Sephora + Pantone Skin Color IQ

luvlydee

Well-known member
i went into my local sephora and i found out my color IQ which all makes sense to me now. its like i see the light at the end of tunnel.

basically it lets you know how light/dark your skintone is and how much yellow/red you have in it. the yellow/red number goes from 1-5 1 being the least amount of that color you have in your skintone and the shade of you skin tone goes from 1- 16(i believe) 1 being the lightest.

and according to you ID they select which foundations would match you from sephora.

My skin IQ was:
2Y10

so basically I have a yellow undertone but only level 2 which is not a lot. and i am a 10 which obviously means I'm on the dark side.

It all makes sense, no wonder every foundation that has yellow in it (since i have to grab since i do have yellow in my skin) is too orange! or way too yellow! but then on my other friend who was 4Y the foundations never look orange or too yellow on her skintone.

when they scanned my skintone and showed me which foundation will match me, there was only 1 yes ONE foundation that matched me in sephora and it was a brand i never heard of. the lady who helped me said it this is a great tool because it lets beauty brands know what colors they need to add to their lines, or colors they need to modify etc.

have any of you guys got your skin IQ? I'm curious to know your experience
 

MissTT

Well-known member
Wow, that sounds really interesting, Dhari. So they have to do this in store? Is it free? I might make the 2 hour drive to do that. Also, which foundation were you matched with out of curiosity?
 

luvlydee

Well-known member
Wow, that sounds really interesting, Dhari. So they have to do this in store? Is it free? I might make the 2 hour drive to do that. Also, which foundation were you matched with out of curiosity?
Yea its free. Call the sephora to make sure they do it because i think not all sephora does this. They take 3 spots of ur face (with no makeup on). Your chin, cheeks, and forehead. And the machine gives u the results. I honestly dont remember but the foundation was a tinted moisturizer from a brand that they didnt even have in that sephora. Imma go on the website to see if i recognize any names.
 

MissTT

Well-known member
Sounds fun. Except when they don't have the product they matched you with to see if it really works. LOL
 

luvlydee

Well-known member
Lmao. Tell me about it. My friend who was 4Y8 had like 9 matches. Im like wth these brands need to add more toned down yellow in their foundations. Made me realize why i have trouble finding foundation.
 

aradhana

Well-known member
i would love to try this out!
i usually have a very hard time as well finding a shade, and when i do, it only fits me for a short period of time...
 

MissTT

Well-known member
So true, aradhana. I think my biggest problem is the variety of shades on my face. People try to match me on my jaw which is darker than the front circle of my face. My forehead is darkest (but I don't even always use foundation there.) The area under my eyes is brightest except I have hyperpigmentation under my eyes that looks like dark circles. My face is complicated.

I was thinking about this recently. Have you ladies found that many MUAs try to match WOC to foundations that are darker than they should? I just realized the last MUA who did my makeup put me in all shades that were too dark. Especially considering it's winter. Now, it looked okay b/c it was already dark outside and it was only a shade darker, but now I know it is not makeup that would work in daylight. I was bamboozled. I'm kind of miffed b/c I was really stressed about my hyperpigmentation and I thought he covered it up. Now I realize he just darkened the rest of my face so there was less contrast. I suppose that's a strategy, but don't most people want their face to be bright? Especially under the eyes. NC45 is such a lazy diagnosis. It looks good enough on a number of people, but isn't the best color many of us can get.
 

CarmenK

Well-known member
I am so glad I found this post! I went online to locate which sephora locations had this feature and found one 10 minutes away. I just left there not too long ago and was matched as 2Y11, I had 14 foundation matches some which were tinted moisturizers and powders. While I was only interested in liquid foundations she tried a few on, one being the new Urban decay naked foundation which honestly wasnt a good match at all, the undertone almost looked grey on my skin. But then she tried the Nars sheer matte foundation in Tahoe and I was shocked to find that it has been the closest match to my skin that I've found yet. I ended up purchasing it and I honestly am happy I gave this a shot, some foundations that I've tried mask that natural glow in my skin and makes it almost too even but this looks completely flawless! I recommend everyone to go out and try this new feature!
 

MissTT

Well-known member
Thanks for that report, CarmenK. What's your MAC shade? Also, do they take into account skintype for recommendations.
 

CarmenK

Well-known member
Thanks for that report, CarmenK. What's your MAC shade? Also, do they take into account skintype for recommendations.
No problem!! My Mac shade is Nc45, its a tad dark for me but I make it work. I'm sure Nc44.5 would probably fit me better so I'm excited for Mac to finally release that. And no they dont make any skintype recommendations at all, it literally just lists liquid, powder, tinted moisturizers and bb creams that would suit your undertone. HTH!!
 

MissTT

Well-known member
Well, it's still a great start. Thanks so much for the review. I feel like quite a few of us fall into the not quite NC45 category. I'm looking forward to NC44.5 too even though I don't wear MAC foundations. I just like that it opens up the door for other products in that color like concealer.
 

aradhana

Well-known member
how can we check which locations offer this service? was searching the website without much luck...
shrugs.gif
 

luvlydee

Well-known member
Well, it's still a great start. Thanks so much for the review. I feel like quite a few of us fall into the not quite NC45 category. I'm looking forward to NC44.5 too even though I don't wear MAC foundations. I just like that it opens up the door for other products in that color like concealer.
i actually just got studio fix fluid in nc44.5 today and i compared it to the nc44 sample that i have and for some reason it seems lighter! im not sure if its lighter or maybe since its a different undertone it looks lighter?? i only put it on my arm not my face so i wont know until i do so. since i got it today i probably wont play around with it until like tomorrow or so
 

Latest posts

Top