Oh, you guys — it happened again. I bought two Kalour 180-pencil sets thinking I was getting something different with each one — an oil-based formula and a wax-based formula — and after swatching them side by side, I’m pretty sure we’ve been sold the same core twice. If that sounds familiar, it’s because we ran into almost the exact same situation with Marco just a few weeks ago! Today we’re going to dig into what’s actually different between these two sets (spoiler: it’s mostly the packaging and the core size) and whether any of that really matters for your coloring.
Video Description
I bought two Kalour 180-pencil sets because one was sold as oil-based and the other as wax-based. After swatching them side by side, the cores are the same. The only real differences are the core size (about 3.8 mm vs 3 mm) and how the two sets are packaged and marketed. If this feels familiar, we ran into a similar situation with Marco a few weeks ago. Two different boxes. Same core.
===COLORING BLISS PRODUCTS===
Simple Bliss Autumn Coloring Cards
Packs A & B: https://www.coloringbliss.com/product/coloring-cards-autumn-charm-packs-ab/
Pack A: https://www.coloringbliss.com/product/coloring-cards-autumn-charm-pack-a/
Pack B: https://www.coloringbliss.com/product/coloring-cards-autumn-charm-pack-b/
Simple Bliss Autumn Coloring Book
Printed Version: https://www.coloringbliss.com/product/simple-bliss-volume-8-autumn-charm/
Digital Download Version: https://www.coloringbliss.com/product/simple-bliss-volume-8-autumn-charm-digital-version/
See All of Our Coloring Cards
https://www.coloringbliss.com/new-coloring-cards/
See Our Swatch Books
https://www.coloringbliss.com/shop-swatch-books/
===LINKS===
KALOUR 180 Colored Pencil Set
https://amzn.to/4x9YEoR
Castle Art Supplies 72 Autumn Colored Pencil Set
https://amzn.to/4hiYpDh
===RECOMMENDED VIDEOS===
KALOUR Colored Pencils Review [PLUS Full Length Color Along] https://youtu.be/CgT6WFpU7Pc?si=SJ4NUgcRKfyEcJY1
KALOUR Colored Pencils – Macaron & Metallic Review
https://youtu.be/DcoPLw4CsFQ?si=YP3D4lLOkx-vha3x
The TOP 3 Cheap Colored Pencils on Amazon in 2024
https://youtu.be/u7WPXaYqor8?si=HJZEz0qp00O0mnEn
===CHAPTER MARKERS===
00:00:00 – Welcome & Introduction
00:04:44 – Comparing the two Kalour Pencil Sets
00:13:10 – Swatching a 180 Set
00:18:30 – Testing the Pencils
00:26:07 – Testing Results
00:30:48 – New Autumn Coloring Cards!
00:36:18 – Coloring an Autumn Card
00:40:22 – My Recommendation
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Transcript
Calor 180 Colored Pencils: Red Deer vs. Black Elephant — Full Comparison
Look what I have on my desk today! Number one: color. Number two: color. And finally, number three: color. I went shopping for colored pencils and came away with three different tins. They’re all colored pencils, but each tin contains something a little different — and I’m excited to compare and contrast them with you today.
Now, we’re only going to compare two of the three sets, because I think this video would be way too long and complicated if we tried to cover all three. So I’m going to quickly eliminate one tin — this one at the bottom right here. It’s watercolor pencils. We’re going to do a standalone video where I talk about those, so make sure you subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell so you don’t miss it.
Today, we’re going to compare these two tins. This one we’re going to call the Calor 180 Black Elephant set, and this one we’re going to call the Calor 180 Red Deer set. That’s how we’ll distinguish the two from each other.
I bought all of these pencils with my own money so I can be as unbiased as possible and tell you, by the end of this video, which set I think you should purchase — the Red Deer or the Black Elephant. I’m excited because technically they’re supposed to be very different, and we’re going to put them through some tests. We’re going to swatch them and do some actual coloring so we can see how each set performs.
One of my big questions going in: are the colors inside both tins the same 180 colors, or is it 180 colors here and an entirely different 180 there? I’m so curious.
One reason I went shopping in the first place is because I have a humble little set of colored pencils that I use all the time here in the studio — this one right here. It’s a Calor 72-piece set. This set won third place in our Battle of Budget Colored Pencils on Amazon back in 2024. Third place — and I reach for it quite often. It’s a simple little set of really well-performing pencils.
