Find The Right Foundation:

In my opinion, the most difficult part of purchasing makeup is finding the right foundation. Unlike picking out an eyeshadow, picking the right foundation is hard! There are several factors that make choosing the right foundation a process.

I've learned a few really good tricks through the years and would love to share with you! Are you ready? Grab a mirror and lets go!

Tip Number 1: Determine your skin tone and type before you try to buy a foundation

The most difficult part about choosing a foundation is finding the right shade. A brand might have 10 shades to choose from or they might have 50! And there are tones within those shades - are you cool, warm, or neutral? And then finally do you want light, medium or full coverage? or do you want a BB or CC Cream? (have I lost you yet?) If I haven't, hang on. We're going to figure this out, I promise!

Before you head to Target (or even more daunting, to Ulta or Sephora), try to determine what tone your skin is (warm, cool or neutral). I fall in the neutral-warm category where as my sister lands on the cool tone spectrum. An easy way to figure it out is to head to some natural light. Flip your arm over so you can see the veins near your wrist. What color is the blood? Is it blue? Then you're cool toned (these foundations will be a bit pinker). Is it greenish? Then you're warm toned (these will look more on the yellow, orange side). Neutral skin is when you pretty much fall in between.

Next we need to determine how much coverage you want. Do you have an issue with uneven skin tone but want to keep your natural face showing through? Then you are probably looking for a light coverage foundation. If you want it to cover up your blemishes and unevenness, but still look a little like skin, then you want a medium coverage. If you're looking to completely cover your natural skin up (maybe for an event or photos or something) then you're probably looking for a full coverage foundation. If you want something you can wear to the pool or the beach (or gym maybe?) I would suggest a BB or CC cream as they tend to give a a lighter coverage than a classic foundation but will offer anti oxidents, SPF and with a CC Cream - a color corrector.

Ok, phew, we have done the detective work. Now, let's head to our store of choice and find that foundation! So for me, I'm dry, I have neutral to warm toned skin, and I am looking to get a medium coverage foundation.

Tip Number 2: Match the foundation to your neck, not your face or your arm. Why? Because your neck is the closest skin to your face and if you want to have foundation that blends in once it hits your neck. Make sense? Good. The easiest way to match is to bring a mirror with you, or a friend, or ask a sales associate to lend you their eyes, try to do this matching near natural sunlight (I know this can be difficult if you're at the mall so my suggestion is to try this at Ulta for your first matching experience)...and take a swipe of a few colors to see which one matches you the closest.

Tip Number 3: Take your two closest matches and use them both together to make a custom foundation. This is a great tip (pat me on the back for this one!)

If you happen to be in between your two closest matches and/or you're looking for a mix of coverage, take the two shades/foundation types and make a custom blend. I just take a small mirror and blend what I need for the day together.

Tip Number 4: Take care of your skin first before using a foundation.

Start with a great canvas. If you were going to paint a picture, you would not use a wrinkled up, dirty piece of paper, would you? No! You would start with a nice, clean sheet! And our skin needs to be clean and hydrated, so wash yo'face girl and make sure you use a hydration serum and cream.

Foundation is going to make your skin look awful if you aren't keeping your skin hydrated and moisturized (and yes, oily skin needs moisture too!). So before you swipe on a foundation, make sure you moisturize and hydrate. If you need some tips on that, let me know in the comments below and I'd be happy to write about it!

To get this new blogging adventure off to a great start, I've decided to do a giveaway!

A little something to help you find just the right foundation! To enter to win a $50 gift card to Ulta, simply subscribe to my blog (right at the end of this post!) and leave a comment on a recent instagram post. That's it! Giveaway ends on 4/10/2020 at Midnight CST.

One last thing! These items are all linked on my Liketoknow.it page for convenience.