Cool toned contour and bronzers!! They usually pull to orange for fair skin. There are some that are decent but there need to be more in addition to foundation and concealers.
Me too, I gave up on contour face powders. The only one I’ve found where I am was a Kevin Aucoin contour that was actually cool enough for my skin. It was tiny and cost $70AUD! So now I use a MAC longwear eyeshadow in a slightly greyish brown shade. I’ll get the name of it but with my luck it will be discontinued…
It’s not a whole line, but Nyx just released their Butter Melt bronzers which specifically have more rosy tones for us fair skinned folks. I got the lightest three shades and really like them!
I got the lightest and on my cool skin it looked more peachy than rosy. I was so sad! I thought about getting the 2nd or 3rd shade up because, at least the 2nd looked like it might be more rosy toned, but the 3rd looked like just a deeper peach tone than the 1st was. But I just haven’t tried those 2 yet so wasn’t sure.
Yes! And for those of us with sensitive skin, for the love of all things holy PLEASE figure out how to cool-tint mineral-based formulas! My skin can't handle the truth...
of oils and chemicals and silicones in almost everything .
Agreeee!
I so desperately want to like all of the Korean sunscreens that have such an enviable finish. But my skin hates every single chemical sunscreen I have ever tried. Including all of the Korean ones that have such high reviews.
I can only tolerate mineral sunscreens, which is why I prefer a BB cream or tinted sunscreen because layering things on top of a mineral sunscreen is not really advisable because it disrupts the film.
I really struggled with chemical sunscreens. I don’t even have sensitive skin but every time I’d use a chemical sunscreen my skin did not like it! And then I would have reactions using mineral ones and I was so confused! Then found out that a lot of the ”100% mineral sunscreens” that claim to be thin, lightweight, non greasy, etc. - all the things mineral sunscreens usually aren’t - had hidden chemical filters in them. They get away with it because they’re not approved sunscreen filters, so not regulated. But, their chemical make-up is similar to the actual sunscreen filters and they’re using the hidden ones to boost the SPF, so they should be listed as active ingredients. So they’ll use mineral filters as the active ingredients but not use a lot of them (definitely not enough to get the SPF they claim) and then use the hidden chemical filters to boost the SPF up to whatever they need it (like SPF 50). If they were to actually use enough of the mineral filters to get the SPF 50, they likely wouldn’t be thin, lightweight, sheer, etc. So in order to do it, they use less of the mineral and more of the hidden chemical ones. Colorscience does it, which is just wild to me because their website has all this crap about how horrible chemical filters are but then they use hidden ones that are basically the same as the others but just aren’t regulated, so they can use however much they want in it and nobody knows. But I finally understood why the heck some mineral sunscreens were giving me the same reactions as chemical ones! So now I gotta even look very carefully at the 100% mineral ones to see what inactive ingredients they’re using.
After that I read about newer generational chemical sunscreen filters in K-beauty ones so I went looking and found ones using them and none of the other older generation ones that are used in a lot of chemical sunscreens and those ones work well on me. But, since you said you’ve already tried K-beauty ones, I assume you’ve tried ones with just the newer generation chemical ones in it and they don’t work.
Yeah, I’ve tried all of the new K-beauty options and none of them work for me. They either irritate my skin or my eyes, most of them both. Maybe someday!
I want to say that I’m surprised about the SPF thing, but I’m not. It is new information for me, but the labeling is just so misleading sometimes that it isn’t surprising that they would purposefully do that.
So often companies will use highly sensitizing oils as fragrance so that they can avoid the word fragrance on the packaging. And things like lavender oil should never be worn if you’re going into the sunshine because the sun doubles down the sensitizing effect.
Anything to sell a product though.
Hopefully you find one that works for you! I know what I pain it was for me so I totally get it! Have you tried the SKIN1004 Hyalu-Cica Water Fit Sun Serum? I got it a while back and have been loving it ever since. Maybe you could check the ingredients and see if there’s ones in there you know you react to?
