Matching a foundation to someone's skin tone is a skill, and
at this point, a talent that I see used very rarely
in the kind of makeup world/industry that we're in.
I don't mean to sound like a patronizing
piece of sh*t, but let's be real.
Let's be real, we got into this habit,
a lot of you know me enough now to know
that my biggest pet peeve is the way makeup artists,
or people who are teaching people makeup, just grab any
yellow tone foundation for anyone, every single person you see.
Yellow, yellow, yellow. It's just yellow.
I mean, and that's good news if you
have a yellow undertone to your skin.
But people are using it on everyone, even
the people who do not need it.
And it seems like this has been the
go to undertone for makeup artists and makeup
teachers and educators, and even just anyone who
is trying to match themselves to a foundation.
I've actually even seen people give advice
to go for yellow undertone for everyone.
Literally saying, like, yellow
undertone suits everyone. It doesn't.
Okay.
You know what? I even notice it on TV, right.
TV production companies, wherever you're getting your makeup artist
from, please make sure they have experience in TV
or have shadowed someone who has experience in TV,
because all I'm seeing is yellow patches on everyone's face.
When you're watching TV next, right.
Watch out for yellow patches.
Yellow patches of concealer under the eye.
A yellow patch here, yellow patch here.
You won't be able to unsee it now. Trust me.
Now, of course, we can't expect everybody to know
how to match themselves to a foundation, but there
are people out there who should, i.e the either
being paid for it, the people who can help
you match yourself to a foundation also.
So today I want to talk about foundation matching
and why I think people get it wrong.
We're going to look at a certain case that
got me thinking about this and also how to
actually match yourself to a foundation.
If you don't know, if this is your first time here.
I'm a professional makeup artist of 18 years.
I've only been an influencer for six.
Is it six years now? Not that long. That's kind of long.
So please take this as advice, professional
advice, not just me going off on...
on the Internet again.
I'm telling you this with a lot of experience.
So do go ahead and subscribe.
Give this video a thumbs up,
and please leave a comment.
If you don't know what to comment, comment, yellow.
So I came across these videos from a TikTok user.
It's always TikTok.
They had recently gone to a NARS
counter to get matched to a foundation. Right?
They took the foundation home, put it
on, and were kind of, like, surprised,
borderline horrified with the results.
I want you to... I'm gonna watch this along with you, and we're
gonna have a little react session to this.
"To the woman in NARS who said
that this was my skin tone.
Are we taking the piss?"
I'm just pausing it right there, because
this is absolutely her skin tone.
Look at her arms, look at her neck, look at her face.
And I can see why and understand why this might
be a bit of a shock, a little bit of...
a little bit questionable.
"Are we taking the piss?
Best part is, I'm now looking at my arm, and
I'm like, f*ck, maybe it is my skin tone.
I look like a ghost.
Am I actually dead?
Is that what this is trying to tell me?
Is this what I would look like if I
had, like, good skin with no redness whatsoever? Dead?
Is that what I'm aiming to look like? I don't know.
I'm gonna have to wear blusher now.
I'm not a blusher person.
Do I look like a blusher person?
No, I look like a ghost."
So one thing I would say about this
foundation is the color match is good, right?
It's a good color match.
It's actually perfect.
Why it may look a little bit ghostly is because, I
don't know if this is how they applied it when they
got home, or if it's the person in store who applied
it, but it's all in their eyebrows, lashes, hairline.
You've got rid of loads of definition from your face.
You need to wipe that away, and
it's matte, and it looks quite heavy.
So if that's not the look you're going for, you
know, go for something lighter, maybe something with a little
bit more of a glow to it, depending on your
skin type and what products there are for you.
But listen, it's a great match.
It's a great match.
What we need to think about when we're matching
foundation to our faces is, what's, like, surface color?
Red cheeks, rosacea, maybe some
freckles, isn't your skin tone.
That's not your undertone.
That's just what is on your skin, you know?
That's why we use color correctors sometimes.
