Skip to playerSkip to main content
Refinery29
  • 1 week ago
Foundation, while aptly named for its essential function, can be tricky. From finding the right color for your skin tone to applying it in a way that looks natural, this most basic product can quickly become one of the most stressful. Our very own Jem finds that, as a woman of color, picking the right hue is nearly impossible. So, we called in makeup educator James Vincent to guide her through the process of selecting and applying foundation, with plenty of helpful insider tips along the way.
Transcript
00:10I can't seem to get my foundation the right shade so today I'm gonna double
00:14dog dare myself to get it right. So Gem, foundation for you is frightening.
00:20Absolutely. What is it about it that you find so scary? Well as a person of color
00:24I find it difficult to match the skin tone. I also find that I always end up
00:28with a ring around my face. When I take photos it's very very noticeable. The
00:33first thing that we want to do is identify the undertone. Most women either
00:37have a golden yellow undertone or a pink red undertone. An easy way to identify if
00:42you're not sure is to look at the vein. A blue vein on a golden or yellow tone
00:46will appear more green. A blue vein on a pink or red tone will appear violet or
00:50purple. So we know that Gem has a golden undertone. So we're going to use a bit of
00:57liquid foundation or a cream foundation and we're going to even out your tone
01:01and then sheer it out in the areas where you don't need coverage. How does that
01:04sound? Sounds perfect thank you. So I'm starting with a moisturizer and I'm
01:08applying the moisturizer with a brush because that allows the skin to only take
01:12as much moisture as it needs. So the next thing we're going to do is choose our
01:17foundation. Liquid foundations are fantastic for allowing you to build. This is a
01:22foundation concentrate. So what it's going to do is allow us to really control the
01:27amount of coverage that we use. I'm choosing two different shades for you. If
01:33I'm trying to decide where I want to go with color just take a cotton swab and do
01:38a little swatch on your chin. Now what I recommend is swatching to the area of
01:42exposed skin. I prefer to match to a collarbone so that way everything matches.
01:47So I'm starting with a lighter liquid and what I'm doing is mixing that into my
01:52moisturizer. Because you don't need a lot of coverage I can start with my liquid
01:59foundation in the center of my face where most women tend to have their
02:03discoloration and then I can sheer it out as I work my way out. And then once I
02:11have my foundation on I just go back and buff it out and then I can see if there
02:18are any areas where I might want to go back in with a little more coverage.
02:22That's why you should always use your concealer after foundation because your
02:25foundation is going to give you some coverage. Now what I'm going to do is go
02:30in with a cream foundation now and use that the way you would use a traditional
02:36concealer. So I'm using a smaller brush and I'm just going right into the under eye
02:41area just canceling out some of that discoloration. Like a lot of women of
02:48color gems your discoloration under your eyes tends to be more blue so going with
02:54something that has more of a peach or coral or orangey tone to it is going to be
02:59much more effective for you. And then I'm going back in with my brush and just
03:03buffing it down and this will be the perfect summer coverage. I think this
03:08looks great. Why don't you take a look and see what you think? I think it looks
03:13great too. Is this something you would try on your own? Absolutely. I think this is my
03:17new summer phase. Thank you James and thank you guys for watching Refinery29.