Water soluble vs wax-based colored pencils...and a poppy pattern

I'm still playing around with colored pencils, trying to figure out whether I can get an effect I like using them.  Yesterday I tried wetting the water soluble ones that I'd been using.  Here's what some test shapes with looked like on three different kinds of paper:

Meh.  So I picked up some wax-based colored pencils and both a colorless blender and an odorless turpentine substitute to see if I could get a smoother finish. 

Different and more opaque but I'm still not as into the look as I'd hoped. 

I spent time this afternoon sketching a poppy pattern I liked from (yawn) a vintage cup and saucer.  Then I made some sample blends of different colors to see which pencils I might want to use to bring the sketch to life.