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

[renee]

Hello,

I recently bought a Perfect Harmony Foundation sample set and was able to successfully mix my first batch. However, ever after I can't seem to get the "right" colour - so, I was hoping you can help me
Note: When I was using the MAC mineral line I was a NW-25 (this is during the last month of summer..)

The links below are 3 pictures I took today prior to makeup
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj17 ... Photo4.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj17 ... Photo1.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj17 ... Photo3.jpg - w/o flash
(these were taken with my macbook's webcam, so they are not the best quality...)

I tend to have a lot of pink/red in my face due to rosacea mainly on my cheeks, edge of nose, and a some on my chin (mixed w/ pimples). The pinkness isn't a big factor as I tend to use a liberal amount of your "Unblush" to hide the redness. As for my undereye circles, I have tried your "Sleep in a Jar - Yellow," however, that always leave an ashy/grey cast under my eyes..which my male friends quote "you look like a tan zombie with your grey under circles" Do you think the Peach ones would be better than the Yellow one for me? (In my subjective opinion, my under circles are quite purple/brownish..)

I hope we can figure out the right mixture for me as this is the first MMU that my face has not rejected (it has rejected pretty much every liquid formula out there).

Thank-you so much for your help in advance!

[JenW]

Hello,

I recently bought a Perfect Harmony Foundation sample set and was able to successfully mix my first batch. However, ever after I can't seem to get the "right" colour - so, I was hoping you can help me
Note: When I was using the MAC mineral line I was a NW-25 (this is during the last month of summer..)

I tend to have a lot of pink/red in my face due to rosacea mainly on my cheeks, edge of nose, and a some on my chin (mixed w/ pimples). The pinkness isn't a big factor as I tend to use a liberal amount of your "Unblush" to hide the redness. As for my undereye circles, I have tried your "Sleep in a Jar - Yellow," however, that always leave an ashy/grey cast under my eyes..which my male friends quote "you look like a tan zombie with your grey under circles" Do you think the Peach ones would be better than the Yellow one for me? (In my subjective opinion, my under circles are quite purple/brownish..)

I hope we can figure out the right mixture for me as this is the first MMU that my face has not rejected (it has rejected pretty much every liquid formula out there).

Thank-you so much for your help in advance!

I am thinking Olive or Buttery Gold. For Olive about 1 scoop color to about 12 scoops white. For Buttery Gold about 1:8. Hopefully one or the other will work...if not, certainly a blend of the two will. I do think the Peach (Light Peach) would do a better job for an under eye concealer for you.

[konayuki]

konayuki-

I would try our Olive or Warm Gold. Most Medium Beige colors are not very much on the warm side, and you definitely are. This is part of the reason you feel the Medium Beiges make you look lifeless. In Olive, I think your ratio will be about 1 scoop color to about 8 white...in Warm Gold about 1:4 or 5. Some of the ash white in photos has more to do with the fact that some minerals don't photograph well. Hopefully, you will find a better match! Let me know if you need help adjusting from here.

Thanks Jen! It's annoying that at makeup counters I was matched with Medium Beiges if it was obviously wrong . Once my sample arrives, I'll try your recipes and give an update. Thanks so much!

[egerandi]

Going back to the drawing board, I'm afraid.

My last foundation was fine, but slightly dark/orange, using the medium coverage original.
Right now, I'm using the all-purpose powder, with less dark in it then the previous foundie, by accident, but it seemed to work out.
It's a crazy mix, not even sure if I should post it or just forget about and start all over.
Just in case:
5 glow
1 bag of all purpose
1 bag of zink
8 ebony
3 buttery gold
15 tempt tryst
5 lavender corrector

In any case, what I've been noticing is that my face turns ashy/gray by the end of the day, and it's still too dark, even though it has way less dark pigments than the last mix and I also feel I'm wearing a mask sometimes. Perhaps the all-purpose is not for me, after all, I've never felt like this with the original powder :/
Or, I really need to clean my brush well, but yeah, I think I need to start over with the mix, and I need help.

