colores nisiquiera coinciden, etc... a México entra una gama escolar falsa china de 24 piezas y es muy notorio que es falso, igual pasa con los faber castell escolares y cada año nuevo escolar podemos ver a muchos vendedores vendiendo esos colores que con solo ver las cajas te das cuenta de que son falsos.... entonces, los prismacolor que vende Temu o Aliexpress son falsos??... no, como dijiste en tu investigación prismacolor no puede vender directamente en ciertos países, pero los intermediarios si, y muchas marcas por medio de estos revendedores es como logran entrar a diferentes mercados, eso significa que amazon no puede comprar los prismacolor directamente a la fabrica para venderlos en tu país, le compra a un revendedor y por eso es que el precio que ustedes pagan es muy elevado. Ya que aunque Amazon es una gran empresa funciona por regiones, lo que vende barato por ejemplo en Mexico solo es para México, si alguien de Perú o Ecuador quiere comprar al mismo precio que en México no es posible, no tiene ese libre tratado entre países, por eso es que los prismacolor los tiene que comprar a revendedores, es decir, practicamente Amazon es una tienda que te revende productos de cualquier vendedor y tiene una gran logistica. Por alguna razón Aliexpress y Temu han podido romper esa barrera que existe entre países y de manera muy conveniente han hecho tratos directos con fabricantes de todo el mundo y utilizar su red de dustribucion y logistica gigantesca que tienen para surtir productos a todas partes, muy probablemente tu caja de prismacolor de 150 colores se hizo en éxito y luego no fue a China y luego a tu pais, no, muy probablemente tu caja salio directamente de México a tu país y eso explicaria lo mal que te llego y con la poca protección, porque después de que estuve investigando todo esto y que me convencí de que lo que vendian no era falso hice varias compras de Aliexpress, algunas cosas fabricadas ahí y otras que decian ser de Alemania por ejemplo y los paquetes venian asi: los colores chinos venían muy bien protegidos, con hule de burbujas y notoriamente traian un embalaje Chino, compre unos lapices sueltos de la marca steadler que es una marca alemana y venian super bien cuidados, con bolsas de aire y en empaques elegantes y los prismacolor venian en una bolsita de prastico, sin ninguna especificación ni cuidado de nada... no te parece curioso? .... en fin, después de probar varias cosas llegue a la conclusión de que son originales. Para mi aún es más conveniente comprar los prismacolor en mi pais, cajas de 72 o 36 que en Aliexpress, pero si compro varias cosas de otras marcas en Aliexpress. Finalmente, aunque amo los prismacolor porque fue con los que me inicie en mi arte del dibujo es muy decepcionante la calidad, me gusta usarlos pero me enoja que se rompan... en fin, espero no haberte aburrido con mi historia, saludos¡¡¡
This looks like an amazing comment, but I don't speak Spanish so cannot understand. Will try to copy it into Google Translate
OK I have managed to copy and paste your comment into Google translate and understand what you are saying, which is very interesting, especially about Prismacolor pencils being overrated and not professional. I agree!
Here in Europe Faber-Castell Polychromos are less expensive and much better quality and I agree that the bulk of the extra cost of Prismacolors is due to having to buy from a third-party reseller.
Gracias por tomarse el tiempo de publicar un comentario tan interesante. ¡Feliz año nuevo!
Happy new year!!!!
Wow you have done a lot of work to try and figure it out.
Have you tried the prismacolor scholar pencils? I got some years ago and i can't tell the difference in quality to the premier. Some of the colours are slightly off and others totally different. I've added them to my premiers to extend my colours even more. I have about 185 prismacolor colours.
Hi Esme, no I haven't tried the scholars... but I am tempted! I heard they were firmer than the premiers. Thanks for watching 🥰
I bought my 150 from Amazon and it came with the lilac and lavender. I am in the States. I wonder if they gave me one leftover from before. It didn't have the white sticker on the back.
Could be the seller still had stock of the older sets. If you're in the States you can contact Prismacolor directly if you're unsure of their authenticity 🥰
Thank you so much for all this effort!!!!
You really put a lot of work into this. Sounds like if you like the colors you might as well get Arrtx. I have avoided using Prismacolors, and any pencils saying they are wax based, because I don't like my paper feeling like I coated it with a candle. Do the Arrtx leave the paper feeling like it has a heavy coating? Maybe it's just how I color though....
