The Ultimate Guide to Finding the Perfect Foundation

Finding the perfect foundation can be really difficult with all of the brands, shades, finishes and coverage levels out there. If you apply it correctly, the foundation can make you flawless but it can also completely mess up your makeup if applied incorrectly.

Understanding your skin is the first step to finding the right foundation.

I’ve narrowed down some tips for finding your dream formula, finish, and shade. So keep reading!

1 Considering Your Skin Type and Skin Concerns

Foundation isn’t one-size-fits-all. Someone you trust with your life might recommend a particular brand, but only you can decide if it’s the right one for you.

The main skin types are dry, oily, and combination. But of course you might be dealing with issues like dullness, dehydration, breakouts, and sensitivity.

Dewy foundations tend to work best on normal to dry skin types. Too much radiance on this skin type looks even oilier and it's not a good feeling on the face.

Matte foundations are usually more suitable for combination to oily skin types, you can use powder foundation or an oil-free liquid one. These products absorb oil and give you a smooth, matte finish.

Using a satin finish instead of matte on mature skin will be more suitable in order to avoid emphasizing the looks of wrinkles and fine lines.

If you have combination skin, which means your skin is oily in some place and dry in others, you can try strategically mixing and matching formulas and avoid foundations that are oil-rich.

2 Identifying Your Undertone

Look at the exposed areas of your body first. If your chest and shoulders tend to be more red and pink, you can assume that you have pink or cool undertones. If your skin looks golden, peach, or yellow, you have warmer undertones. If you look at your body and non of those colors stand out as obvious, you have neutral undertones. Never forget that your face needs to match your body.

Another way to figure this out is to look at the color of your veins. If they appear deeper purple or bluish, you will likely have cool undertone. But if your veins appear greenish, you’re warm-toned.

It doesn’t matter how fair or dark your skin color is. Any skin color can have cool, warm, or neutral undertones.

3 Coverage Level You Need

If you hate wearing makeup, you're going to think a full-coverage foundation feels heavy. That's why understanding the look of every coverage level is the key to picking the right one for your needs.

When choosing your coverage level, ask yourself how much you want your natural skin to show.

If the answer is “a lot”, choose a light foundation or even a good tinted moisturizer.

If the answer is “not a lot”, choose a medium-coverage foundation that you can “build” to get a full coverage whenever you want.

When you want a long-wear foundation that doesn't require lots of touch-ups, or if you have acne or discoloration, you can choose a full-coverage foundation.

4 Adapt Your Shade to the Current Season

You won't be using one foundation shade all year long. The skin tends to warm up in the spring and summer while we're more active outdoors and in direct sunlight. Even if you're wearing sunblock every day, your skin tone still warms up.

You should take it under consideration and maybe get another foundation for the warm weather.

That's it! As long as you pay attention to these points, it is not difficult to reach your dream foundation!