How to Choose the Right Foundation for Your Skin Tone

With most beauty brands now boasting more inclusive ranges, often with upwards of 20 shades to choose from, there's now no excuse for not wearing the right shade of foundation. Foundation should be invisible, blending seamlessly into your skin, giving you smooth, even coverage that looks natural rather than mask-like.

The first step to find your ideal foundation is to discover what your skin tone is. Once you know this, you'll be on the right path to choosing the perfect shade of foundation. There are three main skin tone categories – light, medium, and deep. The easiest way to discover your skin tone is to think about how your skin reacts to the sun. If you burn easily and never tan, you most likely have a light skin tone, whereas if you tan easily without burning, then you probably have a deeper skin tone. Those with deeper skin tones should colour-match foundation to their body (the chest, for example) to find their truest shade, as this skin type has more natural variation in pigmentation.

Always test foundation on bare, make-up free skin for the most accurate results. Don't just test one shade of foundation, start with a selection, and slowly narrow them down. It's common to test on your hand or wrist, but there can be quite a discrepancy in skin tone, so it's preferable to try out different shades directly onto your face. The jawline is the best area to use as the skin there is often the most even in tone. Always check results in strong natural light so you can clearly see what works (and what doesn't). You might find that you need to ring the changes at different times of the year, your glowing summer skin might need a deeper shade of foundation than what you'd normally wear.

So, how do you know when you've found the right shade of foundation? Quite simply when it blends perfectly with your skin tone and ‘disappears' as you apply it, for a sleek, yet natural look.