We’ve all done it.  We’ve stood in the cosmetics department of Rite Aid, Walmart, Target, even MAC and Estee Lauder and searched for that right color of foundation.  We’ve even asked for help and still we’ve gotten home to find it’s just not right.

So frustrating, so annoying and so damn expensive!

What is a girl to do? Well, first off, trying to match ourselves in florescent lighting at a Walmart is never easy.  And second most of us are matching the wrong part of our body!

At makeup counters you tend to test foundation colors on your hand.  Big mistake.  Your hands tend to get more exposure to the sun and to the elements than our faces do.  So they are not the same color as our face, or our neck or our décolletage.  So how on earth would the color that matches the back of your hand match your face?  But it’s not like we were ever taught how to really get the right match, right? RIGHT???? (Damn hippy mom who never wore makeup!)

So, then we do the time tested holding it up to our cheek test only to get home and find we have become a floating head.  God I hate floating heads!  Or worse we find that nasty line of demarcation.  That thing will kill the best makeup in a heartbeat.

So the answer?

The best place to match your skin is your collarbone, first because your face, chest and neck all tend to be a little bit different from each other.  2^nd you won’t be comparing color to sun damage that can develop on your chest.  So if you are matching your collarbone and blending your foundation nicely from your hair line, down your neck and feathering to a finish at your collar bone you will end up, most of the time, with perfectly matched foundation.

One more bit of foundation advice:  The color you use in the winter is not going to be the color you use in the summer, so don’t feel bad about having two colors on hand.  You can use the two either by themselves or by combining them to create your own custom color match, no matter what time of the year it is.

Well I hope this helps.  Have fun out there shopping.

Personify Bridal, Sacramento’s On Location Bridal Hair & Makeup Specialists since 2004

Sacramento Makeup Artist