Rembrandt Soft Pastels Review

Since my recent purchase of Sennelier extra soft pastels didn’t cover more yellow skin tones, I bought a pack of 5 Rembrandt soft pastels in Burnt Sienna to fill the gap. At CAD$11.99 (available at Deserres), Rembrandt is much cheaper than Sennelier. However, there are substantial differences between these two brands. For a review of Rembrandt soft pastels and how they compare to Sennelier, please read on. 🙂

The actual shades are a close match to the ones printed on the packaging.

Description of Rembrandt soft pastels:

Rembrandt is owned by Royal Talens, who also manufactured my very first student grade watercolour paint set called Van Gogh. I loved it and thought the quality was good for the price. Royal Talens/Rembrandt is made in the Netherlands.

By the way, I am glad these are lightfast and free of cadmium! I blend with my fingers a lot, so I appreciate that these are free of toxic ingredients.

Rembrandt v. Sennelier

Straight out of the package, the differences between Rembrandt and Sennelier soft pastels are obvious. Rembrandt soft pastels look machine made, uniform in shape with no holes or dents, and have a shiny appearance. Sennelier extra soft pastels look very matte and handcrafted.

Texture wise, Sennelier extra soft pastels are much softer and powdery when you pick them up. Your hands will get very dirty even just taking them out of the insert. In comparison, Rembrandt’s soft pastels feel firmer and heavier, like chocolate, and they do not dirty my hands when I paint with them. Both are creamy but Sennelier extra soft pastels spread on Pastelmat paper smoother than butter.

Performance: Alone and Mixed with Sennelier

I am painting Tom Ellis as Lucifer on Pastelmat. I sharpened my sketch in this photo so you can see better.

I painted the skin on the right with only Rembrandt Soft Pastels in Burnt Sienna, and mixed them with Sennelier Dark Skin Tones half pastels on the left. The Rembrandt soft pastels went on smooth and blend easily on their own but also mixed very well with Sennelier, Mungyo and Stabilo CarbOthello pastels.

In addition, I used Mungyo (not pictured) soft pastels for the red shirt and Stabilo CarbOthello pastel pencils to add the highlights on Tom Ellis’ face.

By the way, these soft pastels blend best with Sofft tools that I usually use to paint with PanPastels. The sponges give the pigments a very smooth blend that fills the tooth of the paper more evenly than my fingers.

Overall Rembrandt 5-Pack Soft Pastel Half Sticks Review

Rembrandt soft pastels review beautifully. They are lightfast, soft, creamy, but not overly powdery or fragile. They are firmer than Sennelier but that can be a pro if you need to do details. I find these easy to work with and they play well with my other pastels of all price ranges.

In addition, there are other 5-pack in different shades so you can build a custom set of pastels according to your preferences. The price is not as steep as Sennelier either. All in all, it’s a great set and I recommend them.