Foundation Recipes :-)

[JenW]

Rei-
I posted this elsewhere, but thought I'd add it here for those following this thread.

You would be surprised at how many Asian ladies do *not* fall into the Buttery Gold foundation category. I really think a combo of Warm Gold and Ebony will be best for you. You will probably end up in the 1 scoop color base to 7-10 scoops Ivory. I wish I could narrow it down a little more for you, but without seeing an actual pic of you, it is only a guess. Start with the 7 and add Ivory as you go.

[pinkpomelo]

I'm not sure if this question has already been asked and answered...

what's the ratio of exchange between Ivory, Medium Ivory and Heavy Ivory?

1 Heavy Ivory = ?? Medium Ivory = ?? Ivory

And can I safely assume that whenever there is mention of "Ivory", we are referring to the Original formulation?

[JenW]

I would say the range from one to the next 'sheerer' would be one or less. It is all pretty close, but enough to affect the final color.

1HI=1 to 2MI=1.5 to 3Original.

Also, the heavier you go with your foundation, it is harder to 'get by' on a mix that is close. You really need to be more exact on your foundation color with the heavier finishes.

[Shuilong]

(Not quite sure where to post this, since this seems to be foundation formulation matter...)

I've been using SN for a pretty long time now (basically first mineral foundation I've ever used), and explored other brands for comparison, but I always keep coming back to SN because there's nothing else like it that works for my skin texture and appearance.

I normally use about 6 white to 2 buttery gold (going by the original white formula), but I've begun to notice that under natural light, my face is noticeably more red/pink than my neck (under indoor lighting, it's only noticeable under fluorescent light), even though it does blend into my face just fine. Is this just a matter of oxidation over time? I tend to mix up large batches because...well, I'm lazy, and the current batch, I mixed up quite a few months ago. I've used the same formula before and either I wasn't very good at distinguishing undertones before hand, or the pictures are lying to me (my neck and face matched fine in photographs).

I guess skintones can change between seasons and weather, but I can't figure out how to make the foundation more yellow. I'm already using the most yellow of the SN bases Am I going about this the wrong way, i.e. I should just wait until my neck tans (whenever I actually manage to see the sun).

[JenW]

We all differ in color from our face to our neck to our chest. There are many ways to 'match' your foundation. Some match to the face, some to the chest. I tend to try to match my chest as I never wear high neck tops and I am going for an overall match. It really depends on what your are comfortable with. I am of the opinion that noone analyzes how perfectly my face matches my neck except me, but they would notice if my chest and face were two different colors, especially from the front. Also, the lighting does have an impact on how you look. I usually dust some foundation lightly on my neck to help blend the colors a little. If you want your foundation to match in fluorescents, you need to match it in fluorescent lighting. The same goes with natural lighting. I usually try to aim for the best of both.

If your foundation does not look yellow enough, it might just be time to adjust it a little darker. Maybe try a 2 BG:4 or 5 Ivory. I know my coloring varies greatly with the seasons.

[eve]

Finally found my perfect match! The yellow corrector was the missing link lol.

1 bg 1 wg 1yellow corrector 10 med ivory.

It's a tiny tiny bit dark so I'll have to change it when I go fully winter skin, but i'm so happy to be able to use SN again

[royalgoddessbeth]

The mix I prefer is the following:
3 Warm Gold
32 Medium Coverage
8 Tempt Tryst

I get a lot of compliments.

Argh, I posted the wrong thing the first time.

[krenee]

If I want to try switching from original ivory to medium and/or heavy ivory, what's the difference in the ratios? Right now I have a mix that is pretty good of 1 Warm Gold, 1 Peach, about 10 original ivory, and 1 or 2 Angel Glow (I tweaked it a little after I initially mixed it.) I like the glow in there so I will be trying the new glow base and then mixing with some medium and/or heavy coverage base to whatever degree of glow I decide I like. I don't know if I "need" the peach in there either. I just tried it to see how it was. In the past warm gold or regular ebony have been fine (my skin is pretty easy to match.)
What kind of ratios should I start out with for the other white bases - I am assuming I will do a mix of heavy coverage, medium coverage, glow white base, and then the dark, whichever one I decide on this time.

[JenW]

Hi Karmen,
I honestly have not played with the Glow Base enough to know exacly how it works. That is on my list for this week. I do have my thoery, though. I am guessing that it will have similar mixing properties to the Original, meaning it will take less color to get the correct depth. I am going to try adding it to my foundation. I am not expecting it to lighten the foundation by much. I will let you know how it goes.

To convert to heavy and medium coverage, you will just need to omit a few Ivory scoops from your Original fomula. It takes more color to white (or color to less white) the heavier the coverage goes.

From all of the matches I know you have had in the past, I think you might want to eventually give the Olive a try, too.

[krenee]

Thank you Jen. I think I may start out with 1 of each of heavy ivory, medium ivory, glow ivory, and dark base ( which might be too dark) and tweak from there as to if I want it more glowy, etc. I liked the idea the person a few posts above had in adding Tempt Tryst also. There are so many ideas that one could do with adding Blur etc too.
Thanks for the tip on the Olive. It sure looks *great* on you! Your skin looks flawless. I recall using EM's olives and they did a great job of covering the redness in my cheeks but as an overall olive I looked kind of sick. Not enough liveliness, or something. But mixed into something else or used as a concealer it was great.
I think I have decided over all this time and all these foundation trials (just a "few" right?! LOL) that I truly am a "beige". I have some of all the undertones in my skin and that's why I can get away with different shades - my skin just picks up whatever undertone is in the foundation and it usually works. I tend to gravitate more towards yellow/peachy though since I have redness in my skin and like to downplay that, rather than accentuate it, so I avoid the foundations that are too pink. It also doesn't help that my skin tone changes about 5 times throughout the year from light to a little tan to very tan and a few stops in between.
Oh and totally OT but I have been meaning to tell you that I *think* I figured out what my e/s allergy is, after all this time. I was thinking it was manganese violet or carmine but having a hard time differentiating between the 2. I ordered some e/s samples from another company who uses manganese violet in their colors but not carmine, and definitely think one of the e/s bugged my eyes quite a bit. It is a tan color that has some silver/lavender interference to it, so I am thinking that was it. Only took me about 20 years to solve that mystery, LOL. Anyway I got Wink Wink in my last order as a gumball and that has carmine, and I seem to be able to wear it w/out any difficulty.
I will let you know what I figure out when I get the glow base and probably a few other samples to experiment with mixing.