Buying foundation online can be quite difficult, especially when you’re trying to match your exact skin tone.
I have fair skin so it's easy to fall into the trap of either buying a foundation that is too light or just a tad too dark, giving you the awful shade around your jawline.
Charlotte Tilbury’s Light Wonder in the number 2 Fair shade priced at £39 is usually my foundation of choice, and at a push can last me three months. However, I wanted to try something new and I recently came across the brand Dcypher.
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DCYPHER is one of many foundation brands that is popping up on social media, claiming to match your exact skin tone to your foundation, Il Makiage is another brand that claims to do this perfectly.
The difference with DCYPHER however is that it doesn’t actually have any shades to choose from. Rather, each shade is made from scratch for every single skin tone, meaning they can potentially make billions of different shades for every person on the planet.
I was excited to try this new concept and I found their steps really simple to follow. I went on their website here and clicked on ‘create your formula ’. I then needed to take three photographs of myself so Dcypher could analyse my skin tone.
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In order for DCYPHER to get your match correct you need to make sure you have no makeup on or glasses on in the photographs you send, and that you take the pictures in natural daylight and avoid shadows.
Just a few days later I received my DCYPHER 30ml foundation bottle, which is priced at £28, and I couldn’t wait to see the results.
DCYPHER matches you on your skin tone and your undertone, whether you have cool or warm tones in your skin tone. You can also choose what coverage and finish preferences you prefer, so that these can be suited to your skin needs too.
My product is a medium coverage, natural finish and fair colour to match my combination skin tone. I applied a small amount into my jawline to begin with, following DCYPHER's recommendation and let it dry.
I checked the patch in natural light and the results were amazing. You couldn’t even tell I had foundation on. I then applied the foundation all over my face and didn’t need a lot of product to get the finish I wanted, two pumps at most.
You do need to shake the foundation well between uses as it contains a high pigment pure dispersion which divides into layers between uses, so shaking well will help to activate it before each use.
It’s slightly more on the thicker side than what I am used to. Charlotte Tilbury's Light Wonder has a more silkier finish, whereas DCYPHER is a bit more matte but not too much.
DCYPHER’s foundation compliments my skin tone incredibly well and I am so impressed with how accurate the colour is. The overall finish is a great match for my skin colour. I would have preferred a lighter texture and more radiant finish but this is something that DCYPHER is able to tweak with their exchange and returns policy which enables you to request an alteration to the shade or formula for free - ensuring your foundation is an exact match every time!
I really like the uniqueness of the brand and their accuracy was spot on for colour skin tone but the texture and finish is not enough to convert me fully away from Charlotte Tilbury just yet.