face makeup How to Find Your Perfect Infallible Fresh Wear Foundation Shade

Every great makeup look starts with the right base products 一 so long as they’re the right formula and color match. The truth is, a foundation that doesn't accurately match your skin tone can ruin your entire look. Getting it right is a lot easier when a foundation offers a wide range of shades in its collection. Enter the L’Oréal Paris Infallible 24 Hour Fresh Wear Foundation. 

This lightweight, long-wearing foundation provides medium-to-full coverage while resisting sweat, water, and transfer. With 40 shades available, it’s easy to find your color in this incredible liquid formula. If you’re not sure how to find your perfect shade, keep reading for our tips on nailing your foundation match every time and a swatch breakdown of this foundation makeup.

How to Find Your Foundation Shade Match

While your skin tone is the first key in finding your foundation color match, there are a few other things to assess in order to find your perfect shade.

1. Identify Your Undertones 

It’s important to understand that the foundations that fall within a range of shades don’t simply have minor differences in their depth 一 their undertones also differ, which makes a huge difference on the skin. 

Perhaps the easiest way to go about finding your undertones is to flip your wrist and let your veins do the talking. If your veins look green, you have warm or yellow undertones. If you have blue or purple veins, you have cool undertones. If you’re unsure whether your veins look green, bluish or purple — or they appear to be a mix of all of the above — you’ve likely got neutral undertones. 

When you choose a shade of foundation, make sure that you grab one that matches both your skin tone or depth, and your undertones for a true your-skin-but-better look.

2. Consider What Part of Your Skin You’re Testing It On

While you’ll mainly be applying your foundation all over your face for daily wear, it’s important to consider where on your skin you’re testing the color. Find the spot on your face (bare skin, of course) with the least amount of redness or hyperpigmentation and see how the foundation looks there. This will give you the most accurate read on how it matches your overall complexion. Remember, concealer and color corrector helps you tone down dark spots so no need to pile on layers of foundation to mask those blemishes.

Swatch three possible shades across the area on your face you chose and bring it down to your neck to see which one blends in the most seamlessly. While it may look cool to swatch colors on your arm, this won’t help you determine how shades will look on your face and neck as there may be a stark difference in the color of your arm and the color of your face.

3. Consider the Lighting When Testing 

Different lighting will change how foundation appears on your skin. The best way to assess whether a shade is truly your perfect match is to look at it on your skin in natural light. Go outside or take a look in the mirror while in front of a window to see if the foundation blends into your skin. If it appears to disappear on the skin, it’s your ideal match. 

Editor’s tip: It’s never a bad idea to also grab another foundation one shade up or down from your match to accommodate seasonal skin tone changes. If you tend to tan really deeply in the summer or get really pale in the winter, you’ll need to switch your foundation when the seasons change.

How to Find Your Perfect Infallible 24 Hour Fresh Wear Foundation Shade 

The more shades the better, when you know how to narrow down your foundation match. When a collection has more than three dozen shades it can start to feel overwhelming, especially if you’re new to makeup. It all starts with skin tone, and then undertones are the next consideration.

Whether you have a warm skin tone, a yellow skin tone, a cool skin tone or a neutral tone will be important as you search for your foundation match. When undertones aren’t listed as part of the shade name or color number (typically signified by a W, N or C), follow this basic rule of thumb:

 •  Shades for warm undertones are often named beige, golden, tan, and caramel.

 •  Shades for cool undertones are often referred to as porcelain, rose, sable and cocoa.

 •  Shades for neutral undertones are often called ivory, buff, nude and praline.

Below, find a breakdown of the L’Oréal Paris Infallible 24 Hour Fresh Wear Foundation swatches — categorized by skin tone — for a jumping off point in your foundation match journey.

For Deep and Dark Skin Tones  

If you have deep to dark skin, your match will be one of the following shades: Espresso, Mahogany, Ebony, Deep Amber, Deep Golden, Copper, Sienna.

For Caramel Skin Tones

If you consider your dark skin tone specifically caramel, you may want to choose from these shades: Toffee, Hazelnut, Maple.

For Medium and Tan Skin Tones 

If your skin tone falls between medium and tan, your match is one of the following shades: Radiant Sand, Cool Sand, Radiant Sun, Golden Sun, Toasted Almond, Amber.

For Olive Skin Tones or Bronze Skin Tones

Anyone with an olive tone or bronzish skin color will want to grab one of the following shades: Copper, Warm Almond, Caramel, Honey Bisque, Golden Amber.

For Light Skin Tones 

If you have a light skin tone, you’ll find your match in the following options: Ivory Buff, Rose Vanilla, Natural Rose, Vanilla, Rose Beige, Natural Buff, Golden Beige, Sand, Radiant Honey, Sun Beige.

For Fair Skin Tones

If you have fair skin, your match will be one of the following colors: Pearl, Ivory, Warm Ivory, Rose Ivory, True Beige, Linen.

For Pale Skin tones

If you consider your fair skin tone to be particularly pale in color, reach for one of these shades to get your best color match: Snow, Rose Pearl, Porcelain, Beige Ivory.

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Edited by: Shalwah Evans, Photographer: Chaunte Vaughn, Art Director: Hannah Packer, Associate Creative Producer: Becca Solovay, Production Assistant: Jason Parigian, Digital Tech: Sam Kang, Photo Assistant: Hannah Lewis-Lopes, Makeup Artist: Jonet Williamson, Hairstylist: Akihisa Yamaguchi , Wardrobe Stylist: Melina Kemph, Wardrobe, Assistant: Kayla Martinez, Prop Stylist: Katrina Rozeville, Prop Assistant: Zach Molina, Model: Alexandra Cunningham