estee lauder double wear

Estée Lauder Double Wear Deep Dive: Double Wear Custom Coverage Correcting Duo

August 28th, 2018 by Karen 10 Comments

estee lauder double wear custom coverage correcting duo — Another fab find in EL’s Double Wear line

Swear to gosh, ditching under-eye concealer and opting for things like tinted moisturizer and pearly eye creams instead has completely changed the game for my dark circles.

Who knew one could still look lit-from-within without having to wear layers of powder and other products?

Plus, not having to deal with creasing concealer has been SO liberating (also trimmed out about 10 minutes from my routine!), buuuuuuut…plot, meet twist. The lack of sleep in my life right now is taking a toll on my under-eye area, and I look a little more “tow up” than usual.

This morning, just as my inner dialogue was hitting the gas (“Should I just walk around with pantyhose over my head like an O.G. bank robber? Maybe I should stick My Little Pony Band-aids under my eyes?”), I suddenly remembered the Double Wear Custom Coverage Correcting Duo.

I’ve been using it off and on all summer, and today was a reminder of what it can do.

Estée Lauder Double Wear Custom Coverage Correcting Duo ($32)

“No-Sleep Karen” is all about this two-tone skin-perfecting duo, which comes in a bunch of different colors, and, depending on what shade you go for, you can use it to spot-correct dark circles, spots, redness and dullness. Technically, it’s supposed to be used before concealer and foundation, but I use it in Tangerine all by itself for dark circles without anything else on top. (For reference, I’m a Honey Bronze in Double Wear Foundation and an NC42 in MAC.)

There’s a satiny peach shade on one end and a darker satiny peach on the other, and both are warm enough to cancel out purple or blue areas (totally key). Neither one is too obviously orange, either (also totally key), so you won’t look like you’ve got two traffic cones under your eyes.

Both peachy shades are also opaque enough to do some serious brightening, and they do it without settling into fine lines. Best of all, once the color corrector dries, it does not move! I don’t even need to set it with a powder. It stays PUT.

estee lauder double wear custom coverage correcting duo tangerine k — Tangerine in action

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When You’re Wondering About Winged Liner at 3AM (and Reviews of the PTY Beauty No BS Eyeshadow Palette, a Fab Crease Brush for Hooded Lids, and a Drugstore Beauty Staple)

August 27th, 2018 by Karen 28 Comments

pyt beauty no bs eyeshadow palette 1 — WINGS!

I haven’t been sleeping through the night lately, and by “lately” I mean for the past two weeks, which was approximately when Tabs started his new workout regimen where he does wind sprints up and down the stairs beginning at the witching hour, and Connor started having dreams that wake her up in the middle of the night. (Last night she woke up saying, “Mama, NO! Those are my bubbles. MY BUBBLES!”)

The routine has gone something like this: After I’ve comforted all of the little animals, I crawl back into bed and lie there for an hour or two with my gumbo stew of thoughts.

Among last night’s ponderings…

Is it possible to make a gluten-free roux for a white sauce?
If all of your teeth were pointy, could you still eat Popsicles?
When was the last time I wore winged liner?

I have a pretty good memory for makeup-related tidbits, like what lip liner I wore with Clinique Black Honey circa 1994 (it was Wet ‘n’ Wild 666, which is still around!), so to NOT remember when I wore winged liner last is a minor tragedy in my book, which is why I busted them out today with a mix of products, old and new…

PYT No BS Eyeshadow Palette ($28)

Ooh, can’t say enough about this cool-toned palette with its eight neutral powder eyeshadows. Whether you’ve taken a two-year hiatus from serious blending (LIKE ME), or you’ve just started experimenting with making windshield wiper motions, these buttery powders will make your crease work look like you can blend in your sleep. The shadows combine the fineness of NARS eyeshadows with the softness and smoothness of Dior, and they feel much higher end than $28 to me.

pyt beauty no bs eyeshadow palette swatches — I’m an NC42 in MAC for reference.

