How to Find Infallible Foundation Shades That Match Your Skin Tone

Every great makeup look starts with some sort of base product, it just has to be the right formula and color match. The truth is, foundation that doesn't accurately match your skin tone can ruin your entire look. Getting it right is a lot easier when a foundation offers a wide range of shades in its collection. Enter L’Oréal Paris Infallible foundations. 

These lightweight, long-wearing foundations provide medium-to-full coverage while resisting sweat, water, and transfer. With 60 shades available across two collections, it’s easy to find your color in these incredible no-budge formulas. If you’re not sure how to find your perfect shade, keep reading for our tips on nailing your foundation match every time and a swatch breakdown of the Infallible foundation makeup lines so you can find your color.

How Can I Find My Foundation Shade?

While your skin tone is the first key in finding your foundation color match, there are a few other things to assess in order to get your perfect shade.

1. Identify Your Undertones 

It’s important to understand that the foundations that fall within a range of shades don’t simply have minor differences in their depth 一 their undertones also differ, which makes a huge difference on the skin. When you choose a shade of foundation, you should grab one that matches both your skin tone or depth, and your undertones for a true your-skin-but-better look.

Perhaps the easiest way to go about finding your undertones is to flip your wrist and let your veins be your guide. If your veins look green, you have warm or yellow undertones. If you have blue or purple veins, you have cool undertones. If you’re unsure whether your veins look green, bluish or purple — or they appear to be a mix of all three — you’ve likely got neutral undertones. 

You can also use L’Oréal Paris’s Virtual undertone finder quiz to help you identify your undertone if you're still unsure. You just answer a few questions and you get the results sent directly to your inbox. 

2. Consider What Part of Your Skin You’re Testing On

While you’ll mainly be applying your foundation all over your face for daily wear, it’s important to consider where on your skin you’re testing the color. Find a spot on your face (bare skin, of course) with the least amount of redness or hyperpigmentation and see how the foundation looks there. Then test on an area with the most dark spots to see if the color appears the same. This will give you the most accurate read on how it matches your overall complexion. Remember, concealer and color corrector helps you tone down dark spots so no need to pile on layers of foundation to mask those blemishes.

Swatch three possible shades across the area on your face you chose and bring it down to your neck to see which one blends in the most seamlessly. While it may look cool to swatch colors on your arm, this won’t help you determine how shades will look on your face and neck as there may be a stark difference in the color of your arm and the color of your face.

3. Consider the Lighting When Testing 

Different lighting will change how foundation appears on your skin. The best way to assess whether a shade is truly your perfect match is to look at it on your skin in natural light. Go outside or take a look in the mirror while in front of a window to see if the foundation blends into your skin. If it appears to disappear on the skin (but still cover uneven skin tone and blemishes), it’s your ideal match. 

Editor’s tip: It’s never a bad idea to also grab another foundation one shade up or down from your match to accommodate seasonal skin tone changes. If you tend to tan really deeply in the summer or get really pale in the winter, you’ll need to switch your foundation when the seasons change.

How Can I Match My Foundation Color Online?

If you’re not shopping in a store, you can still find the right foundation shade for your skin tone online. Use the L’Oréal Paris Makeup Genius Virtual Makeup Try-on tool to try on all makeup, including foundation, from your phone or computer. As long as you have a working camera on either (or a makeup-free photo of yourself) you’re good to go. Plus, the Virtual Shade Finder lets you narrow down shades from different L’Oréal Paris foundation collections.

How to Find Your Perfect Infallible 24 Hour Fresh Wear Foundation Shade 

The more shades the better, when you know how to narrow down your foundation match. When a collection has more than three dozen shades it can start to feel overwhelming, especially if you’re new to makeup. It all starts with skin tone, and then undertones are the next consideration.

Whether you have a warm skin tone, cool tone or neutral tone will be important as you search for your foundation match. When undertones aren’t listed as part of the shade name or color number (typically signified by a W, N or C), follow this basic rule of thumb:

 •  Warm undertone shades are often named beige, golden, tan, and caramel.

 •  Cool undertone shades are often referred to as porcelain, rose, sable and cocoa.

 •  Neutral undertone shades are often called ivory, buff, nude and praline.

How Do I Know My Liquid Foundation Shade?

