Are these REALLY Polychromos quality? Deli (Starjoy 72) Colored Pencil Review

People have been raving about these budget colored pencils claiming that they are as good as FaberCastel Polychomos but are they? I'll put them to the test in today's review!

First let's start with the similarities to polychromos pencils:
*layers well
*nice color payout
*Same fimness of lead
*resists breaking
*no snapping or crumbling of lead when sharpened to a fine point
*Thick lead like Polychromos

Now let's see what is different:
*Deli pencils have a bit more drag, less smooth (not scratchy tho)'
*Polychromos has a more natural color palette where this Deli/StarJoy has more vibrant colors. There are several "samey" peaches and other redundant colors and it leaves out other useful colors. The bight pinks and purles in the deli/starjoy palette are different than Polychomos and probably not lightfast if that is a concern for you.
*I couldn't build up as much rich color on smoother paper as I could with polychromos
*Polychromos has a richer and more natural palette as opposed to Deli
*Deli pencils are very water reactive where polychromos are mostly water-resistant.
*Price: Deli is about 36 cents a pencil and Polychromos os about $2.26 sents in sets.
*Polychromos is vailabe open stock and deli is not as far as I know.

Credits:
Video production and Craft ideas: Lindsay Weirich
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Social media links:

*This post may contain affiliate links
#thefrugalcrafter #watercolor #art

[yolandacui]

Thanks for the great review as always! Your positivity always brings warmth to my heart especially with more and more negativity online theses days. Deli has been the most popular stationery brand in China from at least 20 years ago and they only started making higher end art supply recently as China gets richer. Before they were mostly making kids stuff comparable to Cryola. Just think you might like to know.

[nataliewhite]

Lindsay I LOVE the deli pencils! I don’t compare them to polys but I love them as they are. I really enjoy using them I’ve reordered them 3 times.

[PursuingHeaven]

Great review Lindsay. I actually bought Deli first because I wasn't all that keen on the few open stock Poly Chromos I had, but then I started to work with Deli and improve my oil pencil technic and decided to buy the whole Poly Chromos set. I really appreciated using Deli during that learning time period which was almost two yrs. I now like to use Poly Chromo and Prisma together. I don't like using either by themselves and prefer using pencils like Luminance and Holbein because they are more a mixture of oil and wax. I still use Deli to practice when I don't want to waste my professional pencils. I like them a lot for a budget pencil, but I would say my budget Cezanne's are better, but only slightly,

[FaerieDust]

I've looked at these a few times, but I'm holding off on buying a larger set of pencils for now - I keep switching between colored pencils and pastel pencils, I'll wait with getting a big set until I've figured out what I like using more!

[NaomiCoutureArt]

Another great review. Even though I'm not looking for budget pencils as I love my other brands too much, I appreciate the time and testing you put into your reviews.

[twingytwango]

Oh I purchased this two weeks ago directly from China. I also bought the Nyoni 120 set. BUT I think the Deli is more finely pigmented. Mind you I’m a novice in all this. I watched a video from a Colorist in New York and she spoke about both, so I jumped online and got them.

[ArtBrain]

Thanks! I took a colored pencil class on Bluprint and I like the teacher's strategy of just getting a few open stock basics of good quality pencils (like you said). Nice pencils layer well and you can mix many colors with them.

[michelefaith]

Lindsay, I'm not a pencil person, but I love your reviews. I love that you use the product, compare them to other supplies and give your honest opinion. Unfortunately, your reviews always cause me to spend more $$$ because they spark joy in my hoarder habit. Now, if my husband knew where much of my art supply spending sprees originated from, he'd try to block me from watching you! I also need to point out, and don't want to forget to tell you, I love your watercolor tutorials. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.

[tbm]

The protector is great when using markers too!

[chevgage]

Lol I watch these videos knowing I will never want this product just because it's relaxing to listen to you talk about them anyway

[mjpete]

Nice review! I am not in the market for budget pencils and I have plenty of better quality supplies as far as pencils go, but I could not help but but those square pencils that you raved about, I just wanted to see how accurate your experience translated to mine. You were spot on with your evaluation. I am never going to create artwork with sub-standard supplies ever again. I am doing some coloring book work to keep my eye hand coordination skills and I do not need permanent colors for that! Thank you for sharing your opinions on these pencils and I look forward to seeing your next watercolor video.

[cLyon-xios]

Thank you, Lindsey, for your honesty and thoroughness!

[stanky]

Great review, Lindsay! They look like they'd be so fun to used. Thank you for your honest, unbiased and the in depth review. I loved it! Tfs.

[samanthaglorioso]

Just clicked your link for these pencils, and they are $23.99 US, and are available. But I already have too many pencils! My favorites are still my Prismas, and I have all of them. I also have 2 great art stores near me, and can get open stock easily. I also watch for the Prismas 72 set, as they go on sale more often than other sets, and I keep them as "spares" and refill my pencil wallet with pencils from the sets. I currently have 2 sets to use this way. I just purchased all the sets of Black Widow pencils, and while i am not a fan of harder pencils, these blend and layer well, and the color range is amazing. Great review Lindsay!

[createdbless]

Thank you Lindsay! "You can rainbow order yours if you want." That's right! They look great on black! I enjoy using colored pencils but find them a little hard to work with so I use them for small scale images, since you don't really have to shade, or at least I don't hahaha I have shading issues for sure, but I am learning!!!

[twingytwango]

I definitely prefer both above the Castle Arts. My next favourite is the Shuttle Art. I’m toying with the idea of purchasing the Schpirerr Farben.

[christinahutchison]

I appreciate your honesty in your reviews. Thank you

[beckywebster]

Oh yes...and the 120 set has quite a few colors that are so close, almost indistinguishable. I took a look at my swatches for my expensive sets and it is amazing the way poly can have 120 colors but they are all very diff (better be for the price)

[robot]

Untinning, yes!
Got 48 colour pencils for € 3, 50. Are they any good? Well, at this price they're pretty good 😉 There's always a trade-off. Haven't even tried them yet, I'm like a cat, just give me the box 😸 and I 💚 the box.
14:20 like a thousand pencils is the norm? You're just the frugal hoarder, good for you.

[carmennunez]

Another great review, thank you for the time you invested. Love your cupcakes.