How do you test a foundation to determine if it works for you?
I’m the worst! It usually takes me a dozen or more wears to determine if I just like a foundation. I can usually tell if I don’t like one within a few wears because there’s something in the application or how it sits on the face from the get-go that isn’t working for me. Otherwise, I’ve too often experienced a foundation that looks great the first few times then looks terrible the next time and then cycles through, so I find I need to really go through a lot of wears and combinations of products to get to the point where I feel like, “yeah, this works most of the time.” I’m also indoors a lot so sometimes that I like ends up being not-so-long-wearing when tested under more extreme conditions (e.g. monsoon humidity).
— Christine
To me, It is basically a question of wether It exposes skin ‘problems’ like pores, excess oil, dry patches and fine lines. I’m from Rio de Janeiro, so it’s hot and humid. If a foundation does not work for me, I can usually tell right away.
First, I want an informed sales associate to help me choose the right shade. Then I like to get a little sample bottle to take home so I can try it over the next few days. The best SAs give me at least two different shades to take home.
It should work without a primer and apply well with a brush, because I don’t like using sponges or fingers. It needs to blend easily and stay in place all day without oxidizing or congealing. And it shouldn’t break me out, which I can only tell after using it a few times.
I have tried many brands—mostly HE, but a few drugstore—and I keep coming back to EL Double Wear, which I can now comfortably put in my exclusive HG category.
Me too, Seraphine. After a year of testing SO many brands and being super picky, I’m EL Double Wear all the way (two years now). I don’t even think twice about trying a new foundation no matter who or what line launches it. I’m not even tempted. In fact, I’ll buy another in the Sephora upcoming sale to stash for when my current one empties.
I really only have two qualifications for a foundation:
1) It needs to be light enough to match my skin
2) It needs to be longwearing
I have very fair, very oily skin, and wear my makeup for a minimum of 14 hours per day. I like to only touch up once, so the foundation needs to not break down and not make me look like a fried chicken. I can usually tell after one or two wears if I definitely won’t like a foundation, and usually after 5 or so if I love a foundation. But ultimately, it just needs to match well and last well.
I usually have no patience at all when it comes to testing a new foundation, I have to be impressed right away. I know this is not the best approach… 🙂
Same! I need to wear the foundation over several days or a week, photograph with different lighting / flash, check under different lighting conditions, check under different environments. My skin tone changes a lot between seasons.
Plus I always have FOMO. So even when I have a great foundation, I want to try the latest formula and different shades.
As with concealers, testing foundations is a long experimentation with application techniques and how it works with the other products in my routine.
My major issue is that I have combination skin with dry patches; finding something with good coverage and a satin / dewy-matte finish that both doesn’t dry my skin (and emphasis my dry patches), but still keeps oil under control. And the application technique can result in different results.
It starts with primer vs. no prime; applied with fingers, sponge or brush. Sometimes combination of these, as some foundations applied beautifully with fingers over primer, but not with a sponge (which for me is usually best when I don’t have primer on). Brushes make some foundations emphasis more dry patches, but they make the application more perfected.
Then I need to experiment what setting method works best. Is a lightly dust of powder working? Do I need to press foundation to properly set everything in place?
Then I’m into how long it wears; I need something that gets me going even 10-11 hours (work day + commute + whatever plans I might have in the afternoon/evening); I’m outdoorsy also. I need to experiment to see what `retouching` method works best; some foundations work fine if I just use a blotting paper; some need powder.
Finally… it takes weeks to see if a foundation really works for me.
And that assumes I got the shade right… uhhh…
Foundations nowadays (at least new releases) oxidize a lot on their own. Mixed with the `wrong` SPF, primer or powder they oxidize even more. Sometimes with a new foundation is like a new `surprise` color everyday.
I like trying out new foundations, always looking to one up my Holy Grail because Holy Grail is only Holy as long as something better doesn’t come along and there is always something better coming along. I have similar issues to you, Christine and would be surprised if most people don’t have similar experiences. That is what makes foundation so challenging. I will wear a foundation a couple of times and then it will separate, lift, move around, etc. This foundation phenomenon is not restricted to changes in weather or humidity. This is why I have several foundations in rotation.
Challenges in foundation matching effect us all and since I am so pale it can be difficult to find a good match with the correct degree of matching undertones. I think if you are at either end of the shade spectrum it can be difficult. I also think my undertone has changed a little over the past year and I don’t know what to attribute this to but I am definitely not as cool as I once was, although still leaning cool. I try to get a sample of the foundation and usually try for more than one application to test. I really feel like a week worth of testing foundation would be ideal. I try to match my foundation to my chest colour which is suppose to most match your face shade. Sometimes it is difficult as I will get a little tan on my neck but not my face or body. I think that knowing your skin type is also very important. My skin runs pretty dry so I am always looking for a foundation that doesn’t make me look cakey but gives me enough coverage to deal with hyper-pigmentation and a few scars I have on my cheek. If a foundation doesn’t work for me the first time I will try with a different primer, spray, etc. I make sure to match my foundation type to the correct primer, ie silicone and water formulas. If a foundation doesn’t work for me after wearing for a few days to a week, I will put it aside and try it again during a different season.
