3 Easy Tests to Identify Skin Tone

How to Identify Undertones

Step 1: The Vein Test

Examine the veins on the inside of your wrist in the natural daylight.

• Cool Undertones: Your veins appear blue or purple.
• Warm Undertones: Your veins look greenish or yellowish.
• Neutral Undertones: Your veins appear colorless or have a muted color, so you can't tell for sure whether your veins are blue or green. 

Step 2: The Jewelry Test

Try metal accessories in different colors and check which one complements your skin better:

• Cool Undertones: Silver, pink, or white gold jewelry complements your skin better.
• Warm Undertones: Gold jewelry highlights your natural glow.
• Neutral Undertones: Both silver and gold jewelry look good on you.

Step 3: The White Paper Test

Stand in natural light and hold a mirror and a piece of white paper close to your face.

• Cool Undertones: Your skin looks rosy or pinkish next to the white paper.
• Warm Undertones: Your skin seems more yellowish or golden.
• Neutral Undertones: Your skin doesn’t look pink or yellow; it appears balanced.

Common Skin Tone Categories

To help you categorize your skin tone accurately, check out the most common categories below:

• Fair: Burns quickly and may have freckles; often associated with cool undertones but can have warm or neutral undertones
• Light: Burns occasionally and tans minimally; can have cool, warm, or neutral undertones
• Medium: Tans well and may burn with prolonged sun exposure; often has warm or neutral undertones but can also have cool undertones
• Tan: Tans quickly and rarely burns; usually has warm undertones but can have neutral and cool undertones
• Dark: Rarely burns; can have cool, warm, or neutral undertones

Types of Undertones

• Cool: Pink or blue undertones
• Warm: Yellow, peach, or golden undertones
• Neutral: Mix of cool and warm