How to find your skin undertone

Your skin has two kinds of color. Surface tone is what you see first: fair, medium, tan or deep, and it changes with sun and season. Undertone is the steady hue underneath, and it never changes. It's the single most useful thing to know about your coloring, because it decides whether golden or blue-based colors flatter you.

There are four main undertones:

• Warm: golden, peachy or yellow. Gold jewelry glows on you.
• Cool: pink, rosy or bluish. Silver and platinum look best.
• Neutral: a balance of both, so you can wear warm and cool colors.
• Olive: a greenish, muted cast that often reads as neutral-warm.

Do the tests below in natural daylight, near a window, with a clean, makeup-free face. Artificial light (especially warm bulbs) will throw off every one of them.

1. The vein test

Turn your wrist over and look at the veins just under the skin.

• Mostly green or olive → warm undertone
• Mostly blue or purple → cool undertone
• A mix, or hard to tell → neutral undertone

2. The jewelry test

Hold a gold piece and a silver piece near your face, one at a time. Which one makes your skin look clearer and brighter?

• Gold wins → warm
• Silver wins → cool
• Both look good → neutral

3. The white paper test

Hold a sheet of bright white paper next to your bare face and look in a mirror. Compared with the paper, does your skin look:

• Yellow, golden or peachy → warm
• Pink, rosy or slightly blue → cool
• Gray or greenish → likely olive
• Neither clearly → neutral

4. The white vs. ivory test

Try on a crisp pure-white top, then an ivory or cream one. Cool undertones usually look fresher in pure white, while warm undertones look healthier in soft ivory. If pure white makes you look washed out, you probably lean warm.

5. The sun test

Think about how your skin reacts to the sun without sunscreen:

• Burns easily, rarely tans → usually cool
• Tans easily to a golden brown → usually warm
• Burns first, then tans → often neutral

6. The blush test

Notice your natural flush after exercise or when you're embarrassed. A peachy or golden flush suggests warm, while a pink or rosy flush suggests cool.

Putting it together

No single test is perfect. Count your results: if four or more point the same way, that's your undertone. If they're split, you're most likely neutral, which is great news because you can wear colors from both sides.

The best colors for each undertone

Undertone vs. your color season

Undertone is the first step of seasonal color analysis, but not the last. Two people with warm undertones can have very different palettes: a fair, light-haired person (Light Spring) suits delicate peach, while someone with deep, rich coloring (Deep Autumn) suits mahogany and forest green. Your depth and contrast matter too.

Here's how undertone and depth combine:

For your exact season, take the free color analysis quiz. It checks your undertone, depth and clarity in about 2 minutes.