The ideal foundation you choose is the base of your makeup and will set the stage for the look you want to achieve. Your foundation needs to blend into your skin rather than stand out like your blush, eye shadow and lipstick. The ideal foundation will blend in with your natural skin tone giving you a seamless and effortless look. It will colour correct and hide blemishes and imperfections.
And, when applied in the right way, wouldn’t even be seen. For the most part, applying your foundation is the easy part. It’s finding the right foundation that proves to be hard. If you’re looking washed out after applying foundation, you’re wearing the wrong colour. If your glow seems to disappear after applying makeup, you’ve chosen the wrong colour.
Here’s my top guide to finding your ideal foundation:
Understanding Undertones
When we look at our skin, we notice that we have skin tones and also undertones. While at first look we can easily see our skin tone, we need to look a little more carefully to see our undertones. Your undertones will show up in shades of cool, warm or neutral.
- Cool undertones feature shades of blue or pink
- Warm undertones feature shades of gold or yellow
- Neutral undertones are a mix of warm and cool
Quick Undertones Guide
Take a look at the inside of your wrist. Do your veins appear greenish? If yes, you are probably on the warm side of the undertone scale. Blueish? Then you probably lean towards the cooler side of the wheel. Neutral undertones will be more undetectable. While this is a quick guide there is so much more that goes into finding your undertone, let me help you.
Makeup Swatch
Take three of the colours that match your skin the closest and swatch them. To do this, you need to make a line of each from your cheek towards your neckline. They should be next to each other. Then stand back and see which blends best.
Lighting Matters
With your swatches applied, move into different light scenarios. Makeup shades react differently to different lights. Your makeup will look different in artificial light than what it does in natural light. If a shade makes you look washed out, it is too light, if you look ruddy the shade is too dark. Your ideal foundation should look natural, as though you are not wearing any makeup at all.
Consider Coverage
While full coverage makeup is great it does leave very little room for error when applying. Rather opt for lighter makeup that can be built up to cover imperfections. Lighter makeup also allows your skin to breathe.
Talking Tech
If you are still a little confused, don’t worry. Many of the world’s leading makeup brands offer easy to use online matching quizzes. Here are a few of my favourites:
https://www.ilmakiage.com/powermatch-me
https://www.maybelline.com/collections/fitme/foundation-match-finder
https://www.fentybeauty.com/fenty-face-shade-finder
Undertone Inclusion
Look out for makeup brands that offer shade inclusive lines. These are the ones with varying undertone mixes throughout their ranges. Think about nude. You won’t just get one nude, you’ll get seven different nudes and you’ll be more likely to find the shade that matches you.
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