Estee Lauder Double Wear Nude foundation

About a year ago I decided I wanted to try more high end foundations. I bought a few over the course of the year and am now making my way through them and testing them out fully. During the month of August, I was up for an easy lightweight foundation. I decided to pull in the Estee Lauder Double Wear Nude Water Fresh foundation to test out and review for you.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Nude Water Fresh Foundation 1N0 Porcelain

When we talk high end makeup, you will always know that the price tag on this will be relatively high. It depends on where you buy this, but it retails for around the €50. That is a lot for a single makeup product. But if it is worth it? Who knows. Let’s start with a positive off the bat: this foundation is available in 36 shades. Not all shades are available in store, but I found that Bijenkorf sells the best selection in The Netherlands. So I got shade matched and decided to buy 1N0 Porcelain, which is supposed to be the lightest shade with a neutral undertone.

The Packaging

For the high price tag, you don’t get the best packaging on the market. Estee Lauder foundations are notorious for not including pumps on their foundations. The original Double Wear doesn’t have one and they kept that going for this more light weight Nude Water Fresh version. The bottle is glass and has a gold lid. It feels luxurious, but I wished that they could at least add a pump or a doe foot for the price point.

The Foundation

So why did I want to try this foundation? The Estee Lauder Double Wear is a cult favorite foundation, but much too full coverage and heavy for my tastes. I prefer dewy, lightweight foundations that look like skin and are easy to wear. This foundation promises the best of both worlds: a thin, liquid formula that looks like skin while still having great coverage. It has an SPF of 30 and should also have some good-for-your-skin ingredients.

This foundation is a water based foundation (hence the name) infused with gels, hyaluronic acid and some other ingredients that should help with masking fine lines and pores. To top things off it should be longwearing and look flawless all day without getting shiny. In short, it sounded like everything I like in a foundation.

The Swatch

As any good water based foundation, this also has a very runny, watery texture. While lightweight, it is also very easy to make a mess. I spilled some of this the first time I used it, go figure. However as you can see this blends in seamlessly and once worked into the skin, it looks like you have used no product. I also like how a little goes a long way. I just put a dot on each part of my face: chin, forehead, both cheeks and my nose. That is enough to achieve the coverage level that I like.

The Shade Match

1N0 Porcelain is a pretty good shade match for my skin tone. I prefer a neutral undertone foundation on myself: it is neither too pink nor too yellow and it works best with my skin tone. I often get matched to too dark foundations as the center of my face is darker than the perimeter. I therefore always do the neck check: if the foundation looks flawless where my jaw line meets my neck, I feel it is a good match. This you can’t even see it is that good of a match.

I like there are many different undertones, but I did struggle finding this shade in this foundation. The shade 1N0 Porcelain was not available everywhere, which sucks. So while this comes in a ton of shades, you may have trouble finding yours if you are trying to get matched in store. Some stores only stock 8 – 10 shades of this. I prefer going in store when buying foundations because it can be so tricky to find out what shade is best for you.

The Coverage

I prefer applying this by dotting it around my face. Because of the open packaging it works best to put your finger over the opening and just turn it over once and dot that onto your face. I then like going in with a damp makeup sponge and blend out the foundation that way. A makeup sponge of course takes away some of the coverage, but as you can see this foundation still has great coverage.

On the left you can see my face without product. On the right you can see my face with one thin layer of the foundation. This is exactly the kind of coverage I like. It covers my redness and discolorations just fine, but without making it look like a mask. This foundation truly looks like skin. It also lasts a long time. I have been wearing it during heatwave no. 3 of the summer and while it does look shiny and transfers evenly, it doesn’t crease and it stays put really well.

The Conclusion

I love a good natural foundation and the Estee Lauder Double Wear Nude foundation definitely fits that bill. To me, it is definitely worth the price point. I think that this kind of texture, finish and overall look is one that is unique to this foundation. Personally, I have never tried anything like it before.

What high end foundation do you like?