In extreme cases, a lot of time
people don't need to use color correctors.
So to be kind of rosy on the cheeks and
then have that color completely knocked out of your face,
I can understand, can be quite like, oh, sh*t.
And then, you know, you can add
your bronzer and stuff like that.
So this is obviously a good, full coverage.
It's making...
It's making them look a little bit ghostly. Sure. Yeah.
So everyone in the comments were
like, no, this is actually genuinely,
this is a really good shade match.
Give the NARS employee a raise because it's accurate.
Perfect, perfect.
I also think we have to bear in
mind lighting that they are kind of in,
in front of a window or something.
It's quite bright. Because now they look to have,
like, a different skin tone in this video.
"It's a hotly anticipated video, and after being told about
a thousand times that my skin tone is the cross
between the Cullen family and a Tesco bag, I thought,
why not do a get ready with me video?
Because I just fancy a little bit more bullying. Okay.
So I'll scrape my hair back so you can see..."
Can I just say something?
Again from working... maybe it's a,
maybe it's a British thing, but from working again on
makeup counters, people with fair skin tones when they're told
that they are super fair, they take it as an
insult, and it's like, it's not an insult that your
skin tone is your skin tone, you know?
So don't take it as an insult.
"Look how red I am.
This is the redness we're dealing with."
Redness is not the undertone, though, right?
You can clearly see on the neck, on
the arms, and even around the eye area
that the redness isn't the undertone.
There is no redness in the rest
of their body, especially their neck.
"This is the pasty ghost potential
dead that we have on bottom.
I am going to do a disclaimer now, warning the
makeup girlies, that I do have the same makeup that
I have had for about ten years, and this video
might cause you to have a meltdown.
Obviously, I've started with primer already because I was once
told by a woman on the Internet to do that.
And quite honestly, I feel quite glad
that people can't advertise meth on TikTok
because I probably do that too.
This is the primer. I got it in an advent calendar,
and honestly, I probably wouldn't have bought
some otherwise, but apparently it does something.
Okay, so we're starting with the
infamous NARS Oslo Soft Matte Foundation.
This is my little free sample, and this is my makeup
brush that I haven't washed in probably far too long.
Right, I've dabbed some on.
Is that a normal amount? I don't know.
There it goes.
Pasty, pasty.
So I will not be gaslit in these comments anymore.
Look at the difference, is that..."
Okay, so, yes, there's a difference.
But again, because we've knocked out the redness.
Block any redness from the skin with this
little patch, and you can see,
great, great match.
What was I gonna say?
That's quite a fluffy, dense brush.
And this is quite a full coverage matte foundation.
Perhaps fingers wouldn't go amiss to start and
then blend out with a smaller brush, but
I don't think this is the best brush. Let's go.
"Is that what it's meant to be?
Is that standard?
Am I using too much?
I don't know, and I probably won't learn."
One thing I would recommend, although they said
they don't want to learn, but to anyone,
like, you know, in this situation, is we
can see the redness in the skin, right?
Just start with a tiny bit in those areas that
are red, tapping with your finger over those areas, and
then see if you need to, you know, take it
out anymore, which more than likely you will, because there
would be redness on the rest of your face.
But start in the areas... don't feel you
have to cover your whole face first.
Start in the middle and go outwards.
"Okay, so this is half and half.
And do you know what?
Do you know what?
It is actually starting to match
my neck, so that's fine.
But it is also starting to look dead again.
But apparently dead is..."
The eyebrow. See the eyebrow and then see
the eyebrow on the other side?
We've covered the eyebrow.
Get some definition back in your brows.
Watch your lashes. A bit of mascara.
Watch the hairline.
"... we want. So, I don't know
in this newfound world. Right, that
is the full thing done.
And I am sorry, but I actually could
be part of the family."
In this picture they actually have a more of a yellow undertone.
If we're being super technical.
"Right. I'm running out of time.
How do they do these videos so quickly? Jesus.