I've not noticed a lot of wax from the Arrtx, certainly not as bad as the Prismas!
@@ArtJourneyUK Thanks! I guess I need more cheap Chinese pencils! 🤣
One of the things the ‘fake’ and the ‘real’ have different on the boxes… the giant butterfly is all the way on the TOP of the box for the real set, and the ‘fake’ set has the butterfly just barely off the edge of the top.
Oooo yes, just went back and checked this and you are right!
Wow this video was incredibly in depth and they basically still gave you the runaround lol! The Temu pencils seem really good, I don't have the Artxx pencils but they seem the same to the Temu ones.
It's a fact that Prisma quality control has gone down the drain over the years.
Still though... Prismacolor where exactly are you "recycling" your factory rejects? because I wouldn't mind taking them. 😂
Amazing job! I personally would love to see the swatch comparisons of your original set from years ago, as those are presumably the realest of the real.
I can share that as I actually did swatch them onto the same sheet after I filmed this. Spoiler there was no difference 🫤
What a fabulously interesting set of videos. I do have a set of Prismas but I bought them on Ebay second hand, so who knows about those! I have also purchased some open stock on Ebay and noticed that the paint on the barrels don’t match! Hey ho a real can of worms. I heard a couple of years back that there are lots of quality control issues with these pencils and at one point they were being made in the USA and Mexico but no longer. Some of my pencils have Mexico printed on them and some don’t. I’m happy with what I’ve got but probably won’t buy any more as they are not my go to pencils! Shock! Horror! Thank you for all your hard work on this one. It felt just like Panorama. Many congratulations on having such an awesome channel.
Thanks Heather, what a lovely comment 🥰
Great deep dive! I almost thought my cheaper Amazon set were fake because of the splintery look wood quality and poor printing on the outside. Thanks to your video I now don’t think they are. I did the white comparison against my years old original set and colour comparison tests and the pigment looks and feels exactly the same. I do think Prismacolor have used cheaper wood and printing methods than years ago (a bit like how biscuits feel smaller than they used to 😃) but the pigments are just as nice as always. Mine don’t seem to have that white undercoat though.
Yes I agree, same core ingredients, cheaper wood, more prone to splintering and cracking.
Since when does temu come in an Amazon box? Temu comes in an orange and white color plastic bag. I’ve bought several items from temu.
The pencils came in a polythene bag, I show that in the first video. In this second, follow-up video I bought a set of 150 pencils *from Amazon* to compare to the 150 set *from Temu*
Hi Lily and thank you for taking us down the rabbit hole with you. I’ve never been so engaged in a video about pencils! 😅😉❤️
Thanks! Certainly was a rabbit hole! 🥰
Thank you so much for sharing this extremely interesting video. Really appreciate how very thorough you always are with all the comparisons that you do. Always enjoy your videos and huge thank you for all your hard work and time you spend on making us these videos. Give Robbie a cuddle from me too lol ❤️
Robbie duly hugged! 🥰
Thank you so much for these videos. While you haven't answered the main question to your own satisfaction, you've answered it enough for my purposes: That these pencils are a decent quality on a par with the official item at a far cheaper cost. Thats fine by me 🙂
Herculean effort!! Fakes, probably, but what a bargain for a pretty close to the real thing, Prisma. If I needed them I would buy them. You are right. Whoever is making them needs to market as their own brand. Did you feel the Arrtx were a good alternative to Prismas as a budget option? TIA😊
Yes, absolutely. I felt like the Arrtx were very similar and definitely a good budget option. I'd say they are the softest of the Chinese pencils. In fact, I'm going to start calling my Temu pencils... Prrismas 😉
I can't seem to find the Prismacolours on Temu so maybe they've either been removed (because of the number of videos currently on RUclips about them?) or everyones bought them up and they've run out? My thoughts are that both the Amazon set and Temu set are real Prisma Colours but are 'seconds' that somehow have found themselves on the market. I'm guessing Prismacolours cagyness when questioned is because they are now using cheaper materials and don't want to be called out for it.
What happens to the white undercoat, did you check them?
