Need Foundation Help? Please post here.......

[zeebs]

start again with a blank mindset, not just what you think you are based upon what you used before. I know a peach who turned into an olive - (there's a mental image!!) Be brave and revamp - it can be an amazing change.

Good advice, Cupcake! Thanks for posting this. I think I'm going to do exactly that and order another sample kit.

[superwahz]

Thanks Jen! I anticipated that response and already put in an order for the yellow color booster before seeing your post! I wish more makeup counter girls were trained better at recognizing undertones...it would save us all years of wearing shades that don't quite suit us!

I think the olive sinking into my skin so well, even at a darker ratio, probably means my skin liked the color! While waiting for the yellow booster to get here, I'm going to mix up some Warm Gold and wear it to see if it works for the summer! If not in a foundation, it might be nice to tint my finishing powder/zinc with...I gave up trying to use one of the tinted perfecting powders (too brown, too pink, or too mustard).

So, lets see if I get the colors now. Yellow booster is just straight yellow, not gold. Buttery Gold is golden yellow. Warm Gold is olive gold with a hint of peach? I'm trying to work them out in my head because I have a friend coming to visit who has been drooling over my foundation and I'm thinking of making her a mix. Her skin is so gorgeous, this creamy ivory that just glows! She has better skin at 40 than I had at 20.

Thank you Cupcake!! I'm enjoying the process of finding a new shade. I know I've never had it quite right, just "it'll do" sort of right. I have a problem with lots of eye shadows and blushes looking passable on me, but they don't really give me the oomph I'm looking for. Hopefully with a better matched foundation it'll be easier to tell what works well and what doesn't. I've been trying to decide my "season" because I have the same problem with clothing. Most colors look passable, but only a few (like teals and certain greens) actually gain compliments because they suit me so well.

[JenW]

The yellow booster was too sallow. Buttery gold was better. Ebony alone looks too cool but is quite close. I had the best results with Ebony + dash of Buttery Gold + Unblush, which made me wonder about using Olive?...

Olive would be a good choice to try considering what you have written here. I think about 1:14 will be close.....

[namomof3]

is it best to start with medium coverage and build up coverage or should I go straight to heavy? Sorry about the newbie questions? I definitly would start with a sample kit of warm gold and ivory and keep tweaking right??

I wear medium coverage to help hide hyperpigmentation, acne scars, and sun damage. It works well, while still allowing my freckles to show through! I don't know exactly how Karen managed to make a foundation base do that, but it works! Once I add the finishing powder on top everything looks natural, yet trouble spots are covered. I'd assume at a darker blend (on deeper toned skin like yours) it would cover even better. So maybe sample both? If you end up loving the medium, you could make a concealer from the heavy!

Oh, and newbie questions are always welcome...after all, we were all once newbies!

Thank You! I suppose the possibilities are endless...

[waternymphh]

today I tried to mix my own fond. but I guess something is wrong... First of all I was a golden fair at edm (closest match) but it was slightly yellow for me... I know I havent got pink or cool undertones so I put 1 sc warm gold, 1/2 sc. olive and 14 sc. ivory... It seems to be good at first but at the end of the day, ıt turned bloddy dark! a brownish dark and it smudged whats wrong pls help

[JenW]

today I tried to mix my own fond. but I guess something is wrong... First of all I was a golden fair at edm (closest match) but it was slightly yellow for me... I know I havent got pink or cool undertones so I put 1 sc warm gold, 1/2 sc. olive and 14 sc. ivory... It seems to be good at first but at the end of the day, ıt turned bloddy dark! a brownish dark and it smudged whats wrong pls help

First off, it is probably too dark. For the right depth, Warm Gold should be about 1:10 and Olive will be about 1:18........converting to your mix, 1WG: 0.5Olive:19Ivory...... So you need to add about 5 more scoops of Ivory. Warm Gold also has a peachy component that might be too much for you. A Buttery Gold and Olive mix makes more sense.

Also, Golden Fairs are normally Buttery Gold...1:9 I know you mentioned that it was too yellow, but the yellow is the color that dilutes the quickest, which makes it less yellow at that depth than you might think.

[superwahz]

Okay, so I've had a weekend full of foundation experiments!

1:12 warm gold looks fine for the most part, just a little bronze, but on all my hyperpigmented areas (like around my eyes and mouth) it turns them almost "fake tan" bronzy orange? Makes me look a bit jaundiced. So I'm thinking it's not a match!

Got the yellow color booster and added 1 scoop to the 1:14olive. It almost matches, its a bit yellow but there is something else lacking in it though...warmth? It's like, it blends in, but when applied to half of my face, everything becomes monotone. Now, in general that would be great for foundation, since that gives a blank canvas to add color back to, right? But I always find myself wanting more. I want a foundation that makes my skin glow and look healthy, radiant, balanced. The sort that you can dust on and run out the door if need be without needing the time to add on blush and eye color to make you look alive! Am I asking too much of foundation?

While pondering Cupcake's wise advice, I asked myself what makes my skin glow like that and how I could add warmth to my foundation blend. Orange/peach blushes are the only thing that does that on my skin, when I put on Satisfied, Nuance, or Palace I glow! People ask me what I use on my skin because it looks so healthy. So, I tried the peach base lightened a great deal, but there is some other tone in it that looks wrong. All the bases are too...brown? They all have this earthy tone in them that doesn't get along with my coloring. Hunting for a "orange/peach booster" I swatched Peach base and Palace side by side...and Palace lacks the tone I'm seeing that looks bad on my face, it's not muddy. So....I mixed Palace with the ivory base in a ration of about 1:14, thinking it would make me look sunburned (since blush all over your face tends to do that!)...but it didn't. It matches my skin!! I wore half a face with that, and the other half with the olive/yellow blend above...then polled everyone in the house without telling them what was on my face. Everyone voted the "palace" side, because it made my skin look awake, glowing, and in harmony with the skin on my chest (which I match to instead of my neck).

I intend to repeat the half/half face tomorrow to see if it's a fluke and if I was hallucinating or something...if we have a sunny day I'll attempt to photograph it, though I'm not sure the tones will come out right, as it's a subtle difference. I don't know enough about how the foundation pigments are made to put my finger on what is clashing with my skin, just that there's an earthiness to them all, whether it's red/brown (think volcanic red dirt), yellow brown (brownish mustard), pink brown (almost ashy), or beige brown... Maybe you know Jen?? Or maybe Karen will have some insight, once she's back from vacation and in the swing of things, of course . Anyone else, feel free to chime in! Thanks so much!

[JenW]

superwhaz- I am guessing it is the brown. Some of us lack pigmentation (generally this is the brownish component) and are mostly some combo of undertone colors. That kind of coloring is more translucent than pigmented.

Karen will know more, though.

[waternymphh]

thanks Jen, today I tried BG with medium coverage , with a 1:10 ratio, but I guess it still turns dark , again need more white?

[JenW]

thanks Jen, today I tried BG with medium coverage , with a 1:10 ratio, but I guess it still turns dark , again need more white?

That is where I would start......I think it can be up to 12 or 14 scoops depending on how fair you are.