Just Peachy

Being half Indian and half Caucasian, my skin color can't easily be placed into a neat little box. I'm fair, but light foundations and concealers always make me look either ghastly pale or as if I have Rosacea. If I try to match the slight tan of my skin, I end up looking like I had a mishap with fake tanner.

Once, determined to settle the matter once and for all, I decided to let the woman at the Prescriptives counter do the work for me. The company, after all, markets their foundations and concealers on the principle that they can match any skin tone through on-the-spot customization. I was impressed immediately when the woman confirmed that drugstore shades would inevitably look too peach on me. She determined my underlying tone by stroking a couple different shades of pencil on my cheek, then, without actually testing any of the foundation colors on me, determined that I was "Smooth Vellum," which is the second lightest shade in the "Yellow/Orange" category. I questioned this choice, feeling that it was far too light for my skin tone, but she insisted that I could "add color" through bronzer and blusher.

She painted (literally!) half of my face with the shade and left the other half as it was when I walked in. When I got home, my then boyfriend looked horrified. I looked like a joker with half of my face geisha white (Smooth Vellum) and the other half the far-too-peachy drugstore brand I'd been wearing. Needless to say, I went back to the counter and asked her to choose another shade. I never found one that looked very good, and I still seek that elusive match. However, as the condition of my skin improves, I find that I can wear foundations that don't quite match simply because I have to wear far less of them now.

One problem I still struggle with is finding concealer that actually conceals, rather than highlights the questionable areas, like a black censorship box that screams, "look! I have something to hide!" Once again, the age old dilemma (for me, at least) of too rosy vs. too peachy plagues my search. Sometimes, I leave the house thinking, by golly (okay, I never actually thought that), I think I've found it, only to look in the mirror at lunchtime and see pink or orange splotches all over my face. I've been burned so many times that, naturally, I try not to get my hopes up when I make a new concealer purchase. I just do the requisite tests to see if maybe, just maybe, this one will finally pass. Such was the case with the Revlon ColorStay Blemish Concealer in "Light" that I purchased on the spur of the moment two days ago, having just discovered that there's nothing beige about Cover Girl Fresh Complexion Concealer in "Natural Beige."

I applied the new concealer in the morning, as I always do. It passed the window check and the rearview mirror check. So far so good. Would it pass the bathroom mirror check at lunchtime? I hurried to the ladies' room with only 3 mins of break to spare, praying that I didn't look like I'd gone crazy with the blush again, especially since the cute counseling intern was coming in to observe my class next period. To my relief, paired with mineral makeup, my new-found obsession, it looked flawless. Could I have finally found the perfect concealer for me? Perhaps, at least until I lose this light tan, or get a deeper one. Then again, with my luck, they'll discontinue the shade.