Everything about the white undercoat is detailed in this video 🥰
@@ArtJourneyUK yes, got it as I watched. Very informative video. Had to laugh at them admitting to producing the 72 set of Prisma. What’s stopping them from moving on to the 150 because the 72 isn’t so lucrative. At least they seem to care more about the quality of their dupes than Prismacolors does.
@@twingytwango6971 I know right! Although I think they have moved on to making their own (many!) brands now... which have less chance of comeback! 🥰
Thanks so much Lily for all the work you put into this video!!! Lots to think about x
Wow! Very much appreciated!
And do the blend well with other colors, do they lay down evenly, so they feel the same or do you have to use more pressure.
I covered this in the first video when I tried them 🥰
Hola le hablo de chile y tengo una duda que no entendi, lo primero es, si es normal que pongan esa etiqueta pegada con la paleta de colores, segundo por que falta un color en la paleta de colores, por que falan el lila y el labanda si son originales?, si compro la caja y trae esa etiqueta oegada con la paleta de colores son originales entonces? Agradeceria que me pudieras aclarar estas dudas ya que es el unico video que e visto explicando todo esto.
@J.V.C-2708 Lavender and Lilac colours were discontinued and, for a while, the boxes contained an extra white pencil and a blender.
Once they had replacement colours for the Lavender and Lilac, the colour palette sticker on the box changed to include the new colours (Amethyst and Orchid)
Hope that answers your question
@@ArtJourneyUK actualmente aún no traen los colores nuevos creo que la etiqueta pegada atrás al menos no los menciona o ya tendrían que venir incluidos actualmente? Ya que no trae ni el lavanda ni el lila ni los 2 colores nuevos que usted menciona
Hmm. Where are you seeing these pencil sets? In a store in Chile?
What colours come in the set instead of Lavender and Lilac?
@@ArtJourneyUK biene un blanco adicional y un blender en lugar de ambos colores creo! . Es tienda pero como no sabía nada al respecto quede con la desconfianza y no compre!!
The pack with the extra white pencil & blender is an official one from Prismcolor. They are real!
Does anyone find that the color name and # wear off very quickly?
Very interesting video. I would still be interested in seeing a swatch comparison of your 20 year old Prismas compared to the new "real set" to see how much variance there is there. I have Laurentian pencil sets manufactured over several decades starting in the 1960s in different countries as the company moved their manufacturing, and there are significant differences in some of the actual colours of pencilsthat are coded with the same names and numbers. By the way, I am in Canada and none of my Laurentians, Berols or Prismacolors have the white undercoating including a 72 set of Prismacolors I bought in the last couple of years on Amazon. Thanks for the video. I really enjoyed watching it.
Thanks! I did swatch my original pencils after filming and they were pretty much identical to the 150 set, no marked difference. Thanks for watching! 🥰
Im guessing the white undercoat is used on lighter coloured pencils so it shows the true colour on the wood xx
Thank you for creating this video! Initially I had bought my Prismacolor open stock from a reputable art store here in AUS and due to my impatience I decided to buy from FB Marketplace as I saw a deal where the seller was offering it up to $60 for a 150 set and the catch was that some of the pencils were missing. I thought since this is my first set it should be fine I can purchase the missing ones in store. But it never occurred to me that there would be counterfeit Prismacolors. The only thing thats bothering me now is the smell that continues to linger but aside from that I don’t really mind. It was a steal of course 😂 Lesson learnt though and I won’t do it again. 😅
Yes, it is quite incredulous that even pencils are faked these days! Enjoy your bargain! 🥰
Mine don’t have a white wrap on them and the wood is rougher than most of my other generalized colored pencils. Like they are wood and the rest may be some sort of composite. I have an older set and newer set and the colors even now can be different pencil to pencil.
Thanks for the info Rebecca 🥰
Maybe knowing who makes Arrtx is the path? It seems to me that if Prisma recycles bad pencils they would be loose and probably damaged too. Most companies purposely damage their items if they have no intention of consumers getting their hands on them.