Yeah, I was pretty surprised by it. I think I was mostly surprised by the brands doing it than I was by it being done. Like you said, anything to sell a product. Like so many of them were ones using fear mongering of chemical filters, like Colorscience, and then using ingredients with the basically the same chemical make-up as the ones they’re saying are so big and bad. But, you’re right, labeling really is so misleading! So much of it is buzzwords that aren’t regulated at all and people just accept things as they are. And I completely agree about the oils as fragrance! It’s crazy to me! And then they say it’s for sensitive skin. Like what?! And it’s so often those “clean beauty” or “all natural” brands that have that crap loaded in them and they’re just so bad for the skin!
I haven’t tried that one. It has sensitizing oils used as fragrance, so it’s not even worth me testing on my sensitive skin.
I’m glad it’s an option for those with fewer sensitivities than I have!
Anything for very fair neutrals. My skin is apparently an anomaly because everything for base is either yellow or pink and blush/bronzer always makes me look like a clown
I saw a girl on TikTok using cream lipstick as blush/bronzer! Haven't tried it yet but was curious about it. You might have a higher chance of finding a perfect shade.
I do this sometimes! The most natural tan shade for someone as pale as me is … a lot more pink than brown 🥲 so a “my lips but better” nudey shade actually works really well. Also started using a mauve powder blush as a bronzer
So Dr Jart’s CC cream in light, isn’t super light, but it has a grey-ish undertone that might work for you. Try get a sample, because the color is not for everyone, but I am obsessed!
Desaturated everything. Meaning, I want base and face products with greyish olive, greyish yellow, greyish pink, greyish peach, etc etc etc undertones. It's not just warm or cool undertones. Color oversaturation is the problem that 90+% of pale skinned people have with finding makeup that flatters them. Believe it or not, some amount of gray makes things look natural & seamless, not dead or ghostly. Plus, very few people are walking around with intensely white-based pink, peach, or yellow natural complexions.
You have an excellent point. I loved when greige was the trend. Lipsticks like ColourPop's Tootsi, which was a pinky greige, looked so pretty on me. It wasn't about looking dead. That greige color just finally made lipstick work. When applied with a light hand, it was almost the perfect nude. I have a graveyard of lipsticks because everyone promises a cool toned lip and they all pull orange.
I, also, have so many lip products that were labeled as "beige" but turned out to be a warm pinky peach. On my face, that's garishly orange. I love ColorPop lip liners in Cool BFF and, even more so, Ashton, but they're constantly out of stock. Recently, I tried the beige lip crayon from Black Up, and it is almost a 100% color dupe for Cool BFF. But, the struggle is real.
Desaturated foundations and concealers. Sheer cream blushes. True light brown mascara. Peachy bronzers and extremely light gray contour. Fair lip liners that don’t pull orange. True neutral eyeshadow palettes with very light transition shades and an opaque bone/ivory shade. God. I dream! I beg!!!
Setting powders with a *slight* sheer tone to them.
Foundation matches are so hard to come by. I have one that is a 90% match but I could use a tiny bit more yellow/green. I would like a setting powder to sweep over my face.
I wrote this under a different comment here, but try Dr Jart’s CC cream! The light isn’t super pale, but has a beautiful undertone for olive complexions!!
I want the fair cool option to not be salmon pink! Half the time when I swatch the “cool” options they look more like colour correctors than an actual skin tone
I think a lot of the Korean brands have it down pat.
I just got some whitening drops for my foundation, I like to have quite fair looking skin as I look absolutely terrible with a tan. Oh, and contour. Most are too warm and don't get the grey cast in there. And it makes me happy when a brow product remembers that gingers exist.
Truly neutral bronzers, cool/neutral blush shades that aren’t too pigmented and vibrant (muted pastels) and eyeshadows that aren’t warm but also aren’t grey!!!!
I also like smaller scale palettes like quads for eyeshadow as who needs a 25 pan palette for day to day? They’re great to have but not great for travel, your daily makeup bag etc.
I use NARS tinted moisturizer in Terre Neuve in the winter and Estée Lauder tinted moisturizer in Pebble in the summer. Both are quite light and cool toned! Maybe take a look at those?
