Minus the Marble: Drugstore basics- How do I choose the right foundation?

I'm presuming that if you have landed on this post then you are among the many women that walk into drug stores across the land and feel overwhelmed by the vast selection of cosmetics on offer, it is overwhelming, the cosmetics industry is super massive and growing all the time sometimes it would be nice, like most things in this day and age (ooooooh how old does that make me sound?? eek!) if things would pause, let us take a breather and catch up with it all. That's not going to happen though so I'll talk more generally about foundation, a tricky one to get right at the best of times, but throw in different finishes, formula's and a bunch of letters and numbers, it can be enough to make your head explode.Too dramatic??

Things to bear in mind when shopping for foundation.

These 4 things will work as your basic guide to picking an everyday foundation.

If you wanted a foundation for a specific occasion or one that will give you a specific quality to your skin then you would look at different factors, this is just the basic knowledge you need to be equipt with to begin.

1.Your skin tone- fair, medium,dark.

So that you know which section of the colour spectrum you should be looking at to begin with.Of course there are many variations within each tone...

2.Your undertone- cool, warm or neutral

So that you pick a foundation with the correct base colour for your undertone

(The quickest way to check this is to look at the veins on your wrist if they are blue then you have a cool undertone, you have a warm undertone if they are more green, and if there is neither more green or blue then you have a neutral undertone.)

For example you could have fair skin but a warm undertone so you would want a pale colour foundation that is yellow based rather than pink.Those of us with neutral undertones should pick colours that have a balance of the two.

Just as a side note even if you have a cool undertone do steer clear of foundations that are overly pink based (fortunatley there aren't too many now a days!) as they never blend into the skin enough to leave a natural finish.

Test shades on your jawline in as natural a light as you can you will want to pick out the shade that best blends with your chest/shoulder colour.If you are stuck deciding between 2 shades pick out the lighter shade as you can always darken it with bronzer.

3.Your skin type normal, dry, oily or combination.

So that you pick a foundation with the formula and finish that is most beneficial to you regarding the application, longevity and overall look of the foundation you choose.

Generally, foundations aren't labelled up to specify which skin types they are most suitable for. Revlon colour stay shades do come in normal/dry and combination/oily however I can't think of another drugstore brand that specifically state skin type suitability on their foundation bottles.

4.Coverage