Undertone is not skin color
Undertone is the subtle hue beneath the surface color of your skin. Surface color, which is how light or deep your skin is and how much it tans or flushes, can change with sun, season and health. The undertone is more stable. People describe it as warm (yellow, golden or peachy), cool (pink, red or bluish) or neutral (a mix, or no clear lean).
Any depth of skin can have any undertone. A very fair person can be warm, and a very deep person can be cool. That is why guessing from depth alone, or from ethnicity, goes wrong so often.
Undertone is one of the three dimensions used in 12 season color analysis. In the season model it is called temperature, and it decides whether you lean toward the spring and autumn families (warm) or summer and winter (cool).
Be aware that undertone is a descriptive convention, not a measurement. The tests below are folk methods. None of them is accurate on its own, and that is why they work best in combination.
The vein test
Look at the veins on the inside of your wrist in natural light. The usual rule is that blue or purple veins suggest cool, green veins suggest warm, and a mix suggests neutral.
Why it is imperfect: vein color depends on skin thickness, depth of skin tone and lighting, and veins can look blue on almost anyone because of how light passes through skin. On deeper skin, veins are often hard to see at all. Many people also cannot decide whether a vein is blue-green or green-blue. Use the vein test as a weak clue, and do not decide anything from it alone.
The jewelry test
Hold gold and silver jewelry against your skin, or wear both in turn. If gold makes your skin look warm and healthy, and silver looks harsh or gray, that suggests warm. If silver looks clean and gold looks yellowish or sallow, that suggests cool. If both look fine, you may be neutral.
Why it is imperfect: the finish of the metal, its shape and its size all change the effect. Rose gold, white gold and brass add more variables. You also tend to prefer what you are used to wearing, which biases your judgment. Cover your usual jewelry habits and compare in daylight with fresh eyes, or ask a friend.
The white and cream paper test
With a clean face and hair pulled back, hold a sheet of pure white paper under your chin in daylight, then a sheet of cream or off-white paper. Look at your skin rather than the paper.
- If pure white makes your skin look clearer and cream makes it look dull or yellow, you may be cool.
- If cream makes your skin look healthy and white makes it look gray or pink-flushed, you may be warm.
- If the two look much the same, you may be neutral.
Why it is imperfect: white paper varies, and so does cream. The paper reflects light onto your face, which affects the test, and bright white can look harsh on nearly anyone. This is a useful test because it directly compares colors near your face, which is the real situation when you wear a top. Still, repeat it with several pairs of colors.
The sun reaction test
How your skin responds to sun is sometimes used as a clue. People who burn easily and turn pink or red are often described as cool, while people who tan golden or bronze without much burning are often described as warm.
Why it is imperfect: sun response is mostly about pigment and protection, and it is not the same thing as undertone. Someone with a warm undertone can burn easily, and someone with a cool undertone can tan well. Take this test as background only. It should never be a reason to skip sunscreen, and skin that burns easily needs protection whatever its undertone.
Why lighting matters more than any test
Lighting decides what you see. Yellow indoor bulbs make skin look warmer, cool fluorescent or LED light makes it look paler and pinker, and colored walls bounce their color onto your face. Phone cameras apply automatic white balance and filters that shift color further.
For any test, follow these rules:
- Use indirect daylight, near a window, and avoid direct sun, which flattens and bleaches.
- Remove makeup, tinted moisturizer and self-tanner, and pull back or cover your hair.
- Wear a neutral top, or drape a plain white cloth over your clothing, so strong colors do not bounce onto your face.
- Repeat on another day and compare notes.
If your results keep disagreeing, you may simply be neutral. See the neutral undertones guide.
Putting the clues together
Count the clues instead of trusting one. If three of four tests lean warm, warm is a reasonable working guess. If they split evenly, treat yourself as neutral and look at your value and chroma instead, because in those cases a soft or bright season is often a better fit than a strongly warm or cool one.
It also helps to remember that warm and cool are relative. Someone described as warm is not orange, and someone described as cool is not blue. Most people sit on a spectrum, and the labels simply name which direction your best colors lean. A small lean either way still gives useful information, but it is not a reason to avoid every color on the other side.
Then check the guess against real colors. A warm guess means that coral, olive and camel should look better near your face than fuchsia, navy and silver-gray. If the opposite happens, your guess was probably wrong, and the mirror is right.
To test this on yourself, use the selfie try-on tool or take the quiz. To compare palettes by hand, follow the at-home draping guide.