Find the perfect foundation color for YOU!

 First Step in finding the correct foundation is picking the correct hue and shade.

I know there are hundreds of ‘how to pick your foundation color tutorials’ on the World Wide Web like what is your vein color or test on your cheek in the sunlight and just pick! Well this is important and I want to make sure you understand! This is the easiest way for me to determine my clients skin tones!

What is a Hue? The Hue is the main properties of the color and will determine what your undertone skin color is.

Don’t make this complicated! It is very easy to understand. There are two tones cool and warm. I’m not going to get into color theory this week. I just want you to understand what foundation to pick for yourself or your client.

Everyone is one of two hues. Cool or Warm or yea some of us are both but I will tell you what color to use if you fall under the both category!

I am Cool – Pinkish and/or Blue Hues.

Cool tones are generally very pale skin or very dark skin.

I am Warm – Yellow Hues.

Warm tones are everyone in between.

I am both…

Both tones (sometime you may hear ‘neutral’) are generally skin that is:

1)     Warm undertone skin but has cool tone visually with Rosacea, acne, or scaring making your skin look cool/pink.

In this case stick with warm tone foundations.

2)     Cool undertone skin but has warm tone visually with freckles or sunspots making your skin look warm/yellow.

In this case be careful if you apply cool foundation on freckles or sunspots it may end up looking ashy. So make sure you stick with warm foundation even if your undertone is cool.

You can see in this picture…

 

The first shade is warm (closest to her lips)

The second shade is both

The third shade is cool.

"I can't tell my foundation color..." Okay if you look on your skin and you can’t tell. Make sure you are in natural lighting. Yes, go outside! Or go near a window.

Hold up a yellow & pink piece of clothing/paper or silver (cool) or gold (warm) jewelry near your neck or on the inside of your arm. Somewhere you don’t get a lot of sun to see your natural color.

"I still can’t tell!" Go to a makeup counter and ask the associate to show you a warm and cool color foundation on your skin so you can see the difference!

Next comes the easy part the shade!

There is light to medium to dark shades. Think of shades as a gradient color going from lightest to darkest. This will change on all of us if we are exposed to the sun, thus, getting darker and/or changing your hue.

photo by HARRIS

The best way to match your shade is by matching your neck and chest. Don’t do the side of your cheek for matching the shade because that’s not your true color. Most of us have different shades on our face then our chest. And we don’t want to look like we are wearing a mask when we put on our foundation.

Good Luck!