Caran d'Ache Luminance Dupes Worth It or Not?

I am always on the lookout for new and different pencils to review, I look at the pencils and wonder if the pencils in question are designed to hoodwink customers. If I think this is the case, then I have to buy them and test them so that I can hopefully provide helpful information regarding them, information such as whether or not they are a good buy, if they are accurately represented on the package, if I think the manufacture has deliberately set out to dupe customers.

One such set of pencils that I seen was the Gold Horse Colored Pencils on AliExpress or also named Golden Horse Master 78 Colored Pencils. When I originally seen them, I thought that the pencils not only looked exactly like the Caran d’Ache Luminance Colored Pencils, but also that the packaging was identical internally and similar artwork on the front. In this review we are going to discover some of the shady tactics used to sell these pencils and then what I thought of the pencils.

Supreme Lead Gold Horse Design Colored Pencils Characteristics

This is actually a difficult review to compose because there are so many facets to the conclusion. First thing is the packaging and how the pencils are sold on AliExpress. As I mentioned, when you see the images on AliExpress selling the Gold Horse Colored Pencils, they look identical to the Caran d’Ache Luminance in every way you can imagine.

As you can see from the image on AliExpress, the pencils are identical, but as you can also see from the images I took of the actual pencils, whilst they do look similar, they are absolutely not the pencils in the image being sold. The pigment identifier on the Caran d’Ache Luminance is only 1 cm but the Gold Horse Colored Pencils pigment identifier is 2.5 cm.

Other than the pigment identifier size, the pencils are so similar, they both sport the plain wood grain barrel. Although this is not strictly a comparison review, I am throwing in a few comparisons to the Luminance pencils, I feel for this review it is important to bundle all the information together as opposed to writing and recording different videos. Creating lots of different parts to a subject in terms of articles and videos is good for the content creator but I don’t feel it is beneficial to the viewer.

The overall pencil dimensions for the Gold Horse Colored Pencils are slightly smaller than the Luminance, however, if you hold both pencils in the hand you would be hard pushed to notice a significant difference. The Luminance barrel is approx 7.9mm with a core of 3.8mm whereas the Gold Horse barrel is approximately 7.5mm with a 3.7mm core, not a lot in it.

Along one side of the Gold Horse barrel is printed “Gold Horse” along with their logo, this is closely followed by an alphanumeric print and this is exactly the same on all pencils “NO.:B-8889” On the end of the Gold Horse barrel you can see the two silver decorative rings that are also present on the Caran d’Ache Luminance, in-between which is printed “Since 1967”

On the very end of the barrel, we have the pigment identifier which we have briefly spoke about, however on the pigment identifier we see a number printed and this refers to the pigment. There is no names printed anywhere for the pigments, not on the pencils, the packaging or the swatch card that comes in the set.

On the opposite side of the barrel there is a bar code printed, and this is closely followed by “Supreme Colored Pencil” printed in silver leaf. We will come back to the wording of this later in the review and test whether or not the Gold Horse Colored Pencils are anywhere near “Supreme”.

Next up is the packaging, I purchased the largest set size in the Gold Horse Colored Pencil range, the 78 set. If you look at the images I have provided, the packaging is identical to the Luminance. The box type is the same as the luminance, incredibly sturdy and strong, the trays holding the pencils are inlayed with rubber foam slots, holding each pencil, safely in place and protected from knocking on other pencils.

There are three tiers filled with pencils, the top two can be removed from the box housing and place by the side of the artist, allowing for easy selection of the pencils. Even the underside of the trays have a layer of rubber foam, as is the case with the Caran d’Ache Luminance trays. This rubber foam layer on the underside of the trays is yet another layer of protection for the pencils set in the tray directly below.

Gold Horse Colored Pencils Performance

As I mentioned, although this is not a comparison review in the strictest meaning of the word, I have showcased a few side by side comparisons with the Caran d’Ache Luminance. I completed a piece of artwork using the Gold Horse Colored Pencils which we will talk about soon. I am really happy with the final result and when I was planning what I should draw for demonstration purposes, I thought it has to be something I put effort into as they are Luminance dupes. If I was to draw something using my Caran d’Ache Luminance, I would put a lot of effort into the piece and so I thought it only fair to do the same here.

