Firstly, I’d like to say a big hoorah for a “western” BB Cream with a decent SPF rating. The Estee Lauder Daywear BB Creme* comes with a broad-spectrum sun protection rating of SPF35. What it doesn’t come with, is a whole bunch of moisture – and that’s bad news for me, especially because it’s kind of the whole reason I fell in love with BB creams in the first place. But let’s not forget, this version from Estee Lauder has disassociated itself with the whole BB cream ‘thing’ by re-imagining those two initials, not to mean blemish/beblesh balm, but ‘beauty benefit’. If that sounds a little bit wanky, it’s because it is.
Having said that… every cloud has a silver lining does it not?
What the Estee Lauder Daywear BB Creme does introduce, is very good oil control. It doesn’t achieve this by mattifying the crap out of your complexion, you’ll still see a certain amount of dewiness (a.k.a life) and definitely a lot of ‘real’ skin, but it manages to velvet-ify (that’s SO a word), keeping the greasies (also a word) at bay very effectively indeed.
Coverage is sheer/medium but it evens my skintone without arguments and reduces the redness admirably. If you’ve got blemishes, you’ll need to conceal these – don’t be layering four coats of BB cream ontop and hoping for the best.
Many have raised concerns about the shade and yes, two shades is not enough and 01 Light (the palest) is both too dark and too warm-toned for pale, cool pink types like myself. If you’re an NC20 upward, you should be fine with this shade. I’m not one to be massively horrified if a foundation doesn’t match my skintone exactly, I just don’t want to look tangoed or for people to take sly twitpics of me to show their friends how ‘not’ to get matched for foundation. You know? Hopefully the pictures will give a better impression of what I’m trying to say but I think I can get away with this one aslong as I don’t get too fixated on it not quite being right.
What else is there to mention? Packaging is sleek and portable, if not the sexiest I’ve seen. It smells strongly of cucumber, reminding me of the Boots own range of cucumber products… again, this doesn’t really scream “I’m worth my £32 price tag”.
Ok, before/after time – this is taken under flash conditions, at night so the change in tone is pretty much spot on (as I have complete control over the lighting here). Also, I’m loving the chin spot.
The bottom line is this, if you have very dry skin, there are more suitable products available in the BB cream world for you. If you have combination or oily skin and you’re a little darker than the average sun-dodger, you should really try and beg a sample of this from your nearest counter because I think it may be the best BB cream you’ve yet to try.
Estee Lauder Daywear BB Creme is available to buy now online and on counter, priced at £32 for 30ml
* press sample
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great, not the colour for me then, as usual! All the lights so far have been too dark and too warm
have you been putting miraclegrow in your fringe? it looks lush.
before and after photos are so impressive, loving the coverage
I personally think this is the perfect shade for you.
will skip this one, 35 quid is too much for me, she says, lusting after the origins one, out in april, featuring a whopping 6 shades and planting a tree everytime you buy one. *not a sponsored comment* 🙂
I got a sample of this with my last Estee Lauder purchase, and yes to everything you said! It doesn’t offer me a whole lot of coverage, but I find I like it for days I am in as rush. I put this on, blush, powder, mascara, and a tinted lip balm.
Oh no! This sounds perfect for me with normal/oily skin and I love a light coverage but I’m super pale so this will definately be too dark 🙁 such a shame because I’d be rushing out to by it otherwise! X
Oil Control without being matte, evening out complexion, SPF… this is all music to my ears!! I can’t wait for it to be available around here!!
I am so pleased that you genuinely posted the word ‘wanky’ on here – I wondered if you would after last night’s tweet but I am very happy to see it. Feel like a child reading a swear word for the first time again!
I’m LOVING the use of the word “wanky”, because that’s exactly what I thought when I read “Beauty Benefit” too…
I know that the colour isn’t the best match, which always makes a difference, but I think the luminosity of your skin is so much better in the before pic.
This stuff is amazing in every way for me, and I do have very dry skin but I always use cream no matter what I use on my face for coverage so that was not an issue for me. I was in the market for a tinted moisturizer for the hotter months coming up and this came to my rescue as I find it very lightweight, and it is the best of both worlds because it also gives me the coverage I want. I have a lot of redness in my skin, and this does the job nicely. It’s too bad you didn’t have the best experience with this.
It’s not the point of your post obviously, but as an aside: you have BEAUTIFUL radiant almost flawless perfect skin!! You don’t need any sort of foundation- maybe a powder in case of oilies or something– but i swear you have stunning skin!!
How would you say does this compare to the Daywear sheer tint release? I saw, that you reviewed it as well. Obviously I see that there is more SPF and has more “color”. But how does it differ in performance? Thanks in advance, and lovely wording (of course velvet-ify excists!)
Hi Melodie,
Biggest difference is definitely coverage – which kinda affects the other variables… I’d say that the BB is more traditionally foundation-y and the daywear sheer tint should still be your number one choice if you have decent skin but are looking for a ‘pep’ rather than a ‘solution’. As for longevity, it’s been a while but I can’t remember having any complaints with either so the best I can tell you is that neither should give you any issue or trouble in that respect but this is on a non-oily skintype, slightly shinier t-zone but nothing that eats away at makeup.
Hope that helps a bit! If I had to pick between them, I’d go for the Daywear Sheer Tint because I’m a massive advocate of women with sheer bases and expertly applied concealer (do as I say, not as I do!) haha
It blends in really well with your skin giving you a subtle glow. Did you try on shade 1 (lightest) or shade 2 (the darker one!) ?