Foundation Talk: Vol. 2

Hello again! 

Since I have been so sporadic with posting thus far, (things like work and life in general always seem to get in the way of blogging) I am working on creating more content, and not only MORE but a routine for posting as well. For too long I have let things get in the way of what I am really passionate about (writing and makeup), so I’m making a summer resolution to take more time to do the things I love starting… NOW.
If you’re new to my blog and have somehow managed to find yourself in my little dark and dusty corner of the internet, I posted an article called “Foundation Talk” a while back in which I discussed foundation and finding the right foundation match. I’m going to add a little to that with a Vol. 2 and hope to come back to the topic of foundation and update semi-regularly since I have A LOT to say on the matter.
Since I have really struggled over the years with finding the right foundation match, I wanted to talk about MY skin tone, my skin type, the shades that have worked for me, the formulas that haven’t worked out for me, and all of the above in hopes that it might help someone who has similar skin.

Keep reading for more details! 

My Skin Tone Details

My skin tone has proven to be somewhat of a nuisance to color match. Throughout my whole makeup wearing life, I have definitely been through a lot of back and forth looking for the perfect foundation match. There have been SO many instances where consultants at a makeup store will completely underestimate how pale I am and put me in a shade that is 3 shades darker than what I actually am. We’ve all been through the looks-fine-inside-but-outside-makes-me-look-like-a-strawberry debacle. And that’s pretty much what happens to me the majority of the time when I completely let the associates match me rather than going with my gut, picking out a couple of shades that I know are the correct undertone for me, then asking an associate to verify my perfect match.
For my specific skin tone, I have fair-light skin with yellow (almost olive) undertones. I do have some redness on my face due mostly to some acne and discoloration, but my chest/neck area is so yellow that it’s often times hard to find a foundation that is yellow enough for me. Most of the foundations for fair skinned people are only made with pink or neutral undertones. So rather than buying a foundation that doesn’t have perfect match for me, I have learned that some brands just don’t make the shade that I need and that’s okay. Throughout the whole foundation process I have learned to accept that I might not be able to wear a certain brand of foundation until they update their shade range rather than forcing myself to wear a foundation that just looks off. After doing some discovery, (aka being shocked when I look at the foundation shade in the sunlight) I have discovered that even neutral foundations are too pink for me, so I have to stick with foundations that have yellow undertones strictly (with the exception of one peach toned foundation that I can actually pull off). For some reason, be it the lighting or the devil himself, there have been occasions in my foundation shopping times when a beauty consultant matches me to a cool toned foundation without my knowledge. I can always tell if a consultant really knows their stuff when they actually look at my neck and the overall tone of my body to determine that I am very yellow toned.
I have struggled with foundation matching so much, that I have often times even sworn off foundation and decided to just wear a color that doesn’t match. I have been back and forth to makeup counters so much (I’m looking at you Estee Lauder), that the sales associates have even made me feel crazy. They’ll put me in a shade that is way too dark, then when I go back in wearing said dark shade, they’ll say, “I don’t see why you don’t think it matches, it even looks too light to me.” Come to find out, she had been matching it so the discoloration I have on my neck rather than my actual shade. Through all my trial and error, I have learned that the most important thing to do when looking for a proper foundation match is to trust your instincts. Yes, most beauty consultants go through rigorous training so that they are prepared to help you reach your perfect match, but no one knows your skin better than you do.

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My Skin Type

My skin is very oily. And I’m not talking “oily in some areas”, or “only oily in the T zone”, I am a true oily through all seasons. So this is definitely something that I have to keep in mind when it comes to selecting a foundation formula and skin care products. What I typically look for in a foundation is words like “long wearing” and “oil free”, because those particular formulas seem to be the ones that hold up the best against the looming threat of make-up melt off. Foundations I usually try to avoid include words like “hydrating” (which I had to learn is actually not always a bad word when it comes to oily skin), and “dewy” because those are the ones that tend to slide and move around on my face the most.
When it comes to skin care, that’s where things get a bit more complicated for me. I have very acne prone skin, and for some reason I have been a victim of adult acne lately, BUT I also have very I sensitive skin so I have to be very careful with the products that I use. I have used products in the past that have created a full blown rash on my whole face, so for the most part I try to stick to what I know won’t cause a world war on my skin- otherwise I will do a patch test before trying something new.
In addition to some acne issues and acne scarring, I also have some pretty bad dark circles so when it comes to foundations and concealers, I always look for something that is full coverage.

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Foundation/Concealer Matches

–MAC Pro Longwear Foundation in NC20, $34 USD
–MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC15, $28 USD
–MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation in NC20, $34 USD
–Estee Lauder Doublewear in 1W1 Bone, $39.50 USD *my Holy Grail foundation* Estee Lauder is also currently offering 20% off and free shipping when you enroll in their rewards program. They also have a suuuuper helpful “Find Your Shade” feature on their website, where they ask you questions about your skin tone and type, then suggest which shades might be a good fit for you
–Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Full Coverage foundation in Fair-Light Honey, $39 USD
–Smashbox Studio Skin 15 Hour Hydrating Foundation in 1.1– $42 USD
–Kat Von Lock-It Foundation in 45 Neutral, $35 USD (the neutral version of this actually appears to be more yellow than the 45 Warm)
–Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Invisible Cover Foundation in 117= Y225 Marble, $43 USD- this one matched pretty well but didn’t work out for obvious reasons, I prefer a matte finish. I have heard the stick version of this foundation is a lot better for those of us with oily skin. I will give that a try then update this!
–MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NW20, $22 USD- (this has pink undertones but I use it for the dark circles under my eyes because the pink neutralizes the shade of the dark circles)
–MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NC20, $22 USD
–Tarte Shape Tape Contour Concealer in Light, $25 USD- this one has pink undertones, but since I use this particular shade only for my under eye area, the cool tones neutralize my dark circles.

