Shopping for foundation was a miserable experience.

[Nepenthe]

I'm not used to wearing foundation, if I'm going to wear make up at all, it's usually just eyeshadow in subtle browns and greys, black eyeliner and mascara, and sometime a neutral lip colour. I'm starting to feel like it's sometimes not enough, and when I want to make a special I could do with something more. So I went looking for a foundation and a concealer today. I ended up feeling stupid and overwhelmed, and came home with nothing.

There is not a lot of choice locally (a medium-sized Boots, and a small Superdrug), so I went to Boots and looked at nyx. Found a couple of shades that looked like they might be worth trying but those shades had no testers available. Found a tester for one, the colour looked good, but there were none in stock. Out of ten or twelve shades, only about half had testers available. One of them was super runny and splurged out all over my hand. I had to find a member of staff and ask for a tissue, because there were none nearby.

I tried a different brand, not sure which one, might have been L'Oreal. There were some testers available, so I opened one up and it had all separated in the tube, so loads of oily liquid came out, and no colour. I thought it didn't bode well, so moved on.

I tried a third brand, this one was in a bottle, but the nozzle was blocked and the stuff exploded all over my clothes. I had to zip my coat up, even though I was already too hot, and I can't cope with being too hot, so I figured that the foundation gods were not smiling on me today, and gave it up as a bad job. I didn't want to risk looking for a concealer.

I'm not great at talking to people, it was hard enough asking for a tissue, so I don't really want to approach one of the counter assistants. Besides, they all work for particular brands, so they won't necessarily help me find the one that's right for me.

So, when you have no idea where to start, how do you go about choosing a foundation? Just keep buying them at £10-£20 a pop until you find the right one? Or can you order samples anywhere? I'm not really familiar enough with any one brand to have a preference, so I can't even use that as a starting point.

I don't want to look heavily made up, I just want to look in the mirror and not think I look rough AF. Maybe that I even look nice!

BB cream - much less stressful

The No7 magic stuff that tells you what colour you are works for me.
There’s a machine that matches it.

@OperationRinka

BB cream - much less stressful

Is that the same as tinted moisturiser? I'm clueless. Will that come in different shades too?

@SheWoreYellow That sounds useful. I'll see if I can find that.

Before I could afford to buy department store foundation where people would match your shade for you, i would wear bb cream from korean brands. I am fair so this works for me.

If you are set on foundation, I see that there are quite a few discounted department store foundations online. Not for every shade. I would make a list of which department store foundations are discounted and which shades. The ones i saw- armani power fabric, mac studio fix, YSL, nars all decent quality. then i would go to a john lewis and get them to match your shade, and hopefully your shade is the discounted shade. And then you can buy online.

Or you can buy directly from the makeup counter if you want to and can afford to. I use an obscenely expensive suqqu foundation (which came with a free lipstick) but I have used Becca and Bobbi Brown in the past. Also Beauty pie is quite a good dupe for Bobbi brown (and they sell online).

What is your skin type and what kind of coverage do you want? Do you want a more natural, skin-like finish or something more obviously makeuppy? Would you like a dewy, more radiant look or a matte one? Will you need it for an evening occasion where you will be having your photo taken with flash photography? Next question, roughly what age are you? All of these questions can help us narrow it down.

@Nepenthe my favourite bb cream: www.amazon.co.uk/SKIN79-Super-Beblesh-Function-SPF30-40g-SKIN79/dp/B004R5E12M?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

or

www.yesstyle.com/en/tcuc.GBP/coc.GB/info.html/pid.1048964955?cpid=1048964954&googtrans=en&utm_source=GoogleAds&utm_campaign=1433311098&utm_term=&utm_content=54249412057_275139652521&utm_medium=Shopping&bac=389R3MWY&mcg=paidsearch&gclid=Cj0KCQiA9OiPBhCOARIsAI0y71BnJSzxMkau3a-JP1HGwasZ3oaEpz1heS0jp0iwUwdpWq68Vj-DY4AaAtsdEALw_wcB

I hope you are fair. Bareminerals do a shade inclusive range too and they are good, but they are more £££

Once you find one foundation colour that works for you (and as a PP said No7 but Estee Lauder counters used to be good at this but more pricey) you can use findation.com to find a very close shade in different brands and products.

