MAC NC/NW Foundations - Are They Cool Or Warm?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2023
- There's a lot of confusion around the undertones of MAC's NC and NW foundations. I put them to the test!
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Thank you for watching and happy styling!
Sarah - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
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The pneumonic i was given was NC is for not cool, and NW is for not 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.
My colour analysis confirmed I’m a cool winter, yet every retail salesperson matches me with a warm foundation and I get exactly the same result as you demonstrated. Thank you for showing me I’m not crazy 😊
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! :)
MAC was formed in late 1980’s and was wildly popular by the mid 90’s. MAC used the coding C = Yellow, N = Neutral W = Pink. This was instead of foundation names which was the industry standard. Yes, it is “opposite” but it’s hard to judge them for that 30 years later. They were also the first to have a huge color range. People who could never find a color match finally had one. Because of this, long time customers know their shade and do not want it changed.
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.
Thanks for the vid! Very useful to see the NC & NW foundations against the gold vs silver background. I formerly used a more neutral tone face powder (I don't use foundation). The lightness/ darkness was right, but it looked too pink on me. Since learning about color analysis (and discovering that I'm an autumn), I switched to a warm tone face powder (Maybelline) and it looks more harmonious. Cheers! (btw the cool/ mint green top looks great on you - you're so pretty!) 👍🏼💐🥂
Thank you so much Kitty! Glad to hear you found a powder that feels right :)
Sarah, I love your videos! I have often thought about this very thing. I use MAC NW20 and it is a perfect match for my skin, which is very like yours. (I have an Irish background) I have natural ash blonde hair, blue eyes with some grey and cool green and have always gravitated towards cooler colors and black, which I think suit me very well. Years ago, living in Japan, I had my "colors done". The consultant typed me as a Spring and gave me a swatch that included yellows, peaches, golds, and tans, all of which I thought washed me out. I decided to use my own eyes and that has worked for me. I really appreciate your advice, it makes so much sense!
I'm so glad to hear this. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience getting your colours done!
From everything I've heard of MAC foundations, they are backward from EVERYONE else's view of cool vs. warm undertones. This sort of confirms that for me.
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.
❤ happy to watch new video!
Wow, I have flashbacks when I'm makeup newbie went to the store and bought nw foundation, because I knew what I might be warm and I also knew that W is for warm, lol. The whole month I was looking weird or even a little bit sick. 😅
Then I changed it on NC and everything went well, however it really confused me,why NC if I am warm 😂❤
This video really proves that I am not crazy and really Warm.❤
Oh wow! Glad you found your shade in the end! Thanks for coming back and watching ☺️
You did a very good job of explaining a very complicated spin that Mac have on their makeup ...really enjoyed it .
I'm so glad to hear this. Thank you for watching!
I was first color matched at a MAC counter in Atlanta in the 90s and to this day it’s still the best matching foundation I’ve ever had. What I thought was wonderful was I could go to a different MAC counter in a different city ( I used to travel a lot for work) and almost every time they knew my match by looking at me. There formulas have changed so much I haven’t had a foundation I like there in years but no other counter or numerous times at Sephora, has matched me as well or even well since.
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.
This was so helpful! Thank you! It seems like a lot of foundations do not go by cool vs warm as we know them.
Glad it was helpful!
This video has been very helpful as I was just about to buy Mac foundation.
Aw great timing!
This was a great demonstration. The NC definitely looked yellow and the NW looked perfectly blended.
Thank you! Glad you liked it!
You might be my shade twin!! There are many of us yet few TH-camrs properly representing (fake tan or completely changing their tone). I have conversations all the time with people looking for someone to help with the light & light-medium cool undertone. We need someone to do foundations! The only difference is I'm blonde/blue and told I'm a bright Winter, there are definitely colors & shades I cannot wear. Nevertheless, the Mac powder foundation is on sale today so I thought I'd pick up one for Summer & ran across your video. I might go with NW25 for a tanner look in Summer, we'll see how that goes... For reference currently I'm mixing Shiseido 310 & 150 (only 2 good cool shades). I'd love a review on Haus Lab's foundation? I've tried 3 and stuck with 130 which I really don't like. Thanks for sharing, pls do more foundation reviews. 🤍
Best explanation and demo ever!
