How To Discover My Skin Type

Without knowing a little about your skin, you will find it very difficult to choose the powders that are going to suit you best. Your recipes will be tailor made for you and your choice of ingredients unique for your skin, so this piece of information is something you will need to hand.

It is not only important to understand whether you have normal, dry, oily, combination or sensitive skin but also your skin tone and undertone. Knowing which skin type you have will help you to choose the correct base powders to formulate with and will also help you to match your foundation colour to your skin tone. You will also gain a better understanding of which colours will suit you overall and this is not limited to your eyeshadows, lipsticks etc but includes your choice of clothes and jewellery. So as you can see, this is quite a useful piece of information to know.

Step 1 - What's My Skin Like

Normal skin - is neither oily nor dry, is very well balanced with no enlarged pores and good elasticity. Normally with an even skin tone.
Dry skin - does not retain enough moisture therefore will develop expression lines far more easily. Will react to the elements i.e. sensitivity to the sun and extreme conditions. Will normally have small pores.
Oily skin - produces too much oil and will look shiny. The pores will be large and blemishes and spots appear easily and frequently.
Combination skin - is a combination of the above. Normally the T zone will be the oily part and either normal or dry skin on the rest of the face.
Sensitive skin - is very fragile and will be irritated by many products. In the sun this type of skin will burn easily and will need very good protection. Those with sensitive skin should always do a Patch Test before trying anything new.

Summary: When you know what type of skin you have, you will be able to pick and choose the right combination of powders to work with in your formulations to enhance and even improve your skin.

Step 2 - Skin Tone

Light - your skin is pale white and you have freckles, your skin burns easily in the sun and never tans. Your skin can damage easily.
Fair - your skin is white you may have freckles, your skin usually burns in the sun and you rarely tan. Your skin can damage easily.
Medium - your skin is white to light brown, you sometimes burn in the sun and will tan.
Olive - your skin is medium brown, you rarely burn in the sun and will tan easily.
Brown - your skin is dark brown, you very rarely burn in the sun and will tan very easily.
Black - your skin is very dark brown to black, you never burn in the sun and will always tan.

Summary: Knowing your skin tone along with your undertone will help you to achieve the perfect colour match for your skin when formulating any makeup.

Step 3 - Undertone

Turn over your hand and look at the veins in your wrist
If they appear more blue you probably have cool undertones
If they appear more green you probably have warm undertones
If you can not tell, its quite possible that you are neutral

You can also do the following:

Hold something silver under your chin and then hold something gold
Which do you feel looks better on you and more importantly makes you look better
If it's silver, you probably have cool undertones
If it's gold, you probably have warm undertones
If both make you look good, then you are neutral

Summary: For those with cool toned skin, you will want to choose colours at the cool end of the spectrum i.e. if you choose pink it would be a pink with a blue undertone. Those with warm toned skin will want to use colours at the warm end of the spectrum i.e. if you choose pink it would have a more peachy undertone. For those of you lucky enough to be neutral you can wear just about any colour you want!

When formulating your makeup, knowing the undertone of your skin will allow you to use colours that will suit you, flatter you and make you look vibrant and bursting with good health. In contrast, wearing colours that do not compliment the undertone of your skin will not flatter you and possibly make you look a little unwell.

So, knowing these three facts about your skin should help you in formulating the perfect makeup just for you.