Beauty
e.l.f. Cosmetics Sent Sara Waisglass Into Foundation Match Hell
The brand's "Unglammy Valley" campaign is basically a makeup horror movie.
No matter how much color theory wizardry you’ve picked up on TikTok, some foundation matches just can’t be saved. In e.l.f. Cosmetics’ latest campaign, actor Sara Waisglass finds that out the hard way, after one particularly orange shade sends her into a beauty Backrooms scenario.
Released on Sep. 8, the “Unglammy Valley” campaign starts with Waisglass applying a carrot-colored shade of foundation and immediately realizing her mistake. “Oh no,” she says in the mirror, before suddenly finding herself in an abandoned shopping mall where, as the campaign’s jingle puts it, “Your neck don’t match your face.”
From there, she runs into increasingly bizarre versions of herself: one with chunky batter all over her face declaring, “I’m a crumb cake,” and another creepily jiggling around in a massage chair with a yellow face mask on. The only thing that can save her? e.l.f.’s Soft Glam Satin Foundation, which she applies before making a triumphant escape up the escalator, leaving her bad shade matches behind in Unglammy Valley.
For Ginny & Georgia fans, it’s not exactly unusual to see Waisglass in such an over-the-top role. “Omg this is so Max Baker coded,” one person wrote on Instagram, referring to her character on the show — an energetic theater kid with a flair for dramatics. (Between Melissa McCarthy starring in a telenovela for e.l.f.’s Super Bowl commercial earlier this year and Jennifer Coolidge squeaking like a dolphin in 2023, she’s in good company.)
As campy as the campaign gets, though, the struggle behind it is very real. According to e.l.f., 66% of consumers still rely on trial and error when foundation-shopping — meaning plenty of people have had their own (albeit less surreal) version of Waisglass’ “oh no” moment.
Priced at $8, the foundation comes in 36 shades spanning a wide range of undertones. If you’re stuck between a few, e.l.f. offers shade-family and undertone quizzes, plus a virtual try-on tool to help narrow things down — and a shade-matching guarantee if you still don’t get it quite right. And because a good shade match isn't much help if the formula doesn't cooperate, the foundation has a natural satin finish designed to strike a balance between dewy and dry.
Posted across e.l.f.’s social channels, the campaign seems to be getting an early start on spooky season. But if there’s one jump scare to leave behind this fall, let it be orange foundation.
