Mac Nc20 Undertone
There is nothing more exasperating than going to a store, knowing that it carries the brand of product you want, and then getting hit hard in the face when you see that it carries LIMITED SHADES of the foundation. Not even those counters at Metro or BHG carry the full range of Revlon Colorstay Foundation shades.
MAC NC20 is described by the brand as 'Golden beige with golden undertone for light skin.' It is a shade in the Studio Fix Powder Plus range, which is a pressed powder foundation with a matte finish and full coverage that retails for $30.00 and contains 0.52 oz. A lightweight, liquid, long-lasting concealer with a comfortable matte finish. This pro concealer gives a smoother, flawless look to skin. The full-coverage formula helps to conceal blemishes, dark spots, skin discolouration and undereye circles.
Okie, drama queen, there is more to life than frowning over foundation shades.
But mannnnn!!! Why do they do this to us?
There are 20 shades for the Revlon ColorStay Makeup with SoftFlex liquid foundation. Guess how many people in Singapore are entitled to?
A grand total of 5.
F.I.V.E!!!
In the picture are Sand Beige (left; available in all drugstores) and Buff (right; not available in any drugstore). They are just one shade apart, but make a whole lot of difference.
A WHOLE LOT.
The full range of Revlon Colorstay Foundation Shades goes like this, with the ones available in Singapore in orange:
- Ivory
- Buff
- Sand Beige
- Nude
- Natural Beige
- Medium Beige
- Fresh Beige
- Golden Beige
- Warm Golden
- True Beige
- Natural Tan
- Early Tan
- Rich Tan
- Golden Caramel
- Toast
- Rich Ginger
- Caramel
- Cappuccino
- Mahogany
- Mocha
Whatever happened to the ones in between???
For the love of my motherland, I’m crying out loud to the cosmetics merchandisers: “Do we all constitute just 5 shades out of the 20?”. If I had such a nightmarish episode with finding the right foundation shade for my very common MAC NC20-25 skin undertone with the Revlon Colorstay Foundation, I’m sure many others in Singapore have trouble too. And us being a multi-racial country with Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian, etc, shouldn’t we be entitled to even MORE foundation shades? Oh, and the entire Dry/Normal Skin range is non-existent. How could they assume people here don't have with dry/normal skin?
It's the 'All asians must look the same' logic again, isn't it? LOL!
I don’t know, maybe I’m just kicking up a big fuss but it really is annoying that for such a highly raved liquid foundation product, only 5 shades are brought in to Singapore. And I’m kicking up a fuss because I am a victim of this insufficient range of shades. *bangs table*
E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y loves the Revlon Colorstay Foundation. It is all coated with mushy love and sugary kisses and bestowed the Holy Grail honor by thousands and thousands of blogs and videos all over the world.
So one day I went to Watsons and looked for a suitable shade. I didn’t know they had 20 shades then. Nude was too light and Warm Golden onwards was too dark for my MAC NC20-25 skin undertone. Sand Beige seemed a little dark on my skin but that was the nearest of all the 5 shades. Against my better judgement, into my basket it went.
In the ensuing months of using the Revlon foundation, I established a love-hate relationship with it. Despite all its goodness – full coverage, long-lasting, non-irritable to skin – it never felt right. When something doesn't feel right, negative things about the product start to surface - can feel heavy on the skin sometimes, horrible paint smell, must work very fast otherwise would turn streaky on the skin.......
I always thought there was something wrong with my method of application, or that my primer caused it to react and change color, or that my skin was too oily, or that I had applied too much or too little. I kept blaming myself. How could I hate it when the whole world seems to worship it?
So I kept giving it chances and hated it even more every time I saw myself in the mirror with my face looking all orange.
It wasn’t so bad when I paired it with NARS Loose Powder in Flesh coz Flesh is the right shade for me, but when I wore it alone, Ooompa Loompa was I!
Look at how dark Sand Beige looks against Buff! To think they're just one shade apart!
I chucked it aside for many months and only started using it again 2 months ago. Then (can’t fathom why it took me so long) it came to my realization that it wasn’t the product nor my foundation application skills, it was the wrong shade! It was then that I discovered that there are actually 20 shades, not just our measly 5!
I had to order Buff online (from amazon).
Since Ivory is definitely too light and Sand Beige turns me orange, Buff was my only option. I mean, other than giving up hope altogether on Revlon Colorstay Foundation. I’ve always have to take a gamble when I buy face makeup online because we have such limited US products here. NARS Loose Powder in Flesh was also a lucky bet. (Oh c’mon Singapore Sephora! When are you giving us NARS???)
Notice the green arrow? It points to where I stopped applying Sand Beige. It looks like an ugly tan line I got from sunbathing in a t-shirt.
The first time I tried Buff, OMG. I tell you, I felt like a carebear sliding down a rainbow. It looked a little light when it touched my skin, but upon stippling it looked better and after the makeup settled in an hour, my skin appeared more natural-looking. There was no two-toned skin between my neck and jawline. And by mid-day, it oxidised to such a natural shade I almost wished I could kiss my own cheek!