I use bare minerals powder foundation when I do wear it. I really like it.

I am very fair-skinned, and in the past when I've attempted the same thing, I've found they are often too pink.

@onlychildhamster No John Lewis here, literally Boots or Superdrug. I'm not fixed on foundation, I just want to even out my skin tone, and look a bit nicer.

@Justilou1 I don't know what my skin type is really. It's not especially dry, I don't really do creams and lotions etc. Occasionally greasy just at the sides of my nose. (Did I mention I'm clueless? )

I'm 44, I suppose matte would make more sense, because I don't want to by shiny. (Dewy essentially means shiny, right?) I don't have any red carpet events planned, so I guess it's more of a daytime not-looking-like-a-corpse thing.

@TwinkleToesStrikesAgain Thank you for the recommendation.

@Nepenthe what brands does your boots have? is it just nyx/Loreal or does it have estee lauder and YSL etc. my local boots has many of the brands that john lewis, harrods, selfridges do; but the staff at the makeup counters for the expensive brands at boots seem to always be missing so i prefer to go to john lewis or selfridges where the customer service seems to be better! but theoretically, they should offer the same service at Boots!

I think bb cream would be a good bet!

@SheWoreYellow

The No7 magic stuff that tells you what colour you are works for me. There’s a machine that matches it.

What is this?

The colour that suited you but was out of stock - you can order that via the boots website or click and collect

I like all in one compacts- much easier

Yes there is a lot of trial and error with foundation, the No7 match gadget works well and once you've got one match it's easier to find others. You can buy samples for some brands on ebay.
Tinted moisturisers and BB creams are good starting points.
I like Garnier bb cream miracle skin protector matte effect light tinted day cream for general use.

It was hard enough asking for a tissue? I don't understand why this was hard?

If you have a Body Shop nearby their make up is good, especially the little pot of creme concealer.
L’Oreal do a good BB cream.

Go to a No7 counter,they are really good at colour matching in my experience and will swap products if you don't get on with them.

I always come on threads to say this, but if you know a brand/shade that was good in the past, have a look at findation.com

It lets you put in the shade you're trying to duplicate and will find a near as dammit match in virtually any brand.

If you make yourself a list of suitable shades before you go, next time you can eyeball them in the shop a bit easier.

I've used findation to buy blind from new brands online and so far ( maybe 4 or 5 times) it's been spot on.

I'd go to the no7 counter and get matched then look up the result on the findation website

@Puffalicious

It was hard enough asking for a tissue? I don't understand why this was hard?

I find it difficult to talk to people sometimes. shrug

@Puffalicious

It was hard enough asking for a tissue? I don't understand why this was hard?

Because some people find it hard.

Get on You Tube and look for make up for beginners. Seriously. If you really have no place to start from and feel totally overwhelmed, start out there where they cam explain terms and products to you.

I'm 42, ridiculously fairs skinned and have combination skin (ie dry cheeks, shiny forehead!). I use Revlon Colour Stay. It has an excellent choice of colours for all skin tones IMO. They do two different varieties, one for oily/combination skin and one for dry skin.

If you're really not too fussed, try a cheap one and use a damp make up sponge to put it on with (it waters it down and blends it better). I don't think you can go too far wrong with that as a start.

@onlychildhamster Boots does have quite a lot of brands, Max Factor, Rimmell, all those, and then the stand-alone ones like Clarins etc, that I tend to assume will be very expensive.

@fridgepants Thank you so much for those recommendations, I will look those up and see if I can get hold of some samples. It's so helpful just even having an idea where to start. Looking at a wall of 10,000 products just overwhelms me.

@Pegasussnail I thought I might do that, but I'm not 100% sure it was quite right, so I'd like to have a look at some others too. But, if it comes to it, I think it would be ok, as it was very lightweight.

I'll look out for the No 7 match thing.

Thanks everyone for helpful replies.

Oh, okay, I thought there may have been a particular reason, that's all. You did well to keep trying after all those disasters.

PP has said Body Shop. They're really good at giving you a little sample in a tiny pot. I used one of theirs last year and it was good. No7 at the moment (assistant was fabulous) but I'd use Body Shop again.