Make up advice for pale, prone to redness skin and pale blue eyes

[Awholelottanosy]

Hi all, I've been trying for many years to find make up that won't make me look deathly pale, can cover my red cheeks and accentuate my very pale blue eyes. I'm one of those people who look shit ( ie unwell ) without makeup but can look pretty presentable with it on. It's like I'm 2 different people with or without make up and so it's been a bit of an obsession for me throughout my life. I've tried so many products to try and hide my red, blotchy skin, wear hypoallergenic moisturiser etc, and that seems to have worked but just wondered if anyone else with a similar complexion to me has any tips, anything that has worked for them? Happy to share any of mine too!

I have a similar problem. I also can scrub up very very well with make up but without it I can look bloody awful. I don't have any tips teally but am place marking as I would love to get any advice.

Some people can carry off the pale look. I can't. I avoid foundation and powder with pink undertones and veer towards yellowy beige. I spend the most on foundation. Good brands can tint your skin. I put a fake tan on every night. A light one like st tropez is good. A bit annoying every night but it means it looks natural

Lots of people with very pale, pink-toned skin swear by Revlon Colourstay, but I dislike the texture and prefer something lighter and more moisturising, so I use Clinique moisture surge. One I've counteracted the pink, I like to put of pinkness back, and I really like Benefit's High Beam for glow and Dandelion to put a teeny flush of colour back.

For grey/blue eyes, I love Urban Fecay's eyeliner in Desperation which is a sort of taupe that somehow makes the blue stand out.

It sounds counterintuitive but you must use a make up with cool undertones (pink not yellow).

I have very pale skin with pink undertones and best colour match has always been boots no 7. (Ivory or calico) or Estée lauder cool bone.

Trying to cover your natural tone by using a yellow or warm tinted make up will look ridiculous.

I disagree. As does the beauty industry with their cc (colour correct) creams! I wear yellow toned light coverage - Bourjois Healthy Mix serum. It just evens and neutralises my skin. And a glowy primer - Bourjois Happy Light, which works miracles.

It sounds like rosacea, have a read up on that as treating it with specific products and gentle cleansing like Cetaphil would help. No hot cloths or hot water, no scrubs.

Pulling up a chair as I have the same problem but my cheeks and chin can go really really red and blotchy. Desperate to find a foundation that will help!

Stupid question but how do you know if a foundation has yellow undertones?

Anything with pink undertones makes me look ill. I go back to them from time to time just to try them as I lived in Japan for a decade where the pale look is in. When I catch myself in the toilet mirror at work I'm always horrified on the days I've put a pink toned base or foundation on. That said, I'm a fan of pink blush

Not sure how you tell, I just use my instinct

Zombie, a green concealer might help you

The L'oreal cc cream that is green is amazing, seriously! But you'd have to test it on your face if you are pale to see if it works for you, don't test on your hand as that doesn't show you how it works!

I'm the same. I use a green tinted cc cream, can't remember the brand. I put that on the red bits but it leaves me a bit yellowy and patchy so I need foundation all over my face to cover it. I've found Estée Lauder double wear the best after years of trying all the high end brands. Lancôme used to do one that worked for me but they changed their formulation and it didn't work anymore.

Sakura i can tell from looking at skin colour on the underside of the wrist but also you can see veins there... Blue veins = cold = pink undertone
Green veins = warm = yellow undertone
Blueygreen = neutral

I agree about preferring a more yellow based foundation, I like the Bourgeois Healthy Mix foundation too. I also use a Dermablend stick on my cheeks to lessen the redness. I've got a Clinique yellow primer to lessen the redness which does work but has a deadening effect so need something glowy on top! It's not rosacea as such, just always had bloody rosy cheeks!

Anyway, some good ideas to try here, am a bit of a make up junkie, always trying to find my Holy Grail products!

Maybe I should go to Bobbi Brown for a make up session, never done that and would be interested to see what they recommend...

As whydoesgastonbark says it's quite easy by looking at wrist also as a (very) general rule if you have blonde hair and blue/green eyes you're most likely to be cool, if you've red/brown hair with brown eyes you're more likely to be warm.

