# MAC Foundation Confusion



## njbutterfly (Feb 21, 2008)

Hi Everyone, I'm new to the forum, this is my first post! I want to say that I'm learning so much from all you experienced MAC addicts, so thank you all. 
That said, I really need some help from experienced MAC foundation users...
I am really confused by the MAC Foundation colors. I have a warm complexion, on the light side of medium, slight yellow undertones. For frame of reference, when I do tan, I tend to turn red and sometimes burn first (unless I tan really slowly) but I am able to get dark pretty quickly, once I get past the initial redness... 
Now, I have been using DiorSkin Forever Extreme Wear Flawless foundation in                 Medium Beige 030, and I like it, it's almost the perfect color, (maybe 1/2 shade too dark, but I use some moisturizer near my jawline/neck to blend it just to be safe, and it looks great - no visible difference, and it will be perfect in the summer when I get some color), but I am quickly becoming addicted to MAC and have been wanting to try the famed foundation! So I went to my local MAC counter, and got color matched to NC20. In the store, match looked great. Next day I put it on (with the 187 brush) and went to work, looked in the mirror and my face looked ashen gray! I looked like I aged 20 years. Every imperfection was amplified 100x! So I went back, spoke to another MA, explained what happened. She looked at me and said that I need the warmer tone foundation (NW), instead of the NC which cools down a warm skintone. She said that everyone color matches differently but some people don't want to cool down a warm tone, because they could look ashy. But I don't understand why I MAC generally color matches to go opposite of natural skintone. So I'm trying the NW20, with a drop of NW25. (She gave me a sample to add to the foundation as the NW20 is much lighter than the NW25 and I fall somewhere in between shades) Does anyone have any advice or insight as to the warm/cool /NW/NC issue and why they go opposite the tone? This is very confusing.


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## lah_knee (Feb 21, 2008)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *njbutterfly* 

 
_Hi Everyone, I'm new to the forum, this is my first post! I want to say that I'm learning so much from all you experienced MAC addicts, so thank you all. 
That said, I really need some help from experienced MAC foundation users...
I am really confused by the MAC Foundation colors. I have a warm complexion, on the light side of medium, slight yellow undertones. For frame of reference, when I do tan, I tend to turn red and sometimes burn first (unless I tan really slowly) but I am able to get dark pretty quickly, once I get past the initial redness... 
Now, I have been using DiorSkin Forever Extreme Wear Flawless foundation in                 Medium Beige 030, and I like it, it's almost the perfect color, (maybe 1/2 shade too dark, but I use some moisturizer near my jawline/neck to blend it just to be safe, and it looks great - no visible difference, and it will be perfect in the summer when I get some color), but I am quickly becoming addicted to MAC and have been wanting to try the famed foundation! So I went to my local MAC counter, and got color matched to NC20. In the store, match looked great. Next day I put it on (with the 187 brush) and went to work, looked in the mirror and my face looked ashen gray! I looked like I aged 20 years. Every imperfection was amplified 100x! So I went back, spoke to another MA, explained what happened. She looked at me and said that I need the warmer tone foundation (NW), instead of the NC which cools down a warm skintone. She said that everyone color matches differently but some people don't want to cool down a warm tone, because they could look ashy. But I don't understand why I MAC generally color matches to go opposite of natural skintone. So I'm trying the NW20, with a drop of NW25. (She gave me a sample to add to the foundation as the NW20 is much lighter than the NW25 and I fall somewhere in between shades) Does anyone have any advice or insight as to the warm/cool /NW/NC issue and why they go opposite the tone? This is very confusing. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


_

 
theres not like a general RULE that we all go by when we match. we match as best we can based on the color WE see more in skin. many people can wear more than one color and some can even wear different undertones. so it really comes down to your preference once we try it on you. so we dont necessarily go opposite in tone unless someone prefers that and can get away with it without looking two toned from the neck/body and the face. i have some women who have some pink undertones in the face and even though i feel they need an NW they refuse to add more "pink" to the face and want to cancel that out with a cool NC tone. so like i said it just varies person to person. generally if you feel "ashy" in a foundation, then you definately should try a warmer tone


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## candidilyme (Feb 21, 2008)

i'm not sure but i'm a warm tone complexion, i get red really easily and i have nc 44 in sff. i heard somewhere that NC stands for needs cool and NW stands for needs warmth, so since i'm warm-toned i don't need to be any warmer and therefore the MA gave me a nc. i think it also depends which foundation you have, i think some people find that sff tends to dry kinda orangy on them. hth


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## erine1881 (Feb 21, 2008)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *candidilyme* 

 
_i'm not sure but i'm a warm tone complexion, i get red really easily and i have nc 44 in sff. i heard somewhere that NC stands for needs cool and NW stands for needs warmth, so since i'm warm-toned i don't need to be any warmer and therefore the MA gave me a nc. i think it also depends which foundation you have, i think some people find that sff tends to dry kinda orangy on them. hth_

 
i'm sorry, but you heard wrong.  NC means neutral cool.  it means you have more yellow undertones (even tho yellow is generally a warm color, it is considered cool when talking about MACs foundations).  NW means neutral warm, or more pink undertones.  some people can wear both colors.  if you were matched NC, then the artist saw more yellow undertones in your skin.  unless you can wear both NC and NW, you should generally be the same in every foundation formula, and the same number (within a shade or two depending on the formula).


