5 Pro Tips For Choosing The Right Foundation Color

Make Sure You Buy A Foundation That Matches Your Skin Perfectly

Choosing the right foundation color can be a very a difficult and stressful thing to do!

Most girls/women struggle with finding the correct foundation color, especially when you’re looking online.

If you’re anything like me, you have struggled constantly with finding a foundation that matches your skin tone perfectly.

Getting the wrong shade of foundation is not only frustrating but it can also be a waste of money and can seriously ruin a beautiful make up look!

When I first started getting into makeup, it took me forever to learn how to match foundation to my skin correctly.

Unfortunately for me I wouldn’t notice the awfulness of my foundation color until I saw pictures of myself and my skin would either look like casper (YIKES) or beyond dark (EXTRA YIKES) and it just made me look crazy!

Thankfully for you I made those mistakes already so you don’t have to!

In this post, I’m going to provide you with 5 tips and tricks that will ensure that you are able to go to any store and pick out the perfect foundation for your skin tone.

My goal is to help you find the foundation that looks just like your skin.. ONLY better!

Number One

Be aware of your skin type.

Make sure you are very aware of your skin type.

Skin type is important when choosing foundation and concealer.

Think about how you research and find skin care products that suit your skin care needs, well the same has to be done with your foundation. It wouldn’t make sense to buy a foundation created for oily skin when you have dry skin.

When you buy a foundation that is not suitable for your skin type it will sit on the skin weird and this will cause not only patchiness but also a discoloration in the foundation.. which will definitely create a YIKES moment.

While at the store (or online), make sure you’re looking at the ingredients and the formula of the foundation to make sure that the foundation matches your skin type needs.

Foundations for dry skin are usually moisturizing and water based.

For oily skin, matte formulas are more suitable for your skin.

If you do not do this you’re wasting your time and when you get home you’re going to be disappointed with the results of your foundation.

Number Two

Sample Different Colors

It is best if you sample different colors on your jaw and nose.

Now I know what you’re thinking… that sounds really expensive. How am I gonna buy five different colors, take them home and try them on.?

Thankfully, you don’t have to buy a boat load of foundations to find the right shade.

What I would recommend doing is going to your closest beauty store- bare faced. When you arrive most of the stores have samples, all you have to do is take a small sample and apply it to your face and blend it in. The foundation that disappears into your skin is your foundation color!

I would also recommend taking about 15 minutes to walk around the store and let the make up on your skin oxidize in order to see its true color. Oxidation sometimes causes the foundation to become darker or orange (A BIG NO NO).

You can take that time to go to the nail or hair section and buy some other goodies.

Not that I’m encouraging you to spend more money, haha.

Number Three

Determine Your Complexion

One of the most important things to do when choosing a foundation is to determine your skin tone.

Your skin tone is made up of your complexion and your undertone (discussed in the next section).

This can often be referred to as your complexion, which is just the surface color of your skin.

No need to worry, this is actually extremely easy to determine because this just means that all you have to do is take to look in the mirror and decide what color your skin is. Which we all already do every single day.

See, easy!

There are four different types of complexions:

fair

light

medium

dark

Fair skin tones are those of you with very light pigmentation and you usually burn easily in the summer. You may also have sensitive skin. This skin type can have cool or warm undertones.

Light skin tones may also burn in the sun but your burn will usually turn into a tan. You might also suffer from sensitive skin. This skin type can also have cool or warm undertones.

Medium skin tones don’t usually burn in the summer and can look tan year-round without sun exposure. Your skin usually appears as an olive color in tone. This skin type usually has warm or neutral undertones.

Dark skin tones usually never burn in the summer and are usually darker in pigmentation. This skin type usually has warm undertones.

For my very dark skin tone beauties, you usually are referred to ebony or have dark skin pigmentation. This skin type usually has warm or cool undertones.

Number Four

Understand Undertones

One of the biggest issues you might have with foundation is that it does not match your undertone.

Undertones it’s such a big word in the foundation world but what does it actually mean?

Undertones is just a fancy way to explain the color that lies underneath your skin. This color plays a major factor in the overall color of your skin.

Undertones can be cool, warm or neutral.

Cool undertones are usually red, blue or pink toned based. Foundations that suit this undertone are usually named with words such as porcelain, rose, sable, or cocoa.

Warm undertones are usually yellow, peach or golden toned based. Foundations made for this undertone are usually named with words like beige, golden, tan, caramel or chestnut.

Neutral undertones are usually olive tone based. Foundations suited for this undertone are usually named with words such as ivory, buff, nude or praline.

Finding your undertone can be confusing but there are plenty of test you can do right at home to determine your undertone!

Now, i’m sure you’ve all heard of the vein test. This test requires you to look at your veins in order to determine your undertones. I personally do not like this test because it can be very inaccurate.

But just for those of you who are unaware of this test, I will explain it.

All you simply have to do is look at the veins on your arms and take note of the color of your veins. If you have blue or purple-ish veins, that means your undertone is cool. If you have veins that are green, your undertone is warm and if your veins are neither blue or green or somewhat both, your undertone may be neutral.

------- Test To Find Your Undertone -------

If you don’t like the vein test either, these are the two test I recommend doing in order to determine your undertone.

The first test is the jewelry test.

What you do is.. grab both silver and gold jewelry, preferably a necklace and earrings. Now determine how it looks against your skin. If your skin looks better with the gold jewelry, you have a warm undertone and if you look better with the silver jewelry, you have a cool undertone.

Simple and easy.

The second test (which I actually learned from beauty bakerie !) is to take a white and an off-white piece of fabric-it could be clothing or just fabric in general-and hold it up to your face. If your skin looks better near the white fabric, your undertone is warm. If you skin looks better near the off-white fabric, your undertone is cool. If you look good with both colors, your undertone is neutral.

I personally would avoid cool or pink-based undertones as much as possible because they can cause you to look very washed out and almost very ashy, no matter what your undertone is.

Number Five

Application

Though essential, this part of the foundation searching is usually not remembered but it is extremely important!

The application of foundation really determines how your foundation will look.

The best foundation blends out easily but if your application of the foundation is wrong or you are unsure of how to apply it correctly to your face, it will look bad no matter what you buy.

Make sure you buy a foundation that you know how to apply to your face.

I recommend a dense foundation brush or a beauty sponge to make sure your foundation goes on your skin flawlessly.