Very pale complexion, need some ideas

[FairClaire]

I have very pale skin. It is so light that most makeup brands don't have a foundation shade light enough for my skin. I have never felt a need to go tanning or been uncomfortable with how pale I am until recently. After having become mama to four kiddos and having aged a few years, I have some dark circles under my eyes that really contrast with my skin color. I get pretty frequent comments that I look exhausted. My skin doesn't tan (and even if it did I don't think it'd be a very healthy solution), but I am wondering what I can do as far as makeup or clothing color to help bring a little life back to my complexion.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Exercise! Clinique seems to have lighter make up colors than some brands.

[Melissa in Australia]

Wear glasses. Nobody sees the rings under my eyes as the glasses frames cover them

[bettyandbob]

Wear glasses. Nobody sees the rings under my eyes as the glasses frames cover them

 

This what I do. I need glasses, but I've been told many times over the years I'm a perfect LASIK candidate. My response is such vision correction would result in the need for plastic surgery -- crows feet, dark circles, crease between the brows, glasses mostly cover it all.

[shellbelle]

I have really fair skin too. Mary Kay has a concealer that is a good match for my skin. Also, Cover Girl has a very light foundation that I use. Have you ever tried any of the Jergens Sunless Tanners? I use them in the summer when I want to blend in with the crowd. ;) The light moisturizer is supposed to be applied for several days to see a result, but I only need one application to do the trick.

 

Do you generally wear lipstick? It can go a long way to brighten up your face. As for clothing choices: yellow, blues, pinks and purples tend to look nice on someone with a light complexion.

 

I've learned to embrace my fair skin and freckles. I've started wearing sunscreen daily, rain or shine. My grandfather died of melanoma and I've had many terrible sunburns.

[LostSurprise]

Brands with shades in Alabaster or Shell tend to be lighter than common Ivory.

 

Mineral make up is known to go lighter and sell mixable shades for better coverage.

[Desert Rat]

I have fair skin (with freckles). I found the CoverGirl has a shade light enough for me.

[Pippen]

My daughter has this skin tone. She's not had great results plucking off the drug store shelf as most shades have too much orange.

 

She has had good results using a combination of different brands--a Mary Kay concealer for under her eyes and Bare Minerals for all over. She also sometimes uses Revlon Colorstay foundation (ivory color).

[Momof3littles]

The makeupalley forums have some great recommendations. Do you have a Sephora nearby? They will decant pretty much anything they can and give you a sample. Ask them what brands are good for really pale skin, and try a few different samples. Tell them how much coverage you want. If you don't need much coverage other than undereyes, sometimes tinted moisturizers can be more forgiving in terms of matching color. I've heard a salmony concealer works best for cancelling out undereye purple-ishness. Many people try to go too light when concealing undereyes and that can look bad as well. Laura Mercier makes a pretty popular undereye concealer. If you ask over at makeupalley, I'll bet you get some great starting recommendations.

 

The upside of getting decanted samples from the store is that you can try a foundation at home for 2-3 days, look at it out in natural light, in your car mirror, etc. before committing to a purchase. My local sephora has bad lighting (no natural light), so this is what I always do, even though they are pretty good at matching foundation colors.

 

Ulta is good too but I strongly prefer Sephora. Ultas seem to be more abundant though.