Note that the shades don’t translate exactly across formulas–even the Studio Fix Fluid foundation (which is meant to simply be the liquid version of this) behaves differently. Many also use their MAC shade match from the Studio Fix range to describe their foundation colour in casual conversation. It is one of MACs most well-known and loved products, so most people who take an interest in makeup will probably check it out at least once in their lives. This little chart is also from Sharon’s blog. I take no credit for it and it’s missing some shades, but wanted to include it here to give you a visual of the Studio Fix Powder Plus range. I don’t fully understand it so I won’t attempt an explanation, but I read on someone else’s blog that it helps to think of NC as “not cool” and NW as “not warm.” A former MAC makeup artist, Sharon Farrel, explains it all much more clearly in this useful post. The reason behind that has something to do with the colour wheel and colour theory.
#MAC FOUNDATION SHADES SKIN#
The same goes for the “NW” shades applying to cool skin instead of warm.
Looks pretty straightforward, but you may have noticed that although “NC” stands for “Neutral Cool” the NC shades are geared toward women with warm, golden skin tones. NC- “Neutral Cool” – best for golden beige skin When you get to the letter designations for undertones, it gets slightly more confusing:Ĭ- “Cool ” – best for yellow/golden/olive skin
The numbers increase with depth and that’s about the easiest part to explain. While most popular brands stick with relatively simple descriptive shade names, MAC, being a pro brand, uses a system that allows them to be precise in their description of a wide selection of shades.
The naming system involves a combination of letters and numbers that denote undertone and depth respectively. Anyone who isn’t a MAC makeup artist is going to be slightly overwhelmed when first faced with the Studio Fix Powder Plus shade range.