Pale Foundation Swatches

ByCordelia

Note – these swatches are from 2012 and do not match me now. See my Best Vegan Foundations post.

I wanted to do some more pale foundation swatches for you. I swatched along my jawline. My face has been freshly cleansed and moisturized, but nothing else was done to the skin. Because I had just cleansed it, you can see my pink overtone very strongly in the pictures. I used a cotton swab to make the swatch in each shade. You can see my previous light liquid foundation swatches here.


 

Foundations:
$45 for 1 oz – Face Atelier Ultra Foundation in Zero Minus
$34 for 1 oz – Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen WOW Foundation in I’m Pure 4 Sure Ivory (review)
$36 for 1 oz – Too Faced Amazing Face Liquid Foundation in Vanilla Creme (review)
$35 for 1 oz – Mirabella Skin Tint Creme in 1N (review)
$42 for 1.9 oz – NARS Tinted Moisturizer in Finland
$42 for 1 oz – NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia (review)
$42 for 1 oz – NARS Sheer Matte in Siberia
$39 for 1.7 oz – Philosophy Hope in a Tinted Moisturizer in Extra Light
$28 for 1.2 oz – Rain Cosmetics Conceal Reveal Foundation in Baby Doll Bisque (review)

I feel like NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia looks fantastic on me.

I really like how Mirabella 1N looks but it is very full coverage for me.

I really like how Rain Baby Doll Bisque looks on me.

I love the finish with Too Faced Vanilla Creme and Benefit’s I’m Pure 4 Sure Ivory, but they’re a tad too dark for my taste. However, I can now mix in Face Atelier Zero Minus or Illamasqua Skin Base in 1 to fix that.

I go back and forth on loving and hating Philosophy Extra Light and NARS Finland.

You can see skin swatches of Illamasqua 1, 2, 4 and AU on me in my review from last week.

It’s strange to me to see how I sometimes feel like ‘oh yeah, these foundations work, they’re just a bit dark so I color correct with powder or by mixing in another foundation’ and other times I feel like ‘these are too dark and don’t work at all’ to ‘these work ok!’

What do you think of the jaw swatches? Have you tried any of these foundations? Which do you like?

To the best of my knowledge:
Face Atelier, Too Faced, Mirabella, NARS and Rain Cosmetics are cruelty-free.

Mirabella Skin Tint Creme sent for consideration. All other foundations purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Cordelia Frost is the creative force behind Phyrra, a treasure trove for cruelty-free indie and goth makeup enthusiasts. She's the author of the game-changing 'Hooded Eyes Makeup Manual' a must-read for hooded eyes makeup.

Cordelia's world is a kaleidoscope of alternative beauty, gothic fashion, and life-enhancing tips, making every visit to Phyrra a journey into a more colorful and inspired self.

22 Comments

  1. Oh lord, I am so lazy. I am about the same shade as you, not quite so pink. I am also 20 years older than you and it pretty well shows although I think my skin looks pretty good for my age (I have never ever tanned, that helps). I have tons of freckles.
    I use a tinted moisturizer and rice powder. I can’t be bothered with foundation and all that. When I do, I use L’Oreal True Match and mix a couple of colors. You are way dedicated to do all this.

  2. I haven’t tried any of these. However, it has been a very, very long time since I used a liquid foundation. It was nice to see all the different brands side by side.

  3. I knew it! You and I have the same skintone!!! I wasn’t sure before. But, seeing your swatch comparisions, now I know! My very best match in foundation is NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia. My husband recently dropped and shattered my bottle. So, now I am trying to decide to either repurchase it (because I love it!)…or try something different just for fun. I got some great ideas from your post here. I am thinking I might go with NARS Sheer Matte in SIberia this time around. Although I am testing out a sample right now of MUFE HD #110 which is pretty good and Chanel’s VItalumiere. I just reviewed (it will post soon) Pixi’s Foundation Stick in light and it was a spot-on match as well (not sure if they are cruelty free?) Oh, and I think the Mirabella looks very nice on you!!! It can be so hard for us fair girls to find color matches. I am always thrilled when I do (yay for NARS!!!)