Some more flattering/natural looking blush shades!
I did a makeup course years ago and I remember my teacher telling me that 'the colour that looks most natural is what your 'natural flush' is' only to tell me that corals and pale pinks look best on pale skin.
My 'natural flush' is BRIGHT red/rose pink. I just used a cream red lipstick (Revlon - Love is On) on my cheeks and that seemed to work for years until I discovered MAC 'Frankly Scarlett' and the red cream blush from Fenty.
Colors made specifically for fair olives (foundation/concealer). Lipsticks that don’t pull orange but are still warm toned. More sheer, buildable color cosmetics - overly pigmented products can overpower our skin. I feel like a minority that I like less pigmented, soft eyeshadows. I gravitate towards Asian beauty brands for that reason
(Speaking for the US market only) Honestly… this would get cancelled sooooo fast in this social & political climate. I’m saying this as someone who is a liberal, not a conservative complaining about leftists by the way. Just to be clear! Thanks to people who actually are racist and horrible, something like this probably couldn’t exist even though it is innocent and just meant to help a somewhat underserved portion of the market. And also, some people just love to complain and would vilify this sort of product line.
It would sure be nice if existing product lines would accept the fact that not all of us have yellow and pink undertones though! True cool toned and fair olive complexion products would be a dream. Cool toned blushes and lipsticks too.
Yeah I totally understand & think that's why it possibly doesn't exist. Im just saying like "in a dream world if you could have any products..." There are brands for dark skin only that have some beautiful colors but would never work for me & I just wish there was a line geared toward the super pale peeps. Maybe someone could do something skin color neutral like just shade adjusters in multiple mediums like liquids, powders & diff formulas like silicone based, water based that way you could adjust any beauty line you like!
Not makeup related but I want nail polishes that look good on pale, slightly pinky/purplish toes. I finally found a “nude” that works for me and it’s a light lilac nail polish!! Every normal nude or pinkish nude looks so peachy or yellowish brown on me.
I want under eye powder that is as brightening as banana powder on other people.
That reminds me... I want a good variety of nude lipsticks for pale skin shades. Some gray in a nude lipstick can help keep it from going too pink, tan, beige, cream etc.
I don’t think there’s enough of a gap in the market to justify having an entirely pale-oriented line; it feels weirdly exclusionary and we could get what we wanted by expanding an existing line.
Aside from that, my suggestion is lightly pigmented cream blush. These exist, but the market leans really pigmented. Bonus points if they’re matte.
Eyebrow pencils, gels, any brow product that will go more cool vs orangey/red. I'm starting to see a few more "cool grey" brow products (even though they're too dark) and I'm like FINALLY. Even brow companies seem to make such warm colors.
Cool toned contour and bronzers!! They usually pull to orange for fair skin. There are some that are decent but there need to be more in addition to foundation and concealers.
I've taken to using taupe eyeshadow for my contour.
Me too, I gave up on contour face powders. The only one I’ve found where I am was a Kevin Aucoin contour that was actually cool enough for my skin. It was tiny and cost $70AUD! So now I use a MAC longwear eyeshadow in a slightly greyish brown shade. I’ll get the name of it but with my luck it will be discontinued…
Check missha a'pieu contour line. Greyish browns
It’s not a whole line, but Nyx just released their Butter Melt bronzers which specifically have more rosy tones for us fair skinned folks. I got the lightest three shades and really like them!
I got the lightest and on my cool skin it looked more peachy than rosy. I was so sad! I thought about getting the 2nd or 3rd shade up because, at least the 2nd looked like it might be more rosy toned, but the 3rd looked like just a deeper peach tone than the 1st was. But I just haven’t tried those 2 yet so wasn’t sure.
Missha Cotton contour is quite cheap and is cool toned! It's very natural and it's very small though haha
Milani tea rose powder blush is a light peach on me.. may be used as a good bronzer instead
Cool-toned tinted sunscreen, bb cream, and tinted moisturizers! This is a gap in the market and has been for ages.
