Makeup for dark skin

Let's be honest: finding the perfect shades of makeup for your skin can be challenging, especially if you have a dark skin tone. Just determining what your skin undertone is and which colours best complement it can take some time. Correcting imperfections can also be a hassle if you don’t have the right shade. Discover our beauty expert’s tips for finding the right shade, especially if you have darker skin.

Determining your undertone

There are several ways to determine your skin’s undertone. A popular method is to observe the colour of the veins on your wrist: if they are green, your skin undertone is golden or yellow, i.e. warm. If your veins are blue, your skin undertone is pink or blue, i.e. cold. Unfortunately, if your skin is very dark, this method won't help you much.

The other method we suggest is to look at the clothes and jewelry you feel most comfortable in: people with a cool undertone will look better in blues, bluish-reds, cooler hues and silver jewelry, while people with a warm undertone will look better in yellows, oranges, warmer hues and gold jewelry.

Choose your shade

When choosing the right shade of foundation, it can be challenging to find the right colour, as you may feel that many brands don't offer dark shades. We suggest that you talk to a cosmetician as soon as you arrive in a Familiprix beauty section so that they can help you find the most suitable product. You may have to test several areas on your skin before finding the ideal shade: wrist, cheek, jawline, etc. Our beauty pro and professional makeup artist suggests applying a little product along the jawline and then blending it in. How do you know it's the right shade? See how the product reacts with your whole face and chest. Sometimes your face can be paler or darker than the rest of your body, so make your selection based on how the product looks along the jawline, but keep an eye on the rest of your body.

Be patient

Sometimes a foundation product looks perfect when you try it on in a store; however, when you take it home and proudly wear it the next day, you realize it's a different colour. The reason? It's all about oxidation and/or drying time, which can cause the foundation's colour to change over the course of the day due to your skin’s chemistry and exposure to the air. It’s absolutely essential to take this into account when choosing a product. Oxidation is caused by your skin's pH reacting to specific ingredients in the foundation called oxides (for example, aluminum oxide, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide and iron oxide). Before buying a foundation, wait a few hours to make sure the colour doesn’t change.

Choose the right coverage

For combination/normal skin:

You have many options to choose from based on your personal preferences! It's up to you to select a luminous finish or one that's a little more matte to match your mood of the day!

For combination to oily skin:

Opt for powder or even liquid textures, but with a semi-matte finish. Use oil-free formulas to avoid looking like you have excess sebum. These products will control shine by blurring your skin's texture.

Other tips

People with darker skin are naturally more susceptible to dark spots and hyperpigmentation. Your skin already creates melanin, which gives it a darker colour; hormones, injuries, blemishes and scarring can trigger an increase in this melanin production, making you more susceptible to hyperpigmentation. Opt for an orange concealer to hide hyperpigmentation and/or scarring of darker skin. The darker the skin, the more orange the concealer should be. The orange colour will neutralize brown tones like a charm.

As in many areas of beauty, it's essential to keep in mind your needs, facial features and skin colour to make the proper selection of products that will highlight your natural beauty. Your complexion is the most crucial step after, of course, skincare.  Pay close attention when shopping for products—and the results will be stunning.