Estée Lauder Double Wear Review

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I used to have a fairly respectable collection of foundations, but then one day that thing happened where they all run out and once and you realise you have nothing. Well, not nothing, I had my beloved Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation, which I reviewed here, but sadly I discovered that I am allergic to one of the ingredients, and basically I couldn’t wear contact lenses for three months because my eyelids were inflamed. Delightful. This really did make me very sad, because that foundation is great, and for anyone who isn’t allergic to it, or doesn’t wear contact lenses (because I honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell anything was wrong if I wasn’t a lense wearer) I was basically very jealous of you.  

I picked up a cheapy Collection Lasting Perfection foundation to tide me over, which did the job just about, and set to work deciding which foundation to take the plunge with and try out next. So over the past couple of months, I’d noted a couple of people in the blogosphere were using the Estée Lauder Double Wear foundation. I read a few people’s thoughts on various foundations, and decided that this one was the one for me.  

So I popped into Boots, the lady on the Estée Lauder counter colour matched me, and we decided that my shade is Desert Beige. This is currently the absolute perfect shade for me, and also happens to be an exact colour match for my beloved Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer (which I much prefer to the foundation). I handed over my £27.50, using every last inch of self control to resist the ‘£5 worth of points when you buy two Esteé Lauder products’ offer, and trundled out of Boots all excited to get cracking trying it out.  

The first time I properly gave this a try, I was super impressed. It has an SPF of 10, yet still has a matte finish, and I can honestly say this is the first ever foundation I haven’t even thought about setting with powder.  

The lady on the counter instructed me to apply it in sections on my face, and not dot it on or it will go patchy,  which I have mostly stuck with, although I substituted the standard flat foundation brush she recommended with a stippling/skunk brush/whatever you want to call it. I much prefer this kind of brush for applying full coverage foundations, because you can end up putting on way too much with a standard flat brush sometimes.  

My skin is a little on the dry side at the moment, on account of my being sick, so since this is a matte coverage foundation I have been wearing it over a primer, and have had no problems with dry patches whatsoever, so I definitely recommend using one if your skin is a little on the dryer side.  

This supposedly wears for ‘up to 12 hours’, but I may have fallen asleep in it on Friday night, and woken up with perfect makeup. Since my eyeshadow was also perfectly in place, I wore this all day Saturday as well, you know, for science. I disgust myself. I’m not sure that’s what they had in mind when they named it ‘double wear’. BUT the point is, it lasts a whole lot longer than 12 hours, and I was most impressed with the staying power.  

Overall, I think this foundation gives a very natural looking finish, but with high coverage, and I am fully in love with it. My only gripe would be the lack of pump. I really do not love tipping foundation onto the back of my hand, it’s an accident waiting to happen. Apparently the MAC pump fits, but you have to trim it a little. I do think that for the price this foundation really should come with a pump, but hey, I might invest in the MAC one as it will save me wasting lots of foundation or accidentally knocking over the open bottle.  

You can pick up Estee Lauder Double Wear here. Let me know if you have tried this foundation and what you thought!