finenolo Colored Pencils Review – Solid 36-Piece Set for Adult Colorists

Quick Verdict

The finenolo colored pencils are a well-built 36-piece set that punches above most budget competitors. If you're after colored pencils for adult coloring books without stretching to professional-tier pricing, these are worth considering. I'd give them a solid 4.2 out of 5 — they're reliable workhorses for hobbyists and a sensible starter kit for anyone building their art supplies collection.

What Is the finenolo Colored Pencils Set?

On a rainy Saturday I unboxed these on my kitchen table, right next to a half-finished mandala I'd been meaning to complete for weeks. The set arrives in a cylindrical eco-friendly tube — no frustrating plastic clamshells to wrestle open — and inside you'll find 36 pencils plus a sharpener tucked into the cap. Each pencil wears a hexangular barrel made from lightweight wood, which felt reassuringly solid the moment I picked one up. The cores are oil-based and notably soft, which is the key differentiator here: oil-based leads tend to be sturdier and more pigmented than their wax counterparts, and they don't leave that waxy film some cheaper pencils do.

The colour range spans a broad spectrum — 36 distinct tones from muted earth tones to punchy primaries and a handful of deeper jewel shades. There's no colour chart included, but the pencils are clearly labelled by number, which makes grabbing the right shade mid-session straightforward enough. This isn't a professional artist's core set, but it's designed for adult colouring books and casual sketching, which is exactly the market finenolo is chasing.

Key Features

• 36 coloured pencils + eco-friendly storage tube + built-in sharpener
• Soft, thick oil-based cores with high lightfast rating
• Premium hexagonal wooden barrels for comfort grip and control
• Break-resistant leads that hold a finer point during detailed work
• No waxy film build-up on paper, even with multiple layers
• Pigments resist fading under sun and artificial light exposure
• Suitable for teens aged 12 and above; not recommended for young children

Hands-On Review

I started my testing by working through a mandala page — a geometry-heavy design that pushes pencils to layer, blend, and hold fine lines. The soft cores responded well under moderate pressure. I was able to build up gradients smoothly, and blending two adjacent shades (a warm terracotta into a dusty rose) took only a few strokes. What surprised me was how rarely I needed to re-sharpen. After two full pages of detailed work, the tips were still holding a usable point, which speaks to the break-resistant claim.

A few days in I switched to a more experimental sketch pad, testing the pencils on less forgiving paper. On standard printer paper the cores performed decently, though you could feel the difference compared to the heavier cardstock of my adult colouring books. The pigment load isn't as dense as you'd get from a Prismacolor set, but for the price it's genuinely competitive. I also tested the built-in sharpener on three separate occasions — it's functional, if basic. Good enough for a quick refresh mid-session, though I'd still recommend a quality desktop sharpener if you're doing precision illustration work.

By the end of the second week I'd worked through about six pages and half a sketch pad. No cores had snapped, and the colours hadn't faded under my desk lamp or the morning sunlight that creeps across my workspace. The hex barrels didn't roll off the desk once, which sounds trivial until you've spent twenty minutes hunting for a specific shade under your chair. The tube, honestly, is the weak link in the portability story — colours jostle together if you toss the tube in a bag. It's fine for home use, less ideal if you're regularly colouring on the go.

Who Should Buy It?

The finenolo coloured pencils are a strong match for:

• Adult colourists who want reliable, mid-tier performance without professional pricing
• Beginner artists building their first proper pencil set — the hexagonal grip aids muscle memory
• Gift-givers looking for a well-presented art supplies bundle for teens or hobbyist friends
• Anyone who colours regularly and wants a backup or travel set alongside their existing collection

Skip this set if you're a working illustrator who needs maximum pigment density and ultra-fine point retention for published work. Also skip if you exclusively colour on ultra-thin paper — these cores perform best on standard cardstock or thicker adult colouring book paper, and you'll see show-through on lighter stocks.

Alternatives Worth Considering

• Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils (24-piece) — If your budget stretches further, Prismacor's wax-based cores deliver superior pigment load and smoother blending, though at roughly double the price per pencil.
• Artecho Colored Pencils (48-piece) — A larger colour range with similar soft-core performance, though some users report more frequent tip breakage on heavier shading sessions.
• Faber-Castell Polychromos (36-piece) — Oil-based cores with professional-grade break resistance and lightfast ratings, but these land firmly in the premium price bracket aimed at serious artists rather than hobbyists.

FAQ

Final Verdict

After two weeks of regular use, the finenolo coloured pencils earned a permanent spot in my desk drawer rather than a return to the shelf. They're not the most pigment-rich pencils on the market, but they strike a smart balance between quality and cost — exactly what most adult colourists and hobbyist sketchers actually need. The oil-based cores layer smoothly, the hexagonal barrels feel comfortable during extended sessions, and the built-in sharpener adds a practical touch that many competitors skip. If you're in the market for colored pencils for adult coloring books and don't want to commit to a professional-tier investment, finenolo delivers where it counts.