I also own two other Calor sets, but they’re specialty sets. I have a Calor Metallic Colored Pencils set and a Calor Macaron Pastel Pencils set, and I have videos on both. If you’re interested in either of those, check out those videos because I really liked both of them.
So why haven’t I invested more time and money into the Calor line in general? One reason — and I’ll mention this quickly before we dive into the tests. I find the Calor line of pencils overwhelming and confusing. When you go shopping, you find all these different types of pencils in sets ranging from 50 pencils all the way up to 520. I never know where to begin. Every time I went shopping, I got discouraged, confused, and walked away.
But this time, I thought, “This is actually kind of cool.” Three sets, all by the same brand, all different — but all 180-piece sets. That opened up a lot of questions and a lot of possibilities. So I’m excited to dive in today.
My name is Jennifer State. This is Coloring Bliss. Let’s talk about Calor.
A note from Jennifer in the future: This video did not turn out the way I expected when I started it. I ended up feeling very frustrated by the results after all the swatching and testing. I hope you enjoy watching me work through it and discover some things that genuinely frustrated me about this brand.
But at the end of the video, I’m really excited to do some coloring — something very special. We just released our Autumn Coloring Cards, and I’m so excited for all of you autumn lovers out there. Spring and autumn are my two favorite seasons, so I can’t wait to introduce this new collection to you. Stay tuned to the end for the finished coloring. Okay — good luck to all of us. Let’s go back.
Looking at the Tins
As I said, we’re setting the watercolor pencils aside — but let’s just appreciate that tin for a second. Look how pretty it is. We’ll play with those another day.
Today we’re here for the Red Deer and the Black Elephant. Let me take the plastic off of both and we’ll start by looking at the tins.
Both tins are labeled “180-Piece Premium Colored Pencils.” The Red Deer tin adds the words “Soft Touch Premium Expert,” while the Black Elephant tin says “Premium Expert” without “Soft Touch.” Both say: artist premium quality, rich and vibrant color, soft smooth lead, non-toxic.
One difference that jumps out immediately: the Red Deer set advertises a 3.8 mm pencil core. This set is also a little more expensive on Amazon, and I believe that’s the primary reason. The Black Elephant set has a smaller core — I believe around 3.3 mm, but I’ll check with my digital calipers once we open the tins.
The Red Deer tin really leans into advertising the 3.8 mm core, claiming it’s 0.8 mm thicker than regular pencils. It also says: 180 unique vibrant colors, no duplicates — which I think means no duplicates within the tin, not necessarily compared to a different set. It continues with: artist quality for every level of expertise, ideal for precision coloring and filling, professional grade, unsurpassably lightfast and acid-free quality pigments, smooth color lay-down, break resistant, vast color range.
I hope the lightfast claim is true, but there’s no supporting evidence on the packaging, so I can’t verify it. Aside from the core size information, the backs of both tins are nearly identical. Both say ages 3 and up, made in China.
Opening the Tins
Let’s open the Black Elephant tin. Got it!
Looking at the inside lids, both list: 180 pieces — 168 regular colors plus 12 metallic. The color numbering system appears to be the same across both tins. Checking number 61 in both — navy blue. The charts look identical. So both tins appear to be using the same color chart, which means the colors are likely interchangeable between the two sets.
Both tins also include a large printed swatch chart for you to fill in yourself. That’s actually impressive — I don’t think I’ve seen any other brand include something like this. A big, nicely organized chart like that is a really thoughtful touch.
Now, looking at the pencils themselves: the Black Elephant set has fully color-dipped pencils in black trays. The Red Deer set has end-dipped pencils with black upper barrels in red trays.
I found number 008 (orange) in both sets. Both say “Calor” on the barrel, both show the color name in large print and the number in a decent size. Both use metallic printing. The Black Elephant pencil also says “PDAS” on it. Peeking down the barrel of each, you can clearly see a difference in core size.
Measuring the Core with Digital Calipers
Let’s get out the digital calipers and verify.
Starting with the Red Deer set, which should be 3.8 mm — I’m getting 3.89, so essentially 3.9 mm. Close enough to the advertised spec.
Now for the Black Elephant set — I’m getting 3.0 mm. So we have a 3.0 mm core on one side and a 3.8 mm core on the other. That’s a meaningful size difference.
