Full Coverage Matte Foundation: Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup Review

A full-coverage buildable matte foundation that is the perfect shade? Sign me up! I am the only one who has been on a hunt for a holy grail foundation most of my adult life? Of course, the bar is set high with very specific requirements: it must be matte for my sometimes oily skin. It must be full coverage to even out skin tone and other imperfections. It must be the right color.

Foundation color is a struggle for me. I self-tan my fair colored skin on my face year-round, so it’s been a little more challenging to find the right color. My skin color may vary here and there depending on the amount of self-tanner that I use.

I’ve had some luck with finding foundations that work for my skin only to find eventually find out that they have been altered or discontinued. I found a fantastic oil-free Chanel foundation years ago but unfortunately, it is no longer being made. So I’ve been on the lookout for the perfect matte full-coverage foundation for quite some time.

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#1 Best-Selling Foundation in the US

I’ve heard great things from beauty bloggers and YouTubers about Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup. So it didn’t come as a surprise to see that Double Wear is the #1 best-selling foundation in the US (per Estée Lauder’s website). The first thing I noticed is that they have a huge range of colors. I was hopeful that I would find a shade that worked for my skin. I tried a few samples and I fell in love. The coverage, the color, everything.

Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup is oil-free and the color is buildable. The pigments are very rich and saturated in such a liquid formula. They say that the color won’t grey on deeper skin tones and is perfect for hot and humid days as it is a waterproof formula.

They classify their colors as either cool, neutral or warm. If you burn easily in the sun and have a rosy undertone to your skin they recommend using their cool color makeup. If your skin is not too rosy or too golden, a neutral makeup color should work for you. For those that tan easily and have golden to olive undertones in your skin, warm makeup colors are your best bet.

Related: Full Coverage Drugstore Foundations for Oily Skin

Estee Lauder Double Wear Packaging

The bottle has a screw-top lid. That was the one thing that was a bit disappointing. Without buying a pump for the foundation, you would have to dispense it onto your fingers. First of all, this isn’t very sanitary. Second of all, you may have some difficulty controlling the flow of the liquid from the bottle.

The foundation isn’t inexpensive to begin with, so having to buy a foundation pump for it adds to the already somewhat expensive price. I reluctantly purchased the pump to make sure that it would fit the bottle and am glad that I did. I figure that I can save the pump for when I refill the foundation. As you’ll soon read, I will be refilling the foundation!

The formula is very saturated. It dried and set pretty quickly, so it’s a good idea to have a dampened makeup sponge or foundation brush at the ready to blend in the formula. It’s important that the sponge be damp so that the moisture from the sponge can move the foundation to where you want it.

Once it’s blended and set it really does stay put and doesn’t budge from your face. The coverage lasts all day without any shine build-up so it may appeal to oiler complexions.

Mixing Double Wear with Revlon ColorStay Makeup

I have been using Revlon ColorStay Makeup for Combination/Oily Skin for years and think it’s a good drugstore makeup. I mixed Double Wear (color 2C3 Fresco in Estée Lauder Double Wear) with Revlon ColorStay Makeup (180 Sand Beige) to play with the color a bit. This lightened the formula up colorwise, but they blended together easily.

In retrospect, I really don’t know what took me so long to try this foundation. It really does live up to the hype and checks off all the boxes for a great matte foundation!

Thanks for reading!