If you haven’t been able to find the perfect foundation match or feel like the tops you wear always make your skin look a bit dull, you probably haven’t identified your skin undertone. While many of us know our skin tones, undertones can be harder to figure out and refer to the shade within your skin tone. Skin tone can impact your makeup and clothing choices, but it’s your undertone you need to look to to ensure you choose the most complimentary colours for your skin. Here’s how to identify your skin undertone and why it matters.
What Are Skin Undertones?
There’s a difference between your skin tone and your skin undertone. Your skin tone is the colour you first see in the mirror- it can range from very deep to very fair in colour. Your skin undertone is the permanent, natural colour beneath the skin’s surface. Your skin tone can change throughout the year, but your undertone never changes.
It’s important to know your skin undertone so you can choose makeup and clothes that beautifully compliment your skin. Your skin’s undertone will affect how makeup and certain colours look on you.
Since foundations are categorized into skin tone and then subcategorized based on skin undertone, you need to know both to figure out the perfect match for your skin. This will help you avoid harsh makeup lines that separate your makeup from your natural skin colour. It’s the best way to achieve the most natural makeup look, giving you that “barely there” skin aesthetic.
Knowing your skin undertone can also help you figure out what colour palette you should wear when it comes to your clothes, jewelry, and makeup like eyeshadow, blush, and lipstick. Your undertone plays a huge role in how colours look on your skin, so knowing your undertone will help your enhance your complexion rather than looking dull or lacklustre.
What Are the Different Types of Skin Undertones?
- Warm undertones: Your skin has yellow, peach, or golden underlying colours.
- Cool undertones: Your skin has pink or blue underlying colours.
- Neutral undertones: You have a mixture of both warm and cool tones.
How to Identify Your Skin Undertone
1. Gold/Silver Jewelry Test
You can check your skin undertone by determining whether you look best in gold or silver jewelry. Pull out your necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, and see which colour looks better on you. If you think gold jewelry flatters your skin more, you likely have warm undertones. If silver looks better on you, you may have cool undertones. If you don’t notice much of a difference, your answer is probably neutral. Since this can be subjective, it can be helpful to get others’ opinions on this one.
2. Check Your Tan
The way your skin changes colour under the sun is a good way to determine your skin undertone. If your skin burns quickly or tans to more rosy, reddish shades (as opposed to more golden or peach) then you likely have cool undertones. If your skin turns to peach, golden, caramel, or olive (as opposed to rosy or red) when you tan then you probably have warm undertones. If your skin doesn’t really tan to a predominant shade or burns and tans equally, you may have a neutral undertone.
3. Put on a White Tee
Throw on a white tee and stand in bright, natural light (next to a window). You can even just hold a piece of white paper up to your face. If your skin looks rosy or pink next to it, you’re cool toned, however, if it looks more yellow, you’re warm toned. If you feel like you look better in off-white or creamy shades, this is another sign you probably have warm undertones. If you don’t see a change and feel like you can wear both colours without feeling washed out, you likely have a neutral undertone.
4. Do a Vein Test
Checking the colour of your veins is another way to help determine your skin undertone, but make sure to look at the veins in and around your face and neck. If your veins are more green, you’re warm toned. If your veins are more blue, you’re cool toned. If it looks like a mix of the two, neutral it is.
5. Use Your Eye and Hair Colour
While this isn’t a foolproof way to determine your skin undertone, it can still offer some helpful clues. Generally, those with lighter hair and eyes tend to have a cooler or more neutral undertone, while those with darker hair and eyes tend to have warmer undertones. There are lots of exceptions to this, as some people with fair complexions have warm undertones and some people with dark complexions have cool undertones. Make sure to do other tests on top of this one.
6. Try a Foundation Swatch Test
A foundation swatch test can be super helpful, not to mention the most reliable. Head to a makeup store and look for two different beauty brands that categorize their foundation by undertone and shade. Look for words like “cool” and “warm” alongside the shade name. Pick a few foundations that are close to your skin tone but have different undertones (neutral, warm, and cool). Apply three small patches in a row along your forearm or even on your neck. Then do the same with the second brand. Think about which patches look too pink, orange or yellow against your skin. The patch that’s least different from your skin tone will tell you what undertone you are.
Knowing your skin undertone will ensure you’re wearing the perfect shades and colours for your skin!
This post contains affiliate links.
Did you enjoy this post on how to identify your skin undertone? We’d love it if you shared it on Pinterest!
Looking for more beauty and makeup hacks? Make sure to follow our Beauty Board on Pinterest!