See what a GREAT difference a shade lighter makes? I couldn’t be happier with Buff on my NC20-25 skin. I LOVE the Revlon Colorstay Foundation coz everything is right! (I'm one of you now!)
If a Revlon Colorstay Foundation turns orange on you, your skin most likely reacted to some components in the foundation causing it to oxidise and turn orange. Oils in our skin or moisturizer can intensify and alter the color of the pigments.
So if you find that a foundation looks barely right when you swatch it at a drugstore and you have had experiences of foundation oxidising on you, don’t think it will get any better if you bring it home! Do some online research and see what people of your skin undertone and skin combination say about a certain foundation shade.
Revlon Colorstay Foundation is priced at SGD27.90 (edit: SGD30.90 as at Nov 2012) in Singapore. It feels expensive coz Sand Beige's just gonna lie there and be wasted. Boooooooo!
Buff: 1
Sand Beige: 0
Get Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Buff and Medium Beige here:
Revlon Colorstay Foundation - Buff
Bun Bun rates the Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Buff for NC20-25:
Did you have any trouble finding the right shade for the Revlon Colorstay Foundation?
Wherever you are, do they have a huge range of foundation shades?
Buying foundation is such a hit or miss thing for me. Somehow I always end up with a shade that’s completely wrong for me. And then I discovered this fantastic megathread at r/MakeupAddiction where the makeup aficionados there listed all the popular foundation shades that matched their skin tones.
I wanted to make that super useful resource easier to use, so I’ve extracted the shade info from the thread and sorted it by MAC shade.
Enjoy!
NC5 to NC10 Foundation Matches
If NC5 is too light for you and NC10 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NC10 Foundation Matches
very fair beige with neutral undertone for very fair skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC10.
NC10 or NW10 Foundation Matches
If either NC10 or NW10 match you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NC15 Foundation Matches
light beige with golden undertone for light skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC15.
NC15 to NC20 Foundation Matches
If NC15 is too light for you and NC20 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NC20 Foundation Matches
light beige with neutral golden undertone for light skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC20.
NC20 to NC25 Foundation Matches
If NC20 is too light for you and NC25 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NC25 Foundation Matches
light beige with golden peach undertone for light skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC25.
NC30 Foundation Matches
light to medium beige with golden undertone for light to medium skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC30.
NC30 to NC35 Foundation Matches
If NC30 is too light for you and NC35 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NC35 Foundation Matches
light to medium beige with peachy golden undertone for medium skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC35.
NC35 to NC40 Foundation Matches
If NC35 is too light for you and NC40 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NC40 Foundation Matches
medium beige with golden peach undertone for medium skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC40.
NC40 to NC42 Foundation Matches
If NC40 is too light for you and NC42 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NC42 Foundation Matches
true medium beige with golden undertone for medium skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC42.
NC44 Foundation Matches
tanned caramel with golden undertone for medium to dark skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC44.
NC44 to NC45 Foundation Matches
If NC44 is too light for you and NC45 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NC45 Foundation Matches
bronze with golden undertone for dark skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC45.
NC45 to NC50 Foundation Matches
If NC45 is too light for you and NC50 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
Mac Nc20 Concealer
NC50 Foundation Matches
rich brown with golden undertone for deep dark skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC50.
Lighter than NW10 Foundation Matches
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to Lighter than NW10.
NW10 Foundation Matches
very fair beige with rosy undertone for fair skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NW10.
NW10 to NW20 Foundation Matches
If NW10 is too light for you and NW20 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NW10 to NW13 Foundation Matches
If NW10 is too light for you and NW13 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NW13 Foundation Matches
fair beige with neutral undertone for light skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NW13.
NW15 Foundation Matches
light beige with neutral undertone for light skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NW15.
NW15 to NW20 Foundation Matches
If NW15 is too light for you and NW20 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NW15 to NC20 Foundation Matches
Neutral when pale but golden/yellow when tanned
If NW15 is too light for you and NC20 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NW20 Foundation Matches
warm neutral beige with rosy undertone for light to medium skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NW20.
NW25 Foundation Matches
rosy beige with rosy undertone for light to medium skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NW25.
Mac Studio Fix Nc20
NW25 to NW30 Foundation Matches
If NW25 is too light for you and NW30 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
NW45 Foundation Matches
medium mahoghany with rosy undertones for medium to dark skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NW45.
NW47 Foundation Matches
deep auburn with neutral undertones for dark skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NW47.
NW50 Foundation Matches
rich coffee with neutral undertone for dark skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NW50.
N1 to N2 Foundation Matches
If N1 is too light for you and N2 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
N4 to N5 Foundation Matches
If N4 is too light for you and N5 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
N1 to N5 Foundation Matches
If N1 is too light for you and N5 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
Lighter than N5 Foundation Matches
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to Lighter than N5.
Mac Nc20 Undertones
N5 to N10 Foundation Matches
If N5 is too light for you and N10 is too dark for you, these foundation shades might suit you.
N9 Foundation Matches
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to N9.
N10 Foundation Matches
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to N10.
Nc20 Skin Tone
N18 Foundation Matches
light neutral with rosy undertone for light skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to N18.