With literally unlimited colours in the world, finding the few that suit you best may seem a bit overwhelming, but it’s so worth it.

Wearing your most flattering colours not only makes you look healthy and radiant, but also makes you glow in a way that is absolutely unique to you. In this post, we will explore how to determine your skin’s undertone and find the colours that will help you shine best.

The first step takes a little investigative work to determine if you have a cool, warm, or neutral skin undertone. Make sure you are in the natural daylight and try out the below tests.

Veins:

Chances are that your veins are most visible on your wrist, inner elbow, and chest. If your veins have a greenish or yellow hue, you are likely warm toned. If your veins are more purple or blue, you are probably cool.

Nail Beds:

Your nail beds can tell you a lot about your skin tone. Warm toned skin types usually have more peach coloured nail beds, while cool tones have red or purple hues.

Skin:

If your skin tends to burn after a day in the sun you are likely cool, but catching a tan is no problem for warm skin tones. Down the middle? You could be neutral. Keep in mind that even very dark skin that doesn’t burn can still have a cool undertone. When in doubt, do the paper test. Hold a piece of pure white paper next to your face and see if your skin tracks more pink/rosy (cool) or yellow/pale brown (warm).

Jewelry:

Take a look inside your jewelry box. What are the metal types of your favorite everyday pieces? Warm tones tend to wear yellow gold, copper, and brass while cool tones tend to wear silver, white gold, and platinum. Rosegold suits all of the above, making it a great choice for neutrals. If you have a pretty even mix, hold different metal types up to your face and see if one makes your skin look less blotchy and more even.

The Verdict Is...

Did you tend to answer warm or cool? Whatever you answered most is your skin’s undertone, and if you answered about 50/50 you are neutral. Now, let’s talk about what that means for finding your unique colour palette. Take a look at the colour wheel below. Cool colours are on the left and warm on the right. If you are neutral, lucky you can borrow a bit from both.

If you are Warm:

Stick towards the right side of the colour wheel when choosing your wardrobe. Try experimenting with rich colours and earth tones, like brown, yellow ochre, coral, orange, olive green, cappuccino, and ivory. Basically any rich, sunny colour you would find in nature. Wearing colors that are too cool may make your skin look blotchy. Yellow gold, rose gold, copper, and brass jewelry will flatter you best.

If you are Cool:

Stick towards the left of the wheel and aim for jewel tones and sea shades, like sapphire blue, frosty pink, amethyst purple, black, and bright white. Silver, platinum, and white gold jewelry will make your skin more glowy and even toned. Be mindful about wearing super bright colours, as they may appear harsh against your cool skin.

If you are Neutral:

You can look stunning in most colors, but dustier and softer versions in the middle of the color spectrum are especially complimentary. Try out peach, jade, dusty rose, slate blue, and warm grays. When choosing jewelry, you can look amazing in any of the metal types. Avoid super bright colours that can drown out your skin, but bright red is still very flattering on you.

I hope this inspired you to see colours in a new way! Of course, at the end of the day wear whatever you love and makes you feel the most confident. What colour suits you best? Any new ones you’d like to give a try?