Aug 6

Aug 6 Hot Or Cold: Colors For Your Skin Tone

The world of skin undertones and the corresponding colors to wear to complement those undertones is vast. So vast, in fact, that it would be impossible to cover it all in one post. Not that I would attempt to expound on it all anyway, as I don't claim to be any sort of color expert.

This post only covers the two most basic types of skin undertones that you can categorize someone with. The first - warm. The second - cool. It's as simple as that.

A warm undertone is classified as being more yellow, golden, or peachy. A cool undertone is going to be more blue, pink, or red. (You can also be a mix of both, in which case you can pretty much just wear any colors you'd like.) So yeah, you're going to fall into either the former or latter category, and consequently, learn which corresponding color sets are going to be most flattering for you. Just remember, I'm talking about skin undertones here, not your actual skin color that's clearly visible to you and the rest of the world.

So first, let's figure out if you're cool or warm. This can be determined a few ways:

1 - inspect the veins on your arms. If they're closer to a blue or purple hue, you're probably "cool." If the veins have a greenish tinge, you're probably "warm."
2 - place a silver and gold line (use makeup or gold and silver jewelry) on your arm. If the silver looks better on your skin, you're probably cool toned. If you look better with the gold, you're probably warm toned.
3 - if you look better in starker whites and blacks, you may have cool undertones. If ivory or off-white are more flattering for you, you may have warm undertones.
4 - if you burn easily in the sun, you're probably cool. If you tan like it's nobody's business, you're probably warm.
5 - if your eyes are blue, grey, or green and your hair is blonde, brown or black, you may be cool toned. If your eyes are hazel or brown and your hair is black, brown, strawberry blonde, or red, you may be warm toned.

Now that you are (pretty) sure which of the two undertones you posses, let's talk colors:

For cool undertones:

Wear pastels (mint, lavender etc.), sharper colors (black, white, dark blue), and grey, taupe, pink, purple, most blues, rose, green, teal, and sharp reds.