Trying to find out what kind of foundation that responds the best with your skin without knowing your skin type is a common issue for women.

Makeup consultants try to find the right makeup and skin products for your type of skin and what foundation to use.

For these makeup tips, we talked with two consultants from Sephora’s Springfield store at Battlefield Mall: Store director Lauren Best, who has been working at makeup counters for 12 years, and Tabatha Nash, a 33-year-old makeup artist at Sephora who earned her degree at Make-up Designory, Los Angeles, California. 

Dry, mixed or oily skin? That’s the question.

To find out what foundation to use, you must first understand what type of skin you have. A way to know this is by noticing how your skin feels after being washed.

“If your skin feels thirsty and needs to be moisturized, if it feels tight, or maybe it’s shiny on your ‘T’ area — that’s the type of hints you need to find,” Best said.

Nash also mentioned that you should be aware of these hints throughout the day. “It also has something to do with how your skin feels when you go to sleep, when you wake up, and how it evolves through the day.”

Case study: Normal to dry, sensitive skin.

When your skin feels tight, you might have normal to dry, sensitive skin. Finding a foundation that you could use when you have a big variety of products to choose from will be your next issue.

For this case, Best offered three suggestions, categorized by price range, that will work best with your type of skin and will give you a “light to medium coverage.”

1. The accessible: Skin Perfect CC Cream by Sephora

   

2. The medium-priced: Tinted Moisturizer by Laura Mercier

   

3. The professional: Hourglass Illusion Hyluronic Skin Tint

   

Case study: Medium to oily skin

If your skin gets shiny or feels oily when you touch it, your case will be slightly more complicated. “Foundations will always have issues when trying to hold up to oily skins on their own,” Nash said.

To use any foundation with oily skins, you need to use skin products first to try to control the oils on your skin as best as possible.

For this case, ​Nash suggested three skin-care products and three foundations:

1. The accessible: Hydratant Matifiant 8h by Sephora

   

2. The medium-priced: Mattifying Serum by Umbrian Clay

   

3. The professional: Oil-Control Mattifier by Dr. Murad

   

You now have your lotion, which will help you control the oils on your skin, but now you also need a foundation that will correctly adapt to your oily skin. “There are foundations designed to absorb the oils from your skin,” Nash said. “It helps, but it can’t be used on its own either; that’s why you would need skin-care products to control it.”

Here are her three suggestions for foundation:

1. The accessible: MATTE Foundation Broad Spectrum SPF 15 by Bare Minerals

   

2. The medium-priced: Mat Velvet+ by MAKE UP FOR EVER

   

3. The professional: Nude Miracle by Lancôme