There is no question about the sheer popularity and effectivity of Estée Lauder’s classic Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup (which we’ve spoken about here on the site before). Sometimes, we just wonder what direction the brand is trying to take its Double Wear line of products in. Whatever the answer is, we definitely have to state, for the record, that we just weren’t as impressed in the Double Wear Stay-in-Place Matte Powder Foundation as the brand would probably want us to be. But is it heightened expectations or a weak foundation (no pun intended) that kill it for us? Let’s take a look.
Logging on to this product’s landing page on the Estée Lauder website, one of the first things you might notice is the sheer variety of shades that this product is available in. For a powder foundation, we definitely find this quite impressive as brands tend to carry more limited shade ranges for this kind of product. Applied onto the skin with a light hand (more or less), the pigmentation of the powder is undeniably even, without patchiness. It might not be the most pigmented powder product out there, but at least it’s consistent, yes? Formula-wise, we were quite happy with how well this product set on to the skin. It provides a very light matte finish—definitely not the cakey kind of drying you’re bound to see in some other powder foundations out there, which is pretty pleasant.
To our minds, this product really shines… as a finishing powder. Yes, more so than using this as a foundation, we believe it’s more viable as a finishing powder. The softness of the color and the finish lead us to believe it’s much better utilized to lightly set foundation, and give the color of the base makeup a much more defined look.
But therein also lies this product’s proverbial Achilles’ Heel: it’s a foundation, not a setting powder. Nothing about the way this product is marketed or branded would lead anyone to believe (not until after they use the product anyway) that this is supposed to be anything other than a powder foundation. As a foundation, it leaves way too much to be desired—both in terms of pigmentation and staying power. More so than the pigmentation, we’re more frustrated at how easily this product wears out, especially when worn alone. This is exacerbated by the fact that this product basically has little to no oil-control capacity. This baffles us because what else could be the point of using a powder foundation in the first place?
This product leads us to more questions than it does answers, which can make it ultimately unreliable. As much as we want to love this foundation, we have to leave it because it just brings about an extra layer of stress to our makeup routine, and that’s not what we need.
SUITABLE FOR: Normal to dry skin types.
Other Information
- For all its faults, the Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Matte Powder Foundation still boasts a pretty commanding presence with a whopping 41 available shades to find the correct match from.
