Best place to get a foundation that actually matches my skin

[SpanielofDoom]

I'm finding it very difficult to find a foundation that looks good on me, unfortunately I feel I can't really go without it any longer due to aging.

If I wear a yellow toned foundation, I'm looking at you, Bobbi Brown Warm Ivory, I just look unnatural.
OTOH I'm not convinced that my skin is cool either, pink toned foundation tends to wash me out.
I'm quite fair but not porcelain, IYSWIM. Although none of the MAC foundations shades look right on me, I'd say that my skintone is around a NC/W 20 level.

Help please.

I got v good service from a Clinique lady last week, spent ages with me trying not only different shades but different products. Got good sized testers to try at home too.

No 7 Match Made?

Long ago I got a Prescriptives foundation made up for me. It was heaven. I eked it out for about eight years but it finally ran out and before that Prescriptives had gone bust I haven't tried the Match Made service but it might do.

Now that I am a lot poorer I find Barbara Daly for Tesco has sympathetic colours for my skin. I go there specially for it but again it lasts years.

L'Oreal True Match have neutral shades, I got mine from Boots.

Estee Lauder are very good about colour matching. I had excellent service when i went to the counter, given samples of two products without fuss, enough to last at least a week and no hard sell, in fact, i was positively encouraged to go home and try the samples myself, in natural light before making a decision. They were spot on with my colour match and I went back for one of the two foundations i had samples of

If you get colour matched and find 1 foundation that really suits you then there is a site called www.findation.com/findation It will tell you what others match

joanof where are you getting your Barbara Daly from? Was it recently as I thought it had been discontinued?

did you choose the Bobbi Brown shade yourself or did one of their staff choose it for you?

I went for a free colour consultation at Bobbi Brown (absolutely no pressure to buy at all!) and I couldn't believe how well the foundation chosen (Sand) matched my skin tone and it wasn't one I'd have chosen if left to my own devices tbh.

Oh really? It was certainly at least two years ago, maybe more, just the local Tesco. I did notice that the packaging hadn't changed at all for years which wouldn't suggest that it was a brand having anything invested in it.

Ah yes sorry to be the bearer of bad news joan, pretty sure it's unavailable now. I still haven't really recovered from not being able to get Face Lift moisturiser anymore It was a really good, affordable range.

The last time two foundations I bought which were quite expensive (for me) were both wrong. One too yellow and the other far too pale. Have been thinking about splashing out again. I nearly bought the bare minerals kit but I didn't in the end.

Bobbi Brown's foundations are quite yellow - she believes that most people have yellow undertones in their skin and that yellow toned foundations suit all people. They were too yellow on me and I have warm/yellow undertones.

I find Laura Mercier foundation tones pretty good. Not too yellow and not too pink. They are usually pretty good with samples.

Diorskin Nude has a couple of shades with neutral undertone - the ones with numbers ending in 0, such as 010 and 020.

I'm somewhere in between Mac NC15 and NC20, depending on the season, and I use Diorskin Nude in 010 in winter, 020 in summer and a mix of the two tones during autumn and spring. I have Laura Mercier's tinted moisturiser (oil free) in Blush for summer and have just been given samples of the new foundation in Shell and Creme. Creme is too yellow IMO, but Shell seems more neutral. I'm quite sure I used Bobbi Brown foundations in Warm Ivory, but it's been a while so I could be wrong...

Prescriptives are still going, but only online and for US residents. But there are those forwarding services that could help - in case you're desperate for Prescriptives products.

I always struggle with foundation matching too. I've been using Laura Mercier Warm Ivory which is a tiny bit too warm, but Porcelain is too yellowy pale. My skin colour is very fair.

It's actually infuriating to keep going to the counters and having them paint something roughly the shade of creosote on your jawline while assuring you it's a good match, only to get home and find you now resemble Katie Price.