Foundation Files: Making Your Foundation Yellow - An Affordable Solution!

Sunday 15 July 2018

Here's something that may put an end to all my foundation posts (jk!).

I've been researching various ways on how we brown girls (with strong yellow tones) can adjust our foundations to match better, but each method I've read about has their cons (explained in this post), so for the longest time I've been wanting to work with a brand to create an affordable yellow foundation adjuster.

As an Asian girl I've always struggled to find the right yellow undertoned foundation, even when they say they're "golden", they still sometimes have a bit too neutral/pink tones running in them, making me look a bit ashy (who else can relate?!)

I've never understood why the current shade adjusters by the likes of The Body Shop, Nip+Fab, NYX, Makeup Revolution only really have white and brown; NYX have an "olive" shade, but that was still quite brown for my skintone so I had to give it away.

If I find the correct undertoned foundation but it's slightly too dark (for example Fenty 290), I can successfully use a "white" adjuster/mixer to help it look less dark, but sometimes risk looking ashy, so prefer the off white mixers like from The Body Shop.

The brown mixers however, make a foundation that's too light for me very muddy looking and cool toned most of the time and also tends to alter the undertone completely.

Enter: the ELF yellow undertone adjuster - the possible solution to all our warm toned problems!

I've been testing this bad boy out with a neutral toned foundation I have and have been uber excited to blog about it since I've been wanting this very product for us yellow toned girls and there doesn't seem to be any reviews on it yet as it's super new.. so here goes!


First of all, I'm going to share the methods you could adjust your foundation without necessarily buying anything and sharing the cons I found for each way.
I was going to eventually do a video on this but this is faster for me and hopefully more informative to you!

WAYS TO ADJUST YOUR FOUNDATION TO MAKE IT MORE YELLOW

TURMERIC

Probably the reason why we're so yellow tbh, not only do we consume it in our food/curries, but also in masks/scrubs before we get married, so why not try mixing some turmeric with foundation?
Of course it can stain if you use too much (not really trying to look like a Simpson out here) and the smell isn't the most pleasant (haldi face anyone?), so it may not be a good option if these two things may bother you.

YELLOW FOOD DYE

Whether you've used the orangey "egg yellow" powder that turns food yellow or gel/liquid drops, yellow food colouring has been an option tried on the internet but the yellow food colouring I use VERY sparingly for my food does stain and apparently using food dye can turn orange/oxidise once on the face and may even be comedogenic (clogs pores).

MAKEUP - PIGMENTS

I thought maybe I could buy some yellow pigment powder like this sunflower yellow mica powder as it would be cosmetic grade (usually used in soaps etc), however mica contains shimmer and I'm not literally trying to shine like the sun so this was a fail, but if you do find non shimmery pigments or eyeshadows that are a mustard yellow sort of shade it could work well, particularly with ashy powder foundations (just use a clean spooly to make pressed pigments loose).

MAKEUP - MIXERS/ADJUSTERS

I've only ever come across the Make Up Forever Chromatic mixes (water and oil based ones) but never actually got to try them and they don't seem to be available at Guru Makeup Emporium for a while, so I'm not sure if they're still sold.

Now there's this affordable ELF option anyway, I doubt I'll bother hunting for the MUFE one and as you can see below it works really well for my skintone!

welcome to a close up of my textured face :)
I used a completely neutral foundation I have to demonstrate - the Clinique Even Better foundation Shade 05 Neutral MF-N (Moderately Fair Neutral) which tbf matches the middle of my face fine as I'm a bit neutral there but around my mouth and forehead I most certainly am not so this foundation would make me look ashy af alone.

As you can see on the back of my hand swatches, the yellow adjuster is quite a mustard shade so I feel like it would work best for medium-deep complexions if used alone or mixed with a white/off white mixer for really fair but yellow toned complexions.

On my face I swatched the mixed foundation + ELF adjuster in two areas on the jawline to show how the foundation alone around my mouth area looks ashy (but fine further up the middle of my face).

A little goes a longgg way as it's practically a yellow liquid pigment and I'd suggest mixing it on a palette like this or mixer pots like these if you want to keep your mixed shade for using frequently/a bit longer.

