How to Know Your Undertone & Skin Tone for Flawless Makeup

The cosmetic world is vast and growing with every passing day. With an innumerable range of beauty products and various inspiring ideas of young women, makeup is now crossing the limits beyond fashion. It helps build self-esteem and confidence and allows you to portray an attitude that represents your style. Everything is possible, but on the condition of choosing the correct beauty products. Whether it is choosing your base foundation and concealer or a colorful range of lipsticks, knowing the basics of choosing cosmetics is a must. Your skin tone and undertone are the first things you should be aware of when buying beauty products online.

Using face makeup products that do not match your skin will make the makeup look patchy and uneven. With all the techniques and premium quality products, you still cannot achieve the perfect finish if the shade of cosmetic products is a misfit. Choosing cosmetics based on your skin tone and undertone helps you find the perfect shade of makeup products. But what is skin tone, and how to know your undertone is the question? Here is all you need to know about what and how to know your skin tone and undertone.

What is Skin Tone 

Every person has a different shade of skin. This skin shade is derived from a substance called melanin. Melanocyte cells in our body use the amino acid tyrosine to produce melanin. This amino acid tyrosine is found in various food items that you consume, like almonds, yogurt, cheese, etc. In everyday terms, melanin secretion increases due to the impact of sunlight on the skin, which protects the skin cells from its harmful effects. The more the production of melanin in the body, the darker the skin and hair pigments appear. Based on this, your skin tone can be divided into fair, light, medium, and dark. 

What is Undertone?

Each skin tone then has a unique undertone. These undertones are the natural color just below the first layer of your skin. Whether you have a fair, light, medium, or dark skin tone, your undertone is separate. There are 3 undertones – warm, cool, and neutral.  

Depending on the skin tone and undertone, you can understand how a full coverage foundation shade, or other cosmetic shades will look on your skin. Knowing this helps you buy beauty products online that are an exact match for your everyday makeup look.

How to Know Your Skin Tone?

When it comes to how to know your skin tone, there are two basic ways that you can use other than going to a professional dermatologist for a skin test. The following test helps you find the perfect skin shade and select the best makeup products.

Check Your Jawline

Checking your jawline is always a better idea when you want to understand your skin tone. The jaw area is generally the least affected area by skin color changes. To check, wash and exfoliate your face to ensure there is no dust. Then, see if the tone around the jawline light is medium or dark. If you are still confused, you can use a skin tone strip with labels to understand your exact skin tone. Keep the strip next to your jawline and match the skin tone with the one on the strip to understand the exact tone.

Ask a friend

The question of how to know your skin tone is simple when you have a trusted friend around. What other people see will help you know the true tone of your skin. You have a light tone if you are always said to have white skin or too fair skin. If your friend suggests you have tanned-looking skin, you might have a medium skin tone. If the tan appears deep, you probably have a dark skin tone.

How to Know Your Undertone?

Undertone is decided based on the following tests. Each test helps you understand whether you have a cool, warm, or neutral undertone. You can use any of the tests given below to understand your undertone and choose the best concealer or lipstick shade for your skin.

Vein Test

Depending on the color of your veins underneath the skin, you can decide which is your undertone. Following is the list of vein shades and undertones based on it:

• Warm – If you have greenish or olive veins

• Cool – If you have bluish or purple veins

• Neutral – If you have bluish green color veins

Jewelry Test

Everyone gets a different glow when wearing a particular color of jewelry. Using gold and silver-colored jewelry, you can understand your undertone. 

• Warm – If gold jewelry suits you more than silver

• Cool – If silver jewelry suits you more than gold

• Neutral – If both gold and silver jewelry look good on your skin tone

White Paper Test

A white paper test is a simple way to understand your undertone. Depending on how your skin appears alongside a white paper, it is a simple way to know your undertone. 

• Warm – If your skin looks pale or yellowish 

• Cool – If your skin is bright and pink 

• Neutral – If your skin looks the same or greyish

Sun Test

How your skin reacts to the exposure of sun is the most natural way to understand your skin tone.

• Warm – If you get easily tanned in the sun

• Cool – If your skin easily burns in the sun

• Neutral – If your skin gets burned and then tanned due to sun

Color Test

Which color brightens up your skin tells a lot about your undertone. Having a keen eye and understanding the color spectrum will help you understand your undertone.

• Warm – If yellow, beige, and warm color shades suit you

• Cool – If pink, blue, and light shades suit you

• Neutral – If all shades look good on you

Will Skin Tone And Undertone Change As You Age

With age, some changes in the appearance of skin are normal. While fine lines and wrinkles are signs of aging, a noticeable change in skin tone is also seen. Some people experience skin patches and skin darkening due to age, hormones, sun exposure, changes in climate, and many other reasons. Also, skin tone keeps changing, especially in women, based on hormonal cycles and climate changes. Your undertones are always the same and do not change. 

When you buy a range of beauty products, getting confused is normal. Knowing which products are required to match your skin tone and undertone helps you select the perfect shade for your skin. Here is a list of products for which you should consider your skin before making a purchase.

• Full Coverage Foundation

• Face Concealer

• Contour

• Compact and Loose Powder

• Highlighter and Bronzer

• Lipsticks

How to find your skin tone and undertone are a crucial question to understand if you are a makeup freak. Whether for yourself or as a professional makeup artist, knowing the basics of skin tones and undertones helps you decide the perfect shade of cosmetics for you and your client. Whether it is a contour palette, blusher, pressed powder, concealer, or any other product, Character Cosmetics offers shades that flawlessly match your skin tone and undertone. Every product is finely curated, cruelty-free, and certified by a dermatologist to become the best addition to your makeup arsenal.