Monthly Archives: March 2017

Estée Lauder Double Wear Foundation

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“I’m not the greatest; I’m the double greatest. Not only do I knock ’em out, I pick the round.”- Muhammed Ali

Double Wear FoundationEstee Lauder Gift BagES gift bag

ES lipstick swatch day

In natural light from L-R Pure color envy lipsticks in “intense nude” and “insolent plum”, lip pencil in “rose”

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With flash

You know when something is hyped up SO much that it deters you from even wanting to try the product? That’s how I felt about Estée Lauder Double Wear Foundation. I’m a foundation hoarder and there just didn’t seem to be any good reason to splash out on yet another foundation. That all changed when I saw a bottle on clearance for a mere $11 at my local CCO (Cosmetics Company Outlet). $11?! That was a no-brainer and I snapped it up unsure of whether it was even the right color for me. This was at the tail-end of last Summer and I’ve barely reached for my other foundations since.

This foundation stays put. It’s by far the most long-wearing foundation I own and when I took it on my trip to blisteringly hot and humid Ghana and drizzly England in October, it performed fantastically in both climates. I’ve never had a foundation even come close to outlasting the African sun and this did a truly admirable job.

I would describe it as a medium- full coverage foundation and a little bit goes a long way. It is pretty easy to control how much coverage you want so that’s always a plus. It sets pretty quickly so I advise that you don’t dally when it comes to blending it out. It offers a very matte finish so if you suffer from chronically dry skin, I would not necessarily recommend this foundation. It comes in a decent shade range and although I think my shade (7W1 Deep Spice) is a touch red for me, it definitely does the job.

There are a couple of cons though, the main one being that this foundation doesn’t come with a pump. It’s a never-ending source of annoyance to pour out the foundation each time because a lot of foundation gets wasted and it’s just messier in general. Additionally, the bottle is made out of glass so this may cause some concern for the butterfingers amongst you.

I  decided to purchase this new bottle from Macy’s as they were doing a fantastic gift with purchase that I just couldn’t pass up. A $35 purchase of any Estée Lauder item came with a cute bag filled with a ton of (expensive) goodies. There was a choice between an eyeshadow palette and mascara, or two full-sized lipsticks and a lip liner and I chose the lipstick option. The bag also came with deluxe-sized samples of a serum, eye cream, and moisturizer. The lipsticks are lovely and creamy and wore well on me for about 5 hours and did I mention they’re full-sized? This offer is currently still available so if you’ve had your eye on this foundation, this is a fantastic chance to get some great extras with it. The foundation retails for $39.50 and that is slightly lower than most of the higher-end foundations out there so I have no quibbles with the price. I wholeheartedly recommend this foundation so grab a sample and try it out for yourself if possible.

And now here’s a picture of me wearing Double Wear with the rest of my makeup on in natural light. Unfortunately, I don’t remember absolutely everything else on my face because I’ve developed a sieve-like memory and this was taken about a month ago. However, I have listed the things I do remember:

Estee Lauder doublewear on dark skin 7W1 Deep Spice

Eyes:

Viseart theory palette 02 in “minx”

Kat Von D tattoo liner in “trooper”

Benefit Goof Proof Brow Pencil in “05”

Lips:

Stila Stay All Day liquid lipstick in “chianti”

Face:

Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place makeup in “7W1 Deep Spice”

Kat Von D Lock-It concealer crème in “Deep 31”

Nana Adomah

Back For the Second Time

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Yikes! Has it really been this long since I last published a post? I feel so ashamed but life has a habit of getting in the way and the longer I stayed away, the harder it was to come back. Those of us who blog nowadays clearly do it for the love and I truly do love it. While I was away, so many people continued to visit the blog, share posts, and comment. This blew me away and it reminded me of the reasons I love to blog. The majority of hits to my blog are from people searching for “x” swatch “on dark skin” and that was my overriding reason to start this blog. It’s so frustrating trying to find swatches of popular products on different skin types and I wanted to do my bit to make it a little bit easier.

I have a ton of beauty series coming up that I’m excited about and I hope you will be too. I have a million and one foundations that I’ve been meaning to do a “foundation series” since forever and I’m eager to bring that to you. I’m also looking forward to shining a light on lesser loved brands that I love.

I also wanted to offer my opinion on the numerous books I read and I am endeavoring to offer better content in that regard. I read a pretty wide range of books but in the last few years, I’ve made an effort to read more books by women, and more books by non-white authors. That’s not to say that’s all I read but I think it’s always a good idea to expand your exposure to common fare in a considered manner. There’s  so much wonderful stuff out there and sometimes you just have to make the effort to find it!

I have a new blog header that I feel reflects the spirit of the blog. It was designed by the lovely Emmy and she was an absolute pleasure to work with. I highly recommend contacting her for your design needs.

So here I am, back again. Thank you for sticking around and I hope you continue to support me in this venture!

Nana Adomah