Ghost face killah

Is there anything worse than having ghost face — that floating head effect you get when your foundation is an entirely different shade than the rest of your body — on a day that isn’t Halloween? Wearing the wrong shade of foundation on Oct. 31 is okay — you can even call it funny — but sport it on any other day and it’s a faux pas.

Finding the right shade of foundation is a tricky thing for Pinays who vacillate between yellow-tan-olive-white complexions. Depending on the season, what seems perfect for your pasty white complexion during the holidays, looks appallingly light during the summer months.

The answer, surprisingly enough, is in a custom-fit foundation that can match the variable degrees of skin tone as it changes over the seasons. New technology has made it possible for a computer to calculate the pigment levels, which dictate color intensity, most suitable for your face.

The Clinique Computer, a program developed by the beauty brand to help consumers find their proper match, guides the label’s consultants to help with selection of formula (type of product) and color.

Based on several recommendations by the Computer, the Clinique consultants test it out in real life — and real light — to see which best suits the skin.

“It is possible to have a different foundation shade and skin tone, which can be the result of a slight tan in the summer or a fading tan (during the colder months),” says Clinique global product development senior VP Janet Pardo. “Foundation shades are meant to change based on the time of year and a woman’s changing needs. Clients are taught at the counter by our consultants how to blend properly to avoid this from happening.”

Executive director of Clinique product development worldwide Scott Miselnicky helped with fine-tuning the spectrum of shades. “When I’m on the subway or in a group setting, I like to observe the skin tones. And having a color memory definitely helped me come up with appropriate shades that could fill the gaps that we needed to fill. Once we have created a lineup of shades, we conduct a shade study on a broad consumer base to validate each of our shades. Then we take any information we learn from this study and ‘adjust’ any shade to make it more appropriate for the skin tone for which it was intended.”

The long road of R&D resulted in Perfectly Real Makeup, a product of micro-mirrored pigment technology. This line of perfecting makeup provides coverage while leaving skin looking flawlessly natural. No espasol finish with these goods.

Thanks to Clinique’s new technology, every woman’s concern — the ghost face effect — is a thing of the past.

But don’t throw away your old products just yet. Save them for Halloween. Who knows? You just might win “best ghoul” costume.

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Clinique is available at Clinique counters nationwide. Visit www.clinique.com for more info.