Truly outstanding brush quality, extraordinary price , and a noteworthy company -- and that is despite having a significant issue with my order. Let me explain... I am new to watercolor (as in only discovered this medium about 8 weeks ago), but I quickly learned *the quality of your artwork is directly proportional to the quality of your tools* If you paint with chalky cheap paints, your art will look chalky and cheap. If your paper is not high quality, your art will not be either. And no matter how clever your hands, you MUST have a decent brush to make the marks you want. I bought the proper quality pigments, an acceptable cotton paper, but was struggling to find decent AND affordable watercolor brushes. When I found ZenArt's Tulip Brush set, I honestly worried they were too good to be true. But... they were the best I could find in our price range, so my husband gave them to me as an anniversary gift. I was SO excited when they arrived. Seriously giddy. My hopes were immediately dashed however. * 5 out of 6 of these brushes had extremely loose ferrules. I could twist them fully around and even bend one almost 5° within the ferrule! I was devastated. I contacted the company immediately. Within 24 hours, Ryan, from ZA responded personally. He explained that this is rare, and that ZenArt took their product's quality and customer's satisfaction very seriously. They would send me a new set ASAP. In the meantime, I could do what I wanted with the defective originals. Well, of course, I decided to try them out while I waited. I just had to be cognizant of the wobbly handles and hold the brush more like a pencil. The unfinished painting of the lake/canoe (above) is one I did with the original wobbly set. So far, not bad, but I will get into that more below. Today is the first day I have had the new set and the half completed dog painting in my sketchbook is being done solely with the new Tulip set. I am letting a section dry atm, and am so overwhelmed by how well these brushes perform, I just had to review them now. Now that you know about the loose ferrule issue, here are my other observations... 1. The brushes keep their shape beautifully. Seriously, they snap back together instantly. One of the wobbly rounds fell from its drying position overnight onto its tip (I know, cue the panic!). It dried bent. I rewetted it first thing that next morning and it stayed bent (eek!). So I drenched the bristles in Gum Arabic solution and gently rolled it back into position, let it dry, and voilà! Good as new ever since. 2. The tips are perfect fine points. The rounds, rigger and cat's tongue have astonishingly fine points. Easily able to produce thick smooth marks with a little pressure or fine lines with only a little finesse. After over a month of near daily use (and even some incidental abuse) the points are still perfect. 3. Not a single bristle has fallen out. And thats with the ferrule issue. 4. They hold a lot of water and release it smoothly. I don't have any fancier brushes to compare to, but more than once I've been amazed at just how much pigment these brushes can hold before you must reload. Yet they also dry very nicely, even over some of the humid days we've had this summer. 5. The flat brushes snap back into place immediately as well, with very little splitting. If you want to paint a perfect swatch, these are your brushes. The edges of the flats, too, make fine lines exactly as you want. 6. Finally, as to the loose ferrules, those even snugged up with use, so the brushes can be held more loosely and they hardly wobble at all. I am not sure they will fit so nicely once the humidity is gone this winter, but for now, they are exemplary despite this defect. I am glad I decided to wait to review these brushes, because I needed time to realize that they absolutely deserve 5 stars. Even despite the defects, this watercolor brush set is outstanding for beginning watercolorists. The brushes are forgiving for minor errors, and make absolutely lovely marks on the paper when you need them to. I look forward to expanding my ZenArt supplies, because this company is doing it right. Mistakes happen to everyone, but not everyone handles them with as much integrity as ZA does. And these brushes are absolutely amazing. Thanks you, Zen Art!