The Faber-Castell Oil Pastels I Can't Quit (Even Though I Kind of Want To)

There’s a specific heartbreak in opening a fresh box of art supplies and loving and resenting them at the same time. That’s my relationship with Faber-Castell oil pastels. Months running now, no end in sight, all because the colours are too good to walk away from.

The pigment quality is genuinely stunning — rich, saturated, buttery when layered. Blending is smooth, the hues feel true, and there’s a warmth to the palette I haven’t found elsewhere. When a piece is working, it’s *really* working.

Then there’s the quality control. Or the apparent lack of it. Some glide like a dream; others drag like sandpaper. You start second-guessing your own technique — was it me, my paper, too much pressure? — and then a different stick from the same set works perfectly, and you realize: it was never you.

Other brands are either duller but reliable, or exciting on paper and worse in practice. Faber-Castell has just enough magic in the pigment to keep me hooked, like a friend who’s unreliable but always shows up with the best stories. Every new stick is a tiny gamble — will it glide, or crumble into dust on my desk? You don’t know until you commit.

I’ll probably never make peace with this. Not a healthy dynamic, not a rational one, but a permanent fixture of my art drawer — crumbly bits and all.

Got a love-hate art supply of your own? Misery loves colourful company.