Last updated on December 27th, 2021 at 11:14 pm

Trying to find your perfect foundation shade is tough. Either you’re shopping online or the brand isn’t sold in a store where there’s testers. And as of now, testers in Ulta or Sephora aren’t even an option. 

Where do you start? Do you know if you have warm, neutral or cool undertones to your skin? Take a look at your wrist and the color(s) of your veins. 

If they’re a combination of blue and green you likely have a neutral or olive complexion. 

Green veins mean you have a warmer complexion, and blue means you’re cooler toned. 

I have both green and blue veins in my wrist, so I have a more neutral undertone. 

Another way to find out your undertone is what happens to your skin when you go in the sun. Do you mostly tan and rarely burn? You probably have warmer undertones. Do you burn more than you tan? Then you likely have cooler undertones. 

My skin will both tan and burn, so neutral undertones make sense for me in this scenario too. 

Once you know your undertone, you can identify your skin tone – if you’re fair, light, medium or dark.

Your skin tone will change, like with different seasons, but your undertone will never change.  

What if I choose wrong?

But what if you do your research, get your new foundation and it’s still wrong?! What if you have your favorite foundation, but you got a tan and it doesn’t match anymore? 

I have at least two foundations that I love, but bought the wrong shade right off the bat. One of those moments where you open up the package and think “well this can’t be good”. And then you try it, and your next thought is “yep, confirmed”. 

Enter the L.A. Girl Pro Matte Mixing Pigments.

These super-affordable mixing pigments create your perfect foundation shade.  

The pigments mix seamlessly with the L.A. Girl Pro Matte Foundation, but I needed something to mix with my Rare Beauty Liquid Touch Weightless Foundation (too dark) and e.l.f Cosmetics Camo CC Cream (too light).

I’d be interested to try the L.A. Girl foundation, but my skin is dry-ish so I tend to lean toward more hydrating/satin/dewy formulas. 

In my opinion, I have a finicky skin tone and it’s hard for me to find a shade I think matches perfectly. Or I find a shade I think works well, and then take a look in the mirror in different lighting and am shocked at what I see. 

Scrolling through Instagram, I got an ad for a different brand’s mixing pigments. I was excited about the possibility, and looked them up on Ulta. The reviews weren’t great, but someone had mentioned that L.A. Girl had mixing pigments too. 

I looked at the L.A. Girl reviews, and decided to get all four since I have foundations that are too light and too dark that I want to use. And, I’ll need to use a different combination of pigments when I get a little bit of a tan this summer (more like a fake tan, but still). Plus, I got them on sale, so make sure you keep an eye out for coupons. 

So, how should I use all the different shades of pigments?

White – lightens foundation, and helps neutralize warmer tones
Orange – warms up foundation shades
Blue – cools foundation shades, and makes them more neutral
Yellow – shifts foundation to a more golden shade

These colors are all extremely pigmented, so the recommendation is to mix the different colors in gradually. 

In the video below, I mixed the pigments in directly with the foundation, and you can see how drastically it changed the color. 

When you mix your foundation with the pigments, check the shade on your skin periodically to see how else you might need to adjust. Keep mixing until you find your perfect foundation shade.

Too warm? Add a little blue. 
Too cool? Add a little yellow. 
Too light? Add a tiny bit of orange (but you might need some blue or white to make it more neutral/cool)
Too dark? Add a little white. 

I haven’t found the pigments noticeably changing the consistency of the foundation, which is great considering that’s probably why you bought the foundation in the first place. 

Don’t get discouraged or expect to nail the right color on the first try. Each time I’ve put on my makeup since getting the pigments it’s an iterative process. Trying a little of this and a little of that until I get to what I think is the right shade. You think I’d remember what I did the last time, but not really. 

Even though your foundation matches your skin more closely, I just want to remind you to bring your foundation down on your neck! Especially if you’re going to be taking photos! You don’t want to see two different colors on your face and neck! 

So you have a hard time trying to find your perfect foundation shade? Would you try mixing colors to get the perfect match? Share your thoughts below!