Start with this Max Factor Bronzer and this brush
that I also haven't cleaned for a long time.
And let's see whether this makes me look not dead.
I think I've put on too much.
That can't be right.
Bronzer is done and very bronzed in some areas.
This is the blush that I once found
in the bottom of my mother's wardrobe.
Let's see if that works.
Okay, that's me blushing as though
courted by a young lady herself.
Better? Worse?
Let's do eyes.
This is my mascara. I've had it so long
that it doesn't even have a label anymore, so
I don't really know where it's from. There we go.
I've got eyes. That's fun." Right, much better.
Getting that definition.
What a beautiful eye color.
Getting that definition back into the face.
If we wiped the brows, you'll be so good.
"My eyebrow pencil. No idea where it's from.
Don't even have a lid anymore.
Just runs around in my bag.
Okay, so that is the finished look.
If I just scrape it back." Great!
Beautiful. "Is that normal?"
Yeah! "Is that right? What do we think?
Is this the right shade?"
You know what would be great then, as well... I think,
I think it's the texture that,
that's the puzzling bit here.
Like a hydrating mist, not a setting
spray, a hydrating mist, because this looks great.
And you know what, you don't always have to be amazing,
amazing at makeup to create a look like this, which
is simple but really effective and looks really great.
That blush placement, the bronzer placement. Really...
Yeah, it looks really, really nice.
"Judge me."
Never.
"Not in a bad way. Be nice.
I've got therapy now."
Looks great.
I think that looks absolutely fine.
Skin undertone versus surface color, as I explained
and we saw in that video, foundation...
I think people use foundation a lot to be the
color they want to be, if you know what I mean.
So let's exclude people that tan their neck down
and don't tan their face, and perhaps try and
match their foundation to the tan, which I will
still recommend against, but I'll talk about that later.
Your foundation should be your undertone, and then your
bronzer, your blush, everything like that, or bronzing drops
or something can then come into it.
If you put the wrong shade of foundation
on the wrong skin tone, you will know.
You will see it. It is obvious.
Even if your whole body is bronzed and you
put, like, something slightly dark, it still looks orange.
You know what I mean?
So it is so important to get your skin tone right.
Even if you think you're not that light,
you're not that red, you're not that yellow.
More than likely, you are.
You're just used to seeing a certain color in
your skin that is, like your surface color.
So, as I was saying, darker foundation versus bronzing,
I personally prefer, and I would also do this
on clients. Matching your foundation to your fake tan.
In my opinion, I do not like.
Maybe one shade a little bit darker, but it is still obvious on the skin.
There is still this orangey hue to the skin.
When you put a foundation on a lighter face trying to match
a fake tan, I always say, go with your skin tone.
Bronze everywhere else, but you have to
find the right bronzer that isn't orange,
that isn't too red, that doesn't have
glitter, just a matte regular bronzer.
Benefit make them. And bronze up that whole area
and leave this area your natural foundation shade.
It looks so much better, looks so much more real.
It looks like you're actually bronzed, you know?
Or just use some face fake tan.
I know it's a bit wish washy, but...
It's coming to that time of year where we all
kind of fake tan our body except our face.
So I want to show you an alternative to using a
darker foundation because it can look a bit orangey still.
So I'm just laying down a base on my
face just to make it nice and even.
It's kind of looking a bit pale, which is my skin tone.
But compared to my neck, which I
have bronzed, it doesn't look right.
So what I'm going to do, instead of using darker
foundation, I'm going to take a bronzer, my first bronzer,
it's a little bit lighter, and use it just in,
I guess, the contour areas of your face.
If I didn't have a beard, I would have
taken it all the way down to my chin.
All the way down to my neck.
Then I'm taking a deeper bronzer and using that in
the depths, you know, right in those contour bits.
So I'm almost double bronzing, using a powder to
smooth out the join between my skin and the
bronzer so it looks nice and smooth.
And that way we have a natural highlight,
and we look naturally bronzed rather than orange.
