I’m sure you already know as a possible discerning beauty lover, but if you don’t, The Estee Edit is the new and slightly more ‘affordable’ makeup range from Estee Lauder that is aimed at the younger generation, the millennials, and perhaps the makeup lover who simply finds the Estee Lauder range a little old hat. There I said it.
Out of sheer curiousity I purchased a few pieces from The Estee Edit on my last shopping trip to Selfridges, (it’s exclusive here) including their one and only base/foundation type product which is called The Skin Glowing Balm. I have recently been trying this over the last few weeks so wanted to share my thoughts with you.
I initially thought and just assumed as it was a foundation, but if you buy it with similar expectations, you may be dissapointed. This balm-type product is leaning more towards a skincare product than makeup and is possibly even lighter than a typical tinted moisturiser in terms of coverage. I am actually really liking it though and it gives the most sheer, dewy, second-skin like finish on my skin, and I am often wearing it solo for a no-makeup-day or as a first step under a heavier foundation or concealer to give a slightly heavier coverage.
ESTEE EDIT PACKAGING.
The packaging reflects the cheaper (but not cheap!) price point of the Estee Edit VS Estee Lauder. It comes in a hard plastic bottle with a neat silver pump and lid. I really like the packaging plus you can also see easily when you are running out of product. I also like the blue and white signature outer packaging on the boxes of the Estee Edit range. What do you think?
TEXTURE / INGREDIENTS.
The actual texture is quite a thick, buttery balm when you dispense it, it feels like its going to be heavy on your skin but once blended it melts away into your skin beautifully. It is a hybrid of a moisturiser and tinted moisturiser and has plenty of skin-nourishing and conditoning ingredients including the signature Pink Peony, Shea Butter, Evening Primrose Oil & Muru Muru Seed Oil. Which moves me onto my next point….if you have a combination/oily skin, this is probably not going to be suitable for everyday use. I fit into this category and have been using it maybe every other day simply for the fear of it breaking me out with constant use. A bitter-sweet situation as I really love the finish and look of a dewy skin product but as oily-skinned peeps will know, it goes from radiant skin to oil-slick sheen in a pretty short timeframe!
COVERAGE / WEAR.
The wear of the Skin Glowing Balm is *ok* on my skin for an oil-based product, I just have to keep a powder to hand to blot throughout the day, which I personally do not mind in my quest to have a radiant look to my skin. In layman’s terms ; yes it makes me look oily pretty damn quickly. It applies beautifully with fingertips because of the moisturiser-like balmy texture, although a buffing brush works just as well, I just like using fingertips with it as the warmth of skin just works the balm into the skin efffectively.
Coverage-wise, it’s a light coverage ; as expected. If you are needing anything more than a medium coverage, then you will need to mix a large dollop of your full-coverage foundation in with this. Hangover days will love this product, post-gym, holiday skin and days @ the beach all spring to mind. If you have a normal-dry skin and have reasonably good skin, I think this product will be amazing for you.
The top photo below shows the coverage of the Skin Glowing balm just on it’s own, the other 2 photo’s include the use of concealer in small areas and blusher, which is how I usually wear it. I am wearing shade 300 wheat which is a medium yellow-based tone.
There is 12 shades of the Skin Glowing balm
so I am pretty sure this will fit pretty much all skin tones, and as it
is such a sheer pigment product, it’s relatively easy to make/force a
couple of shades work for you. It costs £26, which is definitely still not cheap, but I feel like the huge dose of skincare and moisturising/anti-ageing ingredients justify the pricepoint. As far as I am aware, the Estee Edit is still exclusive to Selfridges, and is also available online at www.esteelauder.co.uk.
A NEGATIVE FOR ME.
ONE THING I HAVE TO MENTION…..is the smell. It’s the pink peony. I really do not like it at all, and it’s quite over-powering for my personal taste. Initially when I applied it I actually thought my makeup brushes must have been dirty and I was really wondering what the smell was….then I realised it was the product. Now it’s not hugely offensive, it wouldn’t stop me using the product because I like it, and I am sure some people will like/love it, but I just do not the smell, and I ain’t gonna lie. Now I have just scanned down the (enormous!) ingredients list and I can see Pink Peony on the list but it ALSO contains fragrance so I think it has been amped up to smell more like Pink Peony. Meh.
Oooooh and one more thing, with this being such a good ‘day-time’ wear base, it would have been great to have had some SPF in it I think? It’s competing against tinted moisturiser / BB-type products and these will usually have an SPF.
SUMMARY.
* Sheer cover
* Very hydrating & Dewy
* Skincare-Makeup hydrid
* Best-suited to a normal-dry skin that doesn’t want much coverage
* Shades for all
* Strong Fragrance
Have you tried anything from The Estee Edit yet? What are you thoughts? I also have one of the liquid illuminators and the signature lipstick shade, which I will review and share with you as and when I use them!