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## MAC_Whore (Feb 21, 2008)

Click on the link titled: Foundation Help at the top of the page.  That sheds some light on the shades/colour families.


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## njbutterfly (Feb 21, 2008)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *lah_knee* 

 
_theres not like a general RULE that we all go by when we match. we match as best we can based on the color WE see more in skin. many people can wear more than one color and some can even wear different undertones. so it really comes down to your preference once we try it on you. so we dont necessarily go opposite in tone unless someone prefers that and can get away with it without looking two toned from the neck/body and the face. i have some women who have some pink undertones in the face and even though i feel they need an NW they refuse to add more "pink" to the face and want to cancel that out with a cool NC tone. so like i said it just varies person to person. generally if you feel "ashy" in a foundation, then you definately should try a warmer tone 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


_

 
Thanks, lah_knee. So really, it should always be on a case by case basis, as I understand it. And if I'm warm and want to play this up instead of neutralizing it, then I can go with NW instead of NC. Especially is NC makes me look like a corpse! LOL.
I think the NW shades are supposed to be pinker than the NC shades - is that correct? If so, the weird thing is that the NW20 shade I have right now doesn't look like it has pink undertones, it looks yellower than the NC20 I had. Well, I'm trying the Mineralized SatinFinish foundation, so wish me luck! Hopefully it will look better than the Studio Fix Fluid did. Besides, my skin is on the dry side, so this should work better for me...


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## njbutterfly (Feb 21, 2008)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *MAC_Whore* 

 
_Click on the link titled: Foundation Help at the top of the page.  That sheds some light on the shades/colour families.





_

 
Thanks! I did see the foundation info page, but it does appear to be backwards in terms of warm and cool. Normally Pink is cool and Yellow is warm, and MAC logic is the other way around, so that when a warm person uses NW, does that mean that they are adding warm, instead of neutralizing the warm with a cool shade?


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## erine1881 (Feb 22, 2008)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *njbutterfly* 

 
_Thanks! I did see the foundation info page, but it does appear to be backwards in terms of warm and cool. Normally Pink is cool and Yellow is warm, and MAC logic is the other way around, so that when a warm person uses NW, does that mean that they are adding warm, instead of neutralizing the warm with a cool shade?_

 
pink and yellow are reversed when it comes to macs foundation.  however, if you are warm and you use NW, you aren't adding warmth to your face.  you are matching your face with your foundation, which is what you want to do in the first place.  so many people come to my counter wanting to match foundation to their hand, wrist, arm, etc, anything but their face.  it makes me cringe.  please don't neutralize your color by going with the opposite color foundation.  match your foundation to your actual face color.  and if its a little off, set it with a sheer face powder in the opposite undertone.  its sheer enough that it won't be obvious that its a different color.


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## njbutterfly (Feb 22, 2008)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *erine1881* 

 
_pink and yellow are reversed when it comes to macs foundation.  however, if you are warm and you use NW, you aren't adding warmth to your face.  you are matching your face with your foundation, which is what you want to do in the first place.  so many people come to my counter wanting to match foundation to their hand, wrist, arm, etc, anything but their face.  it makes me cringe.  please don't neutralize your color by going with the opposite color foundation.  match your foundation to your actual face color.  and if its a little off, set it with a sheer face powder in the opposite undertone.  its sheer enough that it won't be obvious that its a different color._

 
So as if I understand correctly, warm tones should (generally) stick to NW and cool tones should stick to NC... Thanks so much! Now I feel much better! What you said makes total sense to me. While I agree that some people are neutral and can wear either warm or cool, I think people need to match the foundation with the color and tone of their face! (Not go against/opposite their tone) So I did the right thing by exchanging the NC and getting the NW.


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## erine1881 (Feb 22, 2008)

Quote:

   Originally Posted by *njbutterfly* 

 
_So as if I understand correctly, warm tones should (generally) stick to NW and cool tones should stick to NC... Thanks so much! Now I feel much better! What you said makes total sense to me. While I agree that some people are neutral and can wear either warm or cool, I think people need to match the foundation with the color and tone of their face! (Not go against/opposite their tone) So I did the right thing by exchanging the NC and getting the NW. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


_

 
correct.  if you see more pink in your skin than yellow, you want the NW.  hopefully that is the right color and you will no longer look like a corpse!


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## Flammable (Feb 25, 2008)

Hi, I'm not a MAC artist but wanted to throw in my two cents from personal experience. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



I have yellow undertones to my skin and my veins appear more green than blue, and I have a yellow-brown Indian complexion. When it comes to concealer, I go with NW and with foundation I am an NC.
So when you go for concealer you should go with NC since your foundation is in the NW category.
I have used NC concealer with NC foundation before and it didn't work on me at all.
Foundation & concealer are such tricky things to master.


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