Why oh why am I never shade matched correctly

[ExplodingCarrots]

I'm pale. It's been a battle finding products that match my face and neck.

After a few bad experiences a few years back I shade matched myself as best as I could. But recently decided to bite the bullet and try counters again.

Mac lady tried to sell me a concealer at least 2 shades too dark. I've just come home from being shade matched for another higher end brand foundation and lo and behold too dark. In the shop , not great lighting, it didn't look too bad, but as soon as I got home my face is orange and my neck ghostly white. I'm fed up. Luckily I can return the foundation.

I suffer with anxiety and HATE returning things like this. Will I come across a dick if I basically say you've done a shit job give me your lightest shade please

Marie Claire recently did an article recommending foundations for very pale skin. Jan 2018 and available to read online. Lots of options to try as a starting point.

Thank you Beetle I will look this up.

No you won't come across as a dick. They won't think twice about it.

I'm quite pale too and my best ever colour match was by a guy on the Estee Lauder counter in my local Debenhams. He was wearing makeup himself, but subtly applied.

All of the other counters were female and every single one of them was orange. I've lost count of the amount of times I've been told they needed to 'warm you up a bit', even after I've specifically told them I don't want dark shades.
I actually said to the EL guy "I DON'T want the usual oompa loompa look". He started laughing and promised me he wouldn't do that.

So I don't know if the EL counters are better, or if it's worth finding a guy to do it.
I do NOT recommend MAC. I came out looking like a tangerine. A tangerine who'd just spent two weeks in the Caribbean.

I'm the same and find a lot of foundations oxidise, so while they may look fine when applied, they go orange/pink/yellow over time. This can even happen to my usual shade if I use something different (moisturiser, primer etc) underneath.

You may find you need a neutral shade with more grey and little yellow/red/beige in it. For whatever reason it seems to be hard to get people to see this, they think of European skin as shades of beige/peach from light to dark. My skin is closer to a very light neutral olive tone.

Are they swatching your cheek? I think the best way to do this is to find the best matches (they should virtually vanish into your skin) do maybe three swatches on one cheek, go about your day and check back later to see if any are still invisible.

I also have trouble with dark brown eyebrow pencil, which 90% of the time is too warm for my colouring. I now use grey.

I would recommend going to no7 at Boots and having them match it but ask for a sample to check it doesn’t oxidise. You will then have a baseline shade to work from if you don’t like the formulation. There are shade matchers online for other brands once you know your basic tone.

I am pale and have found L’oreal And Revlon offer good warm/cool/ neutral pale shades.

I’m a cool winter and I use grey liner as well, @thrfirstmrsdewineter any browns made me look like I had allergies /flu as they were too warm.

I found ivory no7 very good, and the palest Clinique to be excellent. I rub them vigorously between my palms before applying as it ‘ages’ the colour, and warms it up, and you see how it’s going to be on your face after a few hours.

All the blush I use are pink based and I’ve been using a bourjois one in rose recently. I had a creme one from Clinique but found it a bit sticky.

Lip is pink based, never orange.

In summer i don’t mind a bit more colour and I use a tinted Helios 50spf by la roche posey. I might wear a red lip if I’m out in summer, but not a coral based one.

@thefirstmrsdewinter that should be!

Mac foundations oxidise on me like crazy. I've recently started using the YSL all hours foundation in BR10 and it's the best match I've ever had.

Not sure if it's what you're after but I recently noticed my teen niece's skin looked great and she is pale with red hair and prone to teen spots. I was thinking it was expensive foundation but it was apparently w7 which is very cheap! Might be worth a look?

If it's "luxury" brand they normally take your details which will include who sold you it,they colour matched you wrong they will need to change or refund.

I'm also pale and they also ask "shade darker?" No a shade a lighter to I can build up please.

I always have this problem. So frustrating. I went to Chanel recently as I wanted to try their Vital Lumiere having read good things on here. RIDICULOUSLY bad colour matching. The only base I can find that suits my colouring is Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser is Nude.

I'm going to look into grey pencils - thank you for that tip.

