MAC NC/NW Foundations - Are They Cool Or Warm? 

Very handy! I like it!

@@sarahryanthestylecoach Yes I thought this too! The NW20 is CLEARLY a cool color!!

There are cool yellows and warm pinks and they can be more muted (grayer) or more saturated (very little visible gray). What the makeup industry promotes makes no sense.

Yes, that is how I was to taught also. NW= neutralizes warm undertones, not warm.

Correct not cool, not warm.

Glad to hear you got some clarification today. I bet it's tricky or people at make up counters to determine cool/warm because they are under artificial lighting most of the time and possibly looking at someone who already has make up on. Not an easy task! :)

Thanks for the info!

Thank you for explaining that. I was told years ago to be color matched, no matter what they call it, lol. You don’t go wrong that way

I have not learned anything, I’m more confused. The best advice is to go to a Mac store and get colour matched.

Glad you think so! Thank you!

Yes it does seem to be backwards 🤔 so confusing!

@@sarahryanthestylecoach I wonder if they are trying to "color correct" or something? It is very bizarre.

Thank you so much!

You are so welcome!🤗

I'm so glad to hear this. Thank you for watching!

I'm so glad to hear this. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience getting your colours done!

Thank you! Glad you liked it!

That’s not helpful of the assistant. Cool toned people do not need warming up. It’s part of us and is not wrong.

Well said! 😀

Some people are just cool and cool works for them. ☺️

Thanks for watching! I give some specific make up recommendations in my new colour e-booklets. You can find them on my website thestylecoach.ie ☺️

Good to know! Great to get input from someone who worked at Mac ☺️

I was about to leave this comment!! I also used to work for MAC and the deeper NW shades were definitely on the warm side- they go very red/orange. The deeper NC shades are more blue-based

Glad it was helpful!

So confusing right?

Thank you so much Kitty! Glad to hear you found a powder that feels right :)

It’s very confusing! 😖

Glad it was helpful!

Oh wow! Lucky you! I always think they must have a tough time matching since many people are already wearing makeup and they are under artificial light.

Thank you! I wear nw20-25 ☺️

I'm so glad! Thank you for watching! ☺️

Good to know! Thanks!

Nice!

Aw great timing!

You might want to try a neutral shade. They are usually happy to give a small sample for you to try just to be sure :)

I'm the same as you. MAC NW22 works for me!

Oh wow! Glad you found your shade in the end! Thanks for coming back and watching ☺️

Glad it was helpful!

It’s a confusing system for sure!

Each manufacturer changes those with no industry standards. In fact Mary Kay has several warm and several cool colors within the ones in their "ivory" family. Porcelain is W1 in L'Oreal Paris's lines (and my perfect shade) but I have seen other companies use the same name "porcelain" and label it neutral or cool.

@@MaryYoungblood-xy8vg is porcelain a warm or cool colour?

These are simply names that done correlate to warm or cool as far as I’m aware. Doesn’t really help I’m afraid! 😊

So, it will be a bluff purchase, so if I guess, I guess. 😬 If it says warm "something" I consider it warm. If it says cool or rose - thrn cool or neutral for neutral. I would consider all those names that I mentioned in first comment as warm, only perhaps I would consider porcelain a cool shade. But I don't know anymore😅

@@sarahryanthestylecoach I think the best thing is to compare against silver or gold like you did. 😁

Thank you! Me too!

That is why you contact a local consultant. She can let you try on product so you can order the correct color. I burn easily but have very yellow undertones. These "thumb rules" flew around for years but now we know them as busted myths.

I’m not familiar with Mary Kay but yes, totally confusing!

Nice! I'm glad you found your match :)

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I don't have a great variety of brow shades :(

I think because there are neutral skin tones that have elements of both warm and cool, so they can pull off warm or cool colors. People have their seasons and also their sister seasons and can pull off colors from the sister season. My skin tone is neutral warm, which confuses me at the beginning because I could not definitively define my skin tone as cool or warm and that I was on a spectrum containing qualities of both and it changes. In my profile pic I'm literally photographed in mid late autumn and it balances my skin colors. So that is neat.

​@@MsDemonismI personally could imagine me to be neutral cool. But I've been analyzed by two analysts online who both said I was fully cool. I have also asked several "ordinary people" online and most of them think I suit fully cool colors. I have heard that maby I have olive skin. Because apparently, it is possible to be fully cool and have yellowish skin tone if it is olive skin tone. But I have no idea if my skin is olive so I don't know?

