Celebrity makeup artist Frederick Sanders recommends starting with two or three shades that look closest to your complexion and blending them all in fully. "The foundation should match the side of your face and your neck to prevent you from looking like you're wearing a mask," he says.
The foundation should match your neck as well, which may be confusing if your neck is a different shade than your face. If that is the case, you should buy a foundation that matches your neck more than your face.
Experts weigh in on topics and give us answers to difficult questions like whether or not primer really matters and if you should really spend any time on contouring your nose. You shouldn't put foundation on your neck. Makeup artists also warn against going crazy with contouring.
The standard advice is to choose the foundation shade that "disappears" into your skin. Obviously, if your face is darker (or lighter), this might not apply. Hence, you will need to do one of two things: Match the foundation to your face: Even if it is darker than your neck and chest.
Many sources recommend the neck for foundation swatching, but the color discrepancy between the face and the neck proves too drastic for a natural match. "The neck does not get the same amount of sun as the face, [so] it can be a different color completely," warns Lora Alexander of Pretty Your World.
"The foundation should match the side of your face and your neck to prevent you from looking like you're wearing a mask," he says.
A general rule to live by: If you're wearing anything other than a turtleneck and you're wearing base makeup, you should blend your foundation downwards past the jawline to ensure your head and neck don't look like separate entities.
Like I described above, take the Blush and Bronzer brush, lightly swirl it across your Bronzer and Illuminator, and then apply a very sheer layer to your face. This will give you a slightly darker base to start with and will help your face match your darker neck. You can also finish off your makeup the exact same way!
"If you're someone who gets redder than others, this could be because you have more capillaries in your face than others who have a light pink glow," Dr. Solomon explains. "Other causes for facial redness can be skin conditions such as rosacea, alcohol use, certain foods, and different medications."
“You always need to put a dab of foundation on your neck… roughly about the centre of your neck halfway down,” Liz informed me. This sounds crazy, but there's a really clever reason behind this. Related: 6 ways you're ruining your hair colour without even realising.
The silicones in primers help fill facial fine lines and even out makeup, but they can work on other areas as well. Dab some on your hands, neck, and chest, "and your skin will look plumper for the rest of the day," says Linter.
“After seven to eight minutes, apply the primer either with your fingertips or with a clean foundation brush. Apply all over, down to your neck. Let it rest for at least three minutes and then start with the rest of your makeup, or it will slide off with the primer,” explains Soni.
As per beauty experts, your foundation must be one or two shades lighter than your skin tone. This is because when you use bronzer or contour then the foundation will blend it all together and give the perfect look to your face.
Your foundation should blend seamlessly with your natural skin tone. You don't want there to be an obvious difference between where your foundation ends and your bare skin begins. Otherwise, your foundation will look unnatural and caked on.
If your makeup is too light, you will look ashy or as if you have a gray cast on your skin. If the formula is too dark, it can make your complexion look muddy. Look for the shade that disappears into your skin most is your right match.
How to use: Take two tablespoons of besan (gram flour), half teaspoon lemon juice, a dash of turmeric, and some rose water (or milk). Mix all of them and form a medium consistency paste. Apply the mixture on your neck, leave it on for about fifteen minutes, and rinse with water. You can repeat this remedy twice a week.
The skin on the neck can darken due to hormonal disorders, sun exposure, and drug-induced or other skin-related conditions. Darkening of the neck may be associated with changes in the texture of the skin when compared to the surrounding skin conditions like itching and dark patches in other parts of the body.
Our face skin produces more melanin compared to the rest of the body parts, so our face skin is generally a bit darker. The harmful rays of the sunlight can damage the melanin cells and as the face is more exposed to sunlight, it is the first to be impacted.
Select the right shade.
“You can't have a concealer that's too light,” she said, adding that women should choose concealer that's one to two shades lighter than the color of their foundation.
You'll need to prepare your skin for makeup first by cleansing and applying a moisturizer. You can also add primer and concealer or color-corrector too. When applying foundation, you want to start with a small amount and apply it to the center of your face, blending outward.
Apply foundation only where you need coverage—not all over your face. The purpose of foundation is not, in fact, to cover up every square inch of your face like a mask. It's really only meant to be used where you actually NEED it.
Look at your wrist veins under natural light.
If your veins appear to be green, you probably have warm undertones. If they're blue or purple, you probably have cool undertones. If they are a mix of both, you may have neutral undertones.
The best technique for finding your best shade is to first choose three that appear to be a good match, then swatch them (apply a short line) next to each other on your jawline, leaving a little skin between each. “One of the most common mistakes is choosing a foundation that only matches your face.
Your face looks dark when your skin gets oxidised after makeup. Always apply primer on your face before using foundation. Using a silicone-based primer acts as a barrier between your skin's natural oils and oils in foundation. Use foundations that have non-comedogenic ingredients.