Porcelain Beauties: Rants and Raves for foundations

[*JJ*]

found these great swatches on cosmetosaur's blog, i thought they were very helpful:

[Noctuid]

I'm very pale, too.

I could wear MAC Studio Sculpt in NC15, but it doesn't agree with my skin, so lately I've been using mineral make-up, Earthen Glow mineral's Cover Me. Like the name says, it covers well and they have very light shades - surprisingly I'm not even in the Fair-category but Light. I'm also testing their new full coverage mousse foundation, but I'm not sure how to blend it on my slightly flaky skin (I've never used any mousse foundation).

I'd like to have a liquid foundation besides mineral, so I was glad to find this thread.

[ButterflyDior77]

I am pale/fair as well with dark brown hair and green eyes.

I wear Mac NC20, which might actually be a little light, but it does the job.

The thing that fits my skin tone like a glove is Diorskin Nude Foundation in 020 Light Beige. It is pricey (45.00) but it is seamless and great formula. I also have the matching loose powder to set it with. I've gotten a lot of comments on how great it looks on me. It has a bit of a glow, and is a light to medium coverage.

[PixieLou]

I'm extremely pale, NW15 and NC15 are way too dark for me. I'm also very neutral toned so it's hard to find a pale enough foundation that doesn't make me look too yellow or too pink.
But, I've found that Illamasqua rich liquid foundation in 105 mixed with Estee Lauder Double Wear in 1C1 Shell for full coverage, or mixed with Bobbi Brown oil free foundation in 0 porcelain for medium coverage matches nicely.

All the Pixi foundations, except the vitamin veil in shade no. 1 are all pretty fair with a yellowish undertone. I don't have to do any mixing with a white foundation for those.

For pale mineral foundation I just love Lily Lolo foundation in Porcelain, and it's very neutral toned, plus it gives good coverage.
Everyday minerals also make very light foundations, but the coverage is too sheer for me.

[NoAddedSugar]

Still searching for perfection. I've just re-read a couple of my own posts. Funny how you can really love a foundation at first and then quickly come to loathe it. Over the past couple of years I've tried MUFE Velvet, which although a good colour match was way too heavy and amplified my pores no matter what primer I used. It looked good twice and then I could never replicate it. I also went mineral for awhile. At first I really loved Bare Minerals but then I realised I was spending about 45 minutes applying my foundation because my face has a lot of red in it and requires a higher coverage or loads of concealing. It's quite expensive for the amount of product I was using so I switched to Maybelline which, again, I really liked for a while and had a better coverage so less time and less expense. However, it wore off quite quickly even with a primer and by this summer after a year of using it I was looking for something a bit longer lasting and also liquid as I was feeling too dry looking even though my skin is generally oily. I did buy the MaxFactor cream one but like a lot of other creamy styles it just went a bit cakey and weird on me by midday and the colour was never really light enough. I also tried the liquid version of Maybelline minerals and it's ok but a tad yellow and again does not last. Feeling frustrated and not wanting to waste any more money on foundations. I found half a bottle of L'ancome Colour Ideal in 010 in my drawer. I had been using it in spring 2008 and after a test it proved to still be in good order. I have to say I remember loving it because of the texture and coverage. I've been using it again for the past few months. It's not perfect though. My biggest gripe is that it does have a tendency to wear off but I did buy the new UD face primer (pore perfecting) since I've been waiting for it to come out for years. I hope this will help it last longer. The colour is good enough for my purposes. As I have redness the yellowish cast helps. Although the range does tend toward darker shades so not really ideal for girls paler than me.

[Dani California]

Hi guys

OK, seeing as my beloved Prescriptives traceless level one is being discontinued........grumble grumble I too am on the endless hunt for something to replace it aka perfection with......Gah what a task....tut tut.

I thought I'd share the ones I found that I thought were decent with my fellow porcelain beauties. I have two major criteria when looking:

1. my skin is reasonably ok so don't want heavy foundation like wearing a mask thankyouverymuch.
2. finding a shade PALE enough damn it, that doesn't look bloody orange or brown!

Smashbox
Tinted moisturiser comes in 2 much lighter shades.....fair and lighter still luminous, which I think is online only? Quite impressed with that.

Dior
Their new nude foundation looked promising in the lightest shade 010 ivory I think it was.

Givenchy
Their photo perfexion foundation while a bit heavy had a good pale colour in 01 perfect ivory. I didn't see shade 2 perfect petal though.......which is pinkier grrr. Also sublime light looked quite promising as well.

Estee lauder while they had paler colours, the stuff was like a mask
L'oreal true match looked good N1, looked a good true pale porcelain colour on me. Also Max factor have a new one out, second skin, palest shade creamy ivory. Revlon natural looked good in the light to pale shade

All in all, quite impressed with my little search so far..........another thing puzzling me was where are all the pale pinky shades of foundation? if anybody can point me in the right direction?

Meanwhile I hope my rummaging around helps somebody

[NoAddedSugar]

@ Dani California

Hi Dani! I've noticed that there is a real problem with the paler shades in this country. Not sure why considering that a good portion of the white british population are pale. The emphasis always seems to be on warmer/golden shades.

My problem is that when I do find a company that does really pale shades they are TOO pale. I'm not paper white. It's really frustrating especially when I find a texture I like that lasts most of the day it's always a tad too yellow or too dark.

I might try the L'oreal True Match you mentioned since I think it is meant to be similar to the Lancome Colour Ideal I've been using and if good enough, less expensive.

The funny thing about Max Factors "Creamy Ivory" shades is that they always look good as a test in the store but when I get them home and do a normal application they are too dark on me.

[xxainixx]

nc 15 sff is a little too dark for me. but however, i find that estee lauder souble wear in bone suits me! really happy to have found a shade i can wear!!! YES!

p.s just thought i would share =)

[Paramnesia]

I have a few MUFE samples which i'll try to swatch for you all soon.

I found the mat velvet+'s lightest shade to be the best match for me but i have dry skin so i'm a little concerned about that. I have 2 samples of mat velvet+, hd and f&b the hd and f&b ones are way to dark for me.