How To Determine Skin Tone & Undertone

If something seems off about your makeup look, your skin's natural tones could be the reason. Learning how to determine your skin tone and undertone helps you choose products that let your natural beauty show. Once you know both, everything in your Face collection routine, from foundation to blush, blends the way it should.

What Is the Difference Between Skin Tone vs Undertone?

The terms skin tone and undertone get muddled often, but they describe two different things.

Skin tone refers to the overall color of your complexion. We group skin tone into fair, light, medium, or dark, with plenty of variety inside each group.

Your tone comes from melanin, the pigment set by your genetics. It can shift, too: your skin darkens in the sun or after a self-tanner as it produces more melanin.

Your undertone, though, stays the same. Undertone is the subtle color beneath your skin's surface that gives your complexion its dimension. It falls into three categories:

Cool:

An undertone with blue, red, or pink hues.

Warm:

An undertone with yellow, gold, or peach hues.

Neutral:

A balance of cool and warm hues. Olive complexions often land here.

Knowing both matters when you pick makeup. Take foundation as an example. A shade that matches your skin tone and undertone melts into your complexion for a your-skin-but-better look. A mismatched foundation, by contrast, reads flat and off against your skin.

How Do You Begin Determining Your Skin Tone?

When you start determining your skin tone, the right light does most of the work. Artificial lighting shifts color and can make your complexion look lighter or darker than it is. For the truest read, check your skin outdoors or beside a window with plenty of daylight.

Patrick Ta artists read the jawline, not the center of the face. The center of your face catches more sun, so it can skew your true depth. Your jaw stays more consistent, which makes it the honest spot to judge skin tone.

You can also confirm your tone by how your skin answers the sun. Here is how each skin tone usually responds:

Fair: This fair tone, labeled porcelain, ivory, or alabaster in makeup ranges, rarely tans and burns quickly.

Light: Light skin, sometimes labeled beige or nude in makeup ranges, can pick up a mild tan but still burns easily.

Medium: Medium skin, often called golden or honey, tans readily and burns less often.

Dark: This deep tone, labeled chocolate, espresso, or ebony in makeup ranges, rarely burns and tans quickly.

How Do You Decipher Your Undertone With a Skin Undertone Test?

Several tests can reveal your undertone, and the vein test is one of the most reliable. Look at the veins on your inner wrist in natural light and note their color.

See purple or blue? You lean cool. Green veins point to warm, and a mix of both suggests neutral.

Want more certainty? Try these quick checks as your skin undertone test companions:

White Paper Test: Hold a sheet of plain white paper next to your bare face in daylight. A pink or rosy cast means cool undertones, while a yellow or golden cast means warm.

Behind-the-Ear Test: Check the skin just behind your ear, which sees fewer breakouts and dark spots than your face. A yellowish tint reads warm, and a pinkish tint reads cool.

Hair and Eye Color Cue: Your natural coloring offers a hint. Cool types often have gray, blue, green, or deep brown eyes with ash brown or blonde hair. Warm types tend toward hazel, amber, or warm brown eyes with chestnut or golden hair.

Jewelry Test: Silver jewelry usually flatters cool undertones, while gold suits warm undertones best. Look good in both? You likely land neutral.

Color Fabric Test: Hold different-colored clothes against your skin and see which one flatters you most. Cool shades like blue suit cool undertones, and warm shades like yellow suit warm ones. Neutral undertones carry many colors but shine in softer, less bold hues.

Sun Test: Your sun response hints at undertone as well as tone. Cool skin burns more easily and tans slowly, while warm skin tans fast and rarely burns. Skin that both tans and burns often reads neutral.

Which Colors Suit Warm, Cool, and Neutral Undertones?

Once you know your undertone, you can choose makeup and clothing colors that make your features pop.

To flatter cool undertones, reach for cooler blue, green, pink, red, and purple. True bright white and black look striking here, too.

For warm undertones, yellow, gold, and peach glow against the skin. Orange-based reds and pinks, yellow-green shades, browns, and ivory work well, more than a stark bright white.

Have neutral undertones? Count yourself lucky, because you can carry nearly any color.

How Do You Match Makeup to Your Skin Tone and Undertone?

When you pick a foundation, choose a formula built for your skin tone and undertone together. The Major Skin Crème Foundation & Finishing Powder Duo marks each shade with both its tone and undertone. That labeling helps you find your closest match with confidence.

For a flawless match, reach for the Major Skin Hydra-Luxe Luminous Skin Perfecting Foundation. This buildable, luminous formula blends into cool, warm, or neutral complexions while it hydrates and perfects. Not sure of your shade? A shade finder tool narrows the range for you.

Patrick Ta's signature cream-over-powder layering builds that lit-from-within finish. Press your cream complexion products first, then set with powder in the shade that matches your undertone. This order keeps skin looking dewy and dimensional rather than flat.

Your undertone guides more than foundation. Let it steer your lip, blush, and eyeshadow picks, too.

For cheeks and lips, stay in your undertone family. Cool undertones flatter cooler pinks and reds, while warm undertones glow with warmer shades.

To make eyes pop, choose eyeshadow that complements your undertone and ties into your outfit. That pairing links your clothing and your features seamlessly.

Why Should You Embrace Your Natural Skin Tone?

At Patrick Ta, we’re all about celebrating the diversity in skin tones and undertones, and how they make each person uniquely beautiful. With our makeup products, we’re proud to promote inclusivity and representation in the beauty industry, ensuring everyone can access the products they need to express themselves through makeup and let their skin shine.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can an app or AI photo tool accurately tell your undertone?
An app can point you in a direction, but screens and camera filters distort color, so treat the result as a starting guess. For accuracy, confirm in natural daylight with the vein test or the white paper test. Your own eyes in good light beat any filter.

Does your undertone change over time?
No. Your undertone stays constant because it sits beneath your skin's surface. Your surface tone can darken with sun or self-tanner, but the undertone underneath holds steady. That makes it a reliable guide for shade matching.

How do you determine your undertone on deep or dark skin when veins are hard to read?
When veins are tough to see, lean on tests that read surface color instead:

1. Hold plain white paper beside your bare face in daylight and watch for a golden or a rosy cast.
2. Check the skin behind your ear, where a yellow tint reads warm and a pink tint reads cool.
3. Compare gold and silver jewelry against your skin, since gold usually flatters warm undertones and silver flatters cool ones.

What should you do if you fall between undertones or read as neutral?
Neutral means your undertone balances cool and warm, so you have room to play. Choose shades that are not too stark or too bold, and most colors will flatter you. If a foundation looks slightly off, pick the option that leans the way your skin does in daylight.

How do you match a foundation undertone when shopping online?
Shopping without swatching takes a little strategy:

1. Confirm your undertone at home with the vein test or the white paper test.
2. Filter shades by your tone depth, then by cool, warm, or neutral undertone.
3. Use a shade finder or match quiz, and read reviews from shoppers with your tone and undertone.