Understanding the real color of your skin actually means finding out what tone and undertone it has, and that is the key to buying the right foundation.
Warm, cool or neutral subtones are the colors that appear on your skin and under the upper layers of your skin and which affects its color. It’s not about how light or dark your skin is. People with any skin color, from very light to dark, may have cool, warm or neutral undertones. Here’s what each term means:
Cool: shade of bluish, pink or reddish;
Warm: yellow, orange, peach or gold;
Neutral: It doesn’t have clear pink or orange undertones, rather the natural color of the skin is more obvious.
There are several ways you can determine the undertones of your skin. Start by looking at the inside of the arm, where you can see the color better. This area is naturally hidden from the sun, and therefore doesn’t tan as much and doesn’t fade over time.
Does your skin easily tan and rarely burn? If so, it means you have a warm or neutral undertone. If not, it’s a good chance to have a cool undertone. (But we all use sunscreen, right?)
Are your veins bluish or a dark purple? If the answer is yes, you probably have a cool undertone. If your veins look green, then you have a warmer undertone. Those with neutral undertone will have difficulty seeing a more obvious color – everything will look neutral.
Do you look better in silver or gold? Leaving aside personal preferences, the cool undertones look better in silver/platinum, while people with warm undertones look better with golden clothes and gold jewelry. Neutral undertones look good with both colors.
Does your skin look gray? Your skin may be olive, a combination of neutral, light yellow undertones that everyone has, plus the greenish shade that is unique to the skin with olive undertones. Olive skin is a very special one, but it’s not neutral.
