Your foundation should blend seamlessly with your natural skin tone. You don't want there to be an obvious difference between where your foundation ends and your bare skin begins. Otherwise, your foundation will look unnatural and caked on.
Pick the right foundation shade and your skin shouldn't look made up at all. Instead, it should just look like great skin—luminous, healthy, and flawless. Counterintuitively, finding an exact match with foundation or tinted moisturizer isn't the goal, explains Kosas founder Sheena Yaitanes.
The experts have spoken, and the answer is, foundation should be one or two shades lighter than your skin tone. This is because when you use bronzer or contour then the foundation should be able to blend and give the perfect look to your face.
Hold a white sheet of paper against your face and look at yourself in the mirror. If your skin appears yellow next to the paper, your skin has a warm hue and undertone. If your face has a rosy blush, you're cool toned. If you can't determine between the two, you're in the middle with a neutral undertone.
Find three foundation shades that look like a good match and apply them in parallel lines on your jawline, extending the product from your cheek and onto your neck slightly. The perfect foundation shade is the one that blends seamlessly into your skin in both areas. Avoid swatching shades on your arm.
Blend The Foundation Lighter Than You
When in doubt, always pick a shade that is slightly lighter than your complexion rather than darker. This can prevent your complexion from looking darker than the rest of your body. It is the safest way to go when unsure about two shades that may look too light or too dark.
When In Doubt, Always Go Lighter and Use Bronzer. If you're stuck between the lighter and the darker shade, it's much easier to create a darker-looking complexion with the help of bronzer than it is to lighten up a darker hue.
If you're not sure, checking the color of your veins is a quick way to find out. Take a look at the veins in and around your face and neck. If you see blue veins, you have cool undertones. If your veins appear green on the skin (olive), you're warm.
Finding the Perfect Color. Whether you have red hair and fair skin or black hair and dark ebony skin, the foundation must match your underlying skin color exactly. Do not buy a foundation that will make your face look even a shade or two darker or lighter or change its underlying color in any manner.
“Always match foundation on your jawline where your complexion is most even. You want to match both the surface tone and under tone of your skin. It's more important to match the color in your chest than your neck which is normally always slightly lighter than your face.
Foundations are meant to make skin even and either luminous or matte, depending on skin type, and both of these formulas will do nothing to help you under your eyes. While it doesn't hurt to put foundation under your eyes, it certainly doesn't help. Skip this move and only add concealer and/or corrector under the eyes.
Clogged Pores
If you are applying makeup on a regular basis and leaving it on your skin for a long time, there are chances that your skin pores get clogged. This does not let your skin breathe, making it prone to acne, bumps and other facial skin problems. You may notice bumps around your eyes as well.
Celebrity makeup artist Frederick Sanders recommends starting with two or three shades that look closest to your complexion and blending them all in fully. "The foundation should match the side of your face and your neck to prevent you from looking like you're wearing a mask," he says.
Dehydrated or dry skin can cause makeup to clump and cling into dry patches. Your face can look like it's peeling when you put on foundation. Oily skin can also cause makeup to split on the face. Following an appropriate skin care routine and preparing your skin before makeup application is an essential step.
The makeup should look flawless, it should be like your second skin. And people who think that using a lighter foundation will make them look fairer, they are completely wrong. It will only give them a white cast and it will make them look zombie-like in photos."
“Whether you use brushes or your fingers is really down to personal preference,” says Alex Phillips, Pro Makeup Artist at Trinny London. “There's no right or wrong.
Less makeup leads to less germs that will interrupt the formation of your new skins cells. You'll feel a more clear, vibrant and hydrated face. Your skin will stay looking younger.
“Foundation should only be applied where needed. It should be used to even out the skin tone and applied directly to the areas of concern (redness, pigmentation, shadows and blemishes), then blended out across the good skin. It should also be thoroughly buffed in so that the texture of the skin can be seen.”
Proper Application Is Key. It's best to apply powder after your other beauty products such as concealer and foundation. It works to set the makeup.
So, do you use concealer before or after foundation? The proper way to apply the two products is to first smooth on a foundation and then apply your concealer. Foundation will create that even canvas we talked about earlier, and then concealer can be used to spot correct any outstanding areas that need extra coverage.
But we're questioning one widely accepted makeup practice that many of us have been led to believe is good. PSA: The back of your hand and inner wrist are not the best places to test whether a foundation is a color match for your skin; it's actually your neck or jawline.
Typically, you should aim to either match your face to your neck or keep your face one shade lighter than your neck. Reason being, once you apply bronzer, powder, and blush, your face may appear darker than it does with foundation alone.
Yes, many professional makeup artists and beauty gurus swear by applying liquid foundation with their fingers. This tactile approach provides a skin-like, natural makeup result since you're massaging the makeup onto your skin. Using your fingers works on all skin types and with both cream and liquid foundation.