The Nupastel Blocks are rectangular compacted pastel sticks that resemble Conte Crayons or compressed charcoal blocks and have a level of control other pastel chunks lack due to their design and hard edges. The pastels go down on the paper lighter and take a little more elbow grease to get the color to lay brightly and evenly on the paper. Their shape contributes to more control in details with less dust-fall than traditional soft pastels, giving a slightly less fragile piece of work. I also noticed my hands were cleaner after using these versus other pastels.
Some of the sticks were broken in the package (as pictured in the featured image), however, the “damage” was acceptable to me, as using smaller pieces is easier sometimes for me because they fit in my hand better than a longer piece.
The best deal I have found for the set of 96 is at dickblick.com for roughly $90. (no affiliation)