Swatch on Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum Paper.

First up we will take a look at the swatch, this is the 78 set of the Gold Horse colored pencils and the swatch was completed on Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum, I always try to demonstrate products on as many paper types as I can afford to.

You can see that the palette selection is actually really good, unlike the luminance, there are only a few portrait colors in the set. The remaining colors are bright and vibrant and overall, I feel the palette is well balanced; what I mean by this is that there is not a color family over replicated throughout, the tones are well spaced apart. My only critique as a botanical artist is that it would be nice to have a darker green in the set and many of the darker greens present are very noticeably to the blue side of the spectrum.

Layer Test On Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum Paper

Next up is the various tests I conduct and again this series of tests was conducted on Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum Paper, an all-round excellent surface and well-priced. The first of the tests conducted is the layering test. I started out applying a very light layer and perform this until we reach five light layers. The reason I stop at five layers is due to the fact, colored pencil artists who use OMS (Odourless Mineral Spirits), traditionally applying between three and five layers before they apply OMS, there needs to be a good base of pigment for the artists to achieve the desired effect with OMS.

As you can see from the layer test, the applications all look smooth and a gentle gradation between each layer. Finally I apply a single heavy application, and this shows the true strength of the pencils pigment and core ingredients. Throughout the layering, there was no tackiness, no blooming and no resistance.

With only the final heavy application, I applied both the Gold Horse Colored Pencils and the Caran d’Ache Luminance Colored Pencils side by side. Here you can see both pencils together and there is not much difference in pigment strength or vibrancy. When I was selecting the colors to use for this test, obviously the Gold Horse does not have color names, so I had to select the colors by eye, that were the same.

Blending Test On Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Velum Paper

Next up was the blending test and again the layer applying element of this test was seamless. The purpose of this test is to demonstrate how the pencil core blends together creating a third color. Being a colored pencil artist is very different from a watercolour, oil or acrylic artist, we have to do our mixing and blending directly on the paper and it is very easy to get things wrong. With the yellow and red blend, you can see a clear orange and the same is true for the blue and yellow achieving a clear green. The final test which is the red and blue to get a purple is always the hardest to achieve, however with the Gold Horse pencils I achieved this with ease.

OMS Test Using Zest-It Odourless Mineral Spirits

As a colored pencil artist, I prefer to use a colourless blender pencil over OMS, however it is an important test to demonstrate as I know a lot of you guys do use OMS. To see the actual results appear in real time, you will have to check out my YouTube Video review of the Gold Horse Colored Pencils. But you can see a before and after image on the OMS results.

Gold Horse On Black Paper Test

I have to admit, I was really surprised with the results of this test, I always apply a few colors of the product on review on black paper simply to showcase the opaqueness of said product. This is not a definitive test; it simply shows the translucency or opaqueness of the product as some colored pencil artists have their preferred pencil types.

You can clearly see that I have applied both Caran d’Ache Luminance and Gold Horse pencils in this test as well as the white pencils from respective sets. Both pencils performed excellent on this test, strong colors on the paper, all colors opaque with perhaps the exception of the Gold Horse yellow. The Caran d’Ache Luminance are slightly better on this test, but only slightly, there is not a huge difference between the pencils.

Gold Horse Artwork

For the artwork I used Derwent Lightfast paper, this is a paper with a wonderful surface, up close it looks and feels almost like working on a very thin layer of canvas, woven fibres, making the surface perfect for layering and blending.

I absolutely love trying to draw Kingfisher’s and so I thought they would be an excellent subject to test and demonstrate the Gold Horse Colored Pencils. The bright and vibrant colors of the Kingfisher would expose any weakness with the Gold Horse pencils or highlight advantages with the pencils.

Throughout the drawing, blending was effortless and layering could have gone on forever, the core of the Gold Horse is not too soft and not too hard, in fact the Caran d’Ache Luminance is a much softer core and creates a lot more crumbs when pressure is applied. Sharpening the Gold Horse Colored Pencils was also effortless meaning that the wood used for the barrels is at least a decent quality. I did have one or two pencils where the core broke when sharpening, but this happens to the very best of colored pencils.

