In all things beauty, knowing your skin tone is of utmost importance. If you know what your skin tone is, then you will be able to choose colours that complement you, not to mention choosing the perfect foundation shade to give your skin a flawless finish! However, knowing your skin tone isn’t just about whether you’re fair or dark, as your surface complexion can change with your skin’s exposure to the sun. To really determine your skin tone, you have to look at your skin undertones instead, which doesn’t change no matter how much or how little sun you get. If you’re confused about how to determine your skin undertones, don’t worry! We have compiled six easy-to-follow methods for you!
Before that, you first must know the three different types of undertones: warm, cool, and neutral. Think yellow, peachy, and golden for warm undertones; red, pink, and bluish for cool undertones; and olive, or a mixture of both warm and cool colours for neutral undertones. Whenever possible, you should also perform the following tests in natural light (sunlight), as artificial lights vary and may produce different results under different lights.
The Colour Of Your Veins
To be more specific, the veins on the inside of your wrist. Just hold your arm up in natural light, and figure out what the predominant colour of your veins are. If they look green, you have warm undertones. If they look blue or purple, you have cool undertones. If you can’t decide, then you probably have neutral undertones. Fun fact: most olive-skinned people fall into the neutral undertone category.
Gold Or Silver?
Another simple test, all you have to do is bring out your jewellery. Place a gold item and silver item on the inside of your wrist, and compare the effects. Which looks better on you? If gold looks better, you have warm undertones. If silver looks better, you have cool undertones. If both look equally good, you have neutral undertones. Don’t have jewellery? No problem. Head out to the stationery store to purchase gold and silver foil; they work just as well!
Tan Or Burn?
You know how some people can achieve an even, good-looking tan when they’ve been out in the sun, whereas some just come back burnt, looking like roasted chicken? This is actually also one of the ways to tell what your undertones are. Generally, if you tan, you have warm undertones. If you burn instead, you have cool undertones. Note: we do not recommend purposely standing under the sun to perform this test. Just try to remember the effects of your skin from your last experience under the sun.
The White Paper Test
Get a piece of white paper, or a bright white towel, and put it next to your face. How does your skin look against the whiteness? If your skin looks dull, yellow, and sallow, you have warm undertones. If your skin looks pink, rosy, and glowy, you have cool undertones. If you think that it just looks gray, or that there’s no difference at all, then you have neutral undertones.
The Skin Behind Your Ear
Don’t trust yourself with your decisions? You can get a friend to help you out! All they have to do is pay close attention to the skin in the little crease behind your ear. What colour does it appear to be? If it looks yellowish, you have warm undertones. If it looks pink or rosy, you have cool undertones. If they also have difficulties, take a leaf out of The Test Of White and place a white piece of paper next to your ear. It can help them determine what colour your skin is.
Do You Blush?
The last test is also the simplest: if you blush easily, then you most likely have cool undertones.
Last but not least, here is the Fitzpatrick scale for your reference, which is a classification for human skin colour (surface complexion).
| Type I | Light, pale white | Always burns, never tans |
| Type II | White, fair | Usually burns, tans minimally |
| Type III | Medium, white to light brown | Sometimes mild burn, tans uniformly |
| Type IV | Olive, moderate brown | Burns minimally, always tans well |
| Type V | Brown, dark brown | Very rarely burns, tans very easily |
| Type VI | Very dark brown, black | Never burns, never tans |
Did you manage to figure out your skin tone?
Let us know what your skin tone is, and if you’ve ever gotten sunburnt before, share your experience with us!
