Are you struggling to create that perfect base for your makeup due to little or no knowledge about skin undertones? You don’t have to worry anymore.
Everyone has this color they never wear because it doesn’t complement their skin. Choosing the right color that matches your skin matters a lot. However, you can only know this when you discover your skin undertones.
Skin undertones refer to the natural shade underneath the surface of your skin, while skin tone is the surface of the skin. The two are supposed to complement one another to help you achieve the perfect look you always want.
Identifying your skin undertone is crucial, especially if you love to do your makeup yourself. While people tend to focus on their skin tone (fair, light, medium, and dark) when choosing a foundation, the main factor for selection should be the skin undertone.
Whether you’re choosing a foundation, a concealer, an eye shade, or a lipstick, you want to pick a shade that matches your skin’s undertone. When you fail to pick a shade that matches your undertone, your makeup naturally becomes a disaster.
In this blog post, you will learn about the different types of skin undertones and how you can identify yours.
And if you’re still a bit confused about why skin undertones should matter to you, then you want to keep reading to the end. Let’s go!
Article Contents
The four Different Types of Skin Undertones
The four Different Types of Skin Undertones People often confuse the skin’s complexion with skin undertones. There’s a significant difference between the skin’s complexion and the skin’s undertone.
Having light or fair skin doesn’t mean you have a cool undertone, and being dark in complexion doesn’t make you have a warm undertone. To your amazement, you can see two light-skinned individuals; having different undertones.
There are four skin undertones. These include:
- warm
- cool
- neutral
- olive.
Warm undertones appear to have a peach, yellow, and golden shade, while cool undertones have a reddish or pink shade underneath the surface of the skin.
On the other hand, neutral undertones have shades that appear to be in between the warm and cool spectrums.
However, olive undertones are often considered to be a subset of neutral undertones. Olive skin tones appear to have a creamy, beige, and light pink shade.
Why Should You Care About Your Skin Undertone?
Most times, you leave it to a professional makeup artist to find the right shade for you. To be honest, it can be quite confusing to find and understand what your skin tone is.
It’s fine if you don’t know about your skin undertone. However, it matters a lot because it helps you know the best makeup product to use for your skin.
So, there is no reason why you shouldn’t know the type of undertone you have.
This is even more important if you want to pick the right:
⦁ Makeup
Knowing your skin’s undertone will help you pick the right foundation, concealer, lipstick, and eye shadow that complement your skin.
Choosing your foundation based on your skin tone alone won’t help you achieve your best look. If you have a warm undertone, you want to use warm shades. While for cool undertones, you should go for makeup with cool shades that will complement your undertone.
⦁ Clothes
You have to admit that you look better in some colors than others. This happens because there are colors that best suit your skin undertone.
However, you wouldn’t know how to pick the right color for your outfit if you didn’t know your skin undertones. Clothes with warm colors are perfect for warmer undertones.
⦁ Hair Color
If you ever want to change your hair color, you want to consider your skin’s undertones.
If you have warm undertone skin, you want to pick cooler hair colors. Warmer hair colors are perfect if you have cool undertone skin.
Effective Tips to Help You Identify Your Skin Undertones
Now that you know the different types of skin undertones, here are a few ways you can determine which category you fall under.
⦁ Observe the Color of the Veins on Your Wrist
You can determine your skin undertones at home by conducting a vein test. In this case, you check out the color of the veins on the underside of your wrists.
You have a cool undertone if your veins are blue or purple. On the other hand, you have a warm undertone if your veins appear to be green.
You have a neutral undertone if your veins don’t have an evident color.
⦁ Conduct a Jewelry Test
This is pretty simple. You can choose to figure this out yourself or ask a friend.
The jewelry test is all about figuring out which looks best on your skin between silver and gold jewelry.
If silver jewelry complements your skin, then you have a cool undertone. You have a warm undertone if gold jewelry looks better on you.
On the other hand, you have a neutral undertone if both gold and silver jewelry flatters your skin perfectly.
⦁ The Sun Test
You can stay in the sun for a while to identify your skin undertones. Does your skin tan easily without any burning sensation when you are in the sun for too long? If that’s you, then you have a warm or neutral undertone.
If your skin turns red and you get a burning sensation when you are out in the sun, then you have a cool undertone.
⦁ White Paper Test
To do this test, you will have to hold a piece of white paper close to the side of your face. It’s best to place it under the skin.
You want to observe the shade of your skin when you do that. You have a warm undertone if your skin appears more yellow. However, you have a cool undertone if your skin tone appears pinkish.
⦁ Check Your Eye and Hair Color
Another way to identify your skin undertone is by checking your natural eye and hair color. This will also help you a lot if you want to try out different eye and hair colors.
Also, you want to check the color of clothes against your skin to see if they complement you.
For instance, the yellow color tends to look flattering for warm undertones. If blue complements your skin more, then you have a cool undertone.
On the other hand, if every shade complements your skin, then you have a neutral undertone.
What Does Your Skin Undertone Type Mean for Your Foundation?
Identifying your skin undertone will help you pick the right foundation and makeup that best complements you.
So, here is how you can find the perfect makeup that suits your skin undertone:
Cool Undertones
If you have this skin undertone, you want to pick a cool foundation that has vanilla, mahogany, or ivory. You don’t want to pick a foundation that appears yellowish in the bottle.
For your blush, you can use a rose-gold blush if you have fair skin and cool undertones. However, you can settle for a vibrant plum shade if you have dark skin.
Warm Undertone
Pick a foundation that is labeled “warm” or “W.” You can also pick a foundation with names like honey, caramel, golden, and cinnamon.
For this undertone, you can pick a peach, copper, or bronze blush to give your cheek a natural blush. Colors like red will be perfect for the lipstick.
Neutral Undertone
Any foundation with labels such as biege, nude, neutral, natural, or “N” is perfect for neutral undertones. This is both for neutral and olive undertones.
With these undertones, your options are endless when it comes to lipstick. So feel free to play with different colors to see which best suits you.
Wrapping Up
Your skin undertone is natural, and it complements your skin tone and your complexion. Hence, you want to pick a color that best matches your undertones.
Now that you know how to check your skin undertones, use any of the tips explained above to identify your skin undertone and the best color palette for you. Also, feel free to experiment with colors, as long as they make you look flattering.
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