Do you have foundation shade paralysis? You're not alone! Nailing the perfect foundation shade can be tricky, but it all comes down to determining your undertone.
The goal of a foundation is to match your natural skin tone and even out the overall appearance of your skin. Using the correct foundation shade will allow your natural skin tone to shine through.
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Many clients ask me about the labelling of MAC foundations as they don't understand what NC and NW means and how to colour match themselves. In colour theory, we're taught that cool undertones are reds, pinks and blues and that warm undertones are yellow, peaches and golds. However, in MAC labelling, the undertones are the opposite.
Read write ntfs mac. Use these quick tips to determine your perfect foundation shade by first understanding your beautiful skin's natural undertone.
What is an ‘undertone'?
Your undertone is the underlying shade of your skin.
Undertones generally fall into four groups:
- WARM: yellow or golden – light and medium skin tones
- COOL: pink or red – light and medium skin tones
- OLIVE: medium tan or brown skin with yellow and golden undertones with a slight greenish (olive) cast – medium and medium-deep skin tones
- NEUTRAL: balanced coloring with no obvious pink/re (cool) or yellow/golden (warm) tones – light and medium skin tones
In fact, your undertone has nothing to do with how light or dark your skin appears. It also has nothing to do with the amount of pink or redness you see on your skin due to irritation, rosacea, eczema, or acne.
Focus on your undertone first, rather than matching your foundation to your skin color at the moment.
Look at your face, neck, and chest in daylight.
Then, read the following descriptions and select the one that most resonates with you.
COOL UNDERTONES
Cool undertones in the skin have a beautiful pink, red and may even have subtle hints of blue. Does this sound like you?
Your skin shade is very light with hues of pink to medium tan if you are on the lighter end of the spectrum. If your skin tone falls towards the deeper end of the spectrum, you could characterize your coloring as coffee or chocolate with varying degrees of cream. No one would ever say that your skin has a 'golden' or 'honey' glow to it.
You look amazing wearing jewel-toned clothing in fuchsia, rosy pink, violet, emerald green, sapphire blue, aqua coloring, as well as grey and black clothing.
You don't look so hot wearing mustard yellows, burnt sienna, ochre, tomato red, orange, brown, hunter green, spring green, olive green, orangey-red, burnt orange, coral and peach clothing.
You look best in silver jewelry.
Check the underside of your wrists your skin has red or pink hues and the veins on your wrists are mostly blue and purple.
The wrong foundation will look too orange.
You have blue, green, grey, or brown eyes.
You have light to medium ash blonde or light to medium ash brown hair, neutral brown or black hair.
When you get in the sun: If you are at the lighter end of the spectrum, you burn first and then tan (maybe).
Celebrities with cool undertones: Anne Hathaway, Nicole Kidman, January Jones, Christina Aguilera, Amy Poehler, Reese Witherspoon, Naomi Watts, Gwyneth Paltrow, Emily Blunt, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kate Middleton, Olivia Wilde, Oprah Winfrey, and Alek Wek
Choose foundations with cool undertones and stay away from anything that looks golden.
WARM UNDERTONES
Warm undertones in skin has a beautiful golden, peachy or honey glow. Does this sound like you?
Your skin shade is very light with hues of peach to golden beige if you are on the lighter end of the spectrum. If your skin tone falls towards the deeper end of the spectrum, you could characterize your coloring as honey or golden. No one would ever say that your skin has a 'pink' or 'red' hue.
You look amazing wearing earthy brown, olive green, orangey-red, burnt orange, mustard yellow, brown, coral, cream, ivory, and peach clothing. https://revizionmobile961.weebly.com/zte-f660-usb-printer.html.
You don't look so hot wearing jewel-toned clothing in fuchsia, rosy pink, violet, emerald green, sapphire blue, aqua. G rey and black clothing are never your most flattering choice.
You look best in gold jewelry.
Check the underside of your wrists to see that your skin has peachy, yellow or golden hues and the veins on your wrists are greener.
The wrong foundation will look too pink, red, or ruddy.
You have blue, brown, hazel, or olive green eyes.
You have golden blonde, brown or black hair. Aiseesoft video downloader 3 1 32 download free.
When you get in the sun you tan easily and don't burn very often.
Celebrities with warm undertones: Jessica Biel, Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Taylor Swift, Kate Hudson, Gisele Bündchen, Amanda Seyfried, Cameron Diaz, Lindsay Lohan, Kate Beckinsale, Beyonce, and Mary J. Blige
Choose foundations with yellow or golden undertones.
OLIVE UNDERTONES
Olive skin tones are comprised of a variation of two undertones, yellow undertones or green undertones. This beautiful combo generally comes off as a muted bronze with subtle hints of green (olive) coolness. Does this sound like you?
Your skin shade is very light to medium tan bronze that could be mistaken for a classic 'cool'. However, the 'olive' skin tone is a slight deviation from the classic 'cool' due to the subtle green hue that gives you that gorgeous cool bronze tone.
You look amazing wearing almost anything! Roblox studio mac. But you look especially brilliant in light pink, light apricot, plum, emerald green, olive green, turquoise, faded blue, denim blue, marine blue, and golden yellow colors. Word for mac price.
You don't look so hot wearing neon colors, brown, mauve, and beige.
You look best in both gold and silver jewelry. Lucky you!
Check the underside of your wrists your skin has a muted golden hue and the veins on your wrists are more green than blue.
