Korean foundation series - Reviewing Etude House Play 101 foundation stick

I'm back with another Korean foundation review. This week I've been trying out the Play 101 foundation stick by Etude House.

You can get this foundation directly off the Etude House website. They do only have four shades of this stick foundation. Fair, Beige, Sand, and Vanilla. The foundation is 7.5g and it comes in a stick form as by the name.

So I got the shade 'Fair' for myself and have done a swatch to show you what it looks like.

It is slightly pink for me but is really barely noticeable. I mean I didn't feel like I couldn't go out wearing this foundation.

So the foundation comes in a box and looks like this out of the packaging.

It's secured with a lid and you just twist the bottom to bring the product up (Basically like a lipstick)

And this is what the product actually looks like

I used two different face brushes when trying the foundation out. Both of the tools being by Etude House as well.

The foundation brush is available on the website under 'My beauty tool brush 120' and the soft oval brush is under 'My beauty tool secret brush 121' just for your information.

I didn't like the foundation brush at all. I didn't find it applied the foundation as well as the oval brush did and found it to be slightly scratchy on my skin. I absolutely loved the little oval brush though. Lovely and soft and seemed to be the perfect tool to use for this foundation.

The foundation is soft and creamy when applying and feels the same when blending. It felt quit lightweight on so definitely isn't heavy or feels like you're wearing foundation. The foundation I would say is medium to full coverage. I did find I got a good coverage when I applied a second layer so it's definitely a buildable foundation.

As I mention in most if not all of my posts my skin isn't the greatest. I have a lot of scarring from old breakouts and still break out quite a lot at the moment due to stress in my life. My skin has also been really dehydrated lately and I'm experiencing some dryness in places on my face.

I found the foundation did well at covering my scarring but not so good at the recent breakouts I've been having. I don't think it did all that good at minimising my pores either.

As any foundation I try out I did leave this on for a minimum of 6 hours on any given day. I did prime and use a setting spray as well like I do whenever I apply any foundation.

How well did it last? Well not that bad actually. It looked good hours later and didn't really seem to budge that much. But saying that, it did cling so bad to my dry patches so I definitely don't think this foundation is really all that suitable for those of you who suffer from dry skin and I definitely recommend that you exfoliate well each time before you use this foundation.

And because I'm having a problem lately with dry skin the makeup did seem to be slightly cakey around the dry areas, like my nose and my chin.

It also is one of those foundations that rubs off super easy so you know you're going to get foundation on your top when you remove it and on your fingers if you're somebody who touches their face quite a lot (Me. It's a problem)

The primer I used was by Evelyn Iona Cosmetics.

And the setting spray was the 'Pro fix spray' by Makeup Revolution.

I did prime on half of my face just to see if there was a difference which I couldn't see. I also found the setting spray helped with the foundation not sticking so bad to my dry patches but not with the cakeyness and I found on one of the days I didn't use the setting spray the cakeyness was reduced and the foundation stuck way worse to dry patches so meh really.

I should also mention that a lot of people say Etude House products can really break you out and aren't usually the best for those who are prone to breakouts. I have tried products from the brand that seem to do that but I was really happy to find this foundation didn't cause me to breakout.

So I loved this foundation but at the moment I just wouldn't reach for this because of how dry my skin is but I would definitely recommend it for those who don't suffer from dry skin. It could be a really good foundation for you, bearing in mind they do have a limited shade range.

Let me know if you've tried this foundation before and what you think of it and if you've tried other products from the brand Etude House.