This is the one people buy once and keep forever. Every single Neocolor II colour Caran d'Ache makes, all 84, laid out across two trays in a varnished birch and beech box with gold lettering and a gold clasp. Open the lid and it looks like a jewellery box for artists. Then you start drawing, the wax glides, a wet brush turns it into watercolour, and you realise it is not just pretty. It is the most complete Neocolor II kit money can buy.

What Is Inside the Wooden Box

The box itself is a piece of Swiss craftsmanship. Birch and beech wood with a protective dark mahogany varnish, gold silkscreened lettering inside and out, and a gold coloured fastening. It measures about 37.7 x 34.5 x 4.8cm, so it sits flat on a desk or slides into a shelf like a big art book. Made to the EN71 and ASTM D4236 safety standards.

Inside is the full Neocolor II palette. All 84 colours, from the brightest primaries to the subtlest greys, earths and metallics. No gaps, no compromises, no mixing a colour you could just pick up. If you work in mixed media, illustrate for a living, or teach, this is the box that means you never say "I don't have that colour" again.

And it is a showstopper of a gift. If you are buying for an artist who already has everything, this is the thing they did not buy themselves.

The Caran d'Ache Difference: Swiss Made Since 1915

Here is the thing about Caran d'Ache. They have been making drawing tools in Geneva for more than a century, and they still do it the slow way, in their own Swiss workshops at Thônex just outside the city. Not outsourced, not rebadged, not made wherever is cheapest this year. When the tin says Swiss Made, it means the pigment, the wax and the stick were all made by people who have been perfecting this exact thing for generations.

It is still a family company too. The Hübscher family has been at the helm since the 1930s, and today Carole Hübscher leads as the fourth generation. That is why the quality does not wobble from one batch to the next. A Neocolor II stick you buy today behaves exactly like the one your art teacher handed you years ago.

Caran d'Ache also has form for inventing the things the rest of the art world copies. They launched Prismalo in 1931, the world's first watercolour pencil, and turned their Neocolor wax pastel water soluble in 1972. Neocolor II is the original, which is why so many imitations get compared to it and so few come close. We have stocked Caran d'Ache at Art Shed Brisbane for years, and it is one of those brands our team actually buys for themselves.

Why Artists Keep Coming Back to Neocolor II

• Two mediums in one stick. A bold, creamy pastel when dry and a luminous watercolour the moment water touches it. Fewer tools to carry, more ways to work.
• No dust, no mess. Wax based, so nothing to breathe in, nothing to fix, nothing smudging across your desk.
• Works on almost anything. Paper, cardboard, wood, glass, fabric, leather and stone. Journals, rocks, windows, mixed media.
• Pigment that pulls its weight. High pigment content means real covering power, so light colours sit over dark and washes stay bright.
• The original water soluble wax pastel. Neocolor II has been on art school kit lists since 1972. Everything else is the copy.
• Made to last. Excellent lightfastness and a stick tough enough to survive a school pencil case, so your work and your tin both go the distance.

Using a Complete Neocolor II Palette

With the full range you can stop mixing and start choosing. Lay down a dry base in the exact colour you want, then glaze with water for depth. Layer a transparent wash of one colour over a dry layer of another for effects you cannot get from a single pan.

Try the rainbow technique Caran d'Ache loves: line up several colours side by side, draw them in one stroke, then brush water through for a seamless gradient. With 84 colours the transitions are silky.

Pair it with a 300gsm watercolour paper and a Caran d'Ache water brush and you have a complete studio in a box.

Browse the rest of our pastel sets, everything in pastels, or the full Caran d'Ache range.

Questions About the Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Wooden Box of 84