This is a follow-up to my earlier comparison of Henri Roche, Sennelier, and Blue Earth soft pastels.

It has become increasingly difficult to source Henri Roche pastels in the US, and they’ve temporarily closed their online store. With that in mind, I decided to give Schmincke’s line of soft pastels* a try. I purchased an assortment of half stick and got started.

*This review is not sponsored content; all supplies were purchased by me, using my own funds.

I’ll be ticking with the same details as in my prior review.

I painted two pieces using just the Schmincke soft pastels to get a feel for them.

Here’s what I observed about the Schmincke pastels:

• Color characteristics: the Schmincke soft pastels have vibrant clean colors. Considerable attention is given to the tints and shades of each full saturation hue. They create contrast easily without muddying when smudged.
• How they feel in my fingers: these pastels are firm and dry and very even and consistent in size. They are less brittle than the Henri Roche pigments sometimes are. I’d call them “fine”, and they feel very good to use.
• How they lay down on a surface: these apply evenly and are comfortable to use. I noticed that they lay down enough color in a single stroke that I’ve almost used up a couple of them on just two pictures.
• How much dust do they make? I found it easy to get coverage and lay down a heavy layer of pigment with little dust pretty easy, and the dust falls to the floor or into the dust catch of my tabletop easel. Less airborne dust than with the Blue Earth pastels, but they do create quite a bit of dust.
• How easily they smudge and blend: the Schmincke pastels blend easily and smudge beautifully with a bit of pressure. They maintain the clarity of the colors when blending.
• How much I enjoy using them: sometimes a particular product just works for me. I like these enough to put them in my permanent rotation. They fit neatly somewhere between the Sennelier soft pastels and the Henri Roche soft pastels. I’ll definitely be getting more of these.

I hope this brief practical review is useful.