They say:
15-hour wear, light as air: long-wear makeup is now lightweight makeup.
It’s makeup that keeps up. Fresh, natural, comfortable. Goes on sheer, leaves skin free to breathe all day.
Controls oil. Resists smudging and won’t “melt” off through heat and humidity.
For a look that stays vibrant and fresh whether it’s a workday, a workout or a weekend. Smooth it on once and don’t think twice about it.
Sheer to medium coverage. SPF 10.
Ingredients:
Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Butylene Glycol, Trimethyl Pentaphenyltrisiloxane, Phenyl Trimethicone, Silica, Magnesium Sulfate, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate, Tribehenin, PEG-10 Dimethicone, BIS-PEG/PPG-14/14 Dimethicone, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenyl Methicone, Sodium Hyaluronate, Dimethicone, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Laureth-7, Glycerin, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Hexyl Laurate, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria), Disteardimonium Hectorite, Methicone, Propylene Carbonate, Tetramethyl Hexyphenyl Tetrasiloxane, Cellulose Gum, Xanthan Gum, Dimethicone Silylate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Alumina, Sorbic Acid, Chlorphenesin, Phenoxyethanol. May contain: Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide, Bismuth Oxychloride, Mica, Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide.
I say:
I first encountered this foundation about three years ago when on holiday in Santorini. My face was fake tanned and looking quite clear and healthy due to me improving my diet. Any redness had greatly diminished, however, I still had quite a few broken red veins showing through and I wanted an effective cover-up that wasn’t too heavy and would last well in hot weather. The Estee Double Wear Light seemed perfect, a budge-proof foundation with a medium coverage that worked well for oily skin. I bought some to take abroad with me and it performed brilliantly. Even during extremely sweaty conditions, I found DW Light to have incredible staying power without much need for excessive powdering. It concealed all my imperfections without looking too thick and the shade I chose, Intensity 2, matched my slightly tanned face very well.
Fast forward to now, when we’re experiencing some very hot weather, and I wanted to try it out again, to see if it matched up to my remembered expectations. My skin’s looking a bit rough at the moment, mostly due to me being a crazy sugar monster recently, and I haven’t been self-tanning my face, so I went a lighter shade.
The left photo is my skin with just sunscreen on and the right photo a layer of Double Wear Light.
This foundation feels quite heavy and I would say it’s definitely a medium, rather than sheer, coverage. It hides general redness well, though you will need concealer to cover problem areas and spots. It has a tendency to collect in fine lines, wrinkles and pores, but that’s only really noticeable from awfully close up; from a distance this foundation looks quite flawless, if a little mask like. I think if you have very dry skin, you may find this clings to any moistureless areas, so it’s probably best suited to normal/combination/oily skin types. And the beauty of this foundation is that it doesn’t require many touch-ups, so you don’t have to keep piling on the powder to soak up any oil, preventing any cakey build up.
In the photo on the left I’ve applied the rest of my makeup and on the right I’ve added mattifying powder to finish.
If you like an intense glow, you could probably leave this unpowdered. I prefer a more matte finish, the shine seems to exaggerate any imperfections on my skin.
I like this makeup, I really think it does what it says on the tin, and in terms of longevity, it’s pretty unbeatable. The shade range slightly lets it down. I chose Intensity 1.0 which is the lightest available and it errs on the dark side (not in an evil way, you understand).
Price wise, it’s quite expensive for such a small tube, though it should last a while as you don’t need to use a tremendous amount to get decent coverage.
All in all, for an oily skin, which needs a good amount of payoff from their foundation, that also really lasts well without many touch-ups, this is absolutely worth a go.
Estee Lauder Double Wear Light is available from the Boots website or instore for £31.00.
Note:
I’ve just noticed that there is a shade, Intensity 0.5, on the Lauder website, here, which is half a shade lighter than the one I used. I don’t know if this is a new shade, but it wasn’t available when I bought mine from Boots.
