Estee Lauder Double Wear Light Foundation & Concealer Review

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light foundation is the lightweight sister of the popular Double Wear Foundation. It's a liquid foundation that has light to medium coverage. It has SPF10 protection and claims to have up to 15 hours wear. "Double wear is fresh, natural and comfortable. Controls oil, resists smudging and won't melt off through heat and humidity." It is oil free, photo friendly and fragrance free.

I've been using this foundation part of the summer and part of the autumn. At first I raved about it and loved it for the lighter wear and the fact that it actually matched my yellow toned skin which is very rare! I was matched to Intensity 1.0. (for reference I am the shade Warm Sand in Bobbi Brown and MAC NC15.) Normally my shade is in the middle but 1.0 is next to the lightest shade 0.5.  The shade selection is quite narrow with just nine shades compared with the original Double Wear foundation that comes in a whopping fifty shades! I'd be interested in the reasoning behind that. It does have SPF 10 which is good to have in a product but as it's so low it could be argued that it was pointless to include it. You should wear an additional SPF as the SPF10 in this foundation won't be enough.

Double Wear Light foundation has light to medium coverage. After using several brushes I found that Zoeva's Silk Finish brush was the best to use.  It dries to a matte finish. However if you use a Beauty Blender or a Real Technique's Sponge then the look is sheerer and a little dewy while the coverage is light. The colour doesn't oxidise on my skin. I have sensitive, combination skin and this never broke me out or irritated my skin. This foundation doesn't last the 15 hours stated on the packaging but it lasts a good 8-9 hours intact without primer. It doesn't crease and is transfer resistant.  It does cover the redness on my cheeks but may not completely cover acne.

The downside is that this foundation smells very strongly of chemicals however this does die down after application. I have asthma and it never got to the point where is was so overwhelming I couldn't use it. Another thing to note is that it has a very powdery finish and it definitely looks like you have makeup on. It's not really the natural look it promises but I think this can be remedied with a good finishing spray that takes away the powder look and makes the skin look more natural. When I tried to powder this foundation it seemed to take makeup off the skin rather than setting it- I'm not sure if this is a foundation that doesn't need setting? I have dry patches along my t-zone and I found it can cling on to dry patches.

As for the packaging it doesn't really scream I'm a luxurious £35 foundation! However the packaging is very practical since you can squeeze every last drop from the tube and even cut it up towards the end to use all the product up. The plastic tube is light and travel friendly unlike foundations in glass bottles. The gold lid makes it look a little more glamourous. I do wish that the bottle was a little transparent so you can see how much is left (although you can guess a little by the weight.)

I would buy Estee Lauder's Double Wear Light Foundation again, it matched me well, it's is oil-free and feels fairly lightweight on the skin. While it's on the pricier side with 30ml for £35, a little does go along way. It's also very accessible since most department stores around the world have an Estee Lauder counter.

On to Estee Lauder's Double Wear Stay In Place Concealer which I bought because I needed a lighter shade of  concealer in my stash to use with this foundation. The colour I have is 1W Light (warm)  but it's actually a bit too light for my skin. I apply this in upside down triangles from my eyes down to my cheek. However this concealer is incredibly hard to blend it feels dry and looks very chalky. I have found that the Primark toothbrush shaped makeup brush helps to blend this concealer the best. While this gives light to medium level of coverage (in the the photos you can see that it covers a light brown mole) when I applied it on my face I found that it didn't actually cover the dark circles around my eyes, even if I apply it in layers and with a corrector underneath. Perhaps my circles are darker? I feel that if I went and bought a darker shade I would still find this a nightmare to work with. I'm not a fan of the formula of this concealer it's difficult to use and it takes ages to dry and set. The good points of this concealer are that it's waterproof and contains spf even though it fairly low (spf10). My search for a good under eye concealer continues as I won't be buying this again.

Have you tried Estee Lauder Double Wear Light & Stay in Place Concealer? What did you think?

Also any recommendations for foundations for yellow toned skin would really help!