If you've decided you do need to change your foundation, take into account the undertone of your complexion, meaning your face and body skin overall. Cooler undertones look best with a pink makeup, whereas warmer tones need a yellow foundation. You don't want to go radically pink or yellow.
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.
Checking the color match on your neck and jaw prevents jarring discrepancies and results in the ideal hue. Your face gets the most sun exposure while your neck receives the least, so you want to find a foundation shade that matches both areas when blended into the skin.
People with warm undertones look great wearing foundation with orange and gold hues. If you have cool undertones, then your skin has more blue or pink in it. In this case, you'll want to look for a foundation that has more of a bluer-base in shades of red and pink. Neutral undertones have a mix of both.
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.
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.
“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.
If your makeup is too light, you will look ashy or as if you have a gray cast on your skin. If the formula is too dark, it can make your complexion look muddy. Look for the shade that disappears into your skin most is your right match.
Try the Paper Check
Hold a white piece of paper up to your skin. The white should create a cast of color on your skin. If your face suddenly appears more pink or blue, your undertones are cool and if you give off a more yellowish hue, you're warm. If your skin seems gray, you have neutral undertones.
Neck — Because of the shadow your face casts down upon your neck, it only makes sense that your neck is going to be one of the palest parts of your skin.
White Cloth Test: Put a white cloth next to your bare face and observe what cast your skin takes on. Skin with warm undertones will appear yellowish, while skin with cool undertones will seem blueish or pinkish.
Flip over your arm and take a look at the inside of your wrist. If your veins appear to have a blue or deep purple tint, you likely have cool skin undertones. If they look more greenish, you likely have warm or olive undertones. If you can't tell one way or the other, you may have neutral undertones.
While you can use regular makeup on your body, Velázquez suggests looking for products specially formulated to cover the skin on your body. One of our favorites is the Dermablend Leg and Body Makeup, which has high-performance pigments and is smudge- and transfer-resistant.
If you've ever thought your makeup makes you look more wrinkled, it might be by virtue of dehydrated skin. Makeup has a way of leaching the moisture from the skin, accentuating pores, and highlighting fine lines and wrinkles. So if your skin looks worse with foundation, this could be a major culprit.
Uneven skin texture can come in many forms, from under-the-skin bumps, to large, visible pores, or fine lines and wrinkles, all of which can contribute to foundation not sitting smoothly on the skin.
Foundation and concealer are two incredibly important products when it comes to fixing skin imperfections. Foundation should be applied first to even out your skin tone, and concealer can be applied after to cover up any blemishes or discolorations that might remain.
While coverage level is a matter of personal preference, those with mature skin will want to blur texture and blend discoloration with a formula that doesn't settle into fine lines or dry patches—meaning it's best to avoid matte makeup, as it's more prone to creasing.
If you've made the mistake of buying a shade darker, simply blend it with your concealer or mix it with a moisturizer. A little moisturizer can lighten your foundation and you can set it with finishing powder. But if you've bought a way darker shade and it has become impossible to use, worry not.
The general rule of thumb is that you should always opt for a shade lighter than foundation when choosing your concealer colour. Doing so helps to mask darker discolouration, but be careful not to over-correct! Knowing how to pick the right concealer is essential to ensuring that your look does not appear ghostly.
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.
Once you've got that new foundation at home, don't apply it just to the face. Blend your makeup, preferably with a blending sponge, all the way down, over and beneath the jawbone, to the neck. This creates a seamless look. Who knows where your foundation begins and ends?
All of the artists agreed that you should be blending your foundation down your neck on a day-to-day basis. "For everyday, I'd recommend blending your foundation down your jawline and buffing it down slightly, that way you avoid any color differences," says Bedrossian.
What is the colour of your veins? The easiest way to determine your undertone is by opting for a closer inspection of the insides of your wrists. If they appear green, your undertone is warm while blue veins signify cooler undertones. If you can see a mix of both, you likely have neutral undertones.