Determine Skin Tone

Knowing your skin tone can be helpful in many ways--it can help you choose the right lipstick color, figure out which hair color is most flattering, and know which colors you should wear to really look like a knock out. Follow these steps to determine your skin undertone and complexion and start making the most of your coloring!

Steps

Determining Your Undertones

  1. Understand what skin tone means. Your skin tone, or undertone, does not refer to the shade of your skin (light, medium, dark)--that is your complexion, or the surface color of your skin. Your skin tone is determined by the amount of melanin, or pigment, in your skin and does not change from sun exposure or skin conditions like rosacea or acne.[1] So while a person's skin may become pale in the winter and a rich brown in the summer, their skin tone will remain the same.
    • Your skin tone will be one of the following: cool, warm, or neutral.[1]
    • Keep in mind your skin tone does not necessarily match what you see on the surface. So you may have pink or ruddy skin, but your skin tone may actually be yellow.[1]
    • Before attempting any of the following steps, make sure your skin is clean and free of any makeup, lotion, or toner. If you just washed your face, wait about 15 minutes before proceeding, as your skin may appear pink from scrubbing and make it difficult to see your true undertone.[2]
    • Always use natural lighting when examining your skin. Different lightbulbs can affect your skin differently--they may give it a yellow or green cast, and interfere with the appearance of your skin tone.[2]
  2. Look at the color of the veins on the inside of your wrist. This is a quick way to determine your undertones.[1] Make sure you are examining your wrists in natural light, either standing near a window or outdoors, and that your wrist is clean and free of product.
    • If your veins appear blue or purple, you have a cool skin tone.[1]
    • If your veins appear green, you have a warm skin tone.[1]
    • If you can't tell if your veins are green or blue, you may have a neutral skin tone. If you have an olive complexion, you likely fall into this category.[1]
  3. Consider how your skin normally reacts to the sun. Do you tan easily? Do you burn or get freckles? The amount of melanin in your skin determines how it reacts to sun exposure and can help you determine your skin tone.[3]
    • If you tan easily and rarely burn, you have more melanin and you likely have a warm or neutral skin tone.[3]
    • If your skin burns and doesn't tan, you have less melanin and therefore a cooler skin tone.[3]
    • Some women with very dark, ebony skin may not burn easily but still have a cool skin tone. Try a few more tests to figure out your undertone.[3]
  4. Hold a white piece of paper up to your face. Looking in a mirror, try to see how your skin looks in contrast to the white paper. It may appear to have a yellow cast, a blue-red or rosy cast, or it may not appear to be either, but a gray color instead.[2]
    • If your skin appears yellowish or sallow beside the white paper, you have a warm skin tone.[2]
    • If your skin appears pink, rosy, or blueish-red, then you have a cool skin tone.[2]
    • If your skin appears gray, your skin probably has an olive complexion with a neutral undertone. The green from your complexion and the yellowish undertone combines to create this effect.[1] You can experiment with neutral and warm tones, since you fall somewhere in between.[1]
    • If you can't determine any cast of yellow, olive, or pink, you have a neutral skin tone. Neutral tones can look good in foundations and colors on both ends of the cool/warm spectrum.[1]
  5. Use gold and silver foil or jewelry to find your skin tone. Hold a sheet of gold foil in front of your face so that it reflects light back on your skin. Note whether it makes your face look grayish or washed out, or if it enhances your skin. Then try with a sheet of silver foil.[2]
    • If the gold foil looks best, you have a warm skin tone.[2]
    • If the reflection from the silver foil makes your skin glow, you have a cool skin tone.[2]
    • If you don't notice a difference (both silver and gold are flattering), then you likely have a neutral skin tone.[4]
    • If you don't have gold or silver foil, try laying gold and silver jewelry on your wrist, and notice which one is more flattering.[5]
  6. Ask a friend to look at the skin behind your ear. If you have acne, rosacea, or another condition that might mask your skin tone, you can have a friend look at the the skin directly behind the shell of your ear, as this area is less likely to be affected.[2]
    • Have them examine the skin right in the little crease behind your ear.[2]
    • If your skin is yellowish, then your skin tone is warm.[2]
    • If your skin is pink or rosy, then your skin tone is cool[2]
    • If they have difficulty, they can try holding a white piece of paper near the skin. That should help them see if it appears yellow or pink.