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this. Your face echoed my struggle with foundation. I never get it right. Always end up yellow or ginger even when I ask the assistant. They always say my face needs warming up when I look like you!
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. ☺️
I was under the impression that NC meant neutral cool and I would use NC 25 but because I have a neutral cool undertone it would look peachy. This was a few years ago when that bronzy orange tan look was very popular so I assumed it was the right color but now watching your demo I would probably do better with NW 25. 🎃
So confusing right?
Thank you, really helpful
Glad to hear! Thanks for watching!
Before Covid I was a perfect match to NW 45, since then I am now NC55, and both are perfect matches to my skin tone.
Nice! I'm glad you found your match :)
Yes! I also find the warm/rosy thing confusing. Also golden undertone is definitely warm. I honestly think they made a mistake.
It’s very confusing! 😖
Would love to see a video on brow pencil shades! Especially the Benefit precisely my brow pencil
Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I don't have a great variety of brow shades :(
I assumed i was an autumn with a warm undertone due to Mac foundation. Always told that NW 43 meant "neutralizing warm". Learning its the opposite and Im a winter makes so much more sense!
It’s a confusing system for sure!
Hi dear. Does the theory go same manner for foundation and concealers in mac ??? Warm skin undertone which concealers?( studio finish ones) thanks
Your descriptions help me so much~~~ that the wrong undertone feels like it’s sitting on your face, or a mask. I’ve always had problems getting the right foundation match. A make up artist told me that my undertone is almost olive. But then put too dark of “neutral warm” colors on me. Another told me “peaches & cream”. Yellowish concealers is usually what I’d use
Glad it was helpful!
What you've worked through in this video is exactly the problem that prevented me from ordering Mac concealer or foundation online. I actually have a warm undertone and probably would match the NC foundation perfectly. Now I know.
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.🙂
100 percent correct. I wear nw13 and I’m light with cool rose undertones. Also on ulta website they will shade match you from other brands.
I’m fairly new to color theory but I believe I lean more cool, I did purchase nc15 (which is warm or yellow) as a concealer for my under eyes and the redness around my nose. The yellow seemed to help neutralize the redness and violet hues . I wonder if you could do more videos on makeup and neutralizing tones in skin ? (: ❤
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 ....
Hey I have been on a life long search for my correct colour in MAC and one tip that I would like to share is that even though I look yellow predominantly I see peachy/pink too subtle, my veins are blue-green and that means I am neutral. NC looks yellow on me very cold, and NW looks pink if I go for my recommended. I went for a slightly lighter NW (all shops told me NC) and voila a great match, I can't quite believe it and the MAC online customer service told me NW to neutralise my warm tones. The slighter lighter NC makes me look too cold. Hope that's helpful.
Some expert told me, match your overtones with whatever your surface color is and use your other colors warm or cool for the rest of face. So, i have yellow or golden looking surface tones but cool undertones like olive skin. I use maybe a gold toned foundation or beige and i dont worry so much about getting every thing perfect. When im dont it looks pretty cool, haha😅.
Nice!
Great explanation! NW20 matches my skin as well.
Thank you! Me too!
Hi
can you tell about the Laura Mericier tinted moisturiser shades. I’m also a NW 15 in mac.
Sorry, I don't have much experience with that brand.
Wow! this explains why I am NW in Estee Lauder when I have a cool undertone. I was confused by it. Mac and Estee Lauder are made by the samee company x
Glad it was helpful!
I used to work for MAC so got very used to their foundation system.
I completely get what you are saying and you’re correct, however when the shades climb up and get darker, the NW shades are indeed much warmer than the NC, which be one very olive toned.
Eg, a black skinned women would wear an NW.
An Asian skin an NC.
Hope that helps.
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
Woow😳😳 why on earth do they do this….👀 Great video as always! What are tour best colourmatches for foundation?
Thank you! I wear nw20-25 ☺️
Hi Sarah and thank you very much for your content! I have a quick question, if a cool undertone foundation works best for you, does it means you have cool undertone? Or foundation is only about the skin overtone?
