Finding That Perfect Morena Shade

And so here I am, scouring the net for Filipina and morena skinned makeup gurus. And most of them aren't really morenas. Some are just tanned. Most are either chinitas with light skin, or have a skin shade that's a helluva lighter than mine.

The makeup that you buy at the beauty counters tend to come off with a grayish pallor. I figured that it might have something to do with the undertone or the tint.

I tried a lot of foundations already and am here to share with you some of those that worked for me. Through trial and error and hours of research, I discovered that I am in MAC shade NC42 or NC43! For me, I think that is the shade most morenas are in. It's deep enough but not too dark. You can go either NC 42 or NC43 depending on the season. In the world called the internet, MAC shades are the basis of color and swatch comparisons. It's still best to go to the MAC store and try on some of their foundations just to know what your exact color match is. It's free to try, so why not right?

NC42 is for those lighter skinned morenas. This is what comes to mind when I think of a light skinned morena:

Angel Aquino is morena but I never see get really dark.  Unlike Bianca Gonzales:

Who I often see very tanned most of the time. Here's a darker version of her:

Bianca has that type of skin colors most pinays have. Especially that deep tan. I wanted to point out these ladies so that you would have a visual of what type of skin tone I am talking about.

I have always believed that the perfect makeup lies in your foundation. The perfect foundation match would do wonders. I get a lot of compliments on my foundation.

My everyday go-to foundation is the Revolon Colorstay Liquied Foundation. I wish I would find the time to upload a before and after, which I will do by next week.

I found this list on another blog. I find this very helpful when choosing shades for Revlon since we all know that Revlon is cheaper, and you can buy them for way less on online stores.

Revlon Colorstay with Softflex vs. MAC SFF:
Ivory: NW 15 lightest of the bunch
Buff: NC20 best match for fair NCs
Sand Beige: NC20-25 with somewhat neutral undertones
Nude: NC25 with peachy undertones, definitely not for pinks or true golden
Natural Beige: NW20 tends to run pink
Medium Beige: NC27 between Sand Beige and Golden Beige
Fresh Beige: NW25 with pinky undertones
Golden Beige: NC30 with truest yellow/olive undertones
Warm Golden: NW30/NC30 with somewhat neutral undertones
True Beige: NW30 with pinky undertones (for Fresh Beige in summer)
Natural Tan: NC40/NC42 more neutral than golden caramel
Early Tan: NW35 with somewhat peach undertones
Rich Tan: NW35 with pinkish undertones
Golden Caramel: NC40/NC42 more golden than natural tan
Toast: NC43 / NC 44 with neutral undertones
Rich Ginger: NW45 very peachy-pink
Caramel: NC45 seems to run true to color
Cappucino: NC50 slightly more peach than Caramel
Mahogany: NW50/NC55 the darkest of NWs but not extremely peachy
Mocha: NW55 seems to be very cool toned, almost grey undertone

* Thanks to VintageAqua on specktra.net

I am in the shade Toast or Golden Caramel, but Toast is my exact match. Golden Caramel is a tad lighter but a good match too nonetheless. You can always use a bronzer to darken.

By the way, I got these pics off the internet, but I would post mine as soon as I figure out my HD cam :).


I will try to do a review and demo on this as soon as I can.
<3