A few months ago, I sat down with a makeup artist for advice on streamlining my daily routine. I showed her a photo of Emma Stone at the Oscars, soft and monochromatic, the kind of effortless beauty that looks like it takes no time at all. She laughed. Turns out those seamless, minimal looks require dozens of products and sometimes hours of work to achieve.
I gave up on low-maintenance beauty after that conversation, mostly because what I actually wanted didn't exist: something creamy and blendable with real color payoff and serious staying power that could work across lips, cheeks, and eyelids in one swipe. Until the Kosas Impressionist Multistick landed on my desk.
The beauty market is already crowded with multipurpose sticks, and I've tried most of them. But this one feels different. Within weeks of using it, I've gotten compliments from brand founders, makeup artists, and beauty directors. A $34 stick that actually delivers.
Kosas designed the Impressionist with a domed shape that makes application almost absurdly easy. Swipe it on, blend for seconds, and you're done. The name itself references a painterly approach to color: soft washes, diffused edges, tones that melt into skin rather than sit on top of it. That's partly because of the plant-based waxes suspended in the formula, which give it a silky, balm-like texture without sacrificing pigment intensity.
Seven shades span from Nuance, a rosy taupe, to Ripe, which looks like crushed raspberries. My daily shade is Muse, though Surreal, Kosas' "chocolate berry," is essentially a dupe for the impossibly hard-to-find Rhode Pocket Blush in Toasted Teddy. One stick creates a completely cohesive look: I dab it on my cheekbones, temples, and down the center of my nose, then across my eyelids before blending everything out with a brush.
The staying power is where this gets interesting. I have oily skin, and lesser multisticks slip and slide within hours. This one sets without budging. You get enough working time to blend it where you want, then it stays put. That's the plant-based wax formula doing its job, keeping the pigment dispersed and locked in place for hours.
Most multipurpose products treat skincare as an afterthought. Impressionist actually balances color with skin benefits. It contains octyldodecanol, an emollient that softens skin, plus coenzyme Q10, an antioxidant that protects against pollution and reinforces the skin barrier. On the lips, it feels hydrating enough to work as a tinted balm alone.
For application, makeup artist Ngozi Edeme shared a pro technique on Instagram: underpaint the blush by swiping the stick onto the back of your hand first, then swirl a dense brush through the melted product to coat all the bristles. Pat the color onto the high points of your cheeks, blend across the apples and upward, stopping short of the brow tail. If you overdo it, a touch of concealer sharpens everything back up. A light setting powder locks it in. I just use the same shade throughout for simplicity, and the result is still dimensional and dewy.
Even on mornings when I swipe it straight from the bullet and blend with my fingers, the color doesn't budge. I've never gotten this many compliments on my makeup, and it takes five minutes instead of thirty. With warmer weather coming, the last thing I want is to sweat through a full routine in a tiny bathroom. This is now my spring and summer essential.
The Impressionist Multistick retails for $34 and is available at Sephora.com and Kosas.com.
Author Jessica Williams: "A single multipurpose stick that actually performs across three zones and lasts all day is rare enough to matter, and this one replaces an entire drawer of products without compromise."
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