Below, find a breakdown of the L’Oréal Paris Infallible 24 Hour Fresh Wear Foundation swatches — categorized by skin tone — for a jumping off point in your foundation match journey.

Below, find a breakdown of the L’Oréal Paris Infallible 24 Hour Fresh Wear Foundation swatches — categorized by skin tone — for a jumping off point in your foundation match journey.

For Deep and Dark Skin Tones  

If you have deep to dark skin, your match will be one of the following shades: Deep Golden (525), Deep Amber (530), Espresso (535), Mahogany (540), Ebony (545).

For Caramel (Medium Brown) Skin Tones

If you have a dark skin tone but your color leans more medium brown (often referred to as caramel), you may want to choose from these shades: Toffee (505), Hazelnut (510), Maple (511), Copper (515), Sienna (520).

For Olive Skin Tones or Bronze Skin Tones

Anyone with an olive tone or bronzish skin color will want to grab one of the following shades: Warm Almond (487), Caramel (488), Golden Amber (490), Amber (495), Honey Bisque (500).

For Medium and Tan Skin Tones 

If your skin tone falls between what’s often classified as medium or tan, your match can be found in one of the following shades: Radiant Sand (480), Cool Sand (481), Radiant Sun (482), Golden Sun (485), Toasted Almond (486).

For Light Skin Tones 

If you have a light skin tone, you’ll find your match in the following options: Ivory Buff (430), Rose Vanilla (435), Natural Rose (440), Vanilla (445), Rose Beige (450), Natural Buff (455), Golden Beige (460), Sand (465), Radiant Honey (470), Sun Beige (475).

For Fair Skin Tones

If you have fair skin, your match will be one of the following colors: Beige Ivory (411), Warm Ivory (412), Rose Ivory (415), True Beige (420), Linen (425).

For Pale Skin tones

If you consider your fair skin tone to be particularly pale in color, reach for one of these shades to get your best color match: Snow (390), Rose Pearl (395), Pearl (400), Porcelain (405), Ivory (410).

How Do I Know If a Shade Is Lighter or Darker Than Another?

Each Infallible Fresh Wear foundation shade has a corresponding number (included online and on the packaging). Those numbers go in order from lightest to darkest. For example, in the Infallible 24 Hour Fresh Wear Foundation liquid formula, the shade Porcelain is 405, while the shade Ivory is 410 and True Beige is 420. This means that of those three shades, Porcelain is the lightest, so if your skin tone leans more pale, that color is likely to be a better match for you. In this entire collection Snow (390) is the lightest shade and Ebony (545) is the darkest.

Note that in the Infallible Up to 24H Fresh Wear Foundation in a Powder, the corresponding shade numbers still go in order from lightest (lowest numbers) to darkest (highest numbers), but the range starts at 5 and goes as high as 390.

How Do I Know My Fresh Wear Foundation in a Powder Shade?

For Deep and Dark Skin Tones  

Those with deep, dark and caramel skin tones should reach for the following shades: Mocha (370), Deep Amber (375), Ebony (390).

For Olive or Medium Skin Tones

If you have an olive or medium skin tone try one of these shades: Amber (300), Hazelnut (330), Sienna (355), Copper (365).

For Light and Tan Skin Tones 

If your skin tone is light (but not pale), your match can be found in one of the following shades: Linen (180), Beige Sand (190), Sand (220), Radiant Honey (245), Radiant Sand (250), Golden Sun (260).

For Fair and Pale Skin Tones

If you have pale or fair skin, your match will be one of the following colors: Pearl (5), Porcelain (10), Ivory (20), Vanilla (120), Ivory Buff (125), True Beige (130), Golden Beige (140).

Next: The Best Foundations to Help You Cover Acne Scars

Photographer: Chaunte Vaughn, Art Director: Hannah Packer, Associate Creative Producer: Becca Solovay, Production Assistant: Jason Parigian, Digital Tech: Sam Kang, Photo Assistant: Hannah Lewis-Lopes, Makeup Artist: Jonet Williamson, Hairstylist: Akihisa Yamaguchi , Wardrobe Stylist: Melina Kemph, Wardrobe, Assistant: Kayla Martinez, Prop Stylist: Katrina Rozeville, Prop Assistant: Zach Molina, Model: Alexandra Cunningham