How to Pick the Right Foundation for Your Skin?
Face foundation is a universal cosmetic that can cover skin defects, subtract years, even out skin tone, and make our complexion look healthy and radiant. Nowadays, it’s standard for foundations to contain skin-nourishing ingredients and SPF filters. There is a vast range of foundations on the market dedicated to specific skin types: mature, acne-prone, sensitive, etc. However, each of us knows how difficult it is to choose the right cosmetic that meets our requirements. We often have several foundations in our cosmetic bag, but we keep looking for the perfect one. One of the fundamental problems is… the color. It can be hard to choose the right one for our skin or not know-how.
It often happens that the foundation looks bad on our face, and the fault does not lie in the composition or texture of the product or the incorrect way of applying or fixing it, but in the wrong choice of color. Too light foundation can make us look pale or even unhealthy, while too dark adds years. So how do we choose the right shade of foundation?
First of all, samples. If possible, it’s worth getting foundation samples in several colors to check not only properties such as consistency, durability, or the skin’s reaction to the cosmetic but also the color. It’s worth conducting a test on the wrist, applying a little foundation, waiting a few or several minutes, and then applying a new portion of the cosmetic. This way, we can check whether the foundation darkens with time. The so-called oxidation is a common phenomenon that we must consider when choosing the right shade.
When choosing a foundation, it’s also not worth rushing. If we don’t have samples and choose a foundation in a drugstore, let’s not buy the chosen shade right away. It’s worth applying a bit of foundation on the inner side of the wrist and coming back after some time to perform the test again, not only because of the darkening phenomenon and the possible color change of the foundation. It’s worth considering the light. The color that seemed perfect in the drugstore may look completely different in daylight.
If we’re going for stationary shopping, it’s worth giving up applying colorful cosmetics on the skin that day and testing the foundation on the face or, alternatively, the neck. If we decide to apply the foundation to the face, the most appropriate place will be the jawline. We can easily compare the color of the foundation with the color of our skin on the neck because the right shade should not be significantly different from the skin color in this area.
Another important aspect, especially if we are wavering between two colors, is the choice of a lighter shade. Why? If we buy a foundation that is too dark or has noticeable pink or orange tones that don’t match our skin tone, it will most likely end up in the trash, linger in our makeup bag, or at best, we’ll give it to our mother or sister. While we can try to use it by mixing it with another shade, which I will explain shortly, it is easier to darken a color than to lighten it. If it turns out that the color is too dark and oxidizes over time, we probably wasted our money. If the chosen color is slightly too light, we can fix it with powder. In this case, it is best to first set the foundation with loose, translucent powder and then apply a colored powder that is meant to correct the foundation color.
A good idea, especially if we plan to shop online and don’t have the opportunity to test shades, is to buy two foundations. Usually, the color that is suitable in the summer does not match our skin tone in the colder months, and vice versa. It is worth emphasizing that in order for the foundation to look natural on our face, it must be as close as possible to the color and tone of our skin, and this is often impossible to achieve using just one foundation. We often think that some shades are too yellow, others too dark, still others too cool or too pink, too light, and it is difficult to find one that would be close to our skin tone. Therefore, mixing two colors is a good idea, but we must follow the rule of mixing only foundations from the same producer and the same line, in short, we combine only the same product in different colors. Why? Only this method guarantees that the properties of the foundation will not change. In other cases, randomly mixed cosmetics may change or lose their properties, slide off the face, roll, etc.