Here is one where I seem ashy (compared to my girlfriend in the front):

ashy.tiff (224.29 KiB) Viewed 4900 times

And here is where I look too dark. I thought it was lighting, but looking at my friend's face, hers should have been darker too. Could be just that oilies are too much?

dark.tiff (163.93 KiB) Viewed 4900 times

I usually start with luxury treatment powder with a bit of lavender in it as a base, then layer on one or one and half scoop of foundation an finish with my mix of TT and untinted OCBlur. I need the latter more than usual, as the all-purpose is not hiding my pores.

As much as I like the feel of the new foundation, it may just not be for me, it's too creamy (gasp!). I'm wondering if you could give me a recommendation based on my skin below the face. Maybe I need yellow booster? Or go back to my original mix but cut the color pigments by 1/3? Or just simplify? Here is a pic too, where I think I used to have a good match (slightly dark):

yellow.jpg (11.09 KiB) Viewed 4900 times

[JenW]

Hi egerandi.... I can't see the first two pics. I don't know if our board supports tiff files, or it could just be my computer. Also, I think the All Purpose Foundation is slightly more opaque which means problems with color matching show up much better.

A few things that pop out at me from your recipe......It seems to lean a little too yellow. I really think you need to drop out the Buttery Gold.....it seems like you are adding the Lavendar to correct for things being too yellow...and it seems odd to me that Tempt Tryst is in there...kind of like you should not need both Buttery Gold and Tempt Tryst. I would have pegged you as the perfect candidate for Date Bait. I am wondering why you think you need more yellow? I ask because you have seen it in person and I have not. If you really think it needs more yellow and less brown, the thing to do there is drop the Buttery Gold and just go with Yellow Booster. If you are willing to try without Buttery Gold, keep the Tempt Tryst.

And last...the thing about pictures.....you can't totally take things at face value from every pic because the different planes of our face all hit light very differently. Some pics will tell the truth, while others will seem off. Also, there are lots of glowy parts to your recipe which will effect the look of a picture, because the glowy bits will reflect light very differently than the more matte parts, and it gets even weirder if there is a color to the glowy bits...... I usually try to judge a foundation color in my car with the car mirror. There you have natural light and the most unforgiving mirror in existance. If it looks pretty good there, it will look pretty good in most lighting situations. (Which reminds me that it is time for me to switch to Ebony as I am in my pastey phase of the year!.....my foundation looked to warm in the car last time I drove.... )

[konayuki]

konayuki-

I would try our Olive or Warm Gold. Most Medium Beige colors are not very much on the warm side, and you definitely are. This is part of the reason you feel the Medium Beiges make you look lifeless. In Olive, I think your ratio will be about 1 scoop color to about 8 white...in Warm Gold about 1:4 or 5. Some of the ash white in photos has more to do with the fact that some minerals don't photograph well. Hopefully, you will find a better match! Let me know if you need help adjusting from here.

I got my sample today, and had a blast mixing the color! My baby cousin was all over it. I tried your first recipe, Olive to 8 white, and I must say that I do not think that olive is for me at all. I look like I have zombie makeup on or something. So, I added warm gold and it didn't help at all. The only way to describe the color on my skin would be that it looks almost like a gray skin tone. If I look at my skin tone next to the formula I mixed I can tell that in terms of lightness (? - I suppose) they are pretty close, but they are just completely different colors. But now I see that I should try Warm Gold by itself to five white, so I will try it tomorrow and give an update. I just feel bad tossing my first formulation -- good product to waste! lol


I forgot to add, though, that I really really like the product and my redness pretty much disappeared with one layer which was awesome. I did layer a lot on one half of my face and just did a quick application on the other side, and it seems I don't need as many layers as I usually do, as the quick application looked pretty fine by me! Awesome.

[JenW]

konayuki-

I would try our Olive or Warm Gold. Most Medium Beige colors are not very much on the warm side, and you definitely are. This is part of the reason you feel the Medium Beiges make you look lifeless. In Olive, I think your ratio will be about 1 scoop color to about 8 white...in Warm Gold about 1:4 or 5. Some of the ash white in photos has more to do with the fact that some minerals don't photograph well. Hopefully, you will find a better match! Let me know if you need help adjusting from here.

