Product Review Series | ft. Prismacolor Verithin Pencils

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Recently I was in my local Michael's store, and I'm not even really sure why because their selection has gone down hill in the paper crafting areas and I'm always so disappointed; but I had just dropped my son off at soccer practice and it was right across the street.... you know how these things are. 

Anyway, I'm wandering about and I see that all the Prismacolor sets are on sale, like crazy on sale and I already have the 132 set so I don't need those, but they do carry the Verithins in the 24/36 pack, but for whatever reason they are NOT included in the sale stuff. So I take the 36 ('cause if I'm going to get them, I'm going to get them all) to the counter and the lady says I can use a coupon; this worked out exceptionally well for me because the price after the coupon was better than the price would have been if they were included in the sale! YAY!!

As always, this is going to be a lengthy post with a bunch of pictures, so grab a coffee and tuck right in. 

Unlike the Premiers that come in snazzy little tins, the Verithins do not. They come in these cardboard boxes that you have to open and slide then bend backwards to create an easel and then they stand up but then you have to do everything backwards just to put them away and .... really? SERIOUSLY Prismacolor? 

Okay, so here we have it standing up and as you can see there are a few things we're going to notice right out of the gate.

• Crappy cardboard box container - let's be honest, this isn't going to last.
• Unsharpened pencils
• 36 Vibrant colours - more on this later
• Hexagonal Barrels
• Contains a Silver and a Gold 

As you know I am a huge fan of the T'GAAL Multi-Sharpener, I was using a super inexpensive electric sharpener and that worked great but the amount of waste was killing me.... I was dying inside watching my beloved pencils be ground to dust  - well not really dying inside but it was getting very irksome. So after a few videos, I decided to give this a try and I am so beyond glad I did. It's ridiculously expensive and worth every cent.

These pencils sharpen very nicely, they have a harder core than Premiers so I was less worried about it snapping off (which has never even happened with this sharpener.... just sayin'). I also noticed that the core is much smaller than with Premiers. I tried to get a good shot to show you the ends, but that wasn't working out for me, so you'll just have to trust me, there's a difference and it's noticeable.

Here I wanted to compare the Verithins (bottoms) next to their corresponding colour in the Premiers (tops). As you can see here there is a big difference in both the size of the core and the size of the barrel. That being said, I have arthritis in my right hand from a sports injury back in school, I could tell immediately that holding these pencils for a long time would be a problem for me.

The name and number of the pencil is stamped into the barrel which is super handy, except while they use the same names for the pencils, they do not use the same numbers. I'm okay with that, I swatch by name - what I'm confused about is the half-numbers. As you can see in the picture above, the top pencil is Pumpkin Orange (one of my absolute favourites) it is numbered as 736 1/2. Not sure why. I don't see a reason for it at all. They clearly have enough numbers for all the pencils considering there is only 36 in the largest set and you cannot buy these open stock. So just a fun little quirk from the gang at Prismacolor.

For the purposes of this review, I have used 110lb white cardstock (my usual go-to for most projects), the image is from Lawn Fawn's "Our Friendship Grows" set stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. 

On the left I created a mini swatch using the same colours from each set. Pumpkin Orange, Goldenrod and Canary Yellow. 

• Premiers lay down more pigment
• Premiers are more vibrant
• Verithins are like softer versions of the colour
• Verithins hold true to the colour - it really just looks like I didn't press as hard with the same pencil

On the right I wanted to compare how they lay down individually then together (as they are meant to do); using the same three colours from each set as shown in the swatch on the left. The first flower is just Premiers, the second is just Verithins and the third is a mix of the two. 

• After laying down the Premier for the third flower I went over with the Verithins and it really feels like nothing is happening.
• You can feel a noticeable difference in the hardness of the cores, think spreading butter at room temperature then someone switching it out for frozen butter. 
• Once the Verithin pencil has been applied over the Premier the intensity is amazing. Without even feeling like I was doing anything the results were incredible.
• The Verithins seem to burnish the paper and flatten out the tooth, while blending the pigment from the Premiers underneath.

Overall, these pencils are nice to have; provided you aren't using them as your primary medium. I would never use these exclusively on a project, the hard lead doesn't allow for blending and there just aren't enough colours in the pack to do a project the way I like to work. And to be honest, if they didn't qualify for use with the coupon I would have put the right back on the shelf.

I could certainly live without them and unless you are doing crazy line work I wouldn't say that they are necessary in the craft room. But that's really the point of them. They say right on the back of the box they are for fine details and outline work. I think the "magic" of these pencils is to replace the blender pencil (which I never use anyway). 

The hard core lends itself well to blending the softer pigment already laid down as it helps in burnishing it down into the paper. Adding additional layers of colour over top of these is not an easy task, they have already pushed down the tooth of the paper and with nothing left for the softer core to grab on to, these are definitely best left to the very end of a project.

I probably wouldn't miss these if they were misplaced and I probably won't replace them when they wear down, especially since I'm not able to get them individually. I don't suspect that they will need to be replaced any time soon, as the hard core means the pencil will last longer so sharpening is infrequent. 

It is also important to note that there is a warning right on the box that the Gold VT754 contains copper and they don't recommend eating, drinking or smoking while using these. So keep that in mind if you are a pencil chewer. Metal poisoning is no joke. As with any art supply - keep out of reach of children and pets.

I hope you like today's review. If you have any questions about this product or a suggestion for a future review, please drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know. I love to hear from you. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts.

*disclaimer: I am not sent products for review, nor am I paid to review them. I review the products that I personally use, that I find interesting and that I have paid for with my own money. I get no incentive, reward or payment to write a review. All reviews are based off of my personal experience and are my opinions only.