Understanding the Right Skin Tone for the Right Makeup Choice

Do you know what your skin’s undertone is? No, we’re not referring to the shade of your skin’s complexion, which might be fair, medium, or dark. An undertone is different. Unlike your complexion, which fluctuates with the seasons, it does not alter. You may notice that you are darker in the summer due to a suntan and lighter in the winter. The reality is that many Indian women are unaware of skin tones and the vital role they play in deciding the appropriate makeup products, clothes, and hair colour for your skin tone.

You’ve probably heard the adjectives ‘cool,’ ‘warm,’ or ‘neutral’ used by fashion and beauty experts. Simply put, your skin undertone is the colour that appears through the skin from beneath its surface. Whether dark, light, or medium, every skin tone can have warm, cold, or neutral skin undertones.

Cool skin undertone: If a person’s general complexion contains more blue, pink, and red colours, the undertone is labelled as ‘cool.’

Warm skin undertone: If the skin has more peach, yellow, and golden tones, the undertone is labelled ‘warm.’ 

Neutral skin undertone: People with neutral undertones do not have warm or cold undertones.

What is the significance of understanding your undertone?

When it comes to finding a new lipstick or serum foundation, we’re generally drawn to the colour first. It’s typical to fall in love with a shade at the cosmetics counter only to find out it doesn’t look right on you when you try it on at home. Understanding your skin’s undertone is essential for selecting the optimal serum foundation and colour palettes for your skin tone.

The undertone of your skin may be readily determined at home. You can use one or more of these tests to determine your skin’s undertone.

1. Wrist Test 

• Examine the colour of your veins on the undersides of your wrists.
• Cool veins: If your veins seem blue or purple, you have a cool undertone.
• Warm veins: If your veins are olive or greenish, you have a warm undertone.
• If you can’t tell which colour is prevalent in your veins, you have a neutral undertone.

2. Jewellery Examination

Place one piece of silver and one piece of gold jewellery against your skin.

• Cool: If silver jewellery looks well on your skin, you have cool skin.
• Warm: If gold looks beautiful on your skin, you are more likely to have a warm tone.
• Neutral: If you look nice in both silver and gold jewellery, you may have a neutral undertone.

Pro Tip: Although most people believe rose gold to be a cool-toned metal, it should not be used for this test. For best results, stick to gold and silver.

3. Sun Experiment

The way your skin responds to the sun might assist you in determining your skin undertone.

• Cool: If your skin burns or becomes red in the sun, you have a cool undertone.
• Warm: You have a warm undertone if your skin tans quickly in the sun.

Pro Tip: Even though cool skin tones are more susceptible to sunburn, it is critical to wear decent quality sunscreen every time you go outside, regardless of your skin undertone.

4. Colour Examination

This is a fun test since we will ask you to get out all of your favourite clothes from your closet and play with the colours to determine your undertones. Take a mirror and stand in a well-lit, ideally daylight-lit room. Hold several pieces of clothing up to your skin to observe how the colours make you look.

• Cool: If you are complemented by ‘cool’ shades like black, purple, blue, white, and so on, you have cool undertones.
• Warm: If you like yellow, peach, brown, olive, and other ‘warm’ shades, you have warm undertones.
• Neutral: If you believe you look beautiful in any colour, consider yourself blessed! You have a light undertone.

Your undertones can help you figure out which products appear best against your natural skin tone. Regardless, your preferences are more essential than what a colour chart indicates. If you feel joyful in a shade that is supposed to be outside of your colour pallet, defy the norms and wear it!