Foundation shades for cool undertone, light-medium skin
If your skin is cool-toned and light-medium in depth, these 10 shades across 7 brands sit in your range by swatch colour. Depth is the primary match; undertone decides whether it looks like skin or a mask.
Skin Tone Finder
Your skin depth and undertone from a selfie — for foundation and concealer matching. Nothing is uploaded.
A guide for fun & self-improvement based on your photo — not a professional colour-matching service.
Shades in this range
- Cargo Cosmetics OneBase for Face - 03 - Medium/Fair with golden undertone ($28)
- Clinique Line Smoothing Concealer - Light ($20)
- Clinique Superbalanced™ Makeup - 10 Warmer ($26)
- Clinique Airbrush Concealer™ - Medium ($22)
- Dior Diorskin Nude Air Glow Powder - 004 Warm Light ($39.50)
- Marienatie Pressed Foundation - Deep Golden
- Maybelline Dream Liquid Mousse - Pure Beige (Medium 2) ($14.79)
- Milani Cream-To-Powder Makeup - Medium Beige ($10.99)
- Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream SPF 35 - LIGHT/MEDIUM ($39)
- Smashbox Camera Ready CC Cream - LIGHT/MEDIUM ($42)
How to pick between them
- Cool undertone: look for C, R (rosy), P (pink) or 'cool'; yellow-based shades will look orange.
- Light-Medium depth: if a shade is right in undertone but a touch off in depth, choose the lighter of two and warm it with bronzer - it reads more natural than going darker.
Not sure of your own undertone or depth? Run the free undertone test or the skin tone finder - it reads them from a selfie in your browser (nothing is uploaded) - then come back to the matching shades.
How this works: shade colours are the brands' published swatches, converted to CIE Lab and compared with ΔE (colour distance). Swatches are approximations - lighting, formula finish, oxidation and skin chemistry all shift how a foundation reads. Use these as a shortlist and verify on your jawline in daylight.
Let the free AI analyzer read your undertone and depth from a selfie - in your browser, never uploaded.
Try Makeup Check AIFAQ
Which foundation is best for cool undertone light-medium skin?
Any of the 10 shades listed sit in the cool light-medium range by swatch colour; popular picks include Cargo Cosmetics 03 - Medium/Fair with golden undertone, Clinique Light, Clinique 10 Warmer. Verify on your jawline in daylight.
How do I know if I'm cool and light-medium?
The free Makeup Check AI analyzer reads undertone and depth from a selfie in your browser (nothing uploaded); the vein test and jewellery test are quick manual checks.