What Is My Skin Undertone: Am I Warm, Cool, Or Neutral?

When it comes to choosing your perfect foundation, finding out what your skin undertone is, is key. Your undertone will determine which foundations will look best on you and how to use them to achieve a perfectly done makeup look. So, what is my skin undertone and how do I find it? In this blog post, we'll discuss the different types of undertones and how to identify them. We'll also share tips for selecting the best foundation for your specific undertone. Are you ready to learn more? Let's get started!

What are the different undertones?

Honestly, most people don't know what their skin undertone really is or they think they do... but it's not entirely correct. No matter whether you are a fair, medium, or darker skin tone you can have any of the following three undertones.

One important thing to remember: Skin tones and undertones are not the same. Your skin tone is what you immediately see in the mirror and can change over time due to the weather, sun damage, and/or age. This is also why a lot of makeup users have a 'winter' and 'summer' foundation to fit with the seasons and their ever-changing skin tone. But undertones stay the same throughout your life, even if you get a tan or darker in the sun. So once you know your undertone, things get a lot easier when foundation shopping.

So, fair skin is not always a cool undertone and dark skin or deeper skin tones are not always olive or warm undertones.

Warm Undertones -

Sometimes referred to as golden undertones, olive undertones, yellow undertones

Cool Undertones -

Sometimes referred to as pink and bluish hues, pink undertones, reddened skin, cool skin tones

Neutral Undertones -

Neither overly warm nor cool, a mix of both warm and cool tones

Often it is not always obvious as to which undertone category you fall under so, how do you find your skin undertone other than looking in a mirror (and still be none the wiser)?

Throw on something pure white

In natural light (go outside or stand next to a bright window during the daylight), put on a piece of clothing that is completely crisp white against your skin. How does it look? True, crisp white garments tend to favour cooler undertones, while warm undertones look better in off-white or ivory colours. Warm undertones also tend to compliment brown hues, while cooler tones look better off in pure black. When it comes to jewellery; silver compliments cool skin tones whereas gold pieces accentuate warm skin tones. If you have neutral undertones, you are lucky and can wear pretty much all colours and both silver and gold jewellery with no effect on your overall finished look!

What happens during sun exposure?

No matter what your skin tone or skin undertone is, sunscreen is essential all year round. The way your skin reacts during sun exposure is a very important key indicator of your undertone. If you go red quickly in the sun then you are likely to have a cool skin tone and perhaps cautiously top up your sunscreen very regularly too to avoid getting burnt easily! However, if you very rarely burn and seem to tan easily, you are likely to have warmer undertones. If you're reading that and find you're a mix of both traits above, you guessed it, you're most likely a neutral skin tone.

Think back to your natural hair colour

Before you started experimenting with different hair colours, what was your natural colour? Or, what do you think suits you best? Chances are that these features are telltale signs of your skin's undertone. Platinum blondes and ashy hair toners tend to compliment cool-toned skin's whereas warm, golden and mahogany browns suit warm tones. This is very useful information for when you're next in the hairdresser's chair choosing your next hair colour. If you are someone who can swap and change your hair colour from blonde to brown without much thought then our guess would be that you are a neutral undertone.

So, what is your skin tone?

Have you worked out your skin tone yet? If all else fails, check your facial veins. Rather than looking at your wrists, check them around your face and neck as they are a better indicator. You have a cool undertone if you see blue or purple veins and you have a warm undertone if you see green veins. A mix of both or if it isn't clear = a neutral undertone.

All of our foundation product pages will state whether the foundation shades are a cool, neutral, or warm shade and then you can narrow down which shade from the range will be perfect for you. If you feel that you fall between two shades then opt for a slightly lighter shade as you can always warm it up with a little bronzer. Ideally, we would always advise clients to pick two foundations – 1 lighter, 1 darker – so that you can adjust your shade throughout the different seasons but if this isn’t in your budget then go with the above advice.

Now that you are equipped with the knowledge of your correct undertone and whether you have warm, neutral or cool undertones; you can shop with ease across our website for your right shade of foundation.

If you're still unsure, feel free to ask us! We can help with our expert advice, top tips, and products making makeup shopping stress-free. You can contact us by live chat, email via [email protected], or pick up the phone now and call us on 0116 251 4848 to speak directly with a friendly advisor.