Thank you for the advice and the encouragement, Jen!

*waits anxiously for latest order*

Strange question (perhaps!)

Is it normal for the foundation to look a little Holy-Cow-I'm-Gonna-Be-Casper! in the container but normal on the skin? At least under both incandescent and florescent lighting...

EDIT: After doing some more searching, I found a spot where Jen advises checking the mirror in the car. The mix that looks super-awesome in the bathroom with a natural and incandescent light mix, looks rather chalky on my skin in the car mirror.

For reference, Jen had advised a 1:9 mixture of Warm Gold:Ivory. Since I had not specified, I assumed that ratio was for the Original Formula. I read somewhere that it takes less Ivory in the All-Purpose, so I used 1:6:1 of Warm Gold:AP Ivory:Glow.

What are the visual indicators that a foundation is too light? Too dark? Wrong tone? I've never worn much makeup, so I appreciate the hand-holding!

Usually, if it is too orange, it is probably too dark.
If it is too brown, you might need yellow, or it might be too dark.
It actually should be too light going on, but it almost always will darken just a bit within the first half hour to hour (the time it takes depends on the humidity in the air and the oiliness of your skin!)
Yes, the foundations look light in the jar. Part of that is the blending for this....unless you have a high speed mixer dedicated to mixing foundation at home, there is still some blending that takes place on application. It is part of the reason we recommend a small bowl to load your brush. If it is still too light after a few hours, you will need to adjust so there is more color in the mix by going lower on white for the next attempt.
For wrong tone, it will be obvious.....you look pink and it looks green, or something similar.
As for the car mirror....it is probably the most unflattering light for most people. If you can get a perfect match in your car mirror, you have won the game! (Mine still looks a little orange in the car, but that is because my face is more golden than my neck...)

Thank you for the detailed information! I used a white custard cup by Corningware (works VERY well!) and definitely noticed the foundation getting darker as I swirled it with the brush. It took about 45 minutes for me, but you're absolutely right: the foundation stopped looking chalky outside and began to look like me, only better!

For customers who are either new to MMU or new to DIY foundation, it would be a wonderful resource to have a sticky post in this section with the information you just gave me, plus swatches of examples. It also might cut down on the "Help!" posts like mine. Thanks again for all you do!

Hi, I am ordering some foundation and wondered if you could help me with my color selection and a starting point for mixing? I have a lot of red undertones in my skin and usually foundations look too yellow on me. Any help would be great! Thanks! I attached my pictures, so hopefully it worked.

I would try Ebony first. Probably 1 scoop color to about 8 or 9 white. You might also end up needing Pink Booster, but I would try without it first.
Warm Gold is another possiblity at 1:10-12.

Thanks I shall try that to start!

Hey Jen!
I have a little question on the green colour booster, I usually mix my foundation in a big batch with a 1/8 tsp. measure, 11 scoops of all purpose, 1 of glow and 1 of olive, which is a pretty good match, but I wanted to experiment with the green booster to see if it will neutralise some redness and make a more perfect match, how much should I start with? Should I make a small batch to start with and add a tiny bit of booster, or should I just throw a small scoop of green in with my big batch and see how that goes?
Thanks
Lily

Do you still have a tiny spoon? You could always figure out the ratio of your big mix to green first using the 1/32 spoon. That way you don't mess the whole batch. Your recipe is 13 total scoops? Try the same ratio (13 small scoops of your mix and one of green). That way you can add more of less to the big batch depending on how it goes. There will usually be a mathematical way to figure it out, even when your big batch is not all there from using a few scoops to figure out the green. Just keep track.

Hello, ladies. I could use some advice on where to start. I've used Aromaleigh Y/L (don't remember the level, maybe 2 or 3?), MAC NW 2.5 (turned orange on me) and have BE medium beige (not bad, but I don't much like the bismuth).




Both taken this morning, in the car, one with flash, one without. Excuse the faces, I was singing along to the radio.