Editorial Policy

How I select products to review

I choose products to review based on what readers ask about, what I see artists using in practice, and what I find genuinely interesting to test. I do not charge brands for review coverage, I do not accept payment to prioritize a review, and I do not let a brand's marketing calendar determine what I write about.

If a product is widely available, reasonably priced, and gets asked about regularly, I'll eventually test it. If a brand releases something new that claims to do something different, I'll test it to see if the claim holds. I do not test products I cannot physically get my hands on, which means some obscure or region-limited sets will not appear here.

Testing methodology

Every product reviewed on this site goes through the same testing sequence before I write a word:

• Purchase at retail: I buy every set at standard retail price from Amazon or a local art supply store. No manufacturer samples, no pre-production review copies.
• Swatch testing: I swatch each color in the set dry, then activate with water at three dilutions — light, medium, heavy. I note dissolve behavior, wash evenness, and how color shifts when wet.
• Paper testing: I test on at least three paper surfaces: 140lb cold press watercolor paper, 140lb hot press watercolor paper, and student-grade cartridge paper. The same pencil behaves differently on each.
• Layering and blending: I test wet-on-wet, wet-on-dry, and pencil-over-dried-wash layering. I also test color mixing between different pencils in the set.
• Lightfastness: For lightfastness claims, I expose swatches to direct window light for a minimum of three months before making permanence assessments. I cross-reference my results with published ASTM and Blue Wool scale ratings from the manufacturer.
• Practical artwork: I finish the testing process by using the set in a real piece — typically a botanical study. This is where small technical issues either reveal themselves as significant problems or turn out not to matter in actual use.

Testing a full set properly takes between 20 and 40 hours depending on set size. I do not publish a review until that process is complete.

Affiliate relationships

This site participates in the Amazon Associates program. When you click an Amazon link and make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. The commission rate is identical across all products, so there is no financial incentive for me to push you toward any particular brand or price point.

Affiliate relationships do not influence editorial decisions. Products are ranked and recommended based on test results. If the best product for your needs is also the least expensive one on the page, that is what I will tell you. Read the full affiliate disclosure.

Editorial independence

No brand, advertiser, or affiliate partner has editorial input on this site. I do not allow brands to review content before publication, approve language, or request changes to scores or recommendations. I have declined requests from brands asking for pre-publication review access.

I do not accept free products in exchange for reviews. If that policy ever changes — for instance, if I receive a sample to accelerate testing of a newly released set — I will disclose it clearly in that specific review.

Corrections policy

If I make a factual error, I correct it and note the change at the end of the affected article with a correction date. I do not silently edit reviews to remove mistakes. If a product's formulation changes after I have reviewed it, I will either re-test and update the review or add a note stating that the reviewed version may differ from current stock.

To flag a potential error, email me at contact@bestwatercolorpencil.com. I read every message.

Scores and rankings

Scores on this site reflect my personal assessment based on the testing criteria above. They are not crowd-sourced ratings, manufacturer ratings, or Amazon ratings. A score of 9/10 means the product performed exceptionally well across all testing dimensions — pigment quality, solubility, lightfastness, build quality, and value for price. Scores are reassessed when I re-test a product or when a significant formulation change is reported.

Contact

Questions about editorial decisions, testing methodology, or specific reviews: contact@bestwatercolorpencil.com.