Okay, let's talk about how to
match your foundation to your skin.
I hear so many...
There's so many different, like, rules out there, right?
One of them is look at your veins, which I
kind of find doesn't work with a lot of people.
And I've had people being like, I've looked at
my veins and I couldn't figure it out.
For a lot of people, not for everyone.
But if you can't see your skin undertone,
then more than likely you're not going to
see the kind of tone in your veins.
People say, look at your veins.
If they're green, if they're more blue, if they're
more neutral, it's the same as asking you to
look at your face, is it more yellow? Is it more red?
Is it more neutral? Is it olive?
And also, that's another point.
We have more skin tones than just red, yellow, neutral.
There's olive, there's people with more of a bluey tone
to their skin, a grayer hue to their skin.
So for me, it's not really the best way to do it.
There's the one that's like, do
you wear gold or silver jewelry?
Do you prefer gold or silver jewelry on you?
Which is basically personal taste.
So you're asking somebody to be like,
does this look right on my skin?
There's some color theory to it, but if you're
not familiar with color theory, and then you're just
like, yeah, I guess I like gold on me.
I guess I like silver on me.
How does that answer any questions?
You know what I mean?
There is a way to, apart from
going to, like, foundation online matcher things.
Not like the tea, like matching.
That kind of take all the shades of your foundation.
If you have a foundation you really like, you can type
it in and it will give you all the other matches
and all the other brands, right, which kind of, it does
kind of work, but some of them are slightly off.
In my opinion, the best way to do this
is to train your eyes a little bit more.
Now, I did a video on this a long time ago.
It is an old video, but the information is still good.
It's an exercise a lot of people would have
done when they were training to become makeup artists.
Or maybe they were in, like, cosmetology school, where
you basically take black, white, yellow, red and blue,
and you make your own foundation from those shades.
So I'm always like, grab yourself a cheap face
painting set on Amazon with those shades in and
start to build up your own foundation.
Start with the base that you think you are, yellow, red,
a bit of blue, and then go from there, adding a
tiny bit of color, adding a bit of black and white
until you reach the shade that you think you are.
This is going to train your eyes a little bit
more when you look at shades, to think, actually, that
needs to be a little bit more yellow.
That could do with a little bit more blue.
Do this a few times a week, and you will
start to realize you are noticing undertones more in things.
There is another way, which I don't think is the
most practical, but you can do a paper test, right?
So you basically hold a piece of paper up to your face.
And this will be better when you're not
wearing any eye makeup or any makeup in general, so
there's no other color on your face.
Maybe get your hair out the way.
Hold a piece of paper up to your face in front of a window, in
front of a mirror and just kind of stare at the
white for a little while, then go back to your face.
What undertones do you see in your skin?
Looking at the white, you're kind of
like picking up just for whiteness.
I'm actually gonna... I'm shutting the
eye, sorry, that's the key thing.
Shutting the eye behind the paper, looking
at the white with my other eye and
then looking back at my skin tone.
Now my skin tone, as yellow as
I look, it's actually very neutral.
So when I look back at my skin, I do
see neutral... neutrality here because I have bronze here and I
have a bit of highlight there. And that should give you
a good idea of what undertone you are.
But I absolutely would either go and go to, like,
a beauty counter where they do hundreds of foundation matches
a day and can probably match you like this.
Not all the time.
A lot of the time.
And get some advice or practice at home by
yourself because it's not just something you're going to
be like, oh, I can't see it.
It takes a lot of practice to be real.
Shade matching in makeup.
If you are becoming a makeup artist, perhaps
you've trained somewhere where they're like, don't worry
about it, don't bother about it.
Is so important in makeup and I feel like
it's a tool that we are slowly losing and
people are starting to ignore, including professionals.
Alright, I would love to know your opinion down below.
If you have any tips for anyone on how to
match an undertone, go ahead and leave them down below.
Thank you again for joining me.
I will see you very, very soon. Bye.