Bought this set as a Christmas gift for a young artist. The markers come in a nice carrying bag with a plastic mat (approximately 6"x6") that you can use to put behind the page/paper you are coloring to prevent the ink from going through and inking the page/paper behind. I tested out some of the markers to make sure they were not dried out, and I was pleasantly surprised with the inks. The inks are very pigmented and beautiful. The blendability is great even though I'm no expert at blending lol! The variety of colors are good but I wouldn't mind more. If you want a lot of variety I would suggest getting the larger sets. Overall I would recommend these markers as a gift or for your own personal collection.