Thank you :)
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. :)
Hi Sarah that blue your wearing really suits you. I have done colour analysis on myself and know I'm a Spring warm. Would you say chocolate brown could still be in the spring colour pallette??
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.
random request: can you do a seasonal color analysis of the cast of selling sunset? lol i've been obsessed with color analysis and I can't figure most of them out! it's hard though because of the camera filters, studio lighting, makeup, and tans on that show
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
I did try the Ordinary and had to get the cool foundation as their neutral shades were very yellow. I prefer Bare Minerals myself.
Good to know, I haven't tried either :)
Maybe I need to try MAC. I am a Winter with cool undertones, however I carry a strong yellow/golden surface tone when I have a tan (which is more than half of the year). Cool makeups sit on top of my skin and are too pink or they make me look gray. Perhaps MAC works well with those of us who are "olive", because yellow and blue make green?
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!
Mary Kay also has it wrong but in a different way. Their online foundation quiz will recommend a cool toned (rosy) foundation if you say that your skin burns easily or if you turn red easily. If you tan easily, it will recommend a warm tone (yellow). Totally incorrect. Not sure how companies can get this wrong when they hire experts. Frustrating because color theory has been around for a long time! Good that you got clarification for us👍🏻
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!
I have Warm Undertone skin and I've tried using Cool Undertone Foundations before and on my experienced it looks grayish on my face and I always stay away from Cool shades of Foundation coz they look gray on me.
If I were to buy one of those, the more yellowish one would probably fit better on my skin. I use concealer that is more yellowish. I don't see my skin as pink/reddish.
But I am a cool season. Fully cool. Cool colors suit me better
Also analyst Carol Brailey who is a true summer (16 season analysis) has a yellowish skintone as me. And also one of the girls at color analysis studio who is a cool winter. So it seems like cool seasons can both have yellowish skintones and redish/pinkish
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
A great demo... MAC should fix their system - it makes no sense and just causes confusion. People have been pointing this out for years. Since when does cool mean golden, lol. The good thing is that they do have a good selection of cool foundation.
Yep but I don’t think they will at this stage. It’s so established. It might cause more confusion! 😂
@@sarahryanthestylecoach 🤣😅😂
“Thank you for your video. Mac definitely confuses its customers. I always buy lipstick from Mac. Does that also apply to the ones with the reverse naming?
I recently got advice from a cosmetician about makeup that suits my skin undertone. She tried a warm undertone shade, and it looked perfect. But when she tried it on my face, it appeared totally yellow and didn’t match at all. In the end, I ended up with a Dior foundation for cool undertones, which also didn’t match my hand’s undertone. How is it possible to have a cool undertone on my face and a warm undertone on my body? Do you have an explanation for this?”
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.
All skin tones are variations of the color orange. The question is, how much red is in your orange skin?
MAC says that the more red, the warmer your skin tone. Almost everywhere except for in the makeup industry, MAC’s definitions would be considered correct. Look at light bulbs. The warmer the color temperature, the more red there is in the light.
On the Kelvin scale, which measures color temperature, red is the warmest, not yellow.
So when looking at foundations, if your skin leans toward red, it’s warm and if it leans toward yellow it’s cool.
Other makeup companies consider yellow to be warmer than red but this is not necessarily true.
Yes, it’s confusing but all Mac does is to follow a temperature color wheel 😅😅😅😅Red color is warmth (heat) and the blue is coolness (absence of heat). Pink undertones have more red than blue so they’re warmer (more heat)
Sarah, could you tell us (if you know) which names apply to cool and which to warm shades of foundation?
Ivory, buff, porcelain, vanilla, etc. Which is which? 😅
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. 😁
MAC NW Shades (cool/neutral undertones) and MAC NC Shades (warm/neutral undertones)
I use NC37 in MAC if I have a spray tan for an occasion. I use Bareminerals Barepro no 12 Warm Natural everyday.
@aurorastar7127 what classification are the C shades; like C 3.5?
These are yellow based so warm ☺️
I liked the not cool and not warm idea as others have mentioned. I think it’s supposed to “neutralize” any unwelcome coolness or warmth in your skin?
