Review: Estee Lauder Double Wear Light

I'd like to declare myself the un-official foundation queen. If there is one beauty product that I hoard more than any other, it's foundation. I've tried most drugstore foundations and many higher end ones, except the very high end like YSL, Chanel, Girogio Armani, which I would love to try eventually. Today's review is the Estee Lauder Double Wear Light, which is a fabulous foundation.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light is the "lighter" sister to the Double Wear foundation and is described as "15 hour wear, light as air, lightweight, comfortable makeup stays vibrant and fresh, no matter how active your day becomes. Resists smudging and won't "melt" off through heat and humidity. Controls oil. Won't blog pores. Provides anti-oxidant protection, sheer to medium coverage. Natural finish. Oil-free. Fragrance free. Non-acnegenic. Dermatologist and ophthalmologist-tested." (back of foundation box). Both have SPF 10 as well. Everyone raves about the Double Wear, but I find the Double Wear Light to be more wearable and less thick.

 

It comes in an opaque plastic squeeze bottle with gold cap, while the original comes in a heavy glass bottle with no pump (MAC pumps fit on this, I have yet to change mine). The Double Wear Light looks smaller but you actually get the same amount of product, 30ml, the Double Wear just feels like more because the packaging is so heavy. They retail for the same price as well. I should also mention that it has a slight sweet smell, I don't mind it.

Now here is the best part, I've been apprehensive to try out this foundation because I am quite fair and I've heard that those that are around NC15 find this foundation too dark in the Intensity 1.0 shade, and I have a pile of foundation that is too dark for me already, I don't need anymore! A short while ago I actually found Intensity 0.5 on StrawberryNet.com. I just checked and they don't have the shade in stock right now, but I swear they did a month ago or so!

Although the product is described as giving sheer-medium coverage, I would say it's definitely medium, this is no light-coverage foundation, it covers very well. While I find the Double Wear to be medium-full coverage, this one is great if you want a little less coverage and want something that 'feels' lighter on the skin. On my dry skin, this sits nicely but will still show the dry areas and cling to them (as the Double Wear did) so you need to have good, moisturized skin to pull this off, that's my only issue with it. I think it would work great on oily skin since it is quite matte and gets rid of any shine. I find the Double Wear tricky to apply, it's easy to overdo while Double Wear Light glides on just using your fingers.

Here is a swatch of the colours, on the left is Double Wear, which I have in 1W2 Linen, which is very yellow, it's the second lightest in the warm range. I should of gone with the lightest warm shade, but I can make it work okay. While on the right is Double Wear Light in Intensity 0.5, which is much more neutral. I think this shade is a perfect match for my pale skin, for reference I am NC15 in MAC, NARS Gobi, Blush Ivory in Laura Mercier Moisturizing, Ivory in Dior Skin Nude, 110 in Maybelline Fit, Clinique Even Better Alabaster, MUFE HD 117, Revlon Photoready Vanilla.

So if you thought 1.0 was too dark, definitely give 0.5 a try, if you can find it, hopefully StrawberryNet gets more stock of this. I noticed that on the packaging there are Asian symbols so this may just be an Asian exclusive? Perhaps someone can tell me here. I wish this shade was available to everyone internationally as us pale girls have a hard time colour matching a lot of the time.

Would I recommend this? Definitely, this provides high coverage and is one of my favourite foundations.