When I first read about the new Estée Lauder Double Wear All Day Glow BB Moisture Makeup (‘BB’) I was pretty excited: a hybrid foundation combining great coverage and a dewy/glowy finish…that’s basically the Holy Grail as far as I am concerned. I anticipated the BB to have the same coverage and longevity of Double Wear Light (‘DWL’), with the glowy finish of, say, the Dior Diorskin Nude BB Creme.
Nope.
Although it undoubtedly has more luminosity than DWL, it is by no means gives the skin a glow. Well, certainly not mine anyway (but I should caveat this by saying that my skin is incredibly dry – like, parched to the extreme). As far as coverage is concerned, I would say the BB offers light to medium coverage, and it certainly is buildable, but I don’t find it to be as good as DWL. By way of an example, DWL covers old blemish scars without the need for a concealer – sadly not so with the BB. Additionally, I find that if I do need to conceal on top of DWL, the concealer clings to the foundation all day long, with no need for touch-ups. Again, this is not the case with the BB – I noticed that the concealer started to shift and dissipate after 2-3 hours and I then needed to constantly re-apply my concealer throughout the day. However, with that being said, the BB isn’t a foundation, it’s a BB cream (obviously), so I think my expectations about the level of coverage were a little unrealistic.
As far as application of the BB is concerned, I found that a dampened Beauty Blender worked best – fingers and brushes just didn’t give me an even enough finish. As with DWL, the BB is not very fluid and it sets quickly, so you have to work fast. The moisture in the Beauty Blender definitely helped to initially add a bit of a glow to the BB, but it evaporated quite quickly.
Before I bought the BB, I was using DWL on my chin area to conceal spots, and then one of my other foundations on the rest of my face to create more a dewy finish (like the L’Oreal True Match Lumi, Bourjois CC Cream or Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Foundation). It is very rare for me to use DWL all over my face at the moment because my skin seems to be drier than it was last winter, and I end up with a very flat complexion. I was hoping that the BB would solve this problem and that I would be able to use one foundation on my entire face, but unfortunately, no.
I think perhaps the BB is better suited for months where my skin is a bit more hydrated, so I will shelve it until then and revisit it when the time is right. Stay tuned…
Available in store or online here. Retails for R450 online, but I definitely paid R415 in store for mine. Very strange.