Am I Warm or Cool? A Guide to Determining Your Skintone

Choosing the right colors for your skin tone is an important part of the beauty process. Wearing the wrong tones of makeup or clothing can make even the healthiest skin look sickly and off.

Which tone are you? Here are some quick and easy tips to help you figure out which skin tone you fit into.

The Basics
Warm toned individuals tend to look alive and healthy while wearing earthy colors, such as oranges, bronzes, golds, peaches, brick reds, earthy greens, mocha browns and ivory. They look best in yellow based colors.

Cool toned people look best in jewel tones such as vibrant emerald green, royal or icy blues, rosy pinks, silvers, plums, and pure white. Blue based colors look best.

The Vein Test
Probably the most widely used, the vein test is an easy way to determine your skin tone. In natural light (during the day, stand by an open window), make a fist and examine your inner wrist. What color are the veins? Veins that are mainly blue are a sign of cool tones, while green veins are a hint that you are warm toned. If your veins are a mix of blue and green, it could be a sign that you are neutral toned. Lucky you!

The Silver/Gold Test
It's a little known fact that warm and cool and gold and silver go hand in hand. If you can, find a piece of silver fabric and piece of gold fabric. Stand in front of a mirror in natural light. Hold each piece of fabric next to your face, one at a time and examine. If the silver makes your face light up, you are most likely cool toned. If the gold makes you look fresh and alive, you are probably warm toned.

Genetics Test
While these rules do have exceptions, for the most part, your hair, skin and eye color can help you determine your skin tone.

Warm toned skin tends to have a golden or apricot undertone. Their hair tends to have hints of orange, yellow, red or gold. Eye color tends to be amber, dark brown, hazel, or green.

Cool toned skin has a pink or rosy undertone. Their hair often contains blue, blue-violet, silver, drab, and ash undertones. Eye color tends to be light blue, gray-green, blue green, turquoise, gray-blue, black or cool brown.

If you still are unable to determine your skin tone, you could be neutral toned. Neutral toned people can wear just about any color and look great. Some neutral skin tones pull towards warm or cool. If you're a neutral pulling warm, you look best in warm but can pull off cools and visa-versa for neutral pulling cool.

Still Unsure? Don't fret, it's not always an easy process. No one's skin is exactly the same and individual coloring can be a task to determine on your own. Most makeup counters can help determine your skin tone and help you find good color matches, if you ask.