Important thing to note, first of all: my skin and me do not get on. Full stop. We never have and we probably never will, completely. I suffered from acne when I was younger and my skin is still prone to blemishes now, especially at certain times of the month (TMI, I know!). It's also extremely oily some days, really dry on others and sometimes, just to be a complete bitch, it's everything all at once.
This foundation works for me and my skin no matter what kind of day we're having.
Where I live, we have three different Estée Lauder counters (Boots, Debenhams and House of Fraser) and I took the opportunity, out of curiosity, to get colour matched at each of them. I'm pleased I did because I got two different results...
I was matched to Ecru (1N2) by HoF and Debenhams and matched to Desert Beige (2N1) by Boots. This was the same day, on my make-up free face.
Estée Lauder are excellent in offering testers before you buy their products which, for someone with skin as temperamental as mine is essential so all 3 stores sent me away with a little sample to try (these 'little' samples lasted about 8 days each!).
I tried both colours and despite having 2 matches to Ecru, felt the Desert Beige suited my skin more, so this is the one I bought initially. However, this was in June and by September when the tiny semblance of tan I'd had disappeared, I suddenly looked orange! I got colour matched again to Ecru and have been using that one for my tan-free months.
The moral of this particular part of the story is: take advantage of the samples and get matched a couple of times if you can. Harsh store lighting can really change the tone your skin looks so the only way to be certain it's right for you is to test drive it for a couple of days, in natural light, doing what you do.
Anyway, enough rambling about colour matches... The rest of my thoughts on this foundation:
The Wear - when it says 'Double Wear' it isn't lying. I put this on at 7am and it is still perfectly on my face when I come to remove it at 10pm. I use a primer and translucent powder to set it but even so, this stuff lasts!
The Rub Off - I wear white shirts for work. Previous foundations have turned my crisp white shirts slightly tangerine looking by the end of the day. With this there is nothing. Seriously, when I remove my shirt at the end of the day it is as white around the collar as it always has been (the front of my shirt where I've spilled my lunch down myself isn't but I don't think a foundation exists that can help my lack of coordination in putting food in my mouth!!).
Application - As other reviews say, this does dry quite quickly so you don't have much time to blend and you can't fix any problems you might notice during your final checks. However, it blends really easily, as long as you're quick. I use my Real Techniques stippling brush to buff it in to my skin and find this works really well to give a smooth, airbrushed finish.
Pump-less - I poured approximately 1/3 of my first bottle all over myself during my first few applications. Refusing to believe I was the only person in the world this could happen to, I Googled and 'big yays!', I'm not the only person this has happened to and there is a saviour in the shape of a pump! Apparently, there is a Mac pump that fits or you can just do what I did and buy one from this lovely eBay store for half the price. For me, the pump is a must and I would have rejected this foundation long ago if I had no option but to pour!
Reaction - My skin does not breakout at all, which is a miracle. It feels lightweight when it's on and my skin doesn't feel suffocated. I've skipped primer a few times (on morning's when I've snoozed the alarm one too many times!) and noticed a slight oxidisation by the end of the work day and a slight 'orange' glow. This isn't a huge issue but with a little bit of primer before application there's not a trace of orange and the colour stays all day.
Quantity - You get 30ml for £29.50 which, for me, is reasonable for a foundation plus, it lasts ages. For an amazing skin day it's only half a pump, for an okay skin day it's one pump and even for an 'I-wish-I-could-put-a-paper-bag-over-my-head-day' it's only one and a half pumps, so it's not something that often needs to go on the shopping list.
Verdict - 4/5 - Fab product, fab application but would be even better if it came with it's own pump!
I hope you enjoyed this little review and that, if you've got temperamental skin like me, this might help you find something that works for you.
The beauty junkie in me is always looking for something else to try so if you've got any suggestions of foundations that work for you, leave them in the comments below.
Thanks for reading.
Aimee x
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