You should be able to get foundation samples. I got one at MAC and Armani. It was a fairly generous little tub too - enough for probably 4/5 applications.

I was wondering about that. At sephora and ukta you can return it, but what about drug store buys?

i got two tried ones which are too pale for me and three samples which are all slightly off in different ways (too yellow, too olive, too deep)

Ulta and Sephora will absolutely make you samples, as will any counter at Nordstrom.

I return ones that don’t work. I collected a bunch of samples from Sephora during my big search for the right color last year to reduce waste.