Baby Wizard: Estee Lauder Double Wear Debacle

My skin is so oily that I've avoided wearing heavy makeup the past few years, as anything I put on just ends up sliding off, so the less product there is to cake the less of a mess I'll look when I'm out and about!

I was getting to the point of exasperation with it: what is the point in me putting on such lovely foundations like Shiseido (best colour match) or Dior (beautiful finish) but then not having them work for me? I took a look at the other steps I was taking before foundation.

With my acne, it usually just flares up if I treat it too aggressively, so I was always weary of trying oil stripping techniques. Besides, we all know now that's not the best idea anyway, and that fighting oil with oil can work to balance your skin out! So since I started lightly moisturising in the morning and applying night cream or oils at night, I did notice that my skin wouldn't get as oily as quick, though it was still pretty bad.

As for primers, I'm not a fan of the silicone ones at all, which make up the majority of popular primers. I'm currently using Mac Prep & Prime Natural Radiance and I really like it as it gently smoothes over bumps, feels lightweight and gives a glow to the skin whilst slightly keeping the shine at bay. I have it in the Radiant Yellow shade but i'm not loving having my face look so yellow all the time if I use Mac or my Dior Nude foundations so I'm looking to get the Radiant Pink one soon (as used on Lorde!).

Well I was fed up with the daily foundation war, so I looked to the iconic mattifying foundation: Estee Lauder Double Wear.

As usual, my research started with colour swatches online. I needed to be sure that there would be a colour pale enough for me, as because the wear would be full coverage, the match would need to be exact. Luckily I could see that there probably would be, though swatches confused me as it seemed that certain colours had been discontinued or renamed over the years.

Secondly I looked at reviews: it seemed like it was a very good long wearing foundation with great coverage for acne. The one thing that I was dubious about was getting the application right to avoid streaking or over application.

I thought that maybe the step to full coverage foundation might be too much for me, so I looked at Double Wear Light. From the swatches I saw online, it seemed that the colours Intensity 0.5 and 1.0 might be a bit too off for me, though I was sure that I would enjoy wearing the formula.

My mind was set, I wanted to give the double wear products a go. Though getting my hands on samples was easier said than done!

On my first trip to Debenhams Manchester, the SA said that she only had the large master sample bottles and that small samples were completely unavailable at the moment.

She swatched the lightest colours on my hand, and said that if my skin was super oily then I shouldn't go for DWL and I would need DW. DW in Shell 1C0 looked like a great colour, which the SA recommended for me.

A week later I tried Debenhams Southport, but the counter didn't even have any testers to swatch! The SA suggested I try emailing customer service to ask for a sample. When I did this, I was surprised by how unhelpful CS were, saying that they don't supply samples etc: they could have pointed me in a better direction to get one!

Me and Roxy had a quest around Manchester last Tuesday: I was determined to find a sample of DW! The quest was fruitful, as you can see I even purchased a full bottle of DW too!

I went to every Estee Lauder counter in Manchester city centre.

Selfridges: I asked for a sample of the light shades, the SA dug around a box and gave me a large looking sample of Ecru 1N2. It was obviously too dark, but at least it was a start.

Harvey Nichols: a very lovely lady called Ashleigh talked through the DW and DWL with me, encouraging me to try the DWL as I might find it was enough coverage for me if I was hesitant about DW. Sadly she didn't have a Shell sample, but she gave me a sample of 1C1 Cool Bone DW and Intesnity 0.5 and 1.0 in DWL.

House of Fraser: had no samples, but the SA said she could apply it to my face if I liked. I figured I might as well, as at this rate it looked like I wasn't going to be able to get a sample of Shell. Read about my lovely experience in my next blog post! :)

Boots: had no light samples, went away empty handed.

Debenhams: Finally, a sample of Shell! By this point, I was in love with how it looked on me from the MUA applying it on me at HOF, so encouraged by the bonus offer on at Debenhams, I bought a bottle of DW in Shell.

Even though I have found my perfect match, I thought that showing you the little sample bottles and some swatches would be helpful to those scouring the internet for some good comparison swatches.