Estee Lauder Double Wear: Love or Loathe?

Finding the perfect foundation to match the needs of your preferred finish, shade and consistency seems to be a never-ending search for most of us. However, at least for the moment, Estee Lauder’s Double Wear is one of the foundations I find myself reaching for daily, as it meets most of my (many) foundation requirements. This product is notorious in the beauty world, and is quite the Marmite pick, as people seem to be firmly on one side of the foundation fence or the other for this renowned little product.

My skin does not fall into one of the simple ‘dry’ or ‘oily’ categories, but seems to be the definition of ‘combination’ with an oily t zone but with dry areas on the surface of the same area. This makes finding a foundation particularly hard, as a base that controls oil, whilst also nourishing dry areas is surely non-existent. However, Double Wear is the nearest foundation I have found to mattify, whilst also not intensifying and making the dry areas more noticeable.

This Estee Lauder pick unsurprisingly doesn't come cheap at £27.50, however this is a comparable and competitive price to similar offerings from the other high end counter brands. A notable advantage of this foundation over its drugstore alternatives is the large number of shades available, with over 30 to suit the palest pink and yellow toned skins to the darkest complexions. The packaging feels luxurious, in a matte glass bottle, with the only improvement being the addition of a pump, but as a frugal student, I make sure to stand the bottle upside down when it nears its end to savour the last dregs.

One of the main complaints of Double Wear is that it is too heavy, however with a good moisturiser and stippling brush (Real Techniques buffing brush is my firm fav), it is possible to achieve a natural, non-cakey finish.

Overall, I would recommend this foundation mainly for those with oilier skins, as dry skinned gals are not going to find this foundation to be particularly moisturising or nourishing. Despite the ideal skin type for this product being oily skins, with a good skincare routine consisting of a good exfoliator and moisturiser, combination skins (thankfully, like myself) can still enjoy this fabulous foundation too.

Do you love or loathe it?