How to find the right foundation shade, without buying the wrong one three times

Foundation is the product people most often buy wrong, and usually for the same three reasons. Wrong place on the face, wrong light, wrong time of day.

Match your jaw, not your wrist or your hand

Your wrist is a different colour from your face and always has been. Swatch along the jawline, down onto the top of the neck. The shade that disappears there is your shade, because that is the join that has to look invisible.

Daylight, and only daylight

Shop lighting is built to flatter. Swatch three shades, then walk outside and look in a mirror or your front camera. The one you cannot see any more is the right one. This single habit prevents most wrong purchases.

Undertone decides more than depth

Depth is how light or dark. Undertone is whether it leans warm, cool or neutral. A foundation at exactly the right depth with the wrong undertone reads orange or grey on you, which is why a shade can look correct in the bottle and wrong on your face. If white fabric suits you better than cream, you lean cool. If cream suits you better, you lean warm.

Your skin is not the same all year

Most people shift about half a shade between summer and winter. Two shades that you can mix beat one that is only right for a few months, and mixing is far easier than owning four bottles.

Wait ten minutes before deciding

Foundation oxidises. It settles slightly darker or warmer on skin after ten or fifteen minutes. Judging it the second it goes on is judging a colour that is about to change.

Shade matching, application and the tools worth owning are all in The Makeup Guide.