Make-up: Making a Cream Foundation


The other day, I wrote about making a matt powder foundation. You may remember I saved some of the final color mixture. This is one of the reasons I usually do foundation color only once a year.

Planning is Everything

It's pretty time consuming, but if you make enough, you can quickly and easily make a few different products from the same color mixture.

Here's how fast and easy it is to make a cream foundation once the color is mixed.

Prepare Your Workspace

Be sure the equipment you use is sanitized. It's a good idea to have dedicated cosmetics equipment and keep it separate from your kitchen equipment.

Have your pigment blend, chosen cream base and tools ready.


Make Your Cream Foundation

Put a small amount of cream base into a clean bowl. I use my own Herbal Repair Eye Solution for my make-up bases. It is a light emulsion, takes a fair amount of color, and moisturizes well. 

Having a cream foundation that doubles as skin care is win win. 

Add a small amount of the pigment blend to the cream. 



2. Mix until the color is evenly distributed. Less color for less coverage. 

Tip: Start with less color than you think you'll need, then add a bit at a time until you are happy with it. 


Test along the way so you can adjust the amount of color or cream for how much coverage your foundation will have. 

Test in natural daylight and always where you will be using the color - on your face and along the jawline. 


3. Transfer the mixture to your chosen (santized) container. 



Above:  this years powder foundation, cream foundation and a little sample jar with concealer I made. 

The concealer is quick and easy to do. Just add titanium dioxide, zinc oxide or silk white pigment to a bit of your foundation powder and mix for a lighter shade. 

When the color is even, mix the lighter blend into a dollop of cream.

Despite how different the colors look in this picture, both the powder and the cream are a perfect match to my skin.

Comments

Anonymous said…
That's a great idea Lise. I have many customers asking me about how to make a foundation and I just haven't gotten around to putting together formulas. It is tricky for a beginner and you have found an easy starting point.

It's interesting that your base looks a bit redder than the powder base. How about on the skin?
LisaLise said…
HI Rebecca,
It really is the weirdest thing. The color is an exact match to my skin for both the powder and the cream when applied. However - the camera is not lying - they really do look different in the containers. I'm not quite sure why, but there you have it. :)
Anonymous said…
Hey... Miss Andersen... how are things.. we have a skincare facial studio... we are also making natural skin tonics, & foundations, but i was just trying to find out how to make our product into cream foundation, as our foundation is liquid... our clients are statring to ask more & more about cream version... any help regarding this would be a great help... cream foundation for a natural ingridient product ...

all the best

Regards Bryan
LisaLise said…
Hey there Bryan,

Thanks for your question. This one is difficult to answer without more information from you. Are you asking how to thicken an existing lotion consistency into a cream consistency or how to create a cream consistency from scratch?

If you want to thicken an existing lotion into a cream then I would need to have a look at your formula so I could give you some specific suggestions. My email is on the sidebar of the blog if you want to contact me about this.

If you are not doing your own formulating, but using an existing base product, then you could try and start with a cream that has the desired consistency and add your foundation colors to that.

Hope this was of some help.
Anonymous said…
Could I use something else besides thr herbal eye repair cream?
LisaLise said…
Hi Anon - Yes - you can use any light, unscented cream you like.
CC Mirabella said…
I'm curious as to why the colors do that? I've had that same thing happen to me several times where I've made a cream foundation or powder and the color looks way OFF and then I dab it or one of my friends & it matches perfectly..it's so odd I think but I'm glad I'm not alone even if I'm a lil late to the party ;)
You' have a great blog here , very informative it's much appreciated.
Thank you
Tracey
LisaLise said…
Hi Tracey - thanks for your kind words! I wish I could tell you exactly why the colours do this, but can only hazard a guess. I wonder if the moisture in the cream is the reason for the difference in the way the colours look. The powder mix is all matt, so there isn't a lot to reflect light with in this mixture, while the liquid in the cream allows the colours to 'shine' a bit more. Again - I am only guessing!
Anonymous said…
Hi Lisa, I enjoy reading and making your recipes. How long does this foundation last? Does it require any preservatives?
LisaLise said…
Hey there Anon - You have to check the use by date of the cream you use to find that out. It is already preserved and you are merely adding dry powders (colorants) to the cream so it shouldn't be necessary to add additional preservative. That said, I would suggest using the mixture up about 3 months before the use by date.
Anonymous said…
If you want to "clean" the powder before you add it, you can bake it for 15 minutes in the oven (lowest setting) before you add it.
That way you know all the moisture is out of it.
LisaLise said…
Thanks Rebecca - Great input!
Marie said…
Hi Lisa!

I've been doing my own powder foundation for more than a year now, thanks to your wonderful help and a few other websites. It's amazing to see how we can make an amazing product at home, for a fraction of the cost! And with all the make-up you make, you're a real inspiration!

My sister saw the results and now she wants to make some foundation also. I'm going to show her next week, but she wants a cream. So I'm wondering: do you have any idea about how much of the color base powder we should add to 50g of cream, for instance? I know it depends of how much coverage you want, but where to start? I'm planning to make her a 20g color base powder so I guess it will be plenty, but I wish she could have enough for a cream foundation and a powder one.

Thanks again for all your help!
Marie
(If I remember correctly, you also speak french so: bonne journée!)
LisaLise said…
Hello Marie and thank you for your kind words! It warms my heart when people tell me I have been of help or inspiration! As for your cream question, I think maybe 2-5 grams of color base to start with and then add in 2gr increments from there. You can’t really go wrong with this as you can always add more cream if you end up adding too much color. Enjoy!
Marie said…
Thanks for your quick feedback, it's really helpful! Again, I'm really grateful for all your help!
LisaLise said…
My pleasure Marie! :D
Anonymous said…
Thank you i wouldn't be able to go anywhere without it.
Unknown said…
hi
many thanks for such amazing recepis to make makeup.

where we can find your eye cream formulation to make liquid foundation.


LisaLise said…
Hello Sadaf Saleem - My eye serum formulation is proprietary, but you can use any light cream as the foundation.
hicotton said…
Hi Lise:

Have been using my own liquid blend for at least 15 years but am about to run out of the 5 base pigments I use and the source has disappeared. Your posting is enormously helpful and so was Bryan's post. Bryan, would you be willing to post details of your salon? Would be very grateful for that information.

Many thanks,
Jane
LisaLise said…
HI Jane - Thanks for your kind comment! Hope you are successful in finding a new source :)
pat said…
That takes a lot of time? I
LisaLise said…
HI Pat -- well, this is probably one of the faster ways to get a personalised color foundation. :)