Did you know that usually 70% of women are walking around with the wrong shade of foundation? Either you are wearing the wrong undertone, the wrong depth level so too dark or too light, or you are still wearing a shade that matched in winter but not in summer or vice versa. Back in the "Old days" they (meaning beauty professionals) used to tell us to match your foundation with the back of your wrist. I always thought this was strange, but when I learned more about matching, I realized how wrong this was. Have you ever looked at someone's wrist and said wow that perfectly matches your face? NO! It gets way less sun than your face and it can have a lot more visible veins which can make it look more blue or green, and just in general not a good option.Â
So where should you match your foundation? You need to be in natural light so if you are in a mall or store go to the windows to do it or after your foundation swatch than walk outdoors. Don't ever just buy it after seeing it under the fluorescent lighting. Where should you put the foundation? The best place to check is your jaw and neck or cheek to jaw area depending on if you have any hyperpigmentation. When I was teaching a class to a roomful of women I tried to say cheek, neck, and jaw and it ended up coming out, "You need to check your jeck!" so I use that phrase all the time to help women remember to check your check and you should check quarterly.Â
Alot of women change between 2-3 shades of foundation through the year sometimes more. Don't try to use up one before you move on. Either mix a shade to use it up or wait for a 3-6 month till you are that color again. You usually will be that color again and foundation lasts more than that long :) You never want to look like a bobble head walking around because it looks like an orange or too dark mask on. You also don't want to have ghost face and be too light. You want to remember if you have spray tanned, or had sun damage on your neck you might not be able to match it perfectly, because that skin is not what normal skin usually looks like but you can get as close as possible so you look like you match and you can add contour, bronzer etc. to warm it up or to even out the redness on your neck. If you match your foundation to your neck and chest area you won't have to drag your foundation to match and blend it in. You should be able to stop near the jaw and be totally fine when you match it correctly.
Remember when you choose a shade of foundation it should match your cheek, jaw, neck and even chest area. Always remember to check in natural light. Swatch 2-3 shades on your jaw area blend a bit but don't rub to much in your skin or you will have more colors that look like they match when they don't. Even take a pic or selfie and see which one disappears than you will know that is most likely the correct color. Once you have matched your foundation if you use powder and its color you need to do the same thing and with a lot of powders they can oxidize and make the foundation appear darker. So be very aware of everything that works with your foundation so you can make the best choice.
Angela Lealaogata
Professional Makeup Artist and
Permanent Makeup Artist