In some point of your life you must have seen women who look more fair like a porcelain doll than they actually are or their face may become darker shade than it actually is. This is because they have not chosen the right foundation shade. A shade that is easily blendable and invisible on their skin is the perfect foundation for them. It creates a flawless base that looks like skin but a bit better and matches the skin tone.
It can be a little tricky to select one from the abundance of foundations, because one wrong selection and either your face looks hideous or a total waste of money. It is a time taking process and can cause confusion but if you want to know a strong base for you which creates a flawless and uplifted look, read this till the end.
First let’s understand the skin tones
Skin Tone is the natural color of our complexion. It’s very easy to determine the types.
- Fair- The one which looks like porcelain
- Light – The one we call pale
- Medium – The one in between light and dark
- Dark- The deeper and darker complexion
It all varies on the skin, so always observe from jawline to the cheek. Mostly Indians have medium and light skin tones. It is basically the lightness and darkness of the skin shade. It is an important criteria to select the right foundation.
What are Skin Undertones
Undertone is the color that affects the overall tone of the skin. It is a complexion that comes through our skin. There are majorly 3 types of undertones- Cool undertone, Warm undertone and Neutral undertone.
How to check your undertone type?
- Check your veins
In a natural light if your vein looks green it is warm undertone, if it looks blue or purple it is cool undertone and if both blue and green then its neutral undertone.
- If you tan or burn easily
If you get tan easily, you have warm undertone but if also get burn then you have cool undertone
- Silver and Gold effect
If you feel like silver metal doesn’t suit you, you have got a warm undertone. If you feel that gold is best and you are attracted towards it and it suits you , you have got a cool undertone. If both suits then neutral.
- Paper test
Hold a white paper to your face, the whiteness will create a cast of color on your face so if it’s yellow then warm undertone but if pink or blue then its cool undertone. If you feel that the paper created a gray cast then it’s neutral.
Why is undertone important?
When the foundation shade matches the undertone of the skin it will give us the right shade. When the undertone is different from that of our chosen foundation, it will not melt into the skin and wont align with skin. It may make our face look ghostly or ashy.
After selecting our undertone and skin tone, we come across our skin type which is important to know the right foundation shade. There are mainly 4 skin types: Oily, Dry, Combination and Neutral.
Pick a matte and waterproof foundation that minimizes the appearance of pores and controls excess oil. Something which is not heavy and has good coverage to hide blemishes and dark spots.
- Foundation for dry skin
You need something that hydrates your skin, so select a foundation that is dewy and appears natural. A foundation that blurs out the imperfections and won’t create crease in fine lines
- Foundation for combination skin
It is a type of skin which is oily in some parts, dry in another. So use a foundation that is satin or matte that adds glow to the dry part of the skin and not much shine on oily parts.
Next you have to select the foundation formula. Weather you want to select liquid , powder, creamy or mineral foundation
- Liquid Foundation provides good coverage and mixing 2 shades for your skin is very easy
- Powder Foundation can be used in wet or dry form but has very less coverage, can be used in oily skin or for locking liquid foundation
- Creamy Foundation when wet is the same as liquid but when dry, it can be used as pressed powder. For dry skin it moisturizes and has high coverage with dewy finish.
- Foundation Sticks are heavier than liquid, have high coverage and come in the form of sticks. They are best for travel and can be used as concealer
If you want a foundation for daily purposes less coverage is required. Look for medium coverage foundation if you want satin like finish and blendable. Full coverage foundation is for hiding any imperfections and is best when you want your full makeup done.
You have to find 3 shades that are closely matched to your skin. For achieving the right foundation shade do the testing, apply them parallelly on the jawline and blend. Observe which one blends effortlessly into the skin.
Pointers to Remember
- Always do a swatch test before applying wholly on the face.
- Don’t swatch on arms as tone may vary between face and arms If different complexion like dark on forehead, fair on cheeks, buy different makeup foundation for each and multi mask them
- Highlight with the concealer or foundations that are 2 shades lighter than skin tones and contour with darker shade.
- As the weather changes so as skin tones as some people get lighter skin tone in winters
- If your face get gray or makeup get oxidized, body heat make them look orange and the foundation selection is not right
- CTM Routine – Cleansing, toner, moisturizer and primer according to skin is mandatory before applying foundation
- After knowing the correct shade we get the best nude makeup look.
- Along with foundation shade, it is also important to select the right eye makeup for different eye shapes, eye shadow, blusher and highlighter.
