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Are you struggling to find the correct shade of lipstick or foundation and determining which colors look best on you? K
nowing your skin’s undertone can help you choose the right makeup and clothing to help you look your best. We have put together a list of seven hacks to help determine your skin’s undertone. Keep reading to learn more.

Your skin’s surface tone is the color that you can see on the surface of your skin, described as light, medium, tan, deep, and so on. Your skin’s undertone is the color underneath the surface. Before you try these hacks, you must know about the categories of the skin’s undertone:

  • Cool: Base tone of your skin is pink, red or blue  
  • Warm: Base tone of your skin is yellow or gold
  • Neutral: Mix of cool and warm undertones

Two people can have same skin color, but a different undertone. The skin’s surface color can change, due to factors like sun exposure, which is why some of us are lighter during the fall and winter months and get darker during spring and summer.

There is no perfect way for everyone to determine the undertone. What method works will depend on the individual, but here are a few tests to help you out:

1. White Fabric Test:

Do this test in a natural light. Wash your face and pull your hair back. Grab a pure white piece of clothing and an off-white piece of clothing from your wardrobe. Hold them up to your face one-by-one.

  • If you look washed out in pure white and better in off-white, then your undertone is cool
  • If you look better in white, then your undertone is warm
  • If you look great in both colors, then you are neutral   

2. Clothing Test:

This is perhaps a better test than testing with a white fabric, especially if you have darker skin: Notice how you look in opposing colors—such as

  • Blue-Green (cool)
  • Orange-Red (warm)
  • Good in all color: Neutral  

3. Vein Test:

Look at the inside of your wrist. What color do your veins appear?

*This test might not always work for everyone.

  • Bluish color- Cool
  • Greenish color- Warm
  • You can’t tell- Neutral

4. Silver/Gold Test:

     What metal jewelry suits best on your skin?

  • You look good in silver- Cool
  • You look better in gold- Warm
  • You look good in both- Neutral

5. Sunlight Exposure Test:

What happens to your skin when you are out in the sun without sunscreen?

  • If you burn fast- Cool
  • You get to tan first and then you burn if you stay out too long- Warm
  • You just get tan- Neutral

6. Eye Fleck Test:

What color flecks are in your eyes?

  • Golden or hazel- Cool
  • Blue or Green-Warm
  • A little bit of both/Can’t tell- Neutral

7. The Compliment Test:

If you still can’t decide upon it, then probably you should make a note of every compliment you receive from others about the color of your clothing, hair and of course makeup. If you keep getting compliments about a certain look, you’ll know you’re on the right track.

Hopefully the seven hacks above will help you determine your skin’s undertone. Sublime Salon & Spa offers a wide variety of makeup services so schedule your appointment today.