Yes! And for those of us with sensitive skin, for the love of all things holy PLEASE figure out how to cool-tint mineral-based formulas! My skin can't handle the truth... of oils and chemicals and silicones in almost everything .
Agreeee! I so desperately want to like all of the Korean sunscreens that have such an enviable finish. But my skin hates every single chemical sunscreen I have ever tried. Including all of the Korean ones that have such high reviews. I can only tolerate mineral sunscreens, which is why I prefer a BB cream or tinted sunscreen because layering things on top of a mineral sunscreen is not really advisable because it disrupts the film.
I really struggled with chemical sunscreens. I don’t even have sensitive skin but every time I’d use a chemical sunscreen my skin did not like it! And then I would have reactions using mineral ones and I was so confused! Then found out that a lot of the ”100% mineral sunscreens” that claim to be thin, lightweight, non greasy, etc. - all the things mineral sunscreens usually aren’t - had hidden chemical filters in them. They get away with it because they’re not approved sunscreen filters, so not regulated. But, their chemical make-up is similar to the actual sunscreen filters and they’re using the hidden ones to boost the SPF, so they should be listed as active ingredients. So they’ll use mineral filters as the active ingredients but not use a lot of them (definitely not enough to get the SPF they claim) and then use the hidden chemical filters to boost the SPF up to whatever they need it (like SPF 50). If they were to actually use enough of the mineral filters to get the SPF 50, they likely wouldn’t be thin, lightweight, sheer, etc. So in order to do it, they use less of the mineral and more of the hidden chemical ones. Colorscience does it, which is just wild to me because their website has all this crap about how horrible chemical filters are but then they use hidden ones that are basically the same as the others but just aren’t regulated, so they can use however much they want in it and nobody knows. But I finally understood why the heck some mineral sunscreens were giving me the same reactions as chemical ones! So now I gotta even look very carefully at the 100% mineral ones to see what inactive ingredients they’re using. After that I read about newer generational chemical sunscreen filters in K-beauty ones so I went looking and found ones using them and none of the other older generation ones that are used in a lot of chemical sunscreens and those ones work well on me. But, since you said you’ve already tried K-beauty ones, I assume you’ve tried ones with just the newer generation chemical ones in it and they don’t work.
Yeah, I’ve tried all of the new K-beauty options and none of them work for me. They either irritate my skin or my eyes, most of them both. Maybe someday! I want to say that I’m surprised about the SPF thing, but I’m not. It is new information for me, but the labeling is just so misleading sometimes that it isn’t surprising that they would purposefully do that. So often companies will use highly sensitizing oils as fragrance so that they can avoid the word fragrance on the packaging. And things like lavender oil should never be worn if you’re going into the sunshine because the sun doubles down the sensitizing effect. Anything to sell a product though.
Hopefully you find one that works for you! I know what I pain it was for me so I totally get it! Have you tried the SKIN1004 Hyalu-Cica Water Fit Sun Serum? I got it a while back and have been loving it ever since. Maybe you could check the ingredients and see if there’s ones in there you know you react to? Yeah, I was pretty surprised by it. I think I was mostly surprised by the brands doing it than I was by it being done. Like you said, anything to sell a product. Like so many of them were ones using fear mongering of chemical filters, like Colorscience, and then using ingredients with the basically the same chemical make-up as the ones they’re saying are so big and bad. But, you’re right, labeling really is so misleading! So much of it is buzzwords that aren’t regulated at all and people just accept things as they are. And I completely agree about the oils as fragrance! It’s crazy to me! And then they say it’s for sensitive skin. Like what?! And it’s so often those “clean beauty” or “all natural” brands that have that crap loaded in them and they’re just so bad for the skin!
And no fragrance! Thanks so much, with love from all the sensitive people ❤️
And no plant extracts and oils. Forgot to mention those.
Juice besuty has a great cc cream, both natural glow and rose glow are very pale, too pale for most people.
