First of all, let me say that
Earthen Glow Minerals' online store is now open to the public. Their mineral makeup is top notch, and this is the first time ever that I found the ultimate perfect shade match in mineral foundation, maybe because I finally heeded the comprehensive color profile given to me by
Jen of
Camellia Rose. Jen (bless her heart) is the only person I know who does color profiling. I don't think she offers this service anymore, but early last year, I asked for her help in determining my exact undertones and she in turn asked me to send her a photo of me with no makeup under direct sunlight. I did and she used a special software to determine my undertones. She gave a lengthy explanation, but cut to the chase, she said that I have yellow with definite olive undertones. She further explained that the olive part is similar to the color of olive oil. I didn't really pay attention to the last part, but got shades that were in the golden or yellow range. While these shades did work, they were sometimes hit or miss. That is, until I finally understood what Jen's "olive oil" reference meant.
So I took the bottle of extra-virgin olive oil in our kitchen and peered closely for a minute or so. I didn't even have to look that closely, because it is as obvious as daylight that the dominant color you see in olive oil is -
green!
It dawned on me that I have as much green undertones as yellow, that's why some yellow/golden-toned foundations look off on me. That is also the reason why Jen's color profile corresponded exactly with EG Minerals' description of my perfect shade,
Janelle. It makes perfect sense now:
Janelle – A medium to light tanned Olive foundation for women with Olive complexions (green undertones) that also have some warmth or golden hues visible in their coloring. Ideal for women with medium Olive/Golden complexions of European, Latin, Indian, Medittarranean, Middle Eastern, Indian, and North African descent. Olive but with slight golden tones.
I couldn't fathom at first that I have green undertones, but it is what it is! Sounds weird, but it was the key as to why I have so many hits-or-misses with foundation shades. I was ignoring my green undertones altogether. After all this time, I have finally understood my shade.
The shade of me. Ironic that this blog is all about shades and I have just fully understood mine. Amazing.
I am bent on getting my perfect shade with my other favorite mineral makeup companies as well, so I e-mailed Candace of
Pure Anada and asked her if I can send a sample of
Janelle so she can duplicate it in PA. She said she's always liked a challenge, so she is asking me to send over the sample so she can custom-make a shade for me in
Pure Anada. I cannot wait!
So anyways, after all this rambling, I'm finally going down to the goods. When EG Minerals was still closed and the test site's cart was still down, I was bugging Michelle via e-mail if she could sell me a full size jar of
Janelle and just invoice me by e-mail. She instead gave me a full size jar of
Janelle and a slab of their
Fruit and Honey soap bar as gifts! Thank you so, so much Michelle! You don't know how much I appreciate getting my full size jar from you, knowing of course that it's my perfect shade match. The
Fruit and Honey soap bar smells heavenly and I can't wait to use it.
Can you believe how cute the pouches are?
My full size foundation in
Janelle and
Fruit and Honey soap
I also received my
Aromaleigh loot after Kristen slashed the prices of her huge 10g jars of
Pure Eyes Matte shadows by 50%. I got the big jars together with my samples of the
Perle Powders that are beautiful glows/illuminizers and even blushes.
I've been liking the combination of matte shadows with shimmer shadows on my lids. The matte creates depth and it looks truly beautiful with the shimmer shadows as it tones down the over-all look and prevents me from looking like a disco-ball. Let me emphasize: truly matte shadows are better paired with shimmer shadows than satin (low-lustre) shadows as the contrast is beautiful, and you can see how well absolutely matte shadows complement the shimmery texture of the sparkly ones.
These are beautiful shimmery glows that are best used with a stippling or duo-fibre brush. I use it with Aromaleigh's special-shaped duo-fibre blush brush and it really works wonders. The brush deposits the sheerest amount of product on the skin, producing a lit-from-within effect. I love the brush so much! I will be featuring it in a future entry. The perle powders are beautiful as glows on top of blushes, or the darker ones can be used as blushes themselves.
