I am probably the palest (by my standards anyway) I’ve been in a long time and subsequently I’ve been finding that with a few of my foundations, they are now a tad too dark for me. More often than not due to my love for galavanting across the globe in hot and tropical climates, I am sporting some sort of tan whether it’s just a hint of colour from a long weekend away (4 on the scale of 1 to 10, equivalent to MAC NC30-NC35) or whether it’s a deep, dark, two-week tan which is the result of being severely sun burnt (11 on the scale of 1 to 10, equivalent to MAC NC40, or even NC42!) from the typical first day of the holiday mistake “it’s not that hot/sunny so I don’t think I’ll bother applying/reapplying my suncream”.

I’ve also found with some foundations is that what I previously thought was the right shade of foundation for me is no longer the case as it’s the classic case of what colour your skin is on the tan scale when you first try and subsequently buy the foundation. Unless you’ve done some intensive research online, there is a big chance that you will end up ordering/buying the wrong shade of foundation and there’s nothing worse than throwing your money down the drain (unfortunately, unlike our American counterparts, in the UK, we aren’t able to return cosmetics if bought in-store, even if it’s not been used, and if we buy on-line, we are only able to return if it’s not been used). Selecting the right shade of foundation can be a difficult task at the best of times but when you cannot access the foundation to swatch it, things become even more tricky. I’ve seen many of these threads on the internet and find them very useful so I hope this may prove useful for some of you out there. I thought it might be a useful tool for any of you out there who are of a similar colouring and/or skin type as me, medium skin tone with warm, yellow undertones, for me to list all the foundations I’ve used and what shade I am in each one when I am tanned (equivalent to MAC NC35-NC40) and when I’m not so tanned (equivalent to MAC NC25-NC30). Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder Foundation is Medium 6 My ‘Evening’ and Favourite for Filming Foundations.

Studio fix mac foundation shades