Etude House Play 101: Part 1 Review

I talked about buying a "crazy stupid amount" of the Etude House Play 101 Pencils ($6USD) in my asian haul video. So far I've had some fun with these, as you're supposed to, and there have been a few positives and negatives about how these play out.

Briefly on the premise: the 50 Play 101 Pencils are multi-use pencils for the whole face. Some can be used for cheeks and lips. Some can be used for eyeshadow, eye liner etc. There's a chart at the end of the post to give you an idea of their capabilities. They come in glittery, shimmer, matte, creamy, and glossy finishes.

I picked up the following:

4: glitter - eyeshadow, liner - pink

5: glitter - eyeshadow, liner - champagne

6: shimmer - base, eyeshadow - mid toned mauve pink

11: creamy - lip, blusher, eyeshadow - light pink coral

12: glossy - lip, blusher, eyeshadow - orange coral

16: creamy - lip, blusher, eyeshadow - rose

18: matte - lip, blusher, eyeshadow - lavender

20: creamy - lip, blusher, eyeshadow - blue leaning rose

28: glitter - eyeshadow, liner -  light mauve rose

33: matte - eyeshadow, liner - taupe rose

43: glitter - eyeshadow, liner -  light bronze

44: shimmer - eyeshadow, liner -  deeper bronze

46: glitter - eyeshadow, liner - orange bronze

47: shimmer - eyeshadow, liner  - olive bronze

48: glitter - eyeshadow, liner - brown burgundy

In general:
These are very water and smudge proof. In fact these set almost too quickly to make blending a true breeze. It's not difficult, just not a easy, and you need to rush a little. I suggest working with one area and one color at a time. The moment you place the color, you should blend it immediately before moving onto the other side or another color. The pencils aren't super creamy upon application but they do glide on with minor tugging. Of the 15 I've used, 1 tips broke when I was applying it.

The colors last the entire day. Even when sheered or for the super glitter shades, the color stays put and there is no fallout or fading. Cheek colors are still visible at the end of the day even when you've blended it out at the beginning. Lip use will fade depending on how you've applied it.

Notes for Cheek Application:
Swiping a few lines (or even coloring a block onto your cheeks) and blending with your finger tips works the best. I haven't tried blending with a brush; I don't think brushes will give enough 'drag' to sheer out the color. Sometimes the color will catch on a dry spot so extra blended will be necessary.

Notes for Lip Application:
You can apply these pencil directly onto your lips but it leaves a dry cracked lips finish depending on the condition you started with. Blending them with lipbalm on the back of your hand before applying with a brush works well, concealing your lips and dabbing on the color with a fingertip works better.

Notes for Eye Application:
You almost need to color in the full area where you want the color. Yes they blend but they don't blend out too well so putting on more makes it a little bit easier. If you leave space between your colorred lines, you may not get the gap blended in depending on how quickly you got in there with your finger and if the color is forgiving.

So in total, I would say this is a great concept which overall works if you want to keep in mind more than a few fussy points. The lack of creaminess is a bummer since the Clio Gelpresso liners have been able to achieve extremely creamy gel glide with bulletproof color. These work best as eyeliners, and on the cheeks. I'm not a huge fan of using them as eyeshadow or on my lips but they aren't the worst.

A look from one of Pony's tutorials is coming up soon. In general, I love the looks she created with this line; you can create them without these products of course. At $6 each, you aren't losing out if you pick up one or two to try. You can't go wrong by using these as liners but if you want to create a full face you will probably find these more or less hassle than they're worth.  Still, the stick format makes these super great for compact travel.

Are you going to pick any up?

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