The wrong foundation will look too white, ashy, or pink.
You have green, hazel, amber, or brown eyes.
You have blonde, red, brown, dark brown or black hair.
When you get in the sun you tan very easily.
Celebrities with olive undertones: Eva Longoria, J-Lo, Jessica Alba, Selma Hayek, Lucy Liu, Kim Kardashian, and Demi Moore
Choose foundations that look balanced or are very subtly leaning towards golden with a slightly olive green hue. Stay away from any bright yellow/golden foundations, cool pinks, and reds.
NEUTRAL UNDERTONES
Neutral skin tones are comprised of a beautiful balance of cool and warm with no obvious undertones of pink, olive, or yellow. If you have this skin tone you may have noticed that you are able to wear many foundation shades in a specific shade range. Does this sound like you?
Adobe acrobat 6 1 download. Your skin shade is very light to a deep coffee or chocolate with no specifically distinguishing pink, red, golden, or honey hues to your skin. It's exactly how it sounds, perfectly neutral.
You look amazing wearing muted shades of baby pink, rose, ruby, jade, mint, grey, taupe, pink, beige and lavender.
You don't look so hot wearing electric colors, bright yellow, hunter green, bright pink, bright purple, red and black.
You look best in gold and silver jewelry. Lucky you!
Check the underside of your wrists your skin has a balance of golden and pink with no obvious undertones and your veins appear both blue and green
The wrong foundation will look too white, ashy, or pink.
You have grey, blue, hazel, or brown eyes.
You have light to medium ash blonde or brown hair.
When you get in the sun you may or may not burn first and then tan.
Celebrities with neutral undertones: Sarah Jessica Parker, Adele, Miley Cyrus, Natalie Portman, Kelly Clarkson, and Victoria Beckham
Choose foundations that look balanced or are very subtly leaning towards golden tones. Stay away from any bright yellow/golden foundations, cool pinks, and reds.
Test the Color Properly
Once you've chosen a foundation to test, use a Q-tip to swipe a small dab of foundation on your cheekbone, around your nose, and at your jawline on one side of your face. Then, stand near a window or outdoors where you can utilize natural light for a true reading. You've picked the right color if your foundation disappears.
Don't 'correct' your skin tone. Your skin tone is perfect the way it is! If you have blemishes or redness, address the color inconsistencies first with a concealer. Then use the foundation that most accurately represents the beautiful skin tone you were born with.
Don't try to change your skin tone. You will be much more radiant using the foundation shade that most closely matches the beautiful skin you were born with. And remember, depending on your skin, you might need different foundations for different seasons. Evaluate your foundation in the winter and again after sun exposure to make sure you still have a good match.
Now that you know your undertone, check out my recommendations for The Best Natural and Clean Foundations of 2020.
Choosing a foundation can be really daunting, but it's a key part to our makeup and can make or break a flawless face so it's important to get it right. Many clients ask me about the labelling of MAC foundations as they don't understand what NC and NW means and how to colour match themselves.
In colour theory, we're taught that cool undertones are reds, pinks and blues and that warm undertones are yellow, peaches and golds. However, in MAC labelling, the undertones are the opposite.
NC: Neutral Cool – golden beige undertones.
NW: Neutral Warm – red, pink or blue undertones.
N: Neutral – beige undertones.
C: Cool – Yellow, golden or olive undertones
So a person with yellow, peach or golden undertones would be suited well to an NC foundation whereas a person with red, pink or blue undertones would be better suited to an NW foundation. A person with a beige undertone would be perfectly suited to an N foundation.
You might have heard that some ladies use an NC foundation but have been given an NW concealer, this is because the pink undertone of an NW concealer helps to cancel out dark green under eye circles. For blue tinged under eye circles, you could cancel them out with an NC concealer.
My client Nina has warm undertones (reds in MAC terms) with cool under eye circles (yellow). I used MAC Studio Fix in NC20 over her face to even out and correct the redness and NW10 concealer to correct the dark circles
Yellow Mac Women's
The number that follows each NC, NW, N or C is simply the colour of each foundation. Sharon, from Sharonthemakeupartist.com explains this perfectly:
Yellow Foundation Makeup
'…there are some odd numbers peppered along the way in some of the foundations. For example there is an NC27 or an NW18 in Studio Fix Fluid . These colours don't have quite as strong an undertone as those that end in 5 or 0. These odd numbers have more of a neutral undertone. So an NC27 is not as yellow as an NC25 but it is a little bit darker.
Conversely there are also plain C's and plain N's. These have a stronger yellow or pink undertone than their NC/NW counterparts. Very few of the foundations in the range now have these strong undertones, it's mostly the old school formulas like Face and Body, or Studio Fix Powder.'
The shade I wear myself is NC15 – this is much more flattering to my skin tone and helps to cancel out any unwanted redness over my cheek area. This is my personal preference too and I find that the NC blends seamlessly into my skin. I find that with the majority of my clients, an NC foundation always looks better and evens the skin tone beautifully.
Mac Foundation Shades
The most important thing is to make sure that your foundation matches with your chest and looks natural. If you are still struggling, don't be afraid to ask a counter makeup artist for advice and a colour match. Makeup is all about having fun so there is no wrong or right way to wear your foundation, as long as you have a good match and avoid the dreaded ‘tideline' around the neck, you're good to go!
© This post is copyright of Rachael Divers 2015.
