Women: How To Choose The Perfect Foundation For Your Skin Type

1. Think about the intensity of your skin colour

Your skin intensity is how light or deep it is. It can be bang on medium, but more likely it will be on the scale in between; either very light, light, light-medium, medium-deep, deep or very deep. If you're unsure try comparing your skin colour to a celebrity, model or makeup artist with a quick Google search and see how they describe theirs. How do you compare?

2. Identify your undertone
Look at your bare skin and think about how rosy (pink toned) or golden (yellow toned) it is. If it's rosy you probably have a cool undertone, if it's golden you probably have a warm undertone. If it's a combination of the two – or you simply can't identify it as one of the other – you have a neutral undertone.

3. Your true colour vs your tan colour
Nowadays many of us aren't always our true base colour. You want to match your foundation to the colour your skin most often is, so if you regularly self-tan, take this into account and don't shop for your shade on an unusually pale day. Your skin tone will also vary in different areas of your face, so decide whether you want to match your foundation to where the sun hits your skin (such as the nose and forehead), or your base colour.

4. Test it on your face, not your hand
Test three swatches of the foundation you think best suit you for comparision on your jawline, and go with the closest match that appears to disappear into the skin. Remember, foundation shouldn't show on your skin - you want your complexion to appear amazing, not your foundation.

5. Consult the professionals
Visiting a makeup counter takes all of the guess work out of it. Estée Lauder offers an iMatch service, where a digital machine not only reveals your perfect Double Wear shade, but you'll also be able to identify your perfect formula (or formulas if you wear a foundation wardrobe, like us). The consultant will help you choose your preferred coverage (sheer, medium or full), finish (luminous, semi-matte or matte) and your skin type (dry, normal/combination or oily).

6. Trial it for 10 days
Don't feel rushed into buying a foundation - you might want to test the shade out in different lights, mirrors and see how it photographs in selfies. At the complementary iMatch service mentioned above, you can take away a free 10 day supply of your shade match, giving you the ultimate trial time. Get it right and you won't look back.