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What Mac colour are you and what's your race?

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Im mixed; medeterranian and middle eastern (arab) and somehwere in between Nc25 and Nc30..

Don't be afraid to mix your products/foundations to get the perfect colour. Also bear in mind skin naturally changes colour very slightly between seasons, so you can't rxpect to stay the same shade throughout the year.

I would advise you to mix NW42 with a shade lighter (40) or a shade darker (47) to get the perfect colouring and adjust accordingly when you get a tan etc.. I find this to be the best way.

If this doesnt work however, consider trying NC shades or mix an NC with an NW. Skin tones, undertones and shades are so varied and it's hard to try and try and fit into strictly one shade/colour etc...

Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 41

Peachtwist

NC15.

As for W/C topic - while in make-up W = Warm and C = Cool, MAC do it opposite for some reason.

So C = Warm and W = Cool to them.

I know it's backwards but it's definitely true as in other make-up brands I wear the "warm" shade due to yellow undertones and it suits me perfectly. Just thought I'd help out.

TLDR

If you have yellow undertones, use MAC NC.
if you have pink undertones, use MAC NW.

Reply 42

Dollygirl

Yep, as the poster above me said, MAC do it the opposite way round to basically everyone, it goes against what I was taught when I was training as a make up artist
NW = neutral warm (pink undertone)
NC = neutral cool (yellow tone)
I've also been told to think about it like NW means 'Needs Warmth' and NC as 'Needs Cool' but I think that's a bit odd...

The issue I have with MAC foundation is that a '20' level is meant to be the same shade through the whole range, but they do change based on formula, some run darker or lighter than others, and some are more prone to oxidising and going dark than other (Studio Fix Fluid being the worst offender of this) it also annoys me that in general, at the lighter end of the shade range, NC colours tend to be lighter than their NW counter parts (Studio sculpt, lucky for me is about two shades lighter in NC than in NW)

I'm very pale, the only MAC foundation colour that works for me is Studio Sculpt in NC15, which is supposed to be a yellow toned shade but it actually more neutral, my undertone is neutral leaning slightly towards cool but for the most part I have no strong undertones I'd be the perfect N10 if they made that shade *shakes fist* for reference I'm 115 in Illamasqua Rich Liquid, 02 in Illamasqua Skinbase, Alabaster in Bobbi Brown (lets not discuss their whole 'we are all yellow philosophy') and off the charts in most brands :P

nc50 and im black.

NW43 Im black.

I use MAC Studio Fix in NC35

I'm mixed race Black/White (English/Ugandan) :smile:

Reply 46

Alesha1991

NW43 & mixed black/white

Reply 47

georgia

I would probably be NC10 if they made that shade. I wear 1.0 in Matchmaster instead and that seems to work nicely enough - it's maybe a smidgen dark if it oxidises, but other than that it's fine. OH and I always put Studio Fix Powder Plus in N3 over anything else I'm wearing just to a) mattify, b) increase the coverage, and c) lighten the colour a little bit.

Oh, and I think it is pretty obvious from that that I'm pale white British, haha.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 48

Beige_Angel

I'm mixed race Jamaican/Irish and I wear NC42 regardless of which foundation I use from MAC. It is currently studio sculpt though. I do find that the colour differs with their powder foundation , which is too orange for me even though it has the same code. I do have a tan that's fading at the moment though so I haven't worn any foundation in a couple weeks. Hell am I paying £25 for a temporary state of being. I have a wedding to go to next week so I'm hoping I'll have lightened a bit more by then :redface:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 49

Ocarinaoftime

This sounds so bad but I'm NW15 and I have to add a tiny bit of stargazer white foundation to lighten it.

I'm caucasian :tongue:

Reply 50

R4INBOW

probably either nw45 or nw47. I'm black :smile:

Reply 51

taylorg292

I'm white English and I use NC20 in the select SPF 15 foundation. I find it's far too orange for me though, the MAC girl mismatched me :/

Reply 52

georgia

Original post by taylorg292

I'm white English and I use NC20 in the select SPF 15 foundation. I find it's far too orange for me though, the MAC girl mismatched me :/

If you like the texture of the foundation and want to keep using it up, then you could buy a white foundation to mix in with it - it'll take the orange tone down quite a lot.

Also, is it orange on application, or does it go orange after a few hours?

Reply 53

Sky_Dream

Lighter than NW15. I can wear Mac's matchmaster foundation in shade 1 though.

Reply 54

taylorg292

Original post by georgia

Yeah I have a lighter BB cream I sometimes mix with too-dark foundations. It's just a tad orange on application, and I don't really like the consistency, it feels too thick.

Reply 55

georgia

Original post by taylorg292

Yeah I have a lighter BB cream I sometimes mix with too-dark foundations. It's just a tad orange on application, and I don't really like the consistency, it feels too thick.

Oh I see! Mixing it with a plain moisturiser will also thin down the consistency.

I tried using a BB cream as a foundation base once and two products which are normally fine on their own went BRIGHT orange when mixed together on my face...it was so bizarre.