Editing to add a question: should we match our overtone or undertone ?
I’ll do a video on this!
This is interesting, I was given warm because I have pink over tone skin
Do you feel like it was a good match?
Oh, that's interesting because among artists there isn't and agreement about what is the warmest color.
There are those who say that red is the warmest color because it is further away from blue on the color wheel while yellow is a lot closer to blue and therefore is cooler than red.
So it seems MAC stands by the theory that red is the warmest color and as pink is closer to red then pink is warm too.
Holding my hand against my device, the NW foundation looks pink and way too cool against my skin (I am warm undertones (warm spring)) and the NC looks right to correct undertones but too dark depending on the value. I agree that the labeling isn't warm/cool w/c
Thanks for watching Mary!
from what i've heard over the years of watching youtube makeup videos, it's just a quirk about MAC that they label them the opposite of what they are. i think i heard someone once try to explain at is you're cancelling your undertone to make it more neutral. so, if you're cool toned your objective is to become neutral, and so you'd use NW. but of course, if W is actually cool, nothing is getting cancelled, so, i don't know. but i think it's safe to just assume whatever your actual undertone, get the foundation labelled the opposite.
So confusing 🤷🏻♀️
Make up foundation doesn't always follow "warm" and "cool" the same way color analysis does.
Haus Labs uses the same concept when it comes to foundation undertone
I'm not familiar with Haus labs but good to know :)
Oh wow, thanks for explaining this! MAC's view of colours and undertones makes no sense.
You're so welcome!
What about neutral undertones?
I believe that a person leans warm or cool, maybe it's not so obvious but it's there.
Isn’t the N stand for “not” ? NC =not cool; NW = not warm?
I’ve heard people say this but I don’t think this is official MAC terminology .
I've always thought of it like this: MAC NC = Not Cool, and NW = Not Warm 🙃
That's a good way to think about it!
Everything you said I was thinking. What a ridiculous way for thus company to label their foundation
You're so sweet getting as confused. :)
Thank you for this video because MAC is very confusing which is why I didn’t buy their new formula.
The best way not to get confused with Mac's shade system is to remember that NW means not warm and NC means not cool, that is what I was told ages ago because I was also confused
At MAC, Think of the letters NW standing for NOT WARM, therefore it’s cool. Think of the letters NC standing for NOT COOL, therefore it’s warm.
Colour theory for image consulting is different than colour theory for designers/architects... and plumbers! The colour analysis concept of yellow=warm is a bit obsolete. If you look inside a bathroom, I guess you will never find yellow for hot water and blue for cool water... A plumber can confirm that red=hot and blue=cold. For an architect/designer there are 3 primary colours: magenta, canary, cyan, and magenta is the hottest, canary is perfectly neutral, and cyan is the coolest colour your eyes can see. Also, true red (magenta + canary) is not as hot as magenta, and true blue (cyan + magenta) not as cool as cyan, while canary and its opposite purple are neutral hues.
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.
So in other words you could remember for MAC NW is not warm and NC is not cool
I like this!
Being a mac user for decades, we have always said that NW is not warm and NC is not cool
Good for someone who has been using it a long time but very confusing to anyone who is new to the brand.
I agree that you are cool, and MAC's NW looks much better than you. Funnily enough, I am a Bright Winter, and two different Mac specialists matched me to NC30 in-person. I think they are good matches. I have tried N and NW foundations in other brands, and they are too warm. Fuschia and plum lipsticks look good on me. Coral does not. I am really confused.
MAC has an opposite range of colors... since the beginning.
Yes, a little confusing!
I don’t think I would bother buying Mac foundation!
Good to know! Thanks for sharing!
How does Mac get this so wrong? This is absolutely stupid. Yellow is not cool. No wonder I’ve never matched anything at Mac. Everything i thought was cool, was actually warm. Because Mac doesn’t know the difference between cool and warm
It really is very confusing! But once you know, you know :)
Mac aren't inclusive for very fair skin. I'm Ivory skinned Spring and NC10 and NC15 look like an orange tan on me! I'd need NC0 or NC5 which they don't bother to make.
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. 😩