Choosing a foundation that is a good match with your skin is difficult. There are different types of foundation on the market, intended for different skin types. What makes it especially difficult are the colors. NC, NW, BD, BR, W, N, D. These are all kinds of codes that cosmetic brands use for their foundation. But what do these codes mean and how do you find the foundation color that suits you? Before you buy a foundation, it is important to know what type of undertone your skin has. A foundation always has a cold or warm undertone. Your skin has this too. The undertone of the skin is actually just pigment. Only this pigment is not on the skin, but under the skin. This pigment can consist of warm or cold tones.

• Warm undertone: the skin has a warm color, the undertone is yellow.
• Cold undertone: the skin has a cold color, the undertone is blue or pink.

Determine skin undertone

You can determine the undertone of the skin, for example, by holding gold and silver jewelry next to your face. If you have a warm undertone, gold jewelry suits you much better than silver. You can also do this with fabrics. For example, hold an orange or red scarf near your face and see what happens. If this does not suit your skin, the skin has a cold undertone. Cold colors such as blue look nice here. So it’s a bit of a puzzle to find out which undertone your skin has. If you can’t figure it out yourself, you can also have a color analysis done by a professional.Once you are familiar with the undertone of your skin, it is much easier to choose a foundation. However, there is one rule you need to remember, namely that you choose a foundation with the opposite undertone to that of the skin. If you have a cold undertone, choose a foundation with a warm undertone. The foundations are divided into color types. You can deduce from this which undertone the foundation contains. The following color types are usually used:

• W (warm)
• C (cold)
• N (neutral)

The neutral color is for people who are in between the two skin types. Neutral is called Beige by some cosmetic brands. Toclarify it a little further:

• Warm (yellow) skin precedes C (cold)
• Cold (pink) skin takes precedence over W (warm)
• A beige/neutral skin goes for N (neutral) or Beige

The difficult thing about everything is that every cosmetic brand uses its own codes. Some cosmetic brands use R, N and D. In this case, R stands for rose (warm), N stands for neutral and D stands for doré (cold). Still other brands use BD (beige doré, neutral but tending to cold), BR (beige-rosé, neutral but tending to warm) and B (beige, neutral). This brand therefore uses combinations.There are also brands that use NC and NW. NC means Not Cold and is therefore a foundation with a warm undertone. NW means Not Warm, which means that the foundation contains a cold undertone. So it is often a bit of a puzzle as to what is meant by the letters, but most cosmetic brands use one of the above codes.

Color intensity

Then there is the intensity of the color. There are always numbers behind the codes. These numbers indicate the intensity of the foundation. If it says 01 or 1, this is for very fair skin. The higher the number, the darker the foundation. It is important to always use the foundation one shade lighter than your own skin color. A foundation often appears very light in the jar, but once it is on the face it becomes slightly darker. The danger of a foundation that is too dark is that a dark line appears at the jaw. You then get the mask effect. It is better to choose a foundation that blends with the color of the skin and you do this by choosing one shade lighter. In any case, never go darker to give yourself a tan. You do this by applying a bronzing powder. It is intended to give your face color, a foundation is intended to even out the face.

Foundation testing

Foundation is tested on the jawline. Many people test the foundation on the wrist or hand. This does not provide a reliable indication, because the color on your hand may differ from the color on your face. It may be that your body has a cold undertone and your face has a warm one. In this case, it is important to choose a foundation that matches the body skin. A small example:The skin has a cold undertone, your face has a warm undertone. You should actually choose a foundation with a cold undertone (because you always choose the opposite of the skin undertone), but this will no longer match the rest of the skin. Your face now gets a pink glow, while the rest of your skin does not. You will now clearly see a difference. In this case, it is better to choose a foundation with a warm undertone.In addition to this information, you can always ask the perfumery or drugstore if the staff is willing to help you. Especially in a luxury perfumery, the employees know a lot about the colors of a foundation.