Embracing the pale

[cheesypeas123]

I’m about a Mac nc15 very pale freckled slightly yellow toned skin with dark brown/balayage hair. I’ve been (fake) tanning most of the summer and find that most of my foundations are several shades darker than my natural colour. I’m trying to embrace my pale skin for autumn winter but feel very pale/sick when I wear foundation that matches my skin tone even with blusher, bronzer etc. Any tips for how to change up my makeup/eye makeup/lipstick etc for us pale complexioned so I don’t look totally washed out. Dark eyemakeup seems to enhance my dark undereye circles. Thanks in advance!

I’d never heard about John McLean before but I’ve just watched 2 minutes on YouTube. OMG I love him.... the language. I shall be binge watching him on my way home.

Can relate to this as I think you can look more washed out as you age and if you are already like that it can be harder to keep your radiance/healthy glow. Also dark circles contrast more and have a blue/purpley tinge.

Definitely less is more on foundation, then I’d say a bit of light bronzer and then blusher. The Glossier cloud paint ones are subtle, buildable and last. Still trying to work out best thing for eyes as you can quickly look overdone and older. Think Lisa Eldridge has a video for really pale skin

There is an article today in the Sunday Times Style magazine about foundation for pale skin. I’ve photographed the foundation recommendations for you OP in case it’s useful.

Hi, I’m the same mac shade as you, I have very pale skin and red hair. For eyeshadows at the moment I’ve been using the ‘fall in love’ pallet by Barry M. It’s quite cheap (around £8) and full of proper autumn shades, reds/oranges/yellows and browns. I love how it looks with my pale skin (and red hair) but I know it’s not everyones cup of tea. I’ve been going for a brown shade lipstick rather than pinks and reds too as I feel it is more autumn/winter.

The next shade up in Primark foundation colours is cool sand, that's a super colour for pale people.

And you can have a different colour neck! I do, I get foundation the right colour for my face & bronzer on my neck.

A Bobbi brown makeup lady spotted that colour difference. I'd hit the counters in a big department store and get testers to try at home.

I'm a pale face too! This thread has some great recommendations.

For foundation I recommend The Ordinary serum foundation. The colour range is much paler than anything I could find on the high street and it appears slightly radiant on your skin. Their matte foundation is also good but a bit 'Queen Elizabeth I' for the day time.

As you say you want glowy skin, do you wear a bb cream? I really rate Missha Perfect Cover BB cream. It's Korean, but you can buy it on Amazon. Their shades are very pale but slightly yellow tinged, and they make your skin just light up, you don't need powder. I recommend shades 13 and 21 in the tube (not the cushion).

A good blusher is Benefit Benetint. As it's a liquid you can build up as much as you need, and it never looks cakey. It's not really strong enough when you have a full face of make up, but with BB cream it's fine.

I like my lipstick to be similar to my natural colour but 4/5 shades darker. I love Catfight by NARS but sometimes just use the Benetint with a lip balm over the top.

My eyebrows are invisible too so I have them tinted a medium brown and that adds interest to my face and avoids me looking like a giant, bland plate.