How to Check Your Skin Depth for Foundation
Published 27 October 2026 · Foundation Shades
To check your skin tone for a foundation shade, compare the bare skin on your jaw with real foundation swatches in daylight. Find the swatch closest in depth, meaning how light or deep it is, and you know where to start in any range. Undertone comes second, once you know your depth.
Depth first, then undertone
A foundation shade has two parts. Depth is how light or deep it is. Undertone is the colour under the surface, such as cool, neutral, warm or olive.
We suggest starting with depth, because you can check it against swatches by eye. Once you know it, you only need to choose between a few shades at that depth. Our guide to finding your undertone covers the second step.
How to check your depth
Here’s the routine we suggest. It follows L’Oréal Paris’s own advice that “foundation colour-matching is best in natural light”, matched at the jaw “away from the apple of your cheek”.
- Start with bare skin. Check with no makeup on.
- Stand by a window in daylight. Face the light, with a hand mirror.
- Look at your jawline. It’s where foundation has to blend into your neck. L’Oréal Paris also says to “avoid swatching shades on your hand or arm.”
- Compare against swatches, not words. Shade names vary a lot. Maybelline Fit Me 228 Soft Tan is lighter than 66% of the shades in our data. Milani Screen Queen Golden Tan is lighter than only 37%.
- If you’re between two, note both. Our No match yet? page suggests picking the lighter one, then sampling one shade deeper as well.
Using the skin shade chart
The skin shade chart splits the 6,727 usable shades in our data into ten equal steps, from the lightest tenth to the deepest. Each step shows a real swatch from that depth. It also shows the nearest shade at that depth in six well-known ranges.
Find the step closest to your jaw, then read across to the brands you know. Your shade sits on that row. The rows either side are the ones to sample next.
Your screen shifts colour, and most swatches in our data come from 2021 retailer photos. Treat your step as a starting point, then test real samples on your jaw.
What your step tells you about which ranges to try
Your step matters most at the ends of the chart, because many ranges don’t reach them. Of the 286 ranges in our data, 192 have any shade in the lightest tenth, and 178 have any in the deepest tenth.
If you’re on step 1 or step 10, pick ranges that reach your end of the chart. These four reach it with plenty of shades to choose from:
| End | Range | Shades in that tenth |
|---|---|---|
| Lightest | Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay in Place Matte Powder Foundation | 19 |
| Lightest | Natasha Denona Transformatte Pore Vanishing Matte Foundation | 15 |
| Deepest | Morphe Fluidity Full-Coverage Foundation | 21 |
| Deepest | MAC Studio Fix Fluid | 20 |
Three ranges run all the way from among the very lightest shades in our data to among the very deepest. They are Morphe Fluidity, Dose Of Colors Meet Your Hue and beautyblender Bounce Liquid Whip. Wide ranges like these are a sensible place to start at any step.
Our guides to foundation for very pale skin and foundation for deep skin go further into each end.
From your step to a shade
If you already wear a foundation that suits you, you don’t need the chart. Type that shade into the shade finder and it gives the closest shade in every other range.
If you’re starting from nothing, the No match yet? page also starts from ten real swatches. You pick the closest, answer three undertone questions, and get three shades to sample in each of ten ranges.
Questions
What foundation can I use to match my skin tone?
Any range that has a shade at your depth and undertone. Find your step on the chart first, then look at ranges with plenty of shades there.
What skin tone is MAC NW25?
Our guide to MAC NC and NW explains what the letters and numbers in MAC’s codes mean.