How to Choose the Right Foundation Color according to your Skin Type?

Updated on 30 Jun 2009, Published on 30 Jun 2009

Choosing the right foundation color is important to even the color of the skin. However most of the women find difficulty in finding one. The foundation helps in creating an even appearance of the skin that makes it look like flawless. A good foundation layer on the skin will determine how good the other make-up that rests on the foundation appears. So the main purpose of foundation is to match the skin color and even the whole areas with the same color. Trying to change the color of the skin by applying foundation would be a vain idea as it will only make you look awkward and give your skin a pinkish or a slight orange color.

Very often we see women whose neck and face have a completely different color. Also sometimes we get to see women who appear slightly orange or pink even. This is mainly because these women aren’t aware of their skin tone and the compatibility of the foundation. When the time to choose the right foundation comes, it is necessary to understand the type of skin you have and the foundation that will suit your skin type. For instance a sallow colored skin should not attempt to get a rosy pink skin tone nor does a pale complexioned woman should attempt a bronze color skin tone. Following are some of the things that must be kept in mind.

Skin Types

Skin types may be broadly classified into dry, oily, combination skin and sensitive skin.

1) Dry skin: Those who have dry skin should go for liquid foundation which has moisturizers, as matte and powdered foundation seem to dry the skin even more and result into skin flakes and chapped.

2) Oily Skin: For oily skin, matte or powdered foundation is the best as it is oil-free and controls shine.

3) Combination Skin: Combination skin refers to those that have a dry skin with an oily T-zone. For such type of skin it is best to go for foundation with moisturizer but with should be oil free.

4) Sensitive skin: For those with sensitive skin, it is best to go for a foundation which is oil-free, fragrance-free, non-comedogenic, and allergy-tested.

Skin Tones

The skin tones can be broadly classified into three categories namely,

1) Warm: Those who have warm tones should go for bronze that gives a sunkissed look, golden yellows, burnt oranges etc.

2) Cool: When you think of cool skin tones, then Ivory, yellow, peach etc, are some of the colors that might be closer to this type of skin tone.

3) Neutral: Those with neutral colors are the luckiest. They are neither too dark nor too fair. And can liberally try using any foundation for different looks.

These are some of the basic things that must be kept in mind while choosing the right foundation. When you go out to buy a foundation, make sure you don’t put on any foundation. Try out each of the foundations by applying on the neck and not on any other part of the body. This is because you must match the color of your face to that of your neck so that the two of them do not look completely different.