Using your Skin Tone to Choose Colors

  1. Examine your skin in neutral light to find your complexion. Your complexion refers to the surface shade of your skin, such as fair, medium, olive, tan, or dark and is not necessarily fixed. So your complexion may be lighter in the winter and darker during the summer. By looking at the skin near your jawline, you should be able to determine your coloring.[6]
    • Make sure your skin is clean and free of any product, such as foundation, powder, or lotion.
    • If your skin can be described as very white, pale or translucent, you are fair skinned. You may have freckles or a little redness to your complexion. Your skin is very sensitive to the sun and burns easily.[7] You may have cool or warm undertones.
    • If you have pale skin that burns in the sun but then deepens into a tan, you have light skin. You may have a little red coloring and your skin may be mildly sensitive.[7] May have cool or warm undertones.
    • If you tan very easily and rarely burn, you have a medium skin tone. You likely have warm or golden undertones. This is a very common complexion.[7]
    • If your skin is olive or tan year-round (even in the winter), your complexion is likely tan. You almost never get a sunburn and your undertone is probably neutral or warm.[7]
    • If you have warm, brown skin and back or dark brown hair, you have a warm complexion. Your skin darkens very quickly in the sun and you rarely burn. Your undertones are almost always warm. Women of Indian or African descent often fall into this category.[7]
    • If you have very dark, even ebony skin and have black or dark brown hair, you have a deep complexion. You may have a warm or cool skin tone and your skin hardly ever burns.[7]
  2. Use your skin tone to choose the right colors for your clothing. Remember, these are not rules, only suggestions. Matching your skin tone with a flattering color can help you look your best, but feel free to branch out and experiment with whatever shades really grab you.
    • Warm undertones should try neutrals, like beige, cream, orangey-coral, mustard, off-white, yellow, orange, brown, warm red, and yellow-greens.[8]
    • Cool undertones should try blue-red, blue, purple, pink, green, plumb, navy, magenta, and blue-green.[8]
    • Neutral undertones can draw from both groups. Most shades will flatter your skin.
  3. Consider your skin tone and complexion to find your new favorite lipstick. Start out with these guidelines and recommendations, but don't be afraid to branch out.
    • If you have fair or light skin, try light pink or coral, nude, beige, or dusty red. If you have cool undertones, look for raspberry or mocha or nudes, especially. Warm undertones may want to try red with blue undertones (this will make your teeth look very white, too), coral, pale pink or peachy nudes.[9]
    • If you have tan or medium skin, go for cherry red, rose, mauve, or berry. Deep pinks or corals will look good, too. If you have warm undertones, focus on tangerine, orange-red, copper, or bronze.[9] If you have cool undertones, look for wine colored shades or cranberry.
    • If you have a dark or deep complexion, look for browns, purples, caramel, plumb, or wine colored lipsticks. If you have warm undertones, try copper, bronze, or even a blue-based red.[10] If you have cool undertones, look for metallic shades in ruby red or a deep wine shade.[9]

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 http://www.paulaschoice.com/expert-advice/makeup-tips/_/makeup-tips-tricks-skin-tone-categories
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 http://www.amazingbeautysolutions.com/skintone.htm
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2671032/
  4. ↑ http://www.ebay.com/gds/Determining-Skin-Tones-Complexions-/10000000006319819/g.html
  5. ↑ http://www.prima.co.uk/fashion-and-beauty/make-up/a21653/lipstick-colour/
  6. ↑ http://www.ebay.com/gds/Determining-Skin-Tones-Complexions-/10000000006319819/g.html
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 http://mineralhygienics.com/choose-your-skin-tone-click-on-the-thumbnails
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 http://stylecaster.com/cool-warm-skin-undertones/
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 http://alldaychic.com/find-the-perfect-lip-color-for-your-skin-tone/
  10. ↑ http://www.instyle.com/beauty/go-right-red-find-your-perfect-red-lip#408139
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