Such a great video Lily , blimey well done 👏! I think you’re right , I think they’re fakes ( good ones ) they seemed a lot closer in colour to the Arrtx , but there’s really not a huge amount in it !!! Thanks for jumping into all this , I found all the info you got back from the different manufacturers so interesting! Xx
Yes, the sand colour was the one that swung it for me, identical to the Temu Prismacolor shade... nothing like the real one! 🥰
Wow lily congratulations on the mega views ❤️❤️❤️
Thanks Scott! 🥰
Thank you for both of your videos on the "are they, aren't they" question. I can't justify buying Prismacolor at my level of art, but I do aspire to own a set one day. In my opinion, Prismacolor haven't helped themselves by being so cagey and ambiguous in their replies. Maybe that's deliberate. Maybe they need to protect their 'official' premier brand by not revealing they also benefit from third parties making 'unofficial' versions, maybe under licence, especially when the (let's call them) 'alternative Prismacolors' are not at all bad to use. There will always be actual fakes, of course. Who knows the answer? The research you did was really interesting and I like your clear explanations too. You have a new subscriber 🙂
PS I grew up in Edmonton but never knew the Eagle Pencil Factory was just down the road.
Thanks Paul! 🥰
I like the look of these temu colours but cant find them on the app
I beleive they are sold out now 🫤
I waited forever before I was able to buy my first set of prismacolor and then read and article that they were discontinuing my two favorite colors so I rushed out to finally buy my set and am so heartbroken over the lilac. You can’t find the color anywhere! I read that they can’t get some of the ingredients for those colors is why they were discontinued so if you have a set laying around and you don’t use the lilac or the lavender, I will happily take them off your hands!!! 😂❤
If you're in the US it's worth trawling small art shops for undiscovered caches of Lilac! 🥰
If you're in the US it's worth trawling small art shops for undiscovered caches of Lilac! 🥰
Wow, you spent plenty of time and effort on this, thank you!
Thanks for watching 🥰
@Lucy just add colour. This youtuber uses these pencils and I'm sure if you made contact with her she you also test the set from temu as she does a budget pencil series xx
I'm confused by what you are saying. Are you saying I should ask Lucy to test the pencils?
Yes Lucy just adds colour is her RUclips channel she is also does colour alongs and tests budget pencils as well as the brand your showing and she might test the ones from temu as well as she knows the real ones like yourself xxx
@@learningthroughplaywithkay3597 ah I see. Yes I'm aware of Lucy but I don't think there's any need for me to send her my pencils to test, I've been using Prismacolor pencils for over 20 years so know how they feel. Thanks for watching though! If you like colouring, in the first video I tried these pencils in 4 different colouring books, that was interesting! 🥰
Very interesting video! And the amount of work, impressive. 👏
Personally, I don't trust Prismacolors *at all*. I'm in Europe so the only time I've seen Prismas in person was over 20 years ago. However, having been in the coloured pencil space for a good number of years, I've seen so many inconsistencies reported with 'real' (bought from reputable companies in the US, including DB, JA) Prismas that I can't believe people rebuy them! And not only external things, but actual core colours & compositions even in pencils bought in multiples at the same time.
I wouldn't trust that pencils bought from Amazon are real either, especially when it comes to Prismas.
The white coating thing is intriguing. It could be that they're actually sourcing whatever wood they can get rather than be committed to a certain type. Or that there's something in their process that makes the casings unpredictable (like poor material management). It would explain why some 'real' pencils have it and some don't.
There's also a rumour/theory I've heard that the pencil cores are made in a limited number of factories (mostly in China) and then shipped to where the pencils are assembled. This is not a Prismacolor specific rumour, but if they did this, it would explain why very similar cores can be found in different pencil brands and why there are periodic changes in colours/compositions.
All in all, who knows. There's too much chatter about fake Prismas being sold everywhere and too much inconsistency in the 'real' product that everything is possible.
That's so interesting! Until I got the "can of worms" set from Temu I really only had one set and never used them much (just a bit too soft and a bit too expensive for the quality).
The China rumour is intriguing and would make sense to how the "secret sauce recipe" for softness seems to be in other Chinese pencils now. 'Made in Mexico'... could just mean 'assembled in Mexico'. Who knows? Especially with such cagey answers from Prismacolor's customer service! Thanks for the interesting comment 🥰
Did you purchase your Amazon’s Prismacolor set directly from Amazon or from a third-party seller? I've been looking for a while to buy the Prismacolor 150 set in the UK but haven't seen any options directly from Amazon.
From a third-party seller. Was a UK Art Store selling via Amazon.