For my wings today, first I lined my upper lash line with a black pencil liner to sketch out the wings, and then I dipped an angled brush into the matte dark brown and layered directly on top to set the pencil and soften the color just a touch.

pyt beauty no bs eyeshadow palette k — Dark brown eyeshadow + black pencil liner = a kinder, gentler wing

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Estée Lauder Double Wear Deep Dive: Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup

August 14th, 2018 by Karen 13 Comments

estee lauder double wear stay in place honey bronze — I’m wearing your new favorite matte liquid foundation.

Double Wear Fan Girl Badge ?️?? unlocked!

The original Double Wear Stay-in Place liquid foundation is an O.G. cult classic, and it’s gotten mad love in gazillions of reviews. Basically, you can’t turn a corner without someone practically warbling a ’90s love song about it.

All my life, I’ve waited for ~~someone like you~~ a foundation like Double Wear

That’s why I waited a hot second to put it through its paces and make sure I wasn’t just falling for the hype.

Now that I’ve been using it a few times per week for a couple months…ya know what?

I totally get it now. It’s really THAT good.

Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup ($42 for a 0.1-oz. glass bottle)

But before we even get into how perfectly it sits on different skin types (mine is a HELLA fussy combo of oily, dry and normal areas with a sprinkle of acne-prone spots along my jawline, and my skin loves it), this foundation is already a winner-winner-chicken-dinner for me. It’s oil-free, truly transfer-proof (so no makeup on your favorite Price tee, hooray!), fragrance-free, and — get this — available in a staggering 56 shades.

By comparison, Fenty has only 40.

“Only,” she says, ha! Remember when the biggest department store lines had maybe 14 at the most? How things have changed!

My shade is Honey Bronze, which is a smidgen warm for my (MAC NC42) skin at the moment, but it’s darn close, and even though it isn’t spot on, I’m OK with that because it doesn’t oxidize, which has always been my biggest issue with this type of base. It’s really hard for me to find a matte liquid foundation that doesn’t darken as the day goes on, and this one stays true to the original color.

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Estée Lauder Double Wear Deep Dive: Set + Refresh Perfecting Makeup Mist

August 1st, 2018 by Karen 9 Comments

estee lauder double wear set and refresh — Estée Lauder Set + Refresh

I’ve been skipping powder as of late (’cause I’m waaaaay too deep into this whole skin-that-looks-like-skin thing), so setting spray has been vitally important to me. I literally — literally, and I don’t mean figuratively instead — haven’t left home without it in weeks.

My all-time ride-or-dies are Urban Decay All Nighter (obviously) and the lesser known Make Up For Ever Mist & Fix, but, as you know, I have to try everything, and this one from Estée Lauder is a nice surprise.

Set + Refresh Perfecting Makeup Mist ($36 for a 3.9-oz. bottle with a pump)

Estée Lauder’s Set + Refresh Perfecting Makeup Mist doesn’t actually have any Double Wear branding on it, but if you hop on their site and check out the Double Wear section, it’s there among the foundations, concealers and whatnot.

I’ve asked around, and a few MUA friends have said that this particular spray is BOSS when you use it on top of the O.G. Double Wear Foundation.

I’ve yet to try that combo, but it’s at the top of my to-do list, along with 1) mourning the loss of single Nick Jonas to Priyanka Chopra (honest to god, I thought he was gonna ask ME to marry him), and 2) eating a bag of baby carrots in one sitting (because why the heck not?).

The fine, lightweight mist, which performs like it’s equal parts primer and dewy setting spray, is made for all skin types. You can use it before AND after applying your base products.

Whenever I douse myself in it, I revel in the fresh, subtle scent, which smells like spring sunshine to me — or, less metaphorically, like pears with a squeeze of lemon, brown sugar and a handful of freesia petals.

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Estée Lauder Double Wear Deep Dive: Double Wear Nude Cushion Stick Radiant Makeup

July 27th, 2018 by Karen 15 Comments

estee lauder double wear nude cushion stick radiant makeup honey bronze — So, this applicator is a little cray.