Here’s the other key claim: the Black Elephant set is wax-based, and the Red Deer set is oil-based. So we’ve got two different core sizes and two supposedly different formulas. We’re going to test both of those claims thoroughly.
Swatching
First, I need to swatch all of these — 180 pencils from each set, for a total of 360 pencils. I’ll be using my Swatch Bliss Swatching Catalog, Volume 1, which is printed on colored pencil paper to give the pencils the best advantage.
One quick complaint before I start: the included swatch chart is organized numerically, but the pencils in the trays are in no particular order at all. If they’d included the pencils in numerical order, we could have swatched them directly onto the chart. Instead, I have to pull them all out and organize them myself — which is a bit exhausting.
I decided to organize them by color family rather than numerically — starting with yellows, moving through yellow-oranges, oranges, reds, and around the color wheel. Neutrals with a clear color lean go into the appropriate category, and the remaining neutrals go at the end along with the metallics, black, white, and gray.
For the Black Elephant set, I decided to go ahead and organize it numerically. That way, I can quickly find matching pencil numbers when cross-referencing with the Red Deer set.
Once the swatching was done, a few observations:
The color balance across both sets leans heavily toward greens — if you love greens, these sets are excellent for you. There are also plenty of earth tones and a good range of purples. Many of the colors are quite close to one another, which is typical for large sets. The metallics have a slight sheen compared to the regular pencils — not dramatic, but noticeably less flat than the standard colors. And of course, there’s a selection of grays plus black and white at the end.
As for the numbering system: it’s essentially useless for color selection purposes. The numbers don’t correspond to any logical color order. The only real use for organizing numerically is if you want to quickly return a pencil to its place using the provided swatch chart.
One quality control issue worth mentioning: several pencils in the Red Deer set have noticeably brown barrels instead of black. It’s not slightly off — they’re genuinely brown. There were also a few pencils with messy color dipping that slipped past quality control. Given the price point, there has to be some flexibility here. If these were Polychromos pencils, that would be unacceptable — but at this price range, it’s worth noting without being a dealbreaker.
The Five-Step Testing Worksheet
I pulled 14 colors from each set — one for each position on the color wheel, plus white and brown — with matching colors from both tins for a side-by-side comparison.
Pricing and specs, confirmed:
- Calor Red Deer (oil-based, 3.8 mm core): $39.99 / ~22 cents per pencil
- Calor Black Elephant (wax-based, ~3.0 mm core): $34.99 / ~19 cents per pencil
Step 1 — Swatching on black and white paper: Both sets performed identically. Typically, a wax-based pencil is more opaque on black paper — but there was no visible difference between the two.
Step 2 — Three-color blend (yellow, orange, red) using blending thirds: Results were comparable across both sets.
Step 3 — Two-color solvent blend (blue + yellow = green, activated with odorless mineral spirits): Again, essentially identical results.
Step 4 — Crumbs and sharpening test (light to heavy pressure): Both sets produced a similar amount of crumbs. One practical difference: the smaller core in the Black Elephant set means you’ll need to sharpen those pencils more frequently, as more wood surrounds less core. Tested in my AFMAT colored pencil sharpener.
Step 5 — Layering test (violet, multiple layers): Oil-based pencils are typically known for accepting more layers before waxing out. I was hoping to see a difference here, but both sets performed the same.
Bonus Step 6 — Water solubility test: This is where there was one slight, measurable difference. The Black Elephant (wax-based) pencils showed slightly more color movement when hit with water than the Red Deer (oil-based) pencils. This could indicate a minor formula difference — or it could simply be a batch variation. Either way, the difference was small.
The Verdict
After completing all the tests, my husband Steve and I looked at the results together and agreed: there is no meaningful, tangible difference between these two sets.
The only slight difference appeared in the water solubility test. Everything else — layers, crumbs, blending, solvent performance — was identical. The marketing claims that these are two different formulas, but the testing didn’t support that.
Steve: “I think it’s just another example — like Marco — of a brand trying to double-dip on Amazon.”
That’s exactly what it feels like. And here’s the thing: I actually applaud Calor for creating a larger-core pencil. That’s genuinely a good product decision. What’s frustrating is the claim that the two sets use different formulas — wax versus oil — when the performance is identical. If they had simply been honest and said, “Here’s a smaller core version and here’s a larger core version, same formula, different price,” that would have been fine. Instead, they’ve marketed them as fundamentally different products, and that’s misleading.
