Kalour Macaron Pencils Review

Read before you buy!

Kalour just released a set of macaron coloured pencils and here is my review. Is it worth buying? Do you need it? Read on to find out!

The Price, Packaging and Presentation

This set of 50 wax-based coloured pencils sold for US$25, though at the time of purchase it was 10% off. It was available at Amazon in the US.

So far, the presentation is quite nice. Despite being shipped in just a bubbled envelope, the tin was not banged up and all the pencils arrived intact. I like that the set comes with a swatch card. I used light pressure on the left side of each swatch, heavier pressure on the right.

First Impression

I must say, just swatching 50 of the Kalour macaron pencils gave me a very good feeling for the review. They laid down smoothly on the little boxes. The colours are beautiful and they match the barrels. Each pencil has a number, name and also lightfast rating. Note that the rating system is the reverse of what you normally see: the higher the number of stars, the less lightfast they are.

I noticed that the shades that appear more neon/fluorescent have lower lightfast rating, similar to the fugitive pigments in watercolours.

Colour selection wise, I wish the set came with a white pencil and a bit more pinks rather than so many greens. That is a completely personal preference, though.

Kalour Macaron Pencils Review On Black Paper

To test how rich and vibrant the pencils are (since they claim to be), I tested them on Strathmore 400 series mixed media paper. They went on creamily and swatched quite well, with good opacity for pastel shades.

Testing the Pencils On An Actual Drawing

At this point, I was very excited to test the pencils in an actual drawing. When I think of pastel shades, the first thing that came to mind was Creamy Mami, the anime I watched when I was a kid. I started sketching Yuu Morisawa, the beloved heroine of Creamy Mami, for the test run.

I sketched the outline of Yuu on Strathmore 300 series Bristol smooth paper.

Kalour Macaron Coloured Pencils Performance

Maybe because the pencils swatched so well, it shocked me how frustrating it was to actually colour with them. The soft, wax-based lead that the pencils claim to have was not all that soft, and the paper seemed too smooth for the pigment to grab onto. I could not burnish at all, and layering was difficult. Nothing seems to blend well. I struggled very hard to complete colouring my drawing. The pigment load did not seem very rich to me. The pencils felt binder/filler heavy, and the pigment went on the paper unevenly.

Though these claim to be wax based, they behave more like oil based pencils. With some of the oil-based pencils, the Bristol smooth paper is not the best choice. To give them a fair review, I tried the Kalour Macaron colored pencils on a toothier paper next.

Using Kalour Macaron Colored Pencils on Mixed Media Paper

While the pigment laid down a lot better on the vellum surface, blending and layering were no better. The pencils felt more like oil-based pencils with harder lead. The good thing is that none of them broke and gave no wax bloom; the con is that they are harder to blend and take a lot of effort to fill the tooth of the paper. If you have any joint pain or arthritis, you may be better off with softer wax based pencils like Prismacolor Premier.

At this point, I even doubted my skills. I grabbed two of my pink Prismacolor Premier pencils to do the stocking/sock part of the drawing(bottom of drawing), and they quickly filled the tooth of the paper with a very buttery blend. I know it’s not me.

Blending With Odorless Mineral Spirits

I am usually a burnish by pencils kind of artist, but I do have a bottle of Gamsol at hand for pencils that don’t blend well. I am sad to say that those pencils are all budget pencils. This is my last ditch effort to salvage my drawing and to give these pencils one last shot.

Thank goodness Kalour macaron colored pencils blended well with Gamsol!

One thing I noticed is that when I blended the Kalour macaron pencils, there was no pigment moving around like smeared paint, whereas the Prismacolor pencils had rich pigments that moved around. I suspect a high filler/binder to pigment ratio with the Kalour pencils, which is common in budget coloured pencils.

UPDATE: Toothier Paper Works Better With Kalour Macaron Colored Pencils!

I have since discovered that a toothier paper, like Canson Mi-Teintes, works better. It wasn’t effortless, but better. A more textured paper means you need more layers to fill the tooth of the paper. I ended up blending it with solvent.

Purchasing Budget Pencils

I wished I bought the Brutfuner macaron set instead. It had great reviews and was known for its buttery, soft lead (despite being oil-based pencils). While the live swatches on youtube seem helpful, it is better to see someone actually colour with the supplies beyond just filling tiny boxes for a good feel of the product(s). As you can see, my initial impression of the Kalour Macaron Colored Pencils was very good based on the swatches too; it wasn’t until I used the pencils in my drawing that I noticed the cons.

To be fair, these are budget pencils for a reason. I don’t expect them to be really lightfast, for example. But CAD$40 is still money, and I could have spent it on fewer but better professional quality pencils. You have to make that choice whether you want a smaller but higher end collection or a lot of cheap, lower quality art supplies.

Also, I prefer softer lead pencils, so whether you like these pencils may have more to do with your art style.

Conclusion

Though I was disappointed with the harder lead and difficulty to blend by burnishing, these pencils blended well with Gamsol and you can still create nice art work with them.

If you have a lot of Prismacolor Premier pencils, you may already have a lot of the shades. The pastel shades can be created with using the white pencil to blend mid-tone to lighter shades. 🙂

Update: this set is available on Amazon.ca for $28.99 with a $3 coupon right now. I purchased mine from Amazon US so I had to pay a hefty shipping cost, which added up to CAD$40.