Adia Goss

And they work very, very well, but I almost didn’t give them a try at all, because I think they’re something you probably don’t really “need.” Once you’ve got them, though, you find yourself reaching for them over and over again. 

I’ve been seeing pictures and reviews of them floating around online, and I thought, “Neat,” but I wasn’t moved to rush out and buy them immediately.

Sure, I was intrigued. They’re supposed to transform an almost right face makeup shade into something perfect, but I wondered if they’d also affect the performance of my foundations. And I also thought it would just be easier to go get the right foundation shade in the first place (amiright?).

After playing around with them for a couple of weeks, I’m convinced now that they really are a cool product.

The Lightening ones are meant to be used if your foundation shade looks too dark or orange, and they have a mix of white and pink pigments to neutralize yellowness and also lighten your foundation. One drop will lighten your foundation by about 1/2 a shade.

The Darkening ones work for when your foundation looks too light or ashy, and they have a mix of black and red pigments. And one drop will darken your foundation by about 1/2 a shade.

When I first heard about these, I assumed I’d be using the Darkening drops, because I tan super easily, and each of my six or so foundations are slightly different colors because of this. When I lived in New York, my skin tone differed pretty dramatically due to the long stretches without any sunlight whatsoever (you know, winter). Even within a single brand like NARS, my three foundations are in different shades, just because I was a slightly different color each day I happened to walk into the store to buy them (here are swatches in this post).

But it turns out that I’ve actually been reaching for the Lightening drops more often, and I use them to make one of my favorite summertime foundations wearable for me right now.

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