We’ve all bought the wrong foundation or concealer at some point in our lives. Since most of us are not makeup artists who need so many shades of base makeup that don’t match our skin tone, here’s how to salvage these products.
Table of Contents
• A steel bowl or Katori
• A metal spatula for scraping and mixing
Different types of color matching glitches and their solutions
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1. Foundation too dark? Add white mixer
• If you’ve bought a really expensive foundation but find it’s too dark for your skin tone, mix in white pigments to avoid wasting your product.
• The LA Girl Pro Coverage Illuminating Liquid Foundation in White is a really pale shade that you can blend into darker concealers and foundations to transform color into lighter shades.
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• Figuring out how much white to mix into your foundation will take some trial and error and color matching, but at least your foundation won’t go to waste.
2. Concealer or foundation too pink? Mix color corrector
• If your concealer or foundation doesn’t suit your skin and looks like rose-pink, don’t fret.
• Add some yellow or green color corrector with each use.
• The amount of green and yellow you add depends on your skin tone.
• If you have olive skin, you need more green and some yellow.
• If you have gold or yellow undertones, you need more yellow and a very small amount of green.
• The Kay Beauty HD Liquid Color Corrector is available in green and yellow.
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3. Foundation too yellow? Mix in purple foundation or cool pink blush
• There are two tricks to repairing a foundation that is too yellow.
• Blend first with a lavender or lilac makeup primer like elf Cosmetics Tone Adjusting Face Primer in Brightening Lavender.
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• The second is to take a cool, rosy-pink blush that’s not too dark and add it to the mix.
• While the first trick is simpler in terms of process, it requires you to purchase a separate product.
• The second is more difficult but cheaper if you already have a cool pink blush, as you have to scrape off some powder blush, mix it in a bowl and then apply it.
• With the primer, you can simply mix a few drops of primer into your foundation in the palm of your hand without tools.
4. Wet primer? Blend liquid or creamy contours
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• If your foundation is too palemixing a liquid contour cream or scraping some product off a cream contour stick will help darken and warm it up.
• Scrape the contouring pigment off the stick with a spatula and place in a steel bowl.
• Mix your foundation in this bowl and blend using the same metal spatula to blend the creamy pencil line into the liquid foundation.
• It will take some trial and error to get the proportions of the contour and foundation right for your skin tone.
5. Concealer too light? Use it to highlight
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• If you bought a light-colored concealer, you don’t necessarily have to use it to hide blemishes or dark circles.
• Use as a matte highlighter to brighten specific areas of the face.
• You can use it under the brow bone to define your brow shape.
• You can apply it to the inner and outer corners of the eyes to shape the eyes.
• You can use it between the eyebrows and on the bridge of the nose to draw more light into the center of the face.
6. Concealer too dark? Use for contouring
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• If you bought a concealer that is too dark, use it to subtly contour your nose, cheekbones or eyelids.
• This gives skin a soft, subtle definition and doesn’t chisel the face as harshly as darker contouring products.
• It’s also great for warming up your face if your foundation is too ashy, as you can always mix it into a lighter foundation.
Ultimately, color matching mishaps are a part of life as most of us now buy our products online. Learning to get the most out of it by experimenting with colors and understanding how pigments work will help ensure our products don’t go to waste.
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