How to Find Your Foundation Shade

Happy Saturday, I hope your weekend is off to a beautiful start!

We all have our favorite steps when it comes to doing our makeup, mine has always been my actual face. I always wish I could just do my face and have someone else do my eyes and lips. I love color correcting, highlighting, & contouring – just really sculpting and defining the face. The most important step is foundation, if its off, it’ll throw the rest of it off and you’ll probably end up with “ghost face” in photos. Worry not, we’ve all been there but with a few easy tips hopefully it’ll make it simpler to find your perfect match!

1. Formula – Are you dry or oily? Maybe somewhere in between? My skin used to be so dry that I couldn’t even think about wearing mattifying products. My face is somewhere in the middle now, a bit combination but can swing back towards dry (when I’m dehydrated). When it’s behaving, I can dabble in mattes but usually I gravitate towards hydrating/luminous finishes.
2. Undertones – Once you’ve figured out the finish that suits you, it’s time to see if your tone is warm or cool? Look at the veins on your wrist – are they more blue or green? I have a yellow/warm undertone so my veins appear a little more green. Also, gold jewelry makes my skin color pop and look more radiant. If you’re cool-toned, silver & platinum should do this for you. Ever wonder why I never really do silvery eyes? It would wash me out! I prefer warm/earthy tones. More often times than not, when you see that “ghost face” in photos or feel like you look grey, it isn’t necessarily because your foundation is too light but because the undertone is off.
3. Swatch! – Now that we’ve knocked out our foundation formula and undertone, it gets much easier. Now you simply have to match your skin. Grab what you think looks the closest and then grab one shade lighter and one shade darker and swatch them all on your jawline. I feel like like the jaw is the best place since generally our faces are a bit lighter than our bodies – this is the best place to find a color that marries the two seamlessly.
   • Bonus Tip – if you have the time, let the product sit on your face for awhile to see if it oxidizes and gets darker. There has been so many times where I’ve finished my makeup flawlessly and then later in the day it looks like a completely different color.

With these three simple steps you should be able to find your foundation shade, but if you’re a bit off – don’t fret! Instead of throwing the bottle away, repurpose it! If it’s a bit too light you can use it under your eyes (or maybe in the winter if it isnt too off!). And if its a bit too dark, use it to bronze or even contour – on lazy days I always use a dark liquid foundation to contour because to me it looks very natural and effortless.

Video was done in partnership with Maybelline, thank you for having me!