Color Match Challenge!

[robinh]

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https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D8111471_67239908_6526408
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Hello,

I have a tricky color matching challenge. I'm half Japanese and half Austrian/Irish with a light-medium, vanilla skin tone and rosacea flushing. Areas of my body that have seen sun in my life have a distinctly yellow tinge (like an Asian), even in winter. Other areas (breasts, butt), are quite neutral and fair (closer to Austrian/Irish). I haven't exposed my face to sun in 15 yrs, so there's less yellow there, but I don't want my face to look TOO different from my body either.

The photos show me in different lighting and makeup. The bottom left is me as a child with a light tan/burn. Even then I had flushed cheeks a lot. The bottom right photo was taken about ten years ago, before I had problems with rosacea.

Very close matches:
EDM Light (flattering on me, and the perfect lightness for winter, though when I apply it on one side of my face, I still look distinctly more orange/yellow on that side), EDM Golden Medium (very close match, but a tiny bit dark and slightly drab). A mix of those two would probably be pretty close.
Alima Warm 3 (nice, but a bit orangey). (Alima Warm 2 is too light.)

Other near misses:
Meow Abyssinian is close but somehow a bit dull (maybe needs a touch of peach?). Korat might be very good on me, but the color level I tried it in was a bit too dark, so it was hard to tell. Manx was close too but gave me a fluorescent lime glow in certain lighting (needed to be toned down with a touch of beige or olive).

In most mineral makeup brands, "warm" foundations are very close but often a bit too colorful for me (i.e. orange sherbet), most "gold" foundations are too mustardy, and most "olive" foundations, too drab. I've not really experimented with "neutral" or "beige" options, as I assume they'd have too much pink or not enough yellow (my two most common problems with foundation).

Mac NC 30 is too orange.
Laura Mercier Sand Beige is too dark and grey in natural lighting (even though it's supposed to be the most yellow color!)

I'm thinking I might need Warm Gold and Olive in a 2 to 1 mixture. Or maybe Buttery Gold and Olive? Or a scoop of each three? Help! This is getting complicated! Granted, much of my problem is that rosacea is hard to cover. Red areas often turn gray under foundation. Using green color correctors turns me gray as well. Erring on the yellow/olive side seems to help, but I have to be careful, because I don't want to turn my whole face too yellow!

Also, regarding coverage, I like a medium coverage, but I need very full coverage in some areas. Which formula would work best on me?

Sorry for the lengthy post, but since my skin is so difficult, I thought you'd need all the info you could get.

Thanks so much for your time!
Robin

Image file:
https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D8111471_67239908_6526408
(just click the thumbnail to view full-size. you don't have to download it.)

[JenW]

I do think you will be able to find a match. I recommend a sample kit, definitely get some yellow booster, and you might want to start with some extra white base. It probably won't happen in the first go, but for someone like you, it will be well worth it to know how to adjust depending on the amount of sun you get, etc.

I see that your match could go one way or the other. You will be an Ebony with Yellow Booster (1Ebony:1-2Yellow:7ish white) or fall into the Warm/Buttery/Olive (Warm 1:8ish white, Buttery 1:7ish white, Olive 1:12ish white). Luckily, once you get a starting point, you can add in all the yellow that you need with the Yellow Booster.

[robinh]

Thanks Jen! I would never have thought of trying ebony with a yellow booster. That's a great idea. I do think there is a hint of cool pink in me that needs to come from somewhere. Coming from the opposite direction, do you think it would be also worth my while to also try adding a pink booster to buttery gold?

Thanks for your help!
Robin

[JenW]

Thanks Jen! I would never have thought of trying ebony with a yellow booster. That's a great idea. I do think there is a hint of cool pink in me that needs to come from somewhere. Coming from the opposite direction, do you think it would be also worth my while to also try adding a pink booster to buttery gold?

Thanks for your help!
Robin

It couldn't hurt to have all of that in your arsenal for mixing....I do think you can skip the green....

I have never tried Pink Booster in Buttery Gold. Hmmmm. I gotta see what happens myself on that!

[robinh]

Cool... I will let you know how it goes! Thanks :)

[robinh]

I got my samples yesterday, and wow! This is already my HG, and I'm still tinkering for the perfect recipe. I'm very, very close though.

I tried the following:
1 buttery gold, 1/4 pink, and 7 ivory.
This looked beautiful, but was somewhat more beige/neutral than my natural skin tone. I realized I was going to have to add some yellow booster, as well as more pink and white...

So I tried it from the other direction:
1 ebony, 2 yellow boosters, and tons of ivory (Maybe 20? Not sure how much, as I started mixing white into small portions of this mixture in order to preserve my white).

That looked good too, but still too neutral/beige, so I kept adding some yellow and white until there was enough yellow. Then I realized that there now wasn't enough pink, so I had to add some pink too. It's crazy that I need to use two boosters and a base to get my color. It's because my skin has very little beige, and even less olive (if any). I'm really mainly yellow with a dash of pink (or peach). My previous best match, EDM Light, almost nailed it, but actually had the opposite problem. It lacked any beige at all.

Now that I think of it, I could probably get away with using the yellow booster as my base, and peach as my booster. What do you think?

Anyway, all of my mixes are looking really, really good at this point. And the medium coverage formula feels and looks wonderful. I'm certain that with a bit more tinkering, I'll end up with the best match of my life. Yay!!!

So I have a few questions:
1) Will the peach base offer me any beige at all, or will I still need to get that from somewhere else?
2) I've heard that pink isn't a natural mineral color and requires the addition of some colorants. Is peach a more natural product than pink?
3) How much sun protection do you think the medium coverage foundation has (considering an average application)?
4) What colors are contained within the Ebony base?

Thanks for your help!

Robin

[JenW]

So I have a few questions:
1) Will the peach base offer me any beige at all, or will I still need to get that from somewhere else?
2) I've heard that pink isn't a natural mineral color and requires the addition of some colorants. Is peach a more natural product than pink?
3) How much sun protection do you think the medium coverage foundation has (considering an average application)?
4) What colors are contained within the Ebony base?

Thanks for your help!

Robin

1. Peach is mostly pink and a little yellow. Not a whole lot of beige, but there is some.
2. Is peach more natural?...only slightly. Peach comes from yellow oxide and red oxide....the pink is from an ultramarine. Still not a bad option, though, if you need it.
3. I can't really give an estimate on sun protection, but it is likely lower than other similar mineral makeups on the market...at least it is just best to assume it is.
4. Ebony is pretty much straight beige.