Apply with the sponge applicator for.MAC Cosmetics Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation. I do find that Face and Body works for me though since its water based and lighter in consistency.Read ALL about my review process including how I take swatches, photos, and more here.HOW TO USE: Apply to a well moisturized and prepped skin with a fluffy brush like the 129SH or 109 for lighter coverage. Ive stayed away from MAC Studio Fix Fluid for that exact reason, as I have very acne prone, sensitive skin. All the girls Ive spoken to at MAC say the exact same thing (well, the honest ones at least).
![]() ![]() ![]() Then there are those of us with neutral undertones (like me). We beautiful Black and brown women come in all types of gorgeous shades and undertones—some of us might find a brilliant match in a foundation line that tends to go very yellow-based while others in one that goes very red-based. Some brands are a little heavy handed with the red, some go ham on the yellow, some act like brown doesn’t have variations in undertones at all. Which is why things like powders (I have Cover FX powders in N110, P110, and then I use P125 to contour or bronze) and Pro Foundation Mixers are amazing.How to fix the black screen issue on the Elgato HD60SCheck me out on twitch Twitch. But even that isn’t always going to be an exact science—I can tan a little or tan a lot. So I typically would go from my usually N110 in Cover FX to the P110. MAC was the most popular choice of makeup because it’s EVERYWHERE (there are a lot of folks out there who still haven’t heard of brands like BECCA, Cover FX, or Make Up For Ever) and in some places it’s practically the only choice for women with deeper skin tones—I see this a lot when I’m in Europe 3. Some MAC artists were getting really crafty with shade-matching and trying to make their quotas so they put folks in whatever somewhat closely (or in some cases nowhere near as closely) matched their client 2. Elgatos most impressive capture card.But here’s another reason why I stopped using MAC foundations as a guide (aside from times when brands themselves supply them like SheaMoisture did for their Serum Foundation): EVERYBODY AND THEIR MAMA IS NC45 OR NW45.So my thinking behind this phenomena is a bunch of things 1. I hadn’t even had a clue as to what the shade extensions MAC came out with some years ago looked like.But because I do know how hard it is for us women with deeper shades to find a good foundation can be and because I still get people asking what shade would be an NW46 or whatever in another brand’s foundations, I figured I’d put this post together. I haven’t even worn MAC foundations (aside from the random review) in probably a decade. Then MAC discontinued it, replaced it with something else that goes nowhere near my shade (as of now—who knows if they’ll extend the shades later on), and I moved onto BECCA foundations and then ultimately added on other brands like Cover FX. No bother for me because that was my foundation jam back then. Easy to use 3d software for macI do know that NW50 came first before NW48 and maybe they didn’t want to name NW48 NW51? I dunno)I remember wearing NW45 in some MAC foundations and NW47 in others. You’ll get a more natural look.OK so enough rambling—but I hope you did read above and didn’t just scroll down to the pics…lol.(I have no idea why NW50 looks lighter than NW48—unless my NW50 bottle was mislabeled. It’s not about being all one shade when it comes to doing makeup for women of color—it’s all about harmony and balance. Because if you were to just put one foundation shade over all those beautiful natural shade variations, it can make you look very flat and in some cases unnatural. Many of us are lighter in color in the center of our faces and darker around the perimeter—highlighting and contouring is a way to mimic that—and no, it doesn’t have to be super dramatic all the time. Especially since I’m going to be swatching a lot of new foundation shades from brands like Hourglass and Anastasia Beverly Hills this month for #SwatchesInSeptember.Side note: This is also why highlighting and contouring is important for women of color (which I really explained in my Why One Foundation May Not Cut it for Women of Color post) because of the way so many of us are naturally colored. No foundation-shaming here ) Like this post and found it helpful? Please share it! You can use the social media share buttons at the top and bottom of this post. NW48 was the closest match but it still was off in undertone.To drive the point home about MAC equivalents, I swatched a NW47 and NW48 in MAC alongside some other brand shades that are somewhat close in shade (essentially dark brown colors) but as you can see in the pics, they’re far from being good matches for each other.So how do you make sure your foundation is a good match?!?!I got you! Check out my Foundation 101 video:Why One Foundation May Not Cut It For Women of ColorBECCA Ultimate Cover Concealing Creme (full coverage foundation that is pretty undetectable but covers well)Milani 2-in-1 Foundation & Concealer (another fuller coverage foundation that is pretty undetectable but covers well)How to Buy the Right Foundation Shade Both Online and In-StoreHow to Shop Drugstore Makeup When You Have Dark SkinDon’t Forget Balance in Your Makeup LooksThis post isn’t meant to bash MAC foundations—if you have a great match and formula from the brand, of course continue to rock it. A touch too light and off in undertone (NW45 and NW46 were probably off in undertone as well but them being too light was the first dealbreaker). I don’t like Studio Fix Fluid foundation (it breaks me out, I don’t like the smell, and I don’t love the finish) but I first tried NW45. From my background in Image Consulting, I learned that yellow/golden is warm and blue is cool. Where the confusion comes in is that some brands may classify colors differently—some may call red cool while others may call red warm (which if you look into color theory, you’ll understand that the same hue can be warm or cool) and there is no uniform classification in labeling undertones/shades in cosmetics. If you’re a true NC45, then you’d have yellow or golden undertones. The Matching Studio Fix For Me Code Amongst BrandsWhen it comes to foundation, again since there’s no uniform description code amongst brands, you’ll have to try the shades out when you venture to brands you haven’t tried before.
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