Foundation Shade Finder
How it works
Foundation shades are named and numbered differently by every brand, so there is no single number that follows you from one brand to the next. What does follow you is your skin tone and your undertone. Pick both below, add the finish you prefer, and this finder tells you which shade family to look in and which shade names to avoid. It gives direction, not an exact brand match, so always confirm on your jawline before you buy.
Find your shade
1. Your skin tone
2. Your undertone
Warm: gold jewellery suits you best and the veins on your wrist look green. Cool: silver suits you best and your veins look blue or purple. Neutral: both metals suit you and your veins are hard to place. Olive: your skin has a greenish cast and foundations often look too pink or too orange on you.
3. Finish you prefer
Next step: browse our Foundations guides, and test any shade on your jawline in daylight before buying. Your shade can also shift between summer and winter.
Shade matching tips
- Test foundation on your jawline, never on your hand. Your hand is usually a different colour from your face.
- Check the match in daylight. Shop lighting hides a wrong undertone.
- Match to your neck and chest, not only your face, so the result looks even.
- If you fall between two shades, brands mix well: the lighter shade in the centre of the face and the deeper one at the edges is a common makeup artist approach.
- When a brand lists undertones with letters, W is warm, C is cool and N is neutral.