ChromaHueMUA
New member
After a few years of always being the impromptu MUA amongst friends and colleagues, I finally decided to bite the bullet and get proper training. Well now I'm 1 month away from being a professional MUA, however...weird thing is I've never applied makeup to myself
So I figured I'd go and get matched at my nearest MAC counter at Macy's. It was rather dim in there (READ dark than hell). The lady matched me to an NC45. Never having used MAC before, I trusted her judgement and bought it. Well didn't I get a big surprise when I got home in a fully bright environment and BAM...and something looked VERY weird. Almost sickly??? I then did my research and found that NC looked good on people with mostly yellow/gold/olive skin tones, and NW is good for people with pink/red/ruddy skin tones. That answered my question because I'm actually more red from what I've known all my life. And then I tan, I turned a DEEP RED/BROWN.
I decided I wasn't going to return it because at some point in time during my career I'm sure I'll have that NC45 gal/guy come along. But I did need to get my shade, so I traveled to an actual MAC store in order to get a proper match. By this time I was sure I was on the warmer side of the spectrum. I'm of mixed race, and see a lot of pink in myself. However the artists at the MAC store tried to go right to the NC45 yet again when I told them I needed to be matched
I promptly stopped her in her tracks and made her look for something in the NW line instead. She looked confused as if I'd thrown a serious wrench in her thought process. However my persistence paid off and it seems I'm actually between an NW40 and an NW43.
I ended up getting the Studio Fix Liquid in the 43, and Studio Fix Pressed in the 40 (for highlight purposes). I then asked about a concealer and was VERY surprised to find out that NC45 worked under my eyes and around my mouth/nose area. So now I have a couple of questions about MAC and their line of shades.
1) Why did the MUAs in MAC gravitate towards NC45 upon seeing me?
2) If they thought NC45, why did my suggestion of NW work better?
3) Why did NC45 look GREAT as a concealer, but not a foundation?
4) While the NW43 was great, it was just a TAD too ruddy. Does that mean I should settle on the NW40, or mix the 2?
5) Based off of some photos of me throughout life (see attached, and yes I'm aware I look different in each one)...what would YOU have suggested upon first glance and why?
Then (6mo-2yrs):
Now (past 3 months):
So I figured I'd go and get matched at my nearest MAC counter at Macy's. It was rather dim in there (READ dark than hell). The lady matched me to an NC45. Never having used MAC before, I trusted her judgement and bought it. Well didn't I get a big surprise when I got home in a fully bright environment and BAM...and something looked VERY weird. Almost sickly??? I then did my research and found that NC looked good on people with mostly yellow/gold/olive skin tones, and NW is good for people with pink/red/ruddy skin tones. That answered my question because I'm actually more red from what I've known all my life. And then I tan, I turned a DEEP RED/BROWN.
I decided I wasn't going to return it because at some point in time during my career I'm sure I'll have that NC45 gal/guy come along. But I did need to get my shade, so I traveled to an actual MAC store in order to get a proper match. By this time I was sure I was on the warmer side of the spectrum. I'm of mixed race, and see a lot of pink in myself. However the artists at the MAC store tried to go right to the NC45 yet again when I told them I needed to be matched
I promptly stopped her in her tracks and made her look for something in the NW line instead. She looked confused as if I'd thrown a serious wrench in her thought process. However my persistence paid off and it seems I'm actually between an NW40 and an NW43.
I ended up getting the Studio Fix Liquid in the 43, and Studio Fix Pressed in the 40 (for highlight purposes). I then asked about a concealer and was VERY surprised to find out that NC45 worked under my eyes and around my mouth/nose area. So now I have a couple of questions about MAC and their line of shades.
1) Why did the MUAs in MAC gravitate towards NC45 upon seeing me?
2) If they thought NC45, why did my suggestion of NW work better?
3) Why did NC45 look GREAT as a concealer, but not a foundation?
4) While the NW43 was great, it was just a TAD too ruddy. Does that mean I should settle on the NW40, or mix the 2?
5) Based off of some photos of me throughout life (see attached, and yes I'm aware I look different in each one)...what would YOU have suggested upon first glance and why?
Then (6mo-2yrs):
Now (past 3 months):