I do find that I know almost immediately if a foundation is a total no-go for me and then I won’t even proceed with testing it past the first try. Sometimes you just know it isn’t going to work.
I do wish that companies would make small testers that are grouped by shade and undertone so that when you are forced to buy your products on-line you can test a couple that are close to your shade. Not sure if I am making sense but you know a shade or two on either side of what you think you perfect match is going to be. I think Jouer does this which is very helpful.
It’s hard enough for me to find a really good shade match, so if I do and the foundation fails in the wear department…that’s pretty depressing. And yet, many do. I may not see the problem until the day comes where I’m running errands whilst riding public transportation in 100° F with oppressive humidity (62° Dew point, anyone?). Add in to that weather my combination oily/normal skin type, and this can spell dotted looking pores and my deeper expression lines having foundation POOLING in them! Gross!
That said; I can say that Lancome Teint Idole 24H Foundation does a pretty bang up job of staying put. Fenty Profilt’r Foundation did an even better job when I received samples last September, I think. Problem is that it can change in undertone after a few hours. I’m not referring to how it darkens upon drying, but that it literally goes a more bright yellow-orange hue 2-3 hours later on me. 290 didn’t change too noticeably, but 260 looked cheeto-esque within 3 hours max! My generous sample of MAC Studio Sculpt NC37 looks like a *perfect* match, but breaks up into the aforementioned pooling due to our super humid 2018 monsoon.
First of all I have to find out whether the brand really does have a porcelain shade with pink undertones and once I select the shade, I then patch test it on my neck. Preferably I would like to take a sample pot home to try for a week and see how it looks at the end of the day.
This is why I generally don’t choose expensive foundations because, in the past I have and they haven’t necessarily worked any better than foundations that I have purchased in a budget beauty shop.
I prefer a slightly matte finish and the foundation has to last all day and not turn browny on me.
I’ve been having the worst trouble. I started using more intensive skincare and SPF in the past 5 months and what matched me even just a month ago is too dark! I just matched Too Faced Born This Way in Porcelain. Now it’s too dark!
I also can never tell if I like it. I’ve yet to see a foundation that eliminated my pores on my nose and inner cheeks. Are they supposed to? I can always see mine. And my foundation at the end of the day always looks quite shiny and greasey on my nose. I hear people talk of foundation separating but what does that mean? I’m a total beginner… and add to that my combination skin and a foundation for my cheeks is too oily for my nose and foundation for my nose is too dry for my cheeks. Sigh!
As I’m still relatively new to foundation (a couple years in), I struggle more with what I put on before the foundation.
Example: primer compatibility is a big one, or I recently started a new face cream and when I use it, my foundation just breaks up and disappears, it lifts right off my face and onto my sponge!
So frustrating.
So I’ve relegated that cream to night use only.
When not travelling, I work from home and when I do go out its rarely for more than 6 hours, so I have a hard time judging a foundation’s staying power.
However, after 16 hours of flights and airport transfers, (which is frequent for me to South America, Oceania or Europe) I’ve seen some pretty impressive staying power. In part I think it’s my UD setting spray helping.
I’m off to South Africa soon, and that’s a 30hr trip in all. Let’s see how my makeup holds up for that one! 😉
Finding the right shade is also difficult. I’m neutral, but some neutrals really show yellow on me, sometimes pink. I can work with that, I just adapt my makeup. But between shades and my summer tanned skin, I feel like I mix and match a lot of shade levels in spring and late summer.
I need to try it at home and can easily decide once worn over the moisturizer I use whether is a keep orcreturn quickly as it happened with the WetnWild one. Although I love WetnWild many things their foundation I didn’t like it all! My face looked like a cracked moon showing lines and it just dried up so nasty! Lol! Is the worst I have ever tried so far it oxidized, looked cakey heavy everything that could go wrong. Also bad experience with Revlon Age Defying DNA a bit better indeed but yet still not a natural smooth cover. My HG right now is L’Oréal true match Lumi! Having dry/combo skin and aging this is magic! It is supposed to be a dupe I’ve heard for Giorgio Armani is perfection for my skin. Another I like very natural is Maybelline Fit Me! Both are awesome and drugstore. Yeyyy!
Have tried from the Clean Line/Cover Girl also not bad at all.
I generally give a foundation 2 full-day wears before I make my final judgment. I expect my foundations to blend/sit smoothly, stay true-to-color, and be transfer-resistant for at least 10 hours. If the color match is especially good, I’ll be more lenient with wear-time. If a foundation emphasizes texture, pores, or fine lines on the first wear, I will try it again with a smoothing or mattifying primer. If the foundation fails on any of these requirements, then it goes back!