Do you find yourself watching countless makeup tutorials and wondering just how these YouTube beauty gurus seem to have flawless looking skin no matter what foundation they’re wearing? We know we do. Thankfully, we at Her Campus have a few tips and tricks on how to get that airbrushed looking finish to your foundation every time.
1. It starts with a good primer
Put that foundation down girl, we’re not there yet! Before you apply any makeup to your face, you should be going in with a primer as a base. Not only will primers act as a barrier between your skin and the following layers of makeup, but it helps whatever foundation you apply adhere to your face much better than if you had skipped this step. This will improve the longevity of your makeup, and help it from breaking up throughout the day. Primers also help to balance out redness, texture, or counteract your skin type so foundation wears better on your skin. If your skin typically gets oily throughout the day, opt for a mattifying primer, and if you’re prone to dryness, go for a moisturizing primer to help give your skin the extra hydration it needs!
2. Pick a shade that matches not only your skin color, but its undertones.
What? Undertones? As if finding your perfect shade wasn’t hard enough already, now you have to match it to your undertones? It may sound silly, but attempting to match your foundation to the undertones in your skin will give you as close to a perfect color match as you can get. You see, if you’re someone who has more yellow undertones, getting a cool toned foundation will never fully match you, and can often make you look washed out. If you’re somebody with a slightly pinker skin tone, getting a warm toned foundation will only make you look orange (and looking like an oompa loompa is pretty much any girl’s worst fear). The good news is, many makeup brands have started to separate their foundation lines out into 3 categories, warm, cool, and neutral tones. Having trouble identifying what your undertones are? An easy way to find out is to look at the veins on your wrist: if they appear to be more green, you’re a warmer tone, but if they’re more blue, even slightly purple, you’re more cool toned. Do you fall somewhere in the middle, with blue/green colored veins? You can consider yourself a neutral skin tone!
3. Match foundation to your neck not your face
Now that you know all about the undertones, it should be easy to find a more perfect shade of foundation, but don’t make the mistake of attempting to color match your foundation to your face — match it to the color of your neck instead. The pigmentation in your face is often different than that of the rest of your body, so next time you’re at Sephora swatch testing shades, match them to your neck instead. This will give you the closest possible shade to your skin, giving you the most natural overall result.
4. Don’t forget about your skin type
Another commonly made mistake when trying to choose the best foundation for you is getting one that isn’t made for your skin type. Ever wondered why your skin looks like a greased hotdog in the middle of the day? You probably have oily skin and are choosing a dewy foundation when you should be wearing a matte one. Or maybe your skin looks and feels like the Sahara Desert? You definitely have dry skin, girl, and should be on the hunt for foundations labeled “dewy” or “luminous”. Don’t worry combination skinned girls, we didn’t forget about you! Foundations that will sit best on your skin are usually labeled “satin finish”, but you probably won’t go wrong with dewy or matte foundations, as your skin type falls in the middle of dry and oily.
4. Set with powder
After you are all finished priming, swatch testing, and applying your foundation of choice, don’t skip out on this last step before going on to complete the rest of your makeup. Setting your foundation with either a pressed or loose powder will help it stay in place all day, ensure that there is no tackiness left on your skin, and will even provide extra coverage if needed. Oily girls: set your whole face with powder to help mattify your skin and absorb natural oils throughout the day. Dry girls: don’t feel the need to powder your whole face up, stick to applying the powder in your t-zone, where it won’t adhere to dry patches. PRO TIP: wait to set with powder until after you have applied all the cream and liquid products to your face. Liquid/cream products sit well under powders, but powders will only change the consistency of these products. Also, powder products like blush, bronzer and highlight will sit much better over a thin layer of setting or translucent powder; they will blend out so much easier too! No more patchiness!
We hope these foundation tips help you achieve that flawless looking skin you’ve always wanted. You may not be a beauty guru like Kathleen Lights or Jaclyn Hill, but with these tips you’ll be pretty damn close!