I have added a speed drawing video of the artwork along with a few still images on The Art Gear Guide that you can view in your own time. The drawing took a total of 12 hours and so for the sake of the speed drawing video on YouTube it has been condensed down into Eight minutes.

Lightfast Information

The biggest difference between the Gold Horse Colored Pencils and the Caran d’Ache Luminance is of course the lightfast ratings, but this too is reflected in the pricing. I did check out their website which I have linked here for you, regarding lightfastness, the only thing it states about the Gold Horse Colored Pencils is that they are not easy to fade. Not exactly a solid accountability on lightfast testing, especially if you are the type of colored pencil artist selling original art.

Gold Horse Colored Pencil Set Sizes and Prices.

I personally was only able to find the Gold Horse Colored Pencils on AliExpress, I did search Amazon UK but was unable to find them. For this particular set of colored pencils from Gold Horse, you can only buy a 78 set, they do not have any smaller sets.

This is where I feel a little bit of under hand marketing comes into play. Gold Horse have another set of pencils, packaged in a similar way, but the pencil barrels are entirely lacquered the same color representing the core. This particular set of pencils comes in set of 48, but at a glance on AliExpress or other such sites, they could be easily mistaken for a smaller set of the pencils on review.

They have another set, however the package is in tins and the range is 24 set, 36, 48 and 72, on the advertising the pencils look exactly the same as the pencils on review in this article. I will talk more on the marketing in the conclusion.

For the 78 set of Gold Horse Colored Pencils that I have reviewed in this article and on The Art Gear Guide YouTube channel, you will pay approximately £73. For the 76 set of Caran D’Ache Luminance, you will pay anything from £220 to £250, a huge difference between both sets.

Golden Horse Master 78 Set Colored Pencils Conclusion

There is so much to say about these pencils and how they are marketed. In. my opinion, and I talk about this in the YouTube video review, I feel that Gold Horse have gone out of their way to look similar to the Caran D’Ache Luminance Colored Pencils. I have reviewed hundreds of colored pencils and never once reviewed a set with the same packaging to the Luminance. The box Caran d’Ache use for their Luminance and Museum Aquarelle range is premium and it is premium because both the Luminance and Museum Aquarelle are the highest quality pencils you can find.

Then there is the design of the actual pencil barrel, in the advertising images, the pencils are identical to the Luminance, in fact, it actually looks like Gold Horse have used an image of the Luminance pencils and superimposed their logo on the barrel. I obviously can’t be 100% sure, but here is my reasoning behind this. If you look at the images of the Gold Horse Colored Pencils on their advertising, some of the colors don’t exist in their range, they are the colors of the luminance range.

Marketing and advertising aside, whether you feel it is just a case of “all’s fair in love and war”, or you feel Gold Horse have been sneaky, the actual quality of the pencils is really what’s important. When I created the swatch, the layer and blending tests, I was really quite impressed. When I was creating the artwork, on several occasions it really felt like I was using my Luminance. But it was the side by side comparisons that really threw a spanner in the works.

The heavy applications of both pencils are almost impossible to tell apart, the Gold Horse and Luminance on the black paper again was so very close with the Luminance only just more opaque. With the white pencil side by side comparisons, again the Luminance only just more opaque than the Gold Horse.

This is a really difficult one to conclude. On the one hand I am not impressed with the marketing and underhand methods that appear to have been used on sites like AliExpress. However, the quality of the pencils is excellent, I really loved using them and on every test they performed beautifully. Should you buy them over the Luminance? If you are not going to be selling your original art and you would love to buy the Luminance but just can’t afford it, the Gold Horse Colored Pencils will absolutely give you a very similar experience to using the Luminance. Obviously with no information regarding lightfastness, you should not buy them with a view to selling original art.

As mentioned earlier, check out my YouTube Video review of the Gold Horse Colored Pencils by following this link, you can check out my speed drawing video of the artwork come to life by following this link. Finally, if YouTube is not your scene you can check out the still images I have published of the artwork by following this link. The still images of the artwork allow you to inspect the pencil strokes in your own time and by simply clicking on any image, the image will automatically enlarge, allowing you to zoom in and see better detail.