Because we all want to know our best foundation colour!
1. What Does Skin Undertone Mean?
Have you ever wondered why wearing specific colours makes your skin glow while other colours make you look wan? Or is it why your recent foundation doesn't blend nicely with your skin even though it's a brand you frequent? Your skin undertone is the reason.
Your undertone is the colour under your skin, giving your overall complexion its tint. Whether you're on the paler side or are tanned, undertones set us within three categories. The warm undertone, the cool undertone, and the neutral undertone. And after working with various undertones as a personal stylist, another simple and relatable way to explain it is that a cool undertone often means your skin is on the paler side. In contrast, warm undertones mean your skin is on the tanned side.
How does one know a warm undertone from a cool undertone? A warm undertone refers to skin that reflects a green tint and peach or golden hues. On the other hand, an excellent skin undertone has blue hues and sometimes purple. For the neutral undertone, you either have a combination of these two colours – or none!
2. How Do You Determine Your Skin Undertone?
With Your Veins
As a personal stylist coach, one sure way I determine a client's skin undertone is by looking at the shade of their veins. To select yours, hold up your wrist or palm to the light. What colour are your veins? If they look blue or bluish, then you have a cool undertone. If they look green, you have a warm undertone–like me! Lastly, if your vein colour isn't distinctive and seems like a merge of blue and green, you have a neutral undertone. Another effective way to confirm your verdict is to compare the colour of your veins to someone else's. This way, you can be sure of what category you fall into.
With Your Eye Colour
Another simple way to know your skin undertone is by determining which undertones your eye colour falls into.
Hazel, amber, light brown, and deep green eyes (especially with flecks of gold) often means you have a warm skin undertone.