How to Find Retired Prismacolor Colors Lilac and Lavender and the Replacements

In 2022 all of the sudden word got out that Prismacolor was retired Lilac PC956 and Lavender PC934. The reason? They ran out of pigments to make the colors. This can happen often in supply chains. Look at what happened with the computer chip shortage over the past few years. This was a surprise to Prismacolor and they had to quickly come up with colors to replace Lilac and Lavender.

This blog post contains affiliate links.

I attended Creativation by Namta this past weekend and was able to see the new colors for myself. The colors are Orchid PC1105 and Amethyst PC1104. They are pretty close to the original colors. The lighting may be a bit different between the two images. I do not think the colored pencil world has anything to worry about. These will be available starting May 2023 individual stock and in packs replacing Lilac and Lavender.

Find swatch charts for 150 Prismacolor colored pencils and swatch charts for every Prismacolor pack. I will update with Amethyst and Orchid. Find sets and individual Prismacolor colored pencils on Blick.

But if someone does want Lilac and Lavender they can still be found in stores, though it is getting harder and harder to find them. Check out the Michaels website, OUT OF STOCK. This is pretty much the case for every store I looked at.

And if I was able to find the pencils I ordered them. I did this twice.

But was disappointed when the order got canceled or the pencils came and they were the wrong color. I got 12 Hot Pink Pencils.

I tried in store too and was only successful at Hobby Lobby. I did take the last 3 they had of each.

Lilac and Lavender can also be found in the pencil sets.

Lilac can be found in:

• 48 Count
• 72 Count
• 132 Count
• 150 Count 

Lavender can be found in:

• 132 Count
• 150 Count
• 12 Botanical Garden
• 24 Highlights and Shading
• 23 Manga Set
• Drawing and Shading Nature Drawing Set

But be careful. Look for a sticker on the back. They have replaced Lilac and Lavender in some cases already.

This is what the back should look like and look for the corresponding number ie PC934.

This 72 box was okay.

But this 48 count set did not contain Lilac.

I also found Lavender in the Drawing and Shading Nature Drawing set.

Here it is on the back.

In the 132 and 150 sets Prismacolor replaced Lilac and Lavender with a colorless blender and an extra white.

I hope this helps in finding Lilac and Lavender. And I can not wait to get my hands on the new pencils, Orchid and Amethyst.