NC means 'neutral cool' and in MAC products that means you have a warmer skin tone.So when asking what does it translate to in other brands?it really only gives the basic underlying color(s) of your skin. I use MAC NC15 during winter and NC20 for summer, and now I want a new summer shade. Am I a fair or fairly light? Based on the pictures I'm a bit in between, I think, but I can only buy one.
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.
The full list contains all the MAC shades.
Enjoy!
light beige with neutral golden undertone for light skin
Try these foundation shades if you are matched to NC20.
| Aveda | Desert 06 | |
| Bare Minerals | Light-medium | |
| Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue | Natural 05 | |
| Biotherm Aquasource Evermoist CC Cushion | Fair Beige | review |
| Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation | Vanilla 52 | |
| Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua | B10 | |
| Clinique Superbalanced | Alabaster | |
| ELF Flawless Finish foundation | Porcelain | |
| Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish Perfectly Nude Makeup Foundation | Alabaster | review |
| Estee Lauder Double Wear | Ecru | |
| Estee Lauder Double Wear Cushion BB | Bone 1W1 | review |
| Givenchy Teint Couture Balm | 1 Nude Porcelain | review |
| IT Cosmetics CC cream | Light | |
| Kat Von D | Light 45 | |
| Lancome Teint Idole 24h | Buff 210 (N) | |
| Laneige BB cushion | Light | |
| Laura Mercier Photo Finish Oil-Free | Cream Ivory | |
| Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Foundation Powder | #4 | review |
| MAC Face & Body | C1 | |
| MAC Face & Body | N1 | |
| Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Concealer | Y23 Ivory | review |
| Makeup Forever Pro Finish Powder Foundation | 113 Neutral Porcelain | review |
| Marc Jacobs Shameless Foundation | Y130 | review |
| Mary Kay Mineral Foundation | Ivory 2 | |
| Maybelline Super BB Cushion Fresh Matte SPF25 | 02 Light | review |
| MUFE Pro | 117 | |
| MUFE Pro | 117 | |
| NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation | Ceylan | |
| Revlon | Nude | |
| Revlon Age Defying DNA Advantage Makeup | Bare Buff | review |
| Revlon Colorstay Whipped | 200 Sand Beige | |
| Sephora Collection 10 Hour Wear Perfection | Light Ivory | |
| shu uemura Lightbulb Foundation | 584 | |
| Su:m37 Water-full CC Cushion Perfect Finish | 01 Clear Beige | review |
| Tarte | Light-medium neutral | |
| Tarte Amazonian Clay | Light Sand | |
| Tarte Amazonian Clay 12h | Fair-Light Honey | |
| The Body Shop Fresh Nude Foundation | Chelsea Porcelain 10 | review |
| The Body Shop MoistureWhite Bright Compact Foundation | #01 | review |
| The Face Shop Oil Control Water Cushion | V203 Natural Beige | review |
| Too Faced Born This Way | Vanilla | |
| Too Faced Born This Way | Ivory | review |
| YSL TTE | B20 |
Best external hard drive format for mac and pc. Choosing a foundation can be really daunting, but it's a key part to our makeup and can make or break a flawless face so it's important to get it right. Many clients ask me about the labelling of MAC foundations as they don't understand what NC and NW means and how to colour match themselves.
Mac on pc virtual. Mac internet security gratuit. In colour theory, we're taught that cool undertones are reds, pinks and blues and that warm undertones are yellow, peaches and golds. However, in MAC labelling, the undertones are the opposite.
NC: Neutral Cool – golden beige undertones.
NW: Neutral Warm – red, pink or blue undertones.
N: Neutral – beige undertones.
C: Cool – Yellow, golden or olive undertones
Mac Nc20 Foundation
So a person with yellow, peach or golden undertones would be suited well to an NC foundation whereas a person with red, pink or blue undertones would be better suited to an NW foundation. A person with a beige undertone would be perfectly suited to an N foundation.
You might have heard that some ladies use an NC foundation but have been given an NW concealer, this is because the pink undertone of an NW concealer helps to cancel out dark green under eye circles. For blue tinged under eye circles, you could cancel them out with an NC concealer.
My client Nina has warm undertones (reds in MAC terms) with cool under eye circles (yellow). I used MAC Studio Fix in NC20 over her face to even out and correct the redness and NW10 concealer to correct the dark circles
The number that follows each NC, NW, N or C is simply the colour of each foundation. Sharon, from Sharonthemakeupartist.com explains this perfectly:
'…there are some odd numbers peppered along the way in some of the foundations. For example there is an NC27 or an NW18 in Studio Fix Fluid . These colours don't have quite as strong an undertone as those that end in 5 or 0. These odd numbers have more of a neutral undertone. So an NC27 is not as yellow as an NC25 but it is a little bit darker.
Conversely there are also plain C's and plain N's. These have a stronger yellow or pink undertone than their NC/NW counterparts. Very few of the foundations in the range now have these strong undertones, it's mostly the old school formulas like Face and Body, or Studio Fix Powder.'
The shade I wear myself is NC15 – this is much more flattering to my skin tone and helps to cancel out any unwanted redness over my cheek area. This is my personal preference too and I find that the NC blends seamlessly into my skin. I find that with the majority of my clients, an NC foundation always looks better and evens the skin tone beautifully.
Nc20 Skin Tone
The most important thing is to make sure that your foundation matches with your chest and looks natural. If you are still struggling, don't be afraid to ask a counter makeup artist for advice and a colour match. Makeup is all about having fun so there is no wrong or right way to wear your foundation, as long as you have a good match and avoid the dreaded ‘tideline' around the neck, you're good to go!
Mac Nc20 Skin Tone
© This post is copyright of Rachael Divers 2015.