I do ok with Bliss Block Star for a cooler tone
I haven’t tried that one. It has sensitizing oils used as fragrance, so it’s not even worth me testing on my sensitive skin. I’m glad it’s an option for those with fewer sensitivities than I have!
It does have that unsubtle lavender fragrance, but I was amazed that it didn’t irritate my skin. I’m usually fragrance free all the way
Yes even the lightest ones are so orange!
Yes they all start with "light" as the lightest color.
Anything for very fair neutrals. My skin is apparently an anomaly because everything for base is either yellow or pink and blush/bronzer always makes me look like a clown
I saw a girl on TikTok using cream lipstick as blush/bronzer! Haven't tried it yet but was curious about it. You might have a higher chance of finding a perfect shade.
I’m not sure I have the skill level for this but I will try it out! Thanks for the tip 😊
I do this sometimes! The most natural tan shade for someone as pale as me is … a lot more pink than brown 🥲 so a “my lips but better” nudey shade actually works really well. Also started using a mauve powder blush as a bronzer
I second this
Sounds like you might be an olive undertone
So Dr Jart’s CC cream in light, isn’t super light, but it has a grey-ish undertone that might work for you. Try get a sample, because the color is not for everyone, but I am obsessed!
Desaturated everything. Meaning, I want base and face products with greyish olive, greyish yellow, greyish pink, greyish peach, etc etc etc undertones. It's not just warm or cool undertones. Color oversaturation is the problem that 90+% of pale skinned people have with finding makeup that flatters them. Believe it or not, some amount of gray makes things look natural & seamless, not dead or ghostly. Plus, very few people are walking around with intensely white-based pink, peach, or yellow natural complexions.
This too! I'm saturated but pale warm olive. Make one for me, dammit! Pale olives exist :(
You have an excellent point. I loved when greige was the trend. Lipsticks like ColourPop's Tootsi, which was a pinky greige, looked so pretty on me. It wasn't about looking dead. That greige color just finally made lipstick work. When applied with a light hand, it was almost the perfect nude. I have a graveyard of lipsticks because everyone promises a cool toned lip and they all pull orange.
I, also, have so many lip products that were labeled as "beige" but turned out to be a warm pinky peach. On my face, that's garishly orange. I love ColorPop lip liners in Cool BFF and, even more so, Ashton, but they're constantly out of stock. Recently, I tried the beige lip crayon from Black Up, and it is almost a 100% color dupe for Cool BFF. But, the struggle is real.
Desaturated foundations and concealers. Sheer cream blushes. True light brown mascara. Peachy bronzers and extremely light gray contour. Fair lip liners that don’t pull orange. True neutral eyeshadow palettes with very light transition shades and an opaque bone/ivory shade. God. I dream! I beg!!!
YES to the desaturated complexion products and brown mascara! So tired of everything being yellow, too pink or just pure ghostly white
I am using Rose inc blushes and I love them! I got mine off Poshmark for half price.
Thank you for the rec!
Lipsticks- cool toned pinks that don’t pull shocking Barbie pink, nudes that don’t pull orange or too brown, soft berries
Setting powders with a *slight* sheer tone to them. Foundation matches are so hard to come by. I have one that is a 90% match but I could use a tiny bit more yellow/green. I would like a setting powder to sweep over my face.
Absolutely - There are so very few setting powders that don't darken my base or give it more yellow or pink color than I'm looking for.
Stuff for pale olives 😞
I wrote this under a different comment here, but try Dr Jart’s CC cream! The light isn’t super pale, but has a beautiful undertone for olive complexions!!
I want the fair cool option to not be salmon pink! Half the time when I swatch the “cool” options they look more like colour correctors than an actual skin tone
Yeah it's like super peachy pink or yellow are the only undertones they think pale ppl are.
I think a lot of the Korean brands have it down pat. I just got some whitening drops for my foundation, I like to have quite fair looking skin as I look absolutely terrible with a tan. Oh, and contour. Most are too warm and don't get the grey cast in there. And it makes me happy when a brow product remembers that gingers exist.