    1.  @pammyblogbeauty If you want something fun, try Illamasqua Skin Base in 2. I’m loving that. I don’t like the Sheer Matte as much as the Sheer Glow. Ooh I need to do another swatch fest with the MUFE one, because I have it and the MUA swore it was a match to my neck, but now I’m not so sure.I’m always thrilled too 🙂 My FIRST EVER match was with Meow Pampered Puss foundation in Inquisitive Siamese.

      1.  @Phyrra Thanks for the recs! I need to look into Illamasqua as I have never explored that brand (but have always wanted to!). The finish on the Sheer Glow really is lovely (wah! Why couldnt my hub have broken an inexpensive foundation, lol!). Men! 😉 I am curious about the Zero Minus that you mentioned too…

        1.  @pammyblogbeauty  I haven’t used the Zero Minus on its own yet (I don’t think), but it works like the Illamasqua 1 to lighten :)I’ve had that happen where bottles have been dropped and broken on my concrete floors 🙁 Phaedra broke a bottle of NARS nail polish and I was very sadpanda over it.

  4. I normally can’t afford these brands, but I’ve been having SUCH a hard time finding a foundation that matches my skin tone. I’m very pale, with rosy cheeks. (bleh) I also find many of the cheaper brands to be very drying on my skin. Do you find that its worth it to invest in more expensive brands? 

    1.  @Bailey Locke I find that I am constantly reaching for my NARS and Illamasqua. I feel that for me they were worth investing in. I love having the exact match after spending most of my life using too dark of a foundation.

  5. A couple of months ago I still thought of Benefit as a cruelty free company so I picked up some of their Erase Paste, which actually works very well for me. I won’t be buying it again though. It’s too bad that they don’t seem to be cruelty free though because I when I picked up the concealer I got some samples of the foundation and I generally liked them pretty much. I’ll have to check out Mirabella though. I think it looks great on you.

      1.  @Phyrra  Yeah, my understanding is they’re like Aveda, Nars, and The Body Shop where they aren’t really cruelty free because their parent company (in this case LVMH) is involved in animal testing.

        1.  @Phyrra  Actually, now that I’ve looked more into it, my impression based on customer service emails posted online is that their ingredients are either tested by their suppliers or by third parties. Oh well, …

        2.  @blauriche For me personally, I will continue to support companies like NARS, that don’t test, even though they are owned by bad parent companies. However, my biggest fear is that all major companies will jump on the testing bandwagon.
           
          I figure it is better to support the branches of a company that are companies within their own rights that do not test (and I think in the Body Shop’s case, like NARS, never have), than to not support them. It would be better, in my opinion, to have the cruelty-free companies make more profit than the non-cruelty free ones so that the businesses see the ‘money talking’ and have a business reason (profits) to move to being cruelty-free.But this is just my opinion and I don’t expect everyone to agree with it.

  8. As my skin twin, I’m always drawn to your posts about foundations. The only one of these that I’ve tried is the Nars Sheer Matte in Siberia. I’ve also tried the Holika Holika BB cream you recommended. I’m currently testing out the new Tarte Maracuja foundation, which will be too dark for me most of the year. Their Amazonian clay foundation works pretty well for me though.

      1.  @Phyrra That’s why you have that Zero Minus! I could NOT live without that stuff. OK, I could, but I wouldn’t be as happy :)Truth be told, my favorite of these on you is not one of the lighter ones- I really think Nars Finland looks great on you. I find as a superpale gal myself that I have to be super careful not to go too fair with my foundation- it’s not that it will show a line of demarcation like a deeper shade would, but going to fair with foundation will accentuate flakiness, dry spots and pores more. Having said that, I really like the way the Rain Cosmetics foundation looks on you too, so I’m off to check out that review! 

        1.  @OutInAPout Yeah I think it looks great! You can also watch for it on Hautelook as it’s been on a few times.

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