Beauty

[Blondelle]

My mom's caretaker is of Jamaican decent and I want to get her some new makeup as a pick me up. I know she wears the Iman luxury powder in Earth Dark. Can someone recommend a similar shade in the Cover Girl Queen flawless finish which I see has good reviews? What about an eye shadow primer for darker lids and a highlighter for deeper skintones? Thank you.

[ChynnaBlue]

I would skip the powder, because it's too hard to get a match for someone I don't know, even if I know which shade the person wears in another color. Besides, if she purchases and likes one brand, I wouldn't want to get her something else if she's happy with what she has.

Golden highlights look good on darker skin because they don't look ashy like a pearl color can. Becca Shimmering Skin Perfectors are amazing and come in powder, cream, and liquid formulas. Opal and Topaz look great on darker skintones. Other great golden highlights include Mary Lou-Manizer, by The Balm, and Watt's Up! by Benefit Cosmetics. Sonia Kashuk's Chic Luminosity Highlighting Stick in Sparkling Sand or Persian Sunset are great cream stick highlighters on a budget and are sold at Target.

[suzyQ3]

I would not opt for makeup, especially face color, as a gift. Heck, I have enough trouble choosing for myself, let alone someone else.

There are so many other options that would not necessitate worrying about a good match.

[CoG]

ChynnaBlue, thank you for showing your concern.  While I do appreciate your willingness to help I think you've unwittingly done WOC a disservice. We come in a rainbow array of colors from women you don't even realize are not Caucasian to the deepest ebony.  

I absolutely HATE anything metallic on my skin.  Mineral powders and foundations turn silver- ash to green verdigris to oil slick manure.  The very last thing I want is "highlighting" of my natural red-brown highlights with gold leaf  or metallic pink or opal or pearl.....  I want red-brown matte, me, but with the same even skin tone the cosmetics manufacturers offer their porcelain, beige and tan customers.  If you will look at Jane Brown , QVC host, you will see the odd pink metallic forehead and cheek bones.  She doesn't realize how unattractive this look is.  I've watched her pretend to use various vendor's color cosmetics and been dismayed that she thinks we believe, are enticed to purchase the products when what we see what looks like ash tray contents spread all over her flawless skin.   Think of Adae (sp) the tall, thin, elegant model with the most admirable bone structure.  Even Josie's adjusting foundation makes her look like a corpse producing a white-gray film over deep rich skin.  The average viewer doesn't see it because they don't discern color at that spectrum.  Just reading the remarks in this forum makes this perfectly clear. 

I've searched for a foundation for almost 40 years now and have yet to find a foundation or powder that matches my skin tone.  Think Oprah with a bit of sun and you have  my tone.  I would not be able to fully appreciate a "gift" that makes me feel even more left out, yet another foundation that doesn't match.  Frankly I would think less of the giver.  It is a bit presumptuous.  

OP,  please think of another way to express your regard for this woman.  If she has found something that works, she has done something I have never been able to do .  I can afford anything on the market but can't find a match, not Lancome, Borghese, Clarins, MAC, the custom blend makeup store ........and certainly on QVC.  There is not one vendor on QVC that offers anything darker than tan !  They call their tans deep .  Deep what?   My latest attempt, guided by reviews of Jane Iredale arrived just this afternoon.  The Amazing Base Powder is the color and consistency of sick baby poop, perfect for a jaundiced Hawaiian, the Pure Pressed Base is dark metallic silver- green-black.  I've just wasted another considerable sum of money and there is no recourse. You can't return opened cosmetics to Pharmaca just because you don't like the color.

What you might do is give her top notch, prestige skin care.  If you insist on makeup try eyeliner, mascara something she can actually use.

Letting QVC know that their selection is exclusionary, discriminatory might help me and many others like me who want the same things you do and are denied !

[fitfuninformed]

Wow - welcome to the rest of the world trying to find the right foundation shade.

Try contacting Oprah, perhaps?

[IControlMyHappiness]

I also would not get someone makeup but if you must, I would google dupe for Mac Mineralized skinfinish natural.

That makeup is sheer and blends on several skintones.  You don't have to be exact as in a liquid or some powders.  I know a dupe exits I just can't think if it right now.

[KrissieK]

To fitfuninformed

I'm not sure you meant to sound flippant, but I think CoG meant there are not many options for darker skin tones, compared to lighter skin tones, coupled with the ever elusive holy grail foundation.

[CoG]

Thank you KrissieK for hearing and understanding, for caring about what to some is inconsequential.  It's a demoralizing thing to shout into the wind.  

[Tigriss]

I'm out at the total end of the spectrum for color and find the fair shades have few choices though more than the darker shades.  Our undertones make all the difference in finding a shade regardless of the color.  The ends of the spectrum don't seem to be for the most common market, so while the manufactors do offer them, retailers may not carry them.  I mix shades to get a best fit.  I have the same issue with plus sized clothes and shoes; I'm a narrow, AAAA, foot, so shoe shopping has never been an easy or cheaper thing.  I like a pair of $30 shoes if I could find them.

I would not buy makeup for anyone else unless it was family that I knew very well!  I also wouldn't buy perfume unless I knew the scent they wanted, otherwise a GIFT CARD is perfect for them to treat themselves to something they might not normally buy.  I love to give facial gift cards, if you wish to spend that kind of money for a thank you, and receive them.  We women tend to buy them for our dirty santa gifts at family Christmas, so we all fight for them.  They are also great for someone that has been through a stressful time of any kind.  We also love massages and pedi/mani gift cards.  These are more personal but still allow for the receiver to get something they will certainly use!  Trying to buy makeup for anyone of any color is difficult.  The gift card is a much safer route and will allow her to try things she might have been saving for or waiting for a special treat moment.

[Tigriss]

OH, I would also like highlighters and contour colors that don't make me look like a clown or even work as a highlighter since it only seems to add shimmer and not an actual lighter color. I reckon I just need to use white eye shadow. I will say that I searched for fair skin highlighting and contouring and found a YT video on using powders, specifically eye shadows because they come in a greater variety of shades than most bronzers and highlighter powders and way more than the liquids offered. I can't really get a shade or two lighter than what I am, but the darker shades really just look middle school on me even one or two. That, and I'm not really an artists with it. My college art professor said I drew like Egyptians, one dementional.