 

Foundations that match me from left to right: Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Foundation in Fair-Light Honey, MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC15, Estee Lauder Double Wear in 1W1 Bone, Smashbox Studio Skin in 1.1, Kat Von D Lock-It Foundation in Light 45 Neutral. Bottom left: MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NC20, MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation in NC20, Tarte Shape Tape Concealer in Light

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Foundation Mismatches

(fair warning, this list is gonna be a hell’uva lot longer than the first one)
–Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Long Wear Foundation in Ivoire N 140, $47 USD – this one is for fair to light skin with neutral undertones, but just the small amount of pink they put in this shade made it too pink for me. In addition to the shade being off, I felt like the formula was also slightly off for me as well. I wear glasses at work Monday-Friday and this foundation got really greasy under them and caused sliding, even when I tried some tweaks to make it last longer. If they had a warm version of this exact shade I would probably buy it and just use it for special occasions or specifically when I’m wearing contacts.
–Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Long Wear Foundation in 160 Ivoire W, $47 USD – this one is allegedly for yellow undertones, but it is SO pink. Why Lancome? WHY
–Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Long Wear Foundation in 220 Buff C, $47 USD- okay, this one needs a little back story. So after 140 and 160 didn’t work out for me, I went to the Lancome counter to explain that I felt both of those shades were too pink for me but the overall lightness of the shade was a good match. So what does the sales associate do? She puts me in a shade that not only has PINK undertones, but is about FIVE shades DARKER than what I needed. I’m pretty good about researching foundations beforehand so situations like this don’t happen, but in this case I did no research and completely put myself in the hands of the sales consultant only to end up looking like an orange.
–MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NW15, $28 USD- this one was a classic case of the makeup artist misreading my undertones. I should have known better because I know that NW in the MAC world means pink undertones, but I went against my instincts and decided to try it anyway. The rest is history.
–MAC Pro Longwear Foundation in NC25, $34 USD- this one is just one shade above NC20, which actually works for me, but it will forever haunt me. This is the shade I wore in high school when I didn’t know better and walked around with an orange mask. I went blindly through life with the incorrect shade of foundation until one day a guy friend said “you look like you have a mask on. You have a line of makeup around your face.” MOR. TI. FYING. But shout out to him for showing me the error of my ways thus sparking this crazy foundation hunt.
–Kat Von D Lock It Foundation in 47 Neutral, $35 USD- only one step up above 45 neutral but worlds darker on me. I ended up keeping it just in case I get somewhat of a tan this summer.
–Kat Von D Lock It Foundation in 48 Neutral, $35 USD- waaaay too dark and orangey for me. I’m not sure how I keep getting matched with light-medium foundations when I am more on the fair spectrum.
–Estee Lauder Doublewear Foundation in Desert Beige 2N1, $39.50 USD- this is the very first shade I -got matched with in EL Doublewear. I wore it for a good amount of time until a saint at Ulta helped me realize that this one was too dark and too pink for me. God bless her.
–Estee Lauder Doublewear Foundation in Ecru 1N2, $39.50 USD- this is the shade right below Desert Beige. Still too pink and slightly too dark for me.
–Estee Lauder Doublewear Foundation in Sand 1W2, $39.50 USD- this one is actually supposed to be for yellow undertones, but it was still too pink for me.
–Loreal Infallible Matte Foundation in Classic Ivory 101, $9.79 USD- I REALLY wanted this foundation to work for me, but I just couldn’t find a shade that matched. The overall lightness level of this shade would probably work for me if it wasn’t so pink. I feel like this shade is just literally pink.
–Loreal Infallible Matte Foundation in Shell Beige 102, $9.79 USD- another case of this shade being way too pink
–Loreal Infallible Matte Foundation in Natural Buff 103, $9.79 USD- I’m honestly not even sure why I even tried this shade. In my defense, shopping for drug store foundation is like one of the hardest things ever- you can’t swatch so you just have to go off of appearance. This was way too dark for me and was almost kind of orangey. I actually was able to manipulate the shade a bit by mixing it with a lighter foundation, but that is way too much work for me to ever want to try to wear this. This is one of the foundation lines that I have accepted that I just can’t wear until they update their shades, which is sad because I love the coverage and consistency of it. If Loreal had my shade, this one might even replace all my high end foundations.
–Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Foundation in 120 Classic Ivory, $5.99 USD- I really wanted to love this one because, um, hello, the price. But this one just didn’t match me. There is a lighter shade that seems to be pretty yellow, so I will try that one and come back to this. The good news is, Maybelline seems to be routinely adding more shades to this line.

Top Row from Left to Right: Diorskin Forever in 020, Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless in 120, Kat Von D Lock-It Foundation in Light 47 Neutral, Loreal Infallible Pro Matte Foundation in 101, Loreal Infallible in 103, Loreal Infallible in 102, Estee Lauder in 1W2 Sand, and countless samples

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Swatch Gallery

 

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Final Thoughts

Since I have often felt overwhelmed and lost when it comes to foundations, and I am just one skin tone out of so many different unique and beautiful skin tones, I know that this won’t even begin to cover foundation matching for everyone. If you have a similar skin tone/type as me, maybe you’ll find that some of the foundations that work for me might work for you. Maybe you’re even slightly tanner than me with pink undertones, and you’ll find that what didn’t work for me will work for you. If I can help even just one person to not struggle with the same insanity that I have. I will also be making this a series, and compiling a list from friends/family with all different skin tones and types.
I would also love to see some of the different foundations that work out for you guys! If you’d like to be a part of my Foundation Talk series, you can email your submissions to me at lipstickedlelune@gmail.com or submit your ideas in the comment section below.
As always, thanks for reading!