The varying shades of "light" foundation

Foundation to me is the beginning for your makeup, you need to get it right, and it needs to feel good on. But most importantly, it has to match your face!!

I have gone through so many different foundations, so I have decided to show you how much fair-light foundation colours can vary amongst companies. You'd think light-fair would all good similar? but the tones of foundation can really bring out the yellow, brown and pink tones and make it very difficult to find the right foundation match for yourself. I know this pain because I have gone through it myself. Honestly, I still am not sure which foundation looks right on me, I do not like looking too pink and I think my face has yellow tones in it, so I tend to go towards the NC shades in MAC foundation. My main problem with drugstore foundations, even in the lightest colours, are often times, not light enough. It seems like drugstore brands do not cater at all to lighter skinned girls, there always seems to be a lot of medium skinned colours, and no variety at all for the light. I would rather buy a foundation that is too light, and darken it up with bronzer or something than too dark.

Above left to right:

1. MAC Studio Fix Fluid NC15 - I applied this a bit heavily, but you get the idea, it is quite yellow, but once it's on my face, I like how it looks, doesn't look yellow to me.

2. MAC Mineralize Satinfinish NC15 - This is lighter than SFF, but it does dry on a lot sheerer, so it is fine on my skin.

3. MAC Studio Sculpt NW15 - I got the NW in this because the NC was really light, this one is more peachy than the two previous, coverage is really good with this one too. I should of blended this one out more, but it's a gel so you gotta work with it.

4. Revlon Colorstay in Ivory- Revlon's foundations fair very well in reviews, but I had a super hard time with their shade selections, Ivory is in my opinion too pink and too light. It seems to blend in well in this picture, but makes me look too pink in person.

5. Revlon Colorstay in Buff - This one was too dark, I found no happy medium for myself in Colorstay, I suppose if I mix the two I may get something more tolerable.

6. Revlon Age Defying Spa in Fair-Light - This is what you call Fair-Light Revlon?? Really? Really? C'mon. This is the darkest on this entire picture, it is orange-brown! I love the idea of this foundation, it has that brush right in the product and is light feeling, but the colour is bad bad bad. It actually does come in 001 Fair, but in Canada, we do not have this shade, so this foundation was a fail for me. :(

7. Revlon Photo Ready in Vanilla - Really happy with this colour, it is really close to my beloved Studio Fix Fluid, this is second lightest shade in Photo Ready.

8. Maybelline Superstay in Porcelain - Another super fail! This is pink! And when it dries on the corners, it almost looks red! This is the lighest shade available in this foundation! OMG!!


Onto some more...

left to right

1. L'oreal True Match W2 Light Ivory - I gotta give props to L'oreal, the True Match has so many shades that you can definitely find your right colour. I haven't experienced too much with their foundation, but I really should. I like this colour on me, it's that yellow light that I like.

2. Maybelline Instant Age Rewind in Classic Ivory - This is light 2, I should of probably gone with Light 1. This foundation is really good though, I should really pick it up again, when foundation read "classic ivory" they are usually a dirtier version of ivory.

3. Maybelline Pure Makeup in Classic Ivory - This is light 2 once again, it is a lot pinker than Age Rewind, same colour, but looks totally different. Why can't drugstores make it easier for us and make the colours the same in different formulations? I don't get it.

4. Rimmel Stay Matte in 100 Ivory - I really wanted to like this one, but the colour is all wrong for me, too dark and this is the lightest colour in this foundation as well,  it's unfortunate.

5. Rimmel Lasting Finish in 100 Ivory - Major fail! I swatched this in the store and thought, oh this is the lighest shade it must work.. no it doesn't! at all! This is brown, this is what I would call Sand! Rimmel and I do not fair well in foundations.

So there you  have it... those are most of my liquid foundations, most of these I never wear. I most enjoy MAC foundations because when I buy them, I pretty much know what the colour is going to look like and there is no horrible surprise (ie Rimmel). Please keep in mind these are just swatches on my arm, no base underneath, I didn't let it sit and ozidize or anything, didn't blend them in very much so it looks the way it does if you were to swatch it in a store. It's crazy how different they all look, isn't it?