@LetsGoBitches, yes the pencils that turned orange looked as though I'd rubbed my eyebrows raw, and the ones that turned yellow looked like I had poo dirt on my face.

I've not had my colours done but I suspect if you knew why these things looked so wrong it would help you avoid them. The older I get the more I'm itching to do it. Will have to stop spending all my money on blinking shoes.

I have a birthmark on my cheek. The amount of times I have to point out that whatever they've matched me with is just going to make my entire face birthmark-coloured is unbelievable

Yes and when they give you free samples they're always orange.

I just go for the palest shade, always and 'warm it up' with a bit of blusher.

@sweetmonkeys try a cheap grey pencil and see how you feel about it. It may need some finessing if you're trying to make your brow bigger/longer or if they're very sparse, but it looks great if you're just wanting more definition.
I used to use Rimmel grey pencil and a touch of brown pencil if the grey looked a bit blue where my brow was quite thin. Now I use Tarte brow and hair powder in grey, which is a nice cool stone grey.

I wonder why, with online shopping being so prevalent, the counters don’t all give little samples. These products are so expensive. I recently got some at Laura Mercier and Bobbi Brown but Mac? The young woman looked at me as if I was completely bonkers when I showed her my current product and said I need something less yellow than that but I’d like to try before I buy as testing under counter lights and mirror reflection is very different from trying at home and doing a day’s work in the product. I wouldn’t go back to Mac now, on principle. I bought the Laura Mercier and it’s lovely and a good skin match for me. The LM woman even gave me the same shade in two different formulations as she said “see which you prefer”. I was very impressed.

OP, don’t be anxious. Take it straight back, with receipt and ask for a sample.

Oh, god, that moment when they say 'let's just warm you up'. Nooooooooooooo!! Then I leave the shop with the floating face effect.

@thefirstmrsdewinter Thank you for that; I will do some research and give it a go. 

@SukiTheDog I, too, will not buy from anywhere that won't give me a small sample. I'm not talking gallons; enough for one full face application. If I'm trying somewhere new I will get them to colour match me in store, if I'm happy I tell them I will buy the product and also please can I take a sample so I can try it at home. If I like it and they've matched me correctly - fab. If not, I return the unopened product. If they won't give me a sample then I don't buy.

You might already know this but just in case, you might not always be the palest shade. Often, ranges will have 2-3 shades that are a similar 'paleness' but are for warm/cool/neutral undertones - which make a big difference to how the foundation looks on you.

For example, Nars has Siberia, Mont Blanc and Gobi as their palest shades. Siberia looks the palest in the bottle and it's my perfect shade, but on other people it looks odd/orange because the undertone is rather yellow so one of the other two shades suits them better.

I found Siberia after having a bit of a whinge in Space NK that foundations never matched both my face and neck, so maybe try a shop that has plenty of options and explain your problem! And always go away for a while after they've put the foundation on you so you can see it in different lights, they'll understand.

Yep I'm that type of pale skin that any brown eyebrow pencil makes me look odd. I always use a Taupe/grey pencil or brow pomade now. I've wasted SO much money at make up counters due to poor matching and poor advice. My best match is probably L'Oréal infallible in porcelain.

It was an Estée Lauder counter I went to today. The lady was lovely don't get me wrong but she didn't have the best lighting. She said they match you at your jaw line because you're not supposed to blend foundation down your neck (I do ?) but I tried to explain my face and neck are different colours and it needed to match my neck. But it didn't ..

What's good is that they give you a little tester bottle with your colour and she said use that first and see how you get on and if it's not right bring it back so I'm lucky I havnt wasted £32 .

Was it Double wear in Shell by any chance? That's lauded for pale people so I stupidly bought it online, it looked ridiculously orange on me - undertones are weird. If you're the same, Nars Siberia might be worth a look! Or Chantecaille Porcelain, but the price is crazy and it's really sheer.

I find Clinique Super balanced in Alabaster is a good cool shade.

I'm a neutral skin tone and have had multiple problems with various brands that are too yellow or pink. Bobbi Brown in particular insist that all women suit yellow base, not me! I found a good match in bareminerals liquid foundation - I'm light natural 09 despite being very pale, and there are several lighter shades available than that