What Does It Mean If Makeup Turns Your Face Red

Last week at work, I walked into the bathroom, caught my reflection, and promptly said, "what the actual f—k." Considering my entire chin and jaw were straight-up orangish, like I was a 13-twelvemonth-onetime playing with foundation for the outset time. Merely shocker: I hadn't done anything differently with my makeup that morning, so what gives? The just caption: I had officially become a victim of foundation oxidation.Dun, dun, duuuun.

(Image credit: Marie Claire)

Oxidation is a weird, unremarkably despised, yet not fully understood problem in the beauty earth, because it seems to wholly depend on a person's skin type, the foundation they're using, and their skincare routine. A quick Google search turns up pages and pages of "why is this happening?!" Reddit threads, forth with debates on its verbal cause. But regardless of the reason, the result is the same: orange, WTF-worthy skin that's a few shades darker (and a zillion times oranger) than it was when yous first blended on your foundation or concealer hours ago.

Some cosmetic chemists say that it'south acquired by solvents in the foundation evaporating on your pare, causing the pigments to await a darker colour on your face, while others disagree, citing your skin oils or skincare oil to exist the real culprit: "The oils on your face and the oxygen in the air...mix with the oils in your foundation and crusade the oxidative procedure—AKA the darkening, or, as I similar to call it, oompa loompa face," writes i user.

And based on every single makeup artist I've e'er spoken with, it seems to be a combination of the ii is most likely truthful. "Oxidation definitely does happen, simply I detect that it'southward almost ever because of an SPF or a primer that doesn't mix well with your skin or your foundation," says celeb makeup artist and all-around crawly person Vincent Oquendo.

Luckily, though, the fixes are pretty simple. At to the lowest degree, afterwards some trial and fault.

Dominion out the foundation.Annoyingly, some foundations just seem to take a reputation for oxidizing, no thing what you do. To check for yourself, swatch a line of the suspect foundation on the within of your wrist the next fourth dimension you lot're dwelling house for most of the 24-hour interval. If it nevertheless turns orangish later on a few hours, that foundation is not your friend and deserves to get tossed or returned.

Absorb your face. If your skin is on the oilier side, or if you but use a ton of super-rich, hardcore moisturizers (*raises manus*), and then endeavor soaking upward some of those excess oils before you utilise your primer or foundation to help your foundation blend more evenly over your skin. (I, personally, do this every single forenoon with my favoritePalladio Rice Paper sheets, and my confront stays matte, happy, and orange-free all day long).

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Swap your SPF. Note that I did non say SKIP your SPF, because it's the only affair protecting you from both skin cancer and wrinkles, but try playing around with different formulations. "I've noticed that face creams with SPF tend to cause oxidation more, for some reason," says Oquendo, who suggests applying a separate sunscreen on superlative of your moisturizer, rather than combing the two. "I dear theClarins UV Plus Anti-Pollution sunscreen—information technology plays nicely with every foundation I've tried it with," he says.

Get the correct shade. This sounds obvious, merely "you'd exist surprised by how many of my clients are wearing a also-dark foundation shade and wondering why they look orange," says Oquendo, who suggests sticking with the foundation shade that actually matches your peel ("if it looks even slightly orange in the bottle, it'll await even oranger on your face"), and calculation warmth with a dusting of bronzer around the edges of the confront and beneath the cheekbones. His current favorite? TheDior Diorskin Nude Air Tan Powder.

And, if all else fails, just endeavour a different foundation. I know—revolutionary. Only sometimes, your face just hates what you're putting on information technology, and the only style out is by making a complete switch.

(Image credit: Courtesy of brands)

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(Epitome credit: Marie Claire)

Chloe Metzger is the deputy beauty manager at Cosmopolitan, obsessively writing about new makeup launches, the best hair products (curly girl here; whattup), and the skincare formulas that really work for every skin blazon (follow her on Instagram to see backside-the-scenes pics of that magazine life). She also has an unhealthy adoration for Tom Hanks and would like to please see him i solar day, if you lot could conform that. Thanks.