HOW TO FIND A CONCEALER SHADE FOR YOUR SKIN TONE

With Tips from Maybelline Makeup Artist Grace Lee

The best way to choose a concealer shade online is to use our Foundation Shade Finder tool. It recommends your perfect foundation and concealer shade match based on your skin tone and undertones!

Maybelline New York offers a variety of concealers like sponge-tip concealer, doe-foot concealer, and dip-in concealer, so whether you’re looking to cover blemishes, age spots, or dark circles, we have a formula for you!

Pro-tip: If you're using concealer underneath a face mask, try Super Stay Full Coverage, Long Lasting Concealer, which is smudge and transfer-resistant!

Simply put, skin tone is the color of the top layer of your skin. Skin color is based on the amount of melanin (or pigment) you produce and ranges from fair to dark. If your skin is pale, you may have a fair skin tone. If your skin is more on the beige side, you may have a medium skin tone. If you have olive skin, you may have a warm skin tone. If you have caramel-colored skin, you may have a tan skin tone, and if you have deep pigment, your skin tone may be dark.

Your undertone is the color hue underneath the surface of your skin, commonly identified as warm, cool, and neutral.

There are several ways to help quickly find your undertone. Here are some of our favorites:

• Vein test: Look at the color of your wrist veins under natural light. Greenish-looking veins suggest a warm undertone, blue or purplish-looking veins indicate a cool undertone, and if your veins match your skin color, you most likely have a neutral undertone.

• White t-shirt test: Hold a white shirt (or even a white piece of paper) up to your face. If your skin looks yellow, that suggests a warm undertone. If your skin looks pink or rosy, that indicates a cool undertone, and if you feel like the white compliments your face without looking washed out, your undertone is probably neutral.

• Silver or gold jewelry test: Hold a piece of jewelry up to your face. If the gold jewelry looks better against your skin, your undertone is most likely warm, and if silver jewelry is your preference, your undertone is most likely cool. If they both look great, your undertone is probably neutral.

The rule of thumb for picking your concealer shade is based on your foundation shade. Beauty experts advise that everyone should have two shades of concealer in their arsenal, one lighter and one darker since daily sun exposure means your skin tone shifts slightly all the time. Plus, makeup artists use multiple shades of concealer for different end effects. Find your perfect foundation shade here.

Pro-tip: Concealer is used to help cover imperfections, not even skin tone, so it’s best to apply foundation first.

When it comes to the best concealer for acne and acne scars, Maybelline MUA Grace Lee recommends using "a slightly darker concealer when covering blemishes to block out the color of the pimple. After, use a lighter concealer or one that matches your skin tone to blend the two."

To conceal dark under-eye circles, choose one shade lighter than your foundation shade match. Learn more about the best concealers for dark circles.