How to pick the CORRECT FOUNDATION SHADE

The biggest issue in foundation purchase isn’t which foundation to pick, but which shade you should get. I think that every person, at least once in their life, hasn’t been correctly matched. This post was inspired by my recent conversation with Bee (beelovesbeauty) and our issues with Chanel Perfection Lumiere foundation.

You are aware that foundations come in a variety of colours, skin tones and undertones. You have probably heard that our skin can be matched to neutral, pink (cold) and yellow (warm) undertones. To determine which undertone you are, you have to look at veins on your arm – if the majority of the veins look purple, your skin had pink undertone. If the majority of the veins look green, you have yellow undertone. If there is a similar amount of greenish and purple veins, you have neutral undertone.

However, determining your undertone is just one step in picking the foundation shade. You have to keep in mind that your body and your face may have different undertones – my body skin is yellow, but my face leans more to neutral undertone. If the same is similar for you, you will have to match the colour of your face and your body.

To do this you have two possibilities:

   a) match the body to the face (not very practical)

   b) match the face to the body (easier to do).

The better solution is under b) match the face to the body. This means that you have to pick the colour that will be similar to the colour of both the body and the face. This will be no problem if your face and body are very similar in colouring, but might prove challenging if there is a larger discrepancy in the colour.

For example, I never tan my face and I always wear at least SPF15, so in summer, my face is considerably (2-4 shades) lighter than the rest of my body. I solve this by picking slightly darker foundation shade which is still lighter than the body colour as I’m afraid that 100% match will look fake. I finish it with bronzer.

Another thing you have to keep in mind is that the greater the coverage, the better the foundation shade match should be. It is easy to pull off a shade or two too dark a light coverage foundation. However, a full coverage foundation match should be spot on.

Now, let’s get to the point.

The most important thing: test the foundation shade when the weather is cloudy. I have realized that the light during the cloudy days is the least forgiving. Even the slightest mismatch in the foundation shade will be obvious then. If the sun shines, you might be tempted to get darker foundation shade, as the sunshine washes the colour out.

You do not test the foundation shade under artificial lighting.

To correctly match the foundation, you should apply it on at least half of the face to see how the foundation shade works with the colouring of the rest of your body.

You should always wear the foundation on for at least twelve hours. That way you’ll see how the foundation works after several hours – some foundations are notorious for getting darker or becoming more orange as you skin gets oilier throughout the day.

If you are using a primer, be sure to test how the foundation works with your primer.

When being matched for the foundation shade, you have to keep in mind that the majority of SA’s are not very knowledgeable although you might get lucky and get a SA who will match you from the first attempt (I have encountered only one such SA in my life).

If you are pale, you have to be even more careful – for some reason paleness is associated with sickness and I have yet to find a SA who won’t match me with 3 shades too dark a foundation, saying that I need some colour on my face.

I hope this has been helpful. Feel free to share you shade matching stories and experiences.

How to: TIGHTLINING TUTORIAL (only pictures, no video)

I have promised the tutorial in the Guerlain Terracotta Loose Khol post, so here it is.

First I would like to give some warnings:

1. I warn you: if you have sensitive eyes or if you are grossed out by putting things in your eyes, don’t tightline. Ever.

2. Also, if you wear contacts, you should tightline half an hour before you put your contacts on. Otherwise, some of the kohl particles might end up underneath the contacts, which is not very pleasant (I speak from the experience).

3. Another warning: until you become really practiced, tightlining will be a messy job.

Now onto the instructions (+ step by step pictures – don’t look if you are grossed out by putting things into the eyes)

How to Get the Perfect Eyebrows

Your eyebrows make your face. When they look good, you look good. When they’re too thin, uneven or lopsided you can look like a like a Picasso masterpiece to say the least. Then there’s the issue of over plucking. You always have to think about whether or not the hairs will grow back if they’ve been accidentally removed one time too many and how will it affect your look. Here are some tips on tweezing your eyebrows that are sure to save you some time and frustration.

Start by throwing out those old rusty tweezers and invest in a good pair that are sturdy and are able to get a good grip. While it’s ok to save money on some things, there are other things that are worth the extra couple of bucks and will save you money down the road because of the quality you’ve invested in.

Now head over to a well-lit mirror and take a good look at yourself. Are you happy with your brows? Is there something that you want to change about them? Perhaps fill in the lighter areas or even them out. If there is something that you need to do to make them look better this is the time to take note of it.

Ready? Get some clear mascara or hair wax and apply it to the brow area. This will help to hold the hairs in place so that you can see which hairs are working and which ones have to go.

Using a slanted tweezers, start removing all of the stray hair that are above, below and to the sides of your brows. Be sure to take your time with this so that you don’t overdo it.

Using an eyebrow comb or an unused toothbrush, brush your brow hairs upwards and use a small; scissor to trim the hairs that are too long. Then brush your brows downwards and trim them again.

Go back and make sure that you got all of the strays.

 

Now look at your brow shape to make sure that they are both even. If one is longer than the other or your arches are uneven, slowly and carefully remove one hair at a time until they are symmetrical. Keep in mind that your inner brow should line up with your inner cornea. Don’t take off too many hairs or your brows will look unnatural.

Remove the clear mascara or the hair wax.

If you feel that you need to fill in your brows to make them appear fuller you can use a pencil to do the job. Make sure to match your hair color or use a shade lighter for a more natural look.

Give your brows a quick brush over and you’re all done.

Many women try to tweeze two or three hairs at a time in order to save time but this can be both painful and damaging to the look of your brows if done incorrectly. Finally, you may be tempted to change that shape of your brows but more often than not you’ll find that this is a bad idea. Not only is it difficult to maintain, it’s also a way to restructure of your face which you may end up disliking. Good luck and stay beautiful.

This post was written by Aleya who works in affiliation with Tweezerman who makes award winning slant tweezers as well as other eye brow shaping essentials such as tweezer scissors.

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1st picture source

2nd picture source