Finding my skin undertones?

Question

How do I find out my skin undertones? I have light-medium brown hair and light blue eyes. When I was young, I never used to burn and now I tan in light sun and burn in heavy sun, and the burn will peel and turn into a tan. My veins look like they might be a mix of blue and green.

Where can I find this out? Will any makeup person at a makeup counter be able to tell me this? How much does it cost?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

You can try a makeup counter but they're not always good at it. Prescriptives insisted that I had cool undertones (probably because they assumed that *all* girls with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin must be cool) but I actually have warm undertones! I currently wear a warm foundation with peachy-yellow undertones that is a PERFECT match for me, and I tend to look better in warm colors (specifically "Spring" colors if you're familiar with that colortyping system.)

A few tricks -- these are not full-proof but may give you some insight. Also keep in mind that you may answer "cool" to some questions but "warm" to others, and that's ok too! Grouping the entire human population into only two categories (warm vs. cool) isn't going to work because there are so many variations, so not everyone is going to be consistant with their answers.

1. If the veins on the inside of your wrist are blue you might be cool; if they are green you might be warm. (Mine are blue on my wrist but green everywhere else.... go figure!)

2. Do you look better in white (cool) or ivory/cream (warm)?

3. Do you look better in charcoal (cool) or chocolate brown (warm)?

4. Do you look better in light grey (cool) or camel (warm)?

5. Do you look better in fushia (cool) or bright tangerine orange (warm)?

6. Do you look better in fushia lipstick (cool) or orangeish-red (warm)?

7. Do you look better in silver jewelry (cool) or gold (warm)?

8. Do you look better in blue (cool ) or green (warm)?

Finally, here are a few quizzes that might help. These quizzes will tell you more info than just whether you are warm or cool, since there is more to color analysis than just warm vs. cool. These quizzes also usually consider whether you are clear vs. muted and/or high vs. low contrast to further narrow down your color type. But "Summer" and "Winter" are cool, while "Spring" and "Autumn" are warm.

http://www.donnafujii.com/store/index.ht… (Click Color Analysis Self Test)

http://www.stylemakeovers.com/colortest/…

A little more info:

Warm means you have yellow undertones, cool means you have pink undertones. However, extremely yellow undertones and olive tones (which are kind of greenish-yellow) can still be considered cool. Think of lemony yellow vs. golden yellow -- the lemony yellow would be cool while the golden is warm. That's why many Asians are cool even though they have yellow undertones.

Clear means you have little to no beige or brown in your skin (you probably have peach tones instead). Muted means you do have brown or beige.

For contrast, imagine taking a black and white picture of yourself. In the picture, if your skin, eyes, and hair are all a similar shade of grey, then you're low contrast. If some elements are very dark while others are very light, you're high contrast.

Source(s):

Various websites -- I've been addicted to color analysis lately!

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Thank you for all your input! Very through and informative!

Answer 2

I read somewhere that you need to get a piece of pure white paper and hold it up to your face in natural daylight. Do not have any artificial lights on and have someone with you to help determine what your undertones are. You can hold up various shades of red, pink and coral. The undertones of a winter complexion is blue. I'm not positive of the others. Your Avon rep. may be able to help you with this. I don't know about makeup counters. There is a book called "Color Me Beautiful" or something like that. It has all sorts of hints & help. Merle Norman studios may also be of assistance.

Answer 3

any makeup counter at the mall will be able to tell you, i went shopping at MAC and they told me i have cool undertones. Its free. Cool undertones mean that you don't have any hint of red to your complextion and is most usual in Asian women, warm undertones however, have a pink hue and is most found in Caucasian people.

Answer 4

hmmmm there's a good guide at this link that might help you a little.

Source(s):

http://laminerals.com/mineral-foundation…