Estée Lauder Double Wear Nude Cushion Stick Radiant Makeup ($42 for a 0.47-oz. bottle — on sale now for $21)

Gonna keep this short and sweet (for once! I KNOW.) because, sadly, this gorgeous sheer and satiny skin tint is being phased out, but since there are still quite a few shades left on esteelauder.com, I wanted to give it a mention in case you like minimal coverage and wanna grab one for 50% off.

Yes, the sponge applicator’s lame. You’ll end up with too much on your face if you go there, so ignore it. The trick to this is to twist the base at the bottom ever-so-slightly, so the tiniest bit comes out, and work it your skin with your fingers. Then you’re only a few pats and swipes away from radiant, glowing spahhhhhh skin that looks preternaturally smooth all day long.

Remember the fabulous LE NARS Hydrating Glow Tints? This has a very similar barely-there “Oh, hello there, freckles!” type of look. Très Megan Markle on her wedding day.

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Estée Lauder Double Wear Deep Dive: Double Wear Nude Water Fresh Makeup SPF 30

July 24th, 2018 by Karen 5 Comments

estee lauder double wear water fresh makeup honey bronze — When you have enough oil on your face to fry meats and various potato products and then some

Back in the day (like, when people carried pagers and weren’t at all trying to be ironic about it, and beards on hipsters weren’t ubiquitous), my skin was Oil Slick City. Now, my face resides in a rustic hamlet called Oh So Dry It Hurts, although it’ll visit its former residence every once in a while.

Does it do this because it has nothing better to do? Or, does it do it because it thinks it’s funny (haha!) to torment me? Or, maybe it just goes there because it’s hot.

Estée Lauder Double Wear Nude Water Fresh Makeup SPF 30 ($42 for a 1-oz. bottle)

A couple weeks ago, during a blisteringly hot week in Novato when my forehead produced enough grease to fry a whole chicken, it was clear to me that I needed to change my foundation game to better handle the heat. Luckily, the Double Wear Dream Team over at at Estée Lauder cooked up Double Wear Nude Water Fresh Makeup SPF 30, an oil-free AND oil-controlling liquid foundation that’s both lightweight (it’s runny like a serum foundation) and long-lasting.

Back in my oily-skinned heyday, the only real way to lock down shine was with a heavy layer of matte, caked-on makeup, but it’s a totally different story now. Now, there’s no reason why oil-prone peeps can’t get comfy coverage that feels like they aren’t wearing anything at all.

estee lauder double wear water fresh honey bronze swatch — Honey Bronze is a pretty spot-on match for MAC NC42 skin.

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Estée Lauder Double Wear Deep Dive: Stay-in-Place EyeShadow Base

July 18th, 2018 by Karen 10 Comments

estee lauder double wear stay in place eyeshadow base — Double Wear
Stay-in-Place EyeShadow Base, $21

I’ve been deep diving…metaphorically, into the world of Estée Lauder Double Wear as of late (in a nutshell, it’s soooo good!), so, in today’s episode of “The Previous Life and Times of Karen’s Many Failed Dates,” we explore the two seconds during which I dated a wanna-be Olympic diver.

He was beautiful, tan, book-smart and drove an old Mustang, but I knew it would never go anywhere because whenever I’d tell a joke he’d just sit there and blink slowly… Like crazy slow. And it would go on for, like, a minute.

It was so awkward! ?

At first I wondered if he had a terrible case of dry eyes, but then I realized that he just didn’t get my sense of humor. I dunno… Maybe I’d just assumed he got all of those abdominal muscles from laughing? Needless to say, it was over before it ever started, because in the immortal words of Hall and Oats, I can’t go for that. (No can do.)

OH, MY GAWD, KAREN, GET TO YOUR POINT. OK, OK! I’ve always liked Estée Lauder makeup, but it’s only been recently that I really started to love and appreciate the brand thanks to all things Double Wear, because everything I’ve tried so far has been magic.

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