Finding Foundation 101

• Posted on 13 April 2021
• Posted in makeup tips
• 0

Foundation is the lifeblood of elea blake cosmetics. Foundation was the very first thing we offered to the world, complete with customization and your own sweet formula. It has been many years since we started and throughout those years we have made many a new foundation color. We still offer custom blend foundations of course, and even our online clients reap the benefits of having their colors tweaked to best fit them!

The problem for many who seek their perfect foundation color though is where to start?

First thing first, we want to dispel with a common misconception and say with emphasis:

Your skin tone is not affected by traditional draping results.

We see this a lot, I mean a lot, and it is probably one of the most confusing aspects of traditional color analysis. The problem lay in the fact that these systems don’t have skin color options, or more accurately, the cool seasons don’t have skin color options in their fans. Fans, for those who have never been draped, are a collection of colors given to women who are draped in a season. Right here is where our system diverts dramatically from other systems, because our system is done per hue, we are not faced with the dilemma of chopping off at the head a person’s color selection due to grouping warm versus cool colors and limiting who can wear what.

The thing is, there are very few – I mean VERY FEW people in the world who have truly cool skin tones. These people are special little snowflakes, in all seriousness, they just are. In our many years as makeup artists and color experts, we have met one person whose skin tone was truly cool. The reason being that melanin, the compound in the body responsible for pigment, is limited to shades of yellow, brown, red, and black. The skin color is also affected by red cells in blood flowing close to skin, which are more visible on lighter skin tones, you can also see the warmth of skin in the presence of fat cells under the skin and carotene which has a red orange hue cast. Point being, cool skin tones usually have a darker skin tone and are very rare.

So what about your undertone and the cool and warm aspect of it? Well the thing about skin is what we are seeing is not just the top layer of skin, but the affect of our many layers of skin over our fat, muscle, blood, and bones. Like a great painting, a person’s color is affected by each layer of their body, not just the top layer.

So how does this apply to finding my best foundation fit? Well the point is, forget what you think you know about your warm or cool self, because all foundation colors are warm, it is just the degree of warmth that you are looking at.

Another misconception that we need to clarify is:

Your foundation should melt into your skin color, not cover it.

We see this a lot and frankly we find it frustrating that this makeup belief has existed for so long. The key point in finding your foundation is embracing YOUR skin color and using your foundation to clarify any blemishes, hide any skin discoloration, and make you look your best – no matter what condition your skin may be in. We see a lot of tutorials that have people putting on colors that just stand out from their neck, and even if you are okay with covering your neck up too, your body will appear at odds with your face.

Embrace your color and discover it in your foundation. You will find red spots and blemishes will be so much easier to cover and hide using your skin color as a foundation. You will also look more natural and appear more harmonious with any other colors you wear. Speaking personally, nothing makes me feel more beautiful than wearing my own skin tone.

If you want to create the illusion that you are more pale or more tan than they truly are, then try contouring instead of altering your skin tone. Once you find YOUR skin tone color in your foundation, look at the color in a lighter tone for a highlighter if you are trying to look more pale and do the opposite for a bronzer if you a trying to look more tan. Personally, we feel this is best as you will often look more orange or sallow if you go for a warmer or deeper foundation to make yourself look more tan/ lighter color for appearing more pale. It only leaves you looking a little off! So embrace YOUR tone and use it as a starting place to experiment with contouring to get your desired coloring.

So now we have the basics, lets talk about what you should look for.

• Fair people will want to find foundation colors with an “L” after the first numbers of the ebhues code. Specifically, the palest among you will want to find codes that end in the following; Ld, Ld2, L2d, L2s, Lr or variations of. Some of the lightest colors we have are S415Ld2 (Honest) and S21Lr (Cheerful) which as you can see have the “L” right after their first numbers which is what you are looking for.
• People with a darker skin tone will want to find foundation colors with a “D” after the first numbers of the ebhues code. Specifically, the deepest skin tones among you will want to find codes that end in the following: D2p, D2t, D2s or variations of. Some of the darkest colors we have are S43D2s (Refined) and S48D2p (Beautiful)  which as you can see have the “D” right after their first numbers which is what you are looking for.
• People with medium skin tone that has a lot of color to it in terms of strong yellow or red undertones will want to find foundation colors with an “M” after the first numbers of the ebhues code. Some very saturated colors we have, for example, are S24M2r (Wise Saffron) and S21Mmo (Playful), which as you can see have the “M” right after their first numbers which is what you are looking for.
• Spring has less warmth than Autumn skin tones as Autumn is warmest. So if you find your skin is on the cooler spectrum than look to Spring foundation colors or colors that have the number 2 for their first number (remember there are no cool skin tones but lesser or more degrees of warmth).

• If you have a stronger red undertone than you do yellow, you will want to look for colors that have the following ebhues codes: Power 43 (Timid is an example of this range), Strength 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 45, 48 and 21.
• If you have a more golden toned skin than you do red you will want to explore the following ebhues code zones: Strength 41, 410, 412, and 413
• If you have a very strong yellow undertone you will want to explore the following ebhues code zones: Strength 417, 415, and 414

Now that was tedious right? Well here is a lot less text and more visuals!