Etude House Play 101 Stick Line: Blush 14, Brush, and Contour/Highlight Duo Stick

I'm a bit late on this review but better late than never right? Today I'm here to talk about the Play 101 Stick line that Etude House has been promoting via Pony. As soon as I saw the demonstrations done, I was absolutely in love. The blush colors were vibrant and the highlight/contour duo stick looked clever. The blush line especially reminded me of the NARS Multiple sticks that are so popular and I decided to invest to see what the hype as about. 

I didn't get the foundation sticks because I wasn't sure how I would feel about them and honestly, I'm a heavy coverage type of girl. But the blushes and contour was what I was all over. I wanted a really unique blush shade and also wanted to get a contour shade in a cooler tone since my Naked Flushed one is pretty warm toned. 

My first concern with this line was, "Fuck is this going to streak my face the fuck up and take off my foundation with it?"

Which brings me to the brush. The brush is designed especially for this line and you *can* use the blushes and everything without them no problem but I played it safe not knowing how the texture was going to be. The brush is a small angled brush that is incredibly soft. I was so impressed. This is probably one of the nicer brushes that I own. The angle helps get into all the hard to get places, helps control your blending, covers a wide area where you need it to, and is soft enough not to tamper with your make up. Best part is; IT DOESN'T SHED. omfg even my MAC Travel brushes that I get with Christmas sets tend to shed and it's a pain picking that shit off of your face. So I super appreciate that this brush doesn't do that. Also, this brush for me at least, came with a zip back and the brush's size is extremely travel friendly. Personally I didn't have to touch up anywhere but I suppose if you were going to do things overnight this is a handy brush to have. 

Going onto the blush color. I got the raspberry color because I thought it stood out a lot. I did get my friend one of the sticks as well and it was really pretty and reminds me of the NARS Orgasm/Super Orgasm line (I almost regret not getting it for myself as well lmao)  but number 14 is extremely pretty as well. I mainly got it because spring is coming and this color has been extremely popular for gyaru. Especially for the Rady and Emiria Wiz line. I've seen raspberry lips, cheeks, and eyes and while it might not be as trendy this year I still wanted to rock this color. 

When you think of the NARS Multiple sticks or the Maybelline Master Glaze...you think of a blush as extremely creamy. You'd think it would slip and slide everywhere and not exactly set. Well Etude House just one upped the low end and high end; because this stick is an extremely unique texture. What's also cool about this product is that it's multi-function. The Play 101 line is meant to be used for everything. At first they released pencils and this just happens to be the bigger version of this. Because of this I was able to use this as a lip and cheek color and if I didn't have the Look at my Eyes Cafe series in Berry Soda, I would certainly try using it on the eyes. I don't think it would melt or crease. The product is extremely blendable and sets to a powder finish after a couple of moments. 

Don't let the creamy looking swatch intimidate you because it certainly doesn't set that way. Blended you can build color or keep it natural. I really love this color and in the future, I'll most likely invest in more of the colors. I'm absolutely in love. I hope they eventually also release more color selections of this one too. 

The contour/highlight duo stick is absolutely amazing as well.  I mainly wanted to get this stick because of gyaru make up too. While I don't need to contour (I have kind of a thin face) I do like to when I'm doing crazier and heavier looks. For some reason nose contour has been a bit of a pain for to me to do and I thought using a highlight/contour for this area would be a way to make this method easier. I'm pretty excited to eventually go all out and do a super crazy gyaru look this this. Like d.i.a craziness and shit. 

Much like the blush, this shit starts out creamy, blends well, and SETS. Which is great because who the hell wants to walk around with a cakey and greasy face? Not me. The contour color is nice and cool toned which is really great for me because I'm so pale. Some contour shades in bronzers can be super orange looking on me. The fact that this shit blends out greatly is highly appreciated as well because I don't want to look like I have dirt streaks on my face. I can gradient my contour and it look fine. 

Onto the highlight.... This amazed me. I wasn't expecting much *at all*. Mainly because I'm so pale and usually I get the reflective quality of a high light when I buy them but they almost have to be tinted with something to show up. It's why I was so keen on the Nars Liquids Illuminators because Super Orgasm has a sheen that shows up on me. But sometimes that shit is a straight out a liquid blush and sometimes, I don't want that. You KNOW a highlight is good when it shows the fuck up on ghost skin. That's exactly what this shit did. 

Etude House, you have shocked me. Not that I should be shocked because pale skin is such a huge deal over there but let's face it. Most beauty products from Asia straight out cater to people who have specific undertones... Even BB Creams sometimes while they can be "pale" straight out give me a gray cast. When you're a girl who has legit ghost skin you deal with two problems. Redness is an issue even when you don't have a red undertone and when you have no undertone everything looks tinted or even better, you have a nice line streak when it comes to foundation. So I seriously thought this highlighter was NOT going to show up on me. Matter of fact, other people have been complaining that this highlight shade is too light. This works out so perfectly for me. It legit looks like I have a high light and not like I have shimmer powder or my cheeks or some shit. So very pleased. 

Basically, I really love this line. I want to get more from this Play 101 stick line in terms of the blushes because they're awesome looking. Like I said before, I really hope they release more colors in the future because I really like these a lot. 

They're super portable as well. Like where the fuck was this when I forgot my brushes at SacAnime?! This is perfect to place in your bag and use for multiple purposes. Hell you can use your FINGERS to blend and this shit with blend and set. The brush is worth the investment as well though. It helps really define things a bit more and like the other products it's portable which is highly appreciated!