I'm not sure if this ELF adjuster will go with every type of liquid/cream foundation as some primers etc can pill (ball up) if they're opposite bases (siliconey/oily/watery) but judging by the ingredients listed below, it looks like it contains silicones which most foundations tend to so it should be fine with most:
Net. 0.32 fl. oz. (9.5 mL)
Golden: Water (Aqua), Cyclopentasiloxane, Glycerin, Tridecyl Trimellitate, Hexyl Laurate, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Phenyl Trimethicone, Sodium Chloride, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Quatemium-18 Hectorite, Sodium Hyaluronate, Tribehenin, Lauryl PEG-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Lauroyl Lysine, Dimethicone, Disodium EDTA 
MAY CONTAIN: Mica (CI 77019), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)
Warmth: Water (Aqua), Cyclopentasiloxane, Glycerin, Tridecyl Trimellitate, Hexyl Laurate, Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone, Phenyl Trimethicone, Sodium Chloride, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Quatemium-18 Hectorite, Sodium Hyaluronate, Tribehenin, Lauryl PEG-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Lauroyl Lysine, Dimethicone, Disodium EDTA
MAY CONTAIN: Mica (CI 77019), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)
Available at E.L.F Cosmetics website for only £5 HERE!

So now we're just left to choose the finish of a foundation we love, well done ELF cosmetics for making this affordable product!

What methods have you used to adjust your neutral/ashy foundations? Do share below!
                  post signature

20 comments:

  1. Oh wow, very interesting. Plus for the price I will defo be giving it a go xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yasss can’t go wrong with £5!
      Let me know if it works for you!

      Delete
  2. I haven’t tried any of the methods to be honest I mostly mix my most yellow undertone foundation with the other that doesn’t match my undertone and it works for me well a bit but this yellow drops sounds interesting can’t wait to try and thank you for sharing it with us ��

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yass I also mix my more closer undertone foundations with ones that make me look ashy so that I get to use the foundation up but defo let me know if you try this! Xx

      Delete
  3. thank you for this, i can't wait to give it ago (I probably create a mess but oh well) xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nooo it’s pretty simple and a little goes a long way I find but just be sure to mix it as well as possible to avoid any yellow streaks 😉💗

      Delete
  4. Interesting find! I will keep it in mind

    ReplyDelete
  5. Please never ever stop writing foundation posts. Yours are the best. Thank you so much for your helpful review. You have tried everything under the sun when it comes to correcting yellow undertone and this ELF adjuster is a remarkable discovery. Can't wait to get my hands on it. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww ily Jadirah!
      I haven’t done a post in a while but I have so many foundations to review, will do it when my sons in FT school iA!


      Yesss is it available there?

      Delete
  6. I am in shock where has this product been all my life and for £5!!!? Outdone The Bodyshop shade adjusters that wow I have never seen anything like this I defo need to pick this up, thanks for the post and the pictures!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know right!!!
      Hopefully more brands create yellow adjusters with their ranges too but if not least we have this!

      Delete
  7. I need to pickup the 'warmth' adjuster....my problem is the opposite lol.
    I run into a lot of foundations being too golden/yellow for me.
    I'm so glad it's only $4 USD.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh wow really!!! It's alwayssss the opposite for me and this had been a godsend haha!

      Delete
    2. I've been telling anyone who will listen in the 11 days about these undertone adjusters lol. It will save a lot of money not having to buy 2 foundations to make 1 perfect shade esp when so many are $25 to $50 per bottle.
      $12 for 3 adjusters is a steal...I just got my order for a few things from E.L.F. including the 'Warmth' undertone adjuster as well as their foundation shade adjusters in 'Bronze' and 'Deepen'. **I bought some primers and a few brushes too** :)

      Delete
    3. Sorry for that, seems a crazy person found my blog 🙄😏

      Delete
    4. Glad they got removed. I don't know if you removed that person but I definitely reported them as spam.

      Delete
    5. I did too, thank you for that!
      Feel free to message me if you’re on Instagram, I was meant to reply earlier to say I’ve also swatched the other adjusters on there, loving the bronze adjuster too!

      Delete
    6. That's awesome you like the Bronze Adjuster too. I don't actually have an IG tho lol.

      Delete
  8. I've used tumeric and a very small of slightly darker foundation in my very neutral foundation to create the perfect yellow medium deep shade- equivalent to NC 44.5 and 45 (I used the wet and wild photofocus foundation)

    ReplyDelete

I'd love for you to leave me some comments.. they make me happy!

 
template design by Studio Mommy (© copyright 2015)