If there is a formula difference, it’s so slight that I can’t perceive it — and that means it’s not worth buying both sets.
My Recommendation
If you’re new to the Calor line, I recommend the Red Deer set — the one with the larger 3.8 mm oil-based core. For five dollars more than the Black Elephant set, you get a better core size, and since they appear to be the same formula anyway, you might as well go with the more comfortable pencil to use. I’ll put a link to that set in the video description.
If you’ve already purchased the Black Elephant set and were hoping the Red Deer pencils would perform differently — they don’t, so you don’t need to buy both.
When you do buy in, I’d also recommend getting a good case to store your pencils in — something that holds 200 to 250 pencils. Spreading them out by color category makes finding what you need so much easier than digging through the trays. That one change would make working with these pencils a genuine pleasure.
As budget-friendly, moderately performing Chinese colored pencils, the Calor sets are decent. Just go in with realistic expectations and enjoy them for what they are.
Coloring Time — Simple Bliss Autumn Charm
Now let’s change the energy of this video from frustrating to fun — because it’s time to color!
I’m coloring from our brand-new release: Simple Bliss Volume 8: Autumn Charm. I love this name because I truly believe autumn is one of the most charming of all the seasons. The collection is available in two formats: a coloring book (with your choice of paper) or our Simple Bliss Cards, printed on a premium 120 lb / 325 gsm card stock. Each card gives you a short, satisfying coloring moment — most of the cards on our back wall took me about 20 to 30 minutes to color. It’s the perfect way to sit down, take a breath, and just enjoy coloring.
This collection features 100 illustrations, all hand-drawn by our incredibly talented Coloring Bliss artist, Anastasia. I’m so grateful that we can offer art that is genuinely hand-drawn — not AI-generated. These are beautifully thought-through, charming illustrations that I know you’re going to love.
If you purchase both packs of the Simple Bliss Autumn Charm cards, we’ll include a Bliss Blank Art Cards deck — a $9.99 value — as a free gift. These blank cards are wonderful for swatching, testing, doodling, and all kinds of creative use. I highly recommend getting your order in as soon as possible to take advantage of this limited-time offer.
My copy of the book is printed on our beautiful toned tan paper — a light-textured 80 lb mixed media paper that works wonderfully with colored pencils, pastels, gel pens, and markers.
For today’s coloring, I chose an illustration from Simple Bliss Autumn Charm Pack B — a page featuring cozy blankets. Three blankets means three different color schemes, and it’s a perfect subject for exploring texture with colored pencils.
Since we’re working on mixed media paper rather than dedicated colored pencil paper, I knew I’d get two to three layers at most. So I focused on two- and three-color blends to create dimension in each blanket.
For the top blanket, I worked with yellows and oranges. The middle blanket got reds, red-violets, and a touch of red-orange. The bottom blanket used blues with a little blue-green mixed in. For the background, I chose green — partly because I wanted to remember that this set is heavy on greens, and partly because it felt right for an autumn scene. I used two greens: one for the overall background and a darker one to add shadow beneath the blankets.
I’m really happy with how it turned out. The shading, the texture, the dimension — it all came together beautifully, and it only took about 30 minutes from start to finish.
Going into the coloring session, I had low expectations after such a frustrating testing experience. And because I wasn’t expecting these pencils to perform like a Polychromos, a Holbein, or a Derwent — I just let myself enjoy them for what they are. And with that attitude, I genuinely had a lovely time.
Final Thoughts
If you made it to the end of this video — thank you so much for sticking with me through the frustrating parts. I hope you learned a lot, even if the results weren’t what either of us was hoping for.
I’d love to know: how do you feel about Calor marketing these two sets as two fundamentally different types of pencils, rather than simply being transparent that one has a smaller core and one has a larger core? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
Don’t forget to order your Simple Bliss Autumn Charm coloring cards or book — the link is in the video description. And for a limited time, you’ll receive a free set of Bliss Blank Art Cards (a $9.99 value) with your purchase of both card packs.
Thank you so much for watching. I hope you all have a wonderful, colorful, blissful, autumn-filled day. Bye-bye, everyone! 🍂
