15 Classic Neocolor II Water-Soluble Pastels

by Caran d´Ache

Price: 27 USD / 18 Pounds / 25 Euros

12 Inktense pencils

by Derwent

Price: 20 USD / 13 Pounds / 18 Euros

My Thoughts:
I loved both, but use the Caran d’Ache more often. They are both quite expensive if you buy them new. I bought the crayons secondhand – only 10 euros and they were almost new – and got the pencils for my birthday.

The colors for both are very vibrant and they can be used wet and dry. The Neocolor crayons are easier to blend, because the Inktense pencils cannot be reactivated with water after blending. This does make them better suited for more detailed work, but I find that larger areas are difficult to blend since the pencils cannot be reactivated, so everything has to be covered while wet.
The crayons are the opposite: they can be reactivated after drying which makes them more suitable for rough sketches.

I think this makes them difficult to compare, since they have such different usages, so I would say: see if you’d rather work in detail or more rough drawings.