Choosing the Perfect Foundation For Your Skin

Rachel Holdens     |     Jun, 29

Ensuring you have the right colour/texture/formula for your skin is so important when it comes to choosing foundation.

There’s so much to think about when you’re deciding what product is going to sit on your face for hours at a time on your face. Regardless of how much time it may take to get the right one for you, it’s essential that you do get this right to prevent a reaction, a skin breakout or anything else.

Choosing Your Colour

There are two main types of skin tone: cool and warm. Cool tones will have undertones of blue or purple while warm has red or orange or even pink.

Make sure your foundation matches your skin tone, choosing wrong can result in a washed out complexion or the dreaded orange face.

The best way to match a foundation isn’t by swiping on your hand, as most people currently do. In fact, to get a better match, use your neck as a testing board.

Your neck often isn’t tainted by make-up residue or any enhancements and is a great blank slate for seeing what your true colour is.

Choosing Your Formula

Formula is also a key part of getting your foundation right. The typical finished are matte and dewy. Oil based foundations tend to give you a dewy glow but aren’t suitable for oily skin. On the other side of the coin, matte foundations give no sheen but can drastically dry out your skin.

For these reasons, if you have oily skin, try out a matte foundation to combat the excess oil on your skin. However, try to stay away from water based foundation as the water in the foundation can mix with the oil on your skin and separate, causing the foundation to have a cakey and unnatural appearance.

Dry skin could benefit from an oil based foundation, but be wary of using too much as this could have the opposite effect and make your skin greasy. Not ideal!

The Best Brands

There is much speculation around the best brand for foundation. Everybody has a different preference and that’s basically what it comes down to: preference.

High street brands can be easy on the purse strings but may have a detrimental effect on your skin. This isn’t the case with all brands, but be aware that the lower price means that costs have been cut somewhere.

Mid range brands like Mac and Urban Decay offer a better, yet still affordable option which are easier on your skin. These brands often come with more of a choice in skin tone and formulas so are a great place to start to search for your perfect mix.

Whichever foundation you choose to go for, remember that make up is a choice and whatever works for your friends may not work for you. So keep trying and testing and experimenting and you’ll soon be on your way to finding the perfect foundation for you.