SAFIYAH TASNEEM : Foundation Files: Making Your Foundation Yellow

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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!