Look, it's another non-me-made-may alliterative post! :P
Many of the emails sent to this blog address (aside from those gems offering to enlarge my prostate and/or make le big bucks by shilling probiotic jelly earrings via affiliate links...) are about pale foundations, and a large proportion of those tend to begin 'I'm just slightly darker than you....,' so when on a recent visit to my slightly-darker-than-me-but-still-paler-than-NC15 mother, I decided to snag&swatch her foundation stash for your convenience and mine.
Some basic details:
skintone: in between NC10-15, cool yellow [I'd usually shorthand my skintone as neutral NC/W5-10]
skintype: mature, combination (dry-normal cheeks, oily nose and lids)
preferences: a light-textured, quick-to-apply formula for everyday, with greater coverage for special occasions. She doesn't really experience problems with wear-time / oxidation, but is very picky about textures -- they mustlook flattering both on fine lines of the drier areas of her face, and on the larger pores in the oilier areas. She prefers not to use separate primers / setting powders, so all foundations must apply and work as one-step products, and she prefers satin / skinlike finishes, nothing either matte or dewy. She also doesn't own separate concealers, preferring to add another layer of foundation over areas that need it, but not too much -- believing that it's better for some imperfection to show through than to look obviously made-up.
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foundations (left to right): Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation 0 Porcelain, Suqqu Frame Fix Cream Foundation 101 (older formula), Suqqu Frame Fix Cream N Foundation 101 (newer formula)*, MAC Face&Body N1 and White (which she mixes to get a match), Addiction Powder Foundation 01 Wafers.
from sheerest to most pigmented: Addiction powder (applied with brush), MAC F&B, BB Skin, Addiction (applied with sponge), Suqqu FFC, Suqqu FFCN.
from least to most matte: MAC F&B, BB Skin, Suqqu FFCN, Addiction powder/Suqqu FFC
tools/application: fingers with liquids (MAC and Bobbi Brown), a damp Beautyblender sponge with a miniscule amount (think pinhead dot) of the Suqqu creams, and either a dense flat sponge or a soft fluffy brush with the Addiction powder, depending on desired coverage.
*in brief, newer Suqqu > older Suqqu cream, in both coverage and textural-perfection, but requires an even lighter hand due to its boost in pigmentation. Best pressed into still-tacky-from-skincare skin, or as a tiny dot mixed into sunscreen to create a tinted moisturiser.
I've swatched her foundations with a representative selection of my matches, from the paler Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture 001 through medium Bobbi Brown Skin Liquid 00 Alabaster, to darkest Laura Mercier Soft Ivory; with MAC N1 as a control in both swatchsets. The darkest shades in my lineup overlap with the palest ones in hers (so this is how/where I'd draw the NC/W10-ish line) -- a difference similar to the one between Bobbi Brown Skin Alabaster and Porcelain (the next BB shade up, 1 Warm Ivory, is another full step darker and the equivalent of the average MAC NC15). I also swatched MAC's F&B N1 neat, for a clearer shade reference, though she actually mixes it with white in the wearing.
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Many of the emails sent to this blog address (aside from those gems offering to enlarge my prostate and/or make le big bucks by shilling probiotic jelly earrings via affiliate links...) are about pale foundations, and a large proportion of those tend to begin 'I'm just slightly darker than you....,' so when on a recent visit to my slightly-darker-than-me-but-still-paler-than-NC15 mother, I decided to snag&swatch her foundation stash for your convenience and mine.
Some basic details:
skintone: in between NC10-15, cool yellow [I'd usually shorthand my skintone as neutral NC/W5-10]
skintype: mature, combination (dry-normal cheeks, oily nose and lids)
preferences: a light-textured, quick-to-apply formula for everyday, with greater coverage for special occasions. She doesn't really experience problems with wear-time / oxidation, but is very picky about textures -- they mustlook flattering both on fine lines of the drier areas of her face, and on the larger pores in the oilier areas. She prefers not to use separate primers / setting powders, so all foundations must apply and work as one-step products, and she prefers satin / skinlike finishes, nothing either matte or dewy. She also doesn't own separate concealers, preferring to add another layer of foundation over areas that need it, but not too much -- believing that it's better for some imperfection to show through than to look obviously made-up.
from sheerest to most pigmented: Addiction powder (applied with brush), MAC F&B, BB Skin, Addiction (applied with sponge), Suqqu FFC, Suqqu FFCN.
from least to most matte: MAC F&B, BB Skin, Suqqu FFCN, Addiction powder/Suqqu FFC
tools/application: fingers with liquids (MAC and Bobbi Brown), a damp Beautyblender sponge with a miniscule amount (think pinhead dot) of the Suqqu creams, and either a dense flat sponge or a soft fluffy brush with the Addiction powder, depending on desired coverage.
*in brief, newer Suqqu > older Suqqu cream, in both coverage and textural-perfection, but requires an even lighter hand due to its boost in pigmentation. Best pressed into still-tacky-from-skincare skin, or as a tiny dot mixed into sunscreen to create a tinted moisturiser.
I've swatched her foundations with a representative selection of my matches, from the paler Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture 001 through medium Bobbi Brown Skin Liquid 00 Alabaster, to darkest Laura Mercier Soft Ivory; with MAC N1 as a control in both swatchsets. The darkest shades in my lineup overlap with the palest ones in hers (so this is how/where I'd draw the NC/W10-ish line) -- a difference similar to the one between Bobbi Brown Skin Alabaster and Porcelain (the next BB shade up, 1 Warm Ivory, is another full step darker and the equivalent of the average MAC NC15). I also swatched MAC's F&B N1 neat, for a clearer shade reference, though she actually mixes it with white in the wearing.
Hope this has been helpful to some of you! I'll pass on all further questions, but bear in mind that while she wears/owns more makeup than your average muggle, my mother doesn't share my geek enthusiasm about the exact angle at which to hold one's sponge on alternate Thursdays etc. Much disappoints. Wow. So intergenerational heartaches. Long Day's Journey Into Night aint got nothing on this.