@LJ-qf5xn that is quite curious and a good avenue to look down if your olive toned. 🫒 Very interesting, I guess olive would be a added green ashen hue to the skin tone. Hmmm

Hope it works for you! Let us know if you try it ☺️

@@sarahryanthestylecoach I don't think I'll order online. I'll wait until I go to a Mac counter and try the NC there. But at least I'll know what I'm looking for.🙂

Chocolate is in the autumn palette. Now us warm springs flow to autumn and get away with quite a few of their colors so you can try it on and see what you think. If it is too dark (from deep autumn palette) it will be too heavy and dominant (almost like wearing black). You might find a warm medium brown or a warm golden brown to be better borrows for browns from the autumn. Camel from the warm spring palette along with your khakis and tans will be fantastic and best. Remember you are warm dominant, medium (slightly lighter than directly in the middle) in value and medium/high intensity. If you wear mid-tone warm colors you should be good.

Aw thank you! Chocolate brown might be a bit too deep for Springs. Particularly light and bright springs. But if you like it, then you should wear it 🤗

@@MaryYoungblood-xy8vg Thank you so much I really appreciate this!

@@sarahryanthestylecoach Thank you Sarah! I love watching your videos as always, you put so much effort and it truly doesn't go unnoticed.

Good to know, I haven't tried either :)

Interesting!

I’ll do a video on this!

Yep but I don’t think they will at this stage. It’s so established. It might cause more confusion! 😂

@@sarahryanthestylecoach 🤣😅😂

I’ve thought the same thing myself but to be honest, like you say, with all the makeup , lighting etc it probably would be very accurate.

@@sarahryanthestylecoach i find chrishell to be one of the hardest to figure out because she looks super warm to me but then she slays the bright winter magenta, neon yellow, and black and white, but also looks good in the warmer hot coral and gold earrings, and even olive green. but also looks great in a light cool pink and even light cool greyish blue. im like what are youu

Thanks for watching Mary!

@aurorastar7127 what classification are the C shades; like C 3.5?

These are yellow based so warm ☺️

🤷🏻‍♀️😅

If u are cool toned and ur foundation shade is nw 15 say then concealer should be nc 15 concealer should be same shade as foundation but different in tone ....

So confusing 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's likely down to the amount of sun exposure to your skin tone. Your skin undertone is the same all over your body. As for lipsticks, as far as I know MAC doesn't use the same system (NW/NC) for its lipsticks but uses more general names like Faux and Angel etc.

Do you feel like it was a good match?

Glad to hear! Thanks for watching!

You're so welcome!

Sorry, I don't have much experience with that brand.

I'm not familiar with Haus labs but good to know :)

That's a good way to think about it!

I use the Munsell colour system

@@sarahryanthestylecoach Yes, I know, Seasonal Color Analysis is based on that. But MAC is not based on Munsell's system or on Seasonal Color Analysis. That's why it is confusing. MUAs do not choose a foundation shade that mimics the person's skin to cover imperfections (that's concealer's job): they use the color of foundation needed to even out the skintone of the face to match the body (hands, chest, shoulders, ...). I am cool, and if I try a dot of a yellow and a rosy foundation, it looks like the rosy one matches my face, while the yellow "sits" on it. But if I apply the rosy foundation all over my face and then place the back of my hand or my shoulder next to my face, they don't match! So if the face has more pink than the body, usually it needs a bit of yellow to make the person's even, while if the face is more sallow yellow than the body, usually it needs a touch of pink. If face and body are naturally identical in tone, you do not even need to use foundation. If the skin has sallow, red, blue, purple, or brown patches, the best option is to use a localized color corrector before the foundation rather than to use several layers of foundation (which should be applied sparingly instead). I hope it helps.

I’ve heard people say this but I don’t think this is official MAC terminology .

I like this!

Thanks for watching. I wouldn't type a skin undertone based on a foundation test. It might be an indication but I would rather test it out with the temperature of my coloured drapes. :)

They have a range that is just N. I believe this is neutral ☺️

@@sarahryanthestylecoach thank you ☺️ i will check it

I believe that a person leans warm or cool, maybe it's not so obvious but it's there.

Good for someone who has been using it a long time but very confusing to anyone who is new to the brand.

Yes, a little confusing!

Good to know! Thanks for sharing!

I get it! 😅 once you figure out your shade, then it’s plain sailing ☺️

Orange is exactly what I’m afraid of. I’m not the fairest of the fair but I’ve heard MAC is prone to oxidizing and it happens to me with a lot of ranges. I don’t have a counter or an Ulta near me so I’ll have to guess. I think I’m pretty neutral so I still have no idea. 😩

It really is very confusing! But once you know, you know :)