A foundation of consistency

On drugstore shelves across the country, there are bottles and tubes of foundation makeup by dozens of brands in dozens of shades. Buying foundation in a drugstore is tough. For one thing, the bottles and tubes are sealed, and theres no tester, meaning women cant try the foundation on their own skin. The same shade can look vastly different on various skin tones, and it always looks different when its dry instead of wet. On top of that, theres no industry-wide consistency when it comes to naming foundation shades; one brands neutral beige or warm honey can vary considerably from anothers. And it can be extremely difficult to tell similar shades apart. Trying to pick your best color can be a minefield. There are lots of places to go wrong. © IEEE.