How I color match foundation at the drugstore

Those of you who know my makeup habits (and watch my videos - shameless plug here!!) will know that I am a bit of a foundation junkie.

I love me some foundation and smooth even colored skin.

The hardest thing about foundation is finding the right shade, I always find.

A lot of stores are not very helpful and do not offer samples or testers. Some places that do, have poor lighting so it's hard to find a match and often standing in a drugstore and testing foundation on the back of your hand is just not ideal.

Then, there are the department stores that have sales assistants to match you - I have found that does not always work out right either. Helpful tip: most department store makeup counters will give you samples to take home and test, so get color matched and ask for a sample to try at home. You never know how the foundation will work on a normal day of wear - how long does it last, does the color really match, do you like the way it feels, will it oxidise ... the questions are endless and only a full day road test under your normal day to day circumstances will answer them.

But I digress ...

I have become pretty good at testing and finding my foundation color in a drugstore. I have a foundation color that is my "go-to" base color that I know works for me. It's a commonly available foundation at the drugstore - for me, it's Revlon Colorstay Stay Natural Makeup Foundation in 03 Nude. This is what I call my "baseline" foundation color. It could be anything for you, but I find that this Revlon one works for me as the basis of comparison for all other foundation colors.

What I do, is, I pump a small amount of the baseline color on the back of my hand - do not blend it out. Then, I move onto the color that I want to try or buy, and I squeeze a small amount right next to my baseline color until they are both touching, and I look at the colors of the two foundations. I compare the colors and try to come up with a shade that is as close to my baseline as possible. Some might be a bit more yellow, a bit more pink or a bit more neutral, or some might be an exact match. I pick the color that is the closest match to my baseline.

This method has worked very, very well for me, and I have never picked a wrong foundation color using this method. Of course, this method only works when the drugstore offers testers for you to try.

I never try the foundation on my face / skin when I'm at the drugstore as I do not want to mess up my makeup, especially since I usually go to the drugstore to test foundations and shop in the middle of the work day and I still need to go back to work at the end of my lunch hour.

Anyway, this is what I do. I hope it helps you, if you do decide to try it out yourself. I might even film a video on this and demo the method that I'm talking about here.


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