Another guide is does gold or silver jewelry suit you better - gold tends to equal warm, silver cool.

I actually wasn't very clear in my first post and jumped straight in to assuming you were cool skinned because of your pale blue eyes. In that case if you are - use a cool toned foundation. If redness is really bad the green colour correctors can help but I maintain warm toned foundation in cool toned skin looks odd.

I have cool skin and my experience with trying to correct any redness with yellowy tones has been as Project describes. It just looks like...a mask. Very unnatural. I have freckles too so maybe that's why.

Products I love.

Clinique Redness Solutions Daily Protective Base - this is so brilliant because it's sheer so no weird cakey green shenanigans. My skin has settled down a lot recently so I no longer use it but would always recommend it.

Lily LoLo foundation. I blend Porcelain (the palest shade) with Blondie (the third palest shade). For whatever reason this matches my skintone exactly and calms any red.

Lancôme Teint Idole 24h in shade 005. It is a cool pink-based shade, excellent for a night out or special day. I wore this on my wedding day and can recall admiring my flawless skin in the scary hairdresser's mirror as I was getting my hair done! And I don't have flawless skin.

Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 02 Ivory. This is lovely make-up, though I think the Lancôme is a better shade for cool skins.

Boots Botanics BB Cream in the palest shade. This seems to be all I can manage to put on in the morning these days and surprisingly it's looking well. Nice finish.

Other than that, OP - once your base is sorted, to make your eyes stand out, you need a pale pink blusher and not much else.

I've had my colours done and I'm an Autumn so wear brown, green, turquoise etc. also gold/bronze jewellery. Used to have dark brown, slightly reddish hair but as it's going grey now it's easier to be blonde. Have freckles too and don't go brown in the sun, just red. Don't suit anything pink on my face, tend to wear nude colour lipstick and brown/gold or nude shades.

So interesting about jewelry. I've got blonde hair and blue eyes and (i believe) pink undertones, which I hate. Pinky foundation makes me look like death so I opt for yellowy undertones, which make me look great. Silver looks beautiful on me, gold looks awful. So am I cool? If so which colours would suit me (sorry for hijack!!)

Sakura - do you look best in softer colours (eg pale cool pinks, cool sky blue, blue-grey, muted berry....the colours that White Stuff/Fatface tend to use a lot, kind of beachy) or clear/crisp colours like royal blue, scarlet, emerald green? Former would be Summer, latter would be Winter - loads of colour palettes on Pinterest. If you have surface redness, it might be that the yellowy foundation is neutralising that.

Awhole Autumns will be warm/yellow-toned, it sounds like your redness is just surface redness and quite possibly rosacea. Surface redness doesn't mean pink-toned skin, it can happen on other skintones too. I have pale olive skin (literally a green undertone) and I have it too. Switching skincare and possibly seeing a dermatologist will help - ignore labels like 'hypoallergenic' which are meaningless, because anything can be an allergen. Personally I've found that a wipe-off cleanser has made a huge difference (no water used at all), plus a really good intense moisturiser (Burts Bees Intense Hydration night cream is amazing). Rosacea is a skin condition and a form of acne, it's not your skintone.

Skin so pale it's almost blue and blue eyes here. I've found the best brands for me colour wise are MAC and Bobbi Brown. They don't try and plaster me in a base that's too dark.

I really like NARS blusher in 'orgasm', Bobbi Brown shimmer brick or Stilla Convertible Colour in Peony.

Both MAC and Bobbi Brown consultations have helped me focus on colours that suit my paleness - so I would recommend a consultation with either.

I self-diagnosed as the pale end of Soft Summer.

hopefulanxiety thank you for that, I must be summer :) cool sky blue and grey are definitely my best colours. If you look in my wardrobe it's basically full of these colours. I do think the odd red suits me. Black used to look good but since I hit 30 if doesn't anymore :(

Black is a Winter colour (I am a Winter) so definitely sounds like you're Summer. There should be a Summer HOC thread on here somewhere? Also loads of colour season palettes and ideas on Pinterest, there should be makeup ideas in there too.

Ok thanks