I got my sample today, and had a blast mixing the color! My baby cousin was all over it. I tried your first recipe, Olive to 8 white, and I must say that I do not think that olive is for me at all. I look like I have zombie makeup on or something. So, I added warm gold and it didn't help at all. The only way to describe the color on my skin would be that it looks almost like a gray skin tone. If I look at my skin tone next to the formula I mixed I can tell that in terms of lightness (? - I suppose) they are pretty close, but they are just completely different colors. But now I see that I should try Warm Gold by itself to five white, so I will try it tomorrow and give an update. I just feel bad tossing my first formulation -- good product to waste! lol


I forgot to add, though, that I really really like the product and my redness pretty much disappeared with one layer which was awesome. I did layer a lot on one half of my face and just did a quick application on the other side, and it seems I don't need as many layers as I usually do, as the quick application looked pretty fine by me! Awesome.

Can you tell me if it looked like it needed yellow? If so, you might need Buttery Gold rather than Warm Gold.

[konayuki]

Hey Jen,

As soon as I saw your reply I washed my face and started over. I tried the Buttery Gold and as soon as it went on I knew that it was just TOO yellow. But I did wait for it to meld into my skin. I also did the Golden Warm recipe on the other half of my face. The Buttery Gold really is true to its name. I feel like one of those ancient golden statues of Buddha found in India or Thailand.

As for the Warm Gold, while better than the Buttery Gold, it is quite obvious that I have makeup on. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this correctly, but I suppose it looks rather "dull", while my skin is "brighter".

It's strange because at first I thought you may be right, that I may need more yellow, I suppose to make it "bright". I'm sorry I don't know how to describe all this correctly in color terms and whatnot!

I used a 1:4 ratio, by the way.

[JenW]

Hey Jen,

As soon as I saw your reply I washed my face and started over. I tried the Buttery Gold and as soon as it went on I knew that it was just TOO yellow. But I did wait for it to meld into my skin. I also did the Golden Warm recipe on the other half of my face. The Buttery Gold really is true to its name. I feel like one of those ancient golden statues of Buddha found in India or Thailand.

As for the Warm Gold, while better than the Buttery Gold, it is quite obvious that I have makeup on. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this correctly, but I suppose it looks rather "dull", while my skin is "brighter".

It's strange because at first I thought you may be right, that I may need more yellow, I suppose to make it "bright". I'm sorry I don't know how to describe all this correctly in color terms and whatnot!

I used a 1:4 ratio, by the way.

Maybe try lightening it a bit by adding a few scoops of white?

Since my initial impression seems to be way off, I am hoping you can post or email (email through the contact form on the website if you don't want a full face posted here) another pic. The most helpful is one pic, full face in daylight or natural light. I am having a hard time picturing what the problem is from your description and that has been mostly what I have been using for analysis, as I am having a hard time reading color from your first picture. If I read the indoor pics and your initial description....I get Warm Gold or Olive. If I read the outdoor pic, I read a strong yellow. Also, our faces are not one color all over, which is why a full face is the better option. Are the pics all from the same season? Sometimes that plays a big role, especially if you have lighter but pigmented skin (this is me....I am nearly a different color every season because I tan so easily).

[egerandi]

Thanks for the reply, Jen! My computer shows the other images, so i'm not sure why you can't see them, but basically, my face looks muddy and dark compared to my neck.

I tired date bait before, and the tinted OC blur which seems to be similar toned, and they were just a bit off, so I switched to TT, which seemed to work better. I also had those two mixed with OC blur to lighten up and chase the oilies, and that was working too, but DB in itself was too pink/brown compared to my neck and chest. I used to think I'm completely pink based, but the more I look at my skin (and in comparison to my boyfriend, who is pretty pink brown), I'm more yellow. I think taking out the BG and adding the yellow booster is a great idea, I'll try that! I added the TT in there based on what I saw others did and it seemed to work, but it could be an overkill. I like a bit of a glow, and I thought that compared to the amount of other white stuff (basically two big bags) the 10 little scoops would be no issue, but I'll try to leave that out too and see how it works. In any case, I think I'm going back to the original medium coverage, with ebony and yellow booster and see what happens.

I actually started adding the purple to perk up the muddy complexion, apparently not a wise choice