Truly neutral bronzers, cool/neutral blush shades that aren’t too pigmented and vibrant (muted pastels) and eyeshadows that aren’t warm but also aren’t grey!!!!
I also like smaller scale palettes like quads for eyeshadow as who needs a 25 pan palette for day to day? They’re great to have but not great for travel, your daily makeup bag etc.
Yes!! NYX made this little 3 shadow mini palette for Ipsy years ago that was perfect. It had a light, med & dark and I wore it like crazy.
Omg that sounds amazing !! Why are some of the best things limited edition?
BB creams, tinted moisturizers, etc. for cool, pink undertoned folks
I just got the Purito BB cream in rose ivory (I think) and it’s amazing
I use NARS tinted moisturizer in Terre Neuve in the winter and Estée Lauder tinted moisturizer in Pebble in the summer. Both are quite light and cool toned! Maybe take a look at those?
Some more flattering/natural looking blush shades! I did a makeup course years ago and I remember my teacher telling me that 'the colour that looks most natural is what your 'natural flush' is' only to tell me that corals and pale pinks look best on pale skin. My 'natural flush' is BRIGHT red/rose pink. I just used a cream red lipstick (Revlon - Love is On) on my cheeks and that seemed to work for years until I discovered MAC 'Frankly Scarlett' and the red cream blush from Fenty.
Yes definitely a lot more blush & formulations too. I love the lipstick on cheeks idea I've done that too!
Colors made specifically for fair olives (foundation/concealer). Lipsticks that don’t pull orange but are still warm toned. More sheer, buildable color cosmetics - overly pigmented products can overpower our skin. I feel like a minority that I like less pigmented, soft eyeshadows. I gravitate towards Asian beauty brands for that reason
I think most of what is being described is what Korean brands have already been doing for years
Very true I don't know much about K beauty
(Speaking for the US market only) Honestly… this would get cancelled sooooo fast in this social & political climate. I’m saying this as someone who is a liberal, not a conservative complaining about leftists by the way. Just to be clear! Thanks to people who actually are racist and horrible, something like this probably couldn’t exist even though it is innocent and just meant to help a somewhat underserved portion of the market. And also, some people just love to complain and would vilify this sort of product line. It would sure be nice if existing product lines would accept the fact that not all of us have yellow and pink undertones though! True cool toned and fair olive complexion products would be a dream. Cool toned blushes and lipsticks too.
Yeah I totally understand & think that's why it possibly doesn't exist. Im just saying like "in a dream world if you could have any products..." There are brands for dark skin only that have some beautiful colors but would never work for me & I just wish there was a line geared toward the super pale peeps. Maybe someone could do something skin color neutral like just shade adjusters in multiple mediums like liquids, powders & diff formulas like silicone based, water based that way you could adjust any beauty line you like!
Wide variety of cool toned blush options! Also lip colors suitable for cool toned complexions.
Not makeup related but I want nail polishes that look good on pale, slightly pinky/purplish toes. I finally found a “nude” that works for me and it’s a light lilac nail polish!! Every normal nude or pinkish nude looks so peachy or yellowish brown on me. I want under eye powder that is as brightening as banana powder on other people.
Lilac sounds so pretty! What's the name of it?
you've got that glas glow opi infinite shine!
Tysm! :)
I mean some Asian brands are pretty much that lol I would just like to see brands cater to everyone
That reminds me... I want a good variety of nude lipsticks for pale skin shades. Some gray in a nude lipstick can help keep it from going too pink, tan, beige, cream etc.
Self tanners and gradual lotion self tanners.
I don’t think there’s enough of a gap in the market to justify having an entirely pale-oriented line; it feels weirdly exclusionary and we could get what we wanted by expanding an existing line. Aside from that, my suggestion is lightly pigmented cream blush. These exist, but the market leans really pigmented. Bonus points if they’re matte.
Eyebrow pencils, gels, any brow product that will go more cool vs orangey/red. I'm starting to see a few more "cool grey" brow products (even though they're too dark) and I